Customer Reviews

Brother MFC-9420CN Network-Ready Color Laser Flatbed MFC

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

I compared this to all the alternatives in the market (i.e. HP, Epson, Canon) and as of Jan. 2006 it has by far the best specs and nicest features. I have the printer setup using the Ethernet connection, drivers installed very easily and though still on version 1.0 seem to work very nicely. Printer came very nicely packaged and with very easy instructions on how to put it together.

Problems or things I have noticed so far are as follows:

1.) Printer makes lots of noise moving the different toner color cartridges in and out, kind of a clumping noise.

2.) Envelope printing is terrible, as mentioned by others. The printer can not print close to the edges so when printing a return address the text does not look good. I have never seen this problem on any other printer, even though the Brother manual states it can not print close to edges. It should be able to print as close to the edges as required by Microsoft envelope mode, IMO. Envelopes I use that are just a bit thicker then normal get stuck in the printer and will not work. There is a setting for thicker paper in the driver which may help but a nuisance to change just to print an envelope, and you can not get to the driver when printing with Microsoft Word envelope feature. Would need to make the change permanent in printer preferences and then go back into Word. Lots of trouble to print an envelope.

3.) No manual feed paper slot is another inconvienience. You have to load any special paper or envelopes into the tray each time. With all this work required to print an envelope your probably better off blowing off the dust on your IBM Selectric.

4.) Brother support via email just sends you canned responses and the two questions I had, I don't think anyone actually read the questions.

Overall though the printer is suitable. The copy feature is very nice and easy to use. Just load the paper in the auto feeder and press the COLOR or BW button. Finally I agree with the other poster here also, putting the big marketing sticker on the front of the machine was not a class act. I have not tried to remove it yet but it looks like it would be a pain. Still probably the nicest low cost, All In One, Color on the market. At least until a single pass color unit comes out. Hope my review was some benefit.

Do not purchase this machine. Besides the toner being so high you will be in for a surprise at the other consumable items that this machine requires. I purchased my 9420 in October 2005 and it has a page count of 14216. Today it come up with an error code to replace the OPC Belt. After looking in the owners manual I find that OPC Belt has to be replaced every 60,000 IMAGES. Please not that I said images, not page count. After contacting Brother I discovered that this OPC Belt carries a price tag of $503.99. If you add the price of the OPC Belt ($503.99, replace 60000 IMAGES), Fusing Unit ($577.99, replaced approx every 60,000 pages), and the high cost of the toner this unit is a real lemon.

Unfortunately I did not read the reviews until I received the message on my machine. Consider this: we have had the machine for 9 months and run a small business and print flyers once a month. We have had to replace each toner cartridge once, which is understandable, but we NOW HAVE TO REPLACE THE OPC BELT WHICH COSTS US $500. This will run out in 60,000 images, not pages, but images. We will also have to put in a new fuser which is $577. SO, for a machine that is depreciating, in one years time, we will have to put in an additional $1077 NOT COUNTING the toner cartridges. It's like buying a $10,000 car which needs $8000 tires! Would you do that?

The printer is just fine, it is loud and slow to warm up, but it is definitely NOT worth the additional expense that you will incur over ONE years time. Since it is a large investment, you will probably have it more than one year.

Please do the research, this is the ONLY Brother machine that has these "extra consumables". Check out other brands and stay away from Brother's residual income.

Good luck.

I am a long-time HP and Xerox fax. I have always looked down on the Brother printers as toys that were good for people who did not know quality. I have owned other Brother products in the past and to be honest I was really never impressed until now. If this is the direction they are taking their company, then BRAVO!

I use both Mac and PC on my network (PC because I must, the Mac because I LOVE it) and they both work perfectly. The Mac does not require drivers and I see another poster who is using the same OS I am but did not know how to find the printer on the network. It took me less than 1 min to install, find it on the network and print.

I also bought another 512MB of ram to increase the ram to 576! Look into some of the cool security features too. You can add a 4-digit pin number and do a secure print. When you are standing at the printer select secure print and enter in your pin ID. You can have multiple pin ID's for different users. This could come in handy when printing out financials or employee reviews that you don't want others to see.

Cons: These printers ship with a HUGE sticker on the from that is extremely gummy and took me about an hour to remove with Simple Green and a scrub pad. This is totally unacceptable! I also emailed support at Brother with a basic question and they sent this form letter that did not answer my question. I asked the question even more clearly and got the same gibberish?!?! Lastly, if you need the additional 500-sheet feeder it is going to cost you another $500! This is also outrageous.

The ram install took less than 5 mins with powering down and powering up. Very easy to get to and only had to remove 2 screws. The quality of the unit is top notch, now I wish they could do the same to their web support. They are never going to be taken seriously until they support their products better and take customer questions seriously.

I agree with each and every negative comment I've read so far! This is a crime! Yes, the toner is awfully expensive (but I bought some raw toner on ebay and that worked just time -- $150 instead of $600) but now I'm facing that OPC belt problem and so I'm thinking of following other's advice and ditching the whole thing. It's noisy, slow and doesn't live up to it's claims. Anyone who likes this thing is missing something.

If you are going to print envelopes DO NOT BUY THIS MACHINE! You must unload the paper tray to print one or many envelopes! A very clumsy design for envelope handling. I did not have jamming problems, so far. The user manual was wrong as far as loading envelopes. I am considering returning this machine. I need something that handles envelopes for my small business.

If you buy this box, be ready to shell out more than half its total cost in six months for an "OPC Belt". In six months of operation, this unit will start complaining that it needs this belt, which is an entire cartridge assembly at the heart of the machine (costs $388). Couple this indignity with the fact that the ink cartridges run out quickly, the machine is dog slow, and it makes a horrific banging sound for at least a minute before it even starts your print job, and you begin to get the picture.

PS: Forgot to mention the ink collection boxes this machine eats up like popcorn at $15 a box.

after 60 000 pages you will have spend well over 4000$ in consumables apart from the required toners

after 4000 pages complete replacement of low stater toners

600$

every 15000 pages

500$ belt kit

every 60000 but really about 40000 pages

a wopping 799$ fuser kit replacement

What a joke on brothers part. Contacted them and they admit their fault but far from ready to correct their disaster. I even heard they send free belt kits to calm the furious responses of customers. Simply not buying anything with their name on it!

I just had the same experience as Christine and the other fellow with the paper feeder. The paper feeder is touchy and now it pulls 2-3 sheets in at a time.

I bought to machine in November 2005. It did not come with full toners. I replaced 4 toners $600 March 14, 2006 with the copy counter at 9385. The copy counter is at 14166 as of May 10, 2006 and it says the black toner is out which will be $150, the OPC belt needs replacing at $500. That equals $88.24 per 1000 copies to date. When I ran out of the black toner the first time, the other three needed replacing about a week later. So if that occurs again it will cost $120.00 per 1000 sheets.

I have only had this printer for 2 days. I don't think I have printed/copied more than 20 pages yet! The first day I used the copier and it copied color pages really good. It printed fine with both the MAC and PC. Today, I copied another color page and the paper jammed. I unjammed the paper and tried to make another copy. It jammed again. I was able to get the paper out this time, but I had to grab it from the bottom. Now the back door will not close. Somehow a little part came loose and I don't know where it belongs. The part did not fall out, I saw it loosely wedged behind something on the door.I cannot believe they made something so flimsy. I did not do anything with the back door. So, the printer is going back.