Customer Reviews

Brother MFC-3240c All-in-One

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Ignore the low price -- you'll more than pay for it seveal times over by the scandalous "automatic self cleaning" mechanism that drinks ink like a wino drinks ripple. I hardly ever use color and have "run out" of color ink 3 times in six months. I'd be happy just to use B&W, but the printer won't work unless you replace all the cartridges. This should be illegal...

There is no solution to this problem. Even if you turn off the machine, it automatically cleans itself. If you unplug the machine, it cleans itself when you plug it back in. My cat doesn't clean himself this much.

The machine also developed a software glitch early on, where it would print half a page of what you want, spit it out, then print all of what you want. Another design to waste ink?

Finally, the paper capacity is miniscule, so you'll be constantly moving the flimsy, easily breakable paper tray in and out.

In other words, DON'T BUY THIS MACHINE!!!

Before you buy this or any inkjet printer make sure that it doesn't go through the ink fast - this machine goes through ink very fast. That is unfortunate because it works well and is easy to navigate.

Set up was very easy.

The scanner works very well and easy.

The fax is reliable and setting up for automatic recieve on a phone line is easy and dependable. Incoming faxes are picked up without any conflict with my answering machine.

The only problem is the ink - that is a considerable problem. And for that reason I advise that you research that aspect above all else when getting an ink jet printer - all in one or otherwise.

We initially bought this for scanning purposes (and not as a fax machine or copier or printer). The scanner when it works, works like a champ. But if you develop a problem with it, no matter how many computer you switch this to..the product has a problem with the 'feeder' as i was told by Office depot. They have received a few back from customers. I'd invest in another brother product.

I wish I had read the reviews BEFORE I bought. It is not 1/2 the printer of the 3220c which I just replaced.
Poor color rendition on photos. I am waiting to see what happens when I feed a sheet of adhesive lables through that nice curved paper path. I suspect I will be glad I bought the money back warranty. I have found in general Brother printers USUALLY do a great job, especially for the price. I have found the durability to be poor. I went through 3 3220c in a year and a 1/2. So why did I buy anther Brother ? The 3220 was such a great printer. Oh well, live and learn.

I got this item for a job i was doing. I had to copy and scan several hundred documents. I will say that it did that with ease and the resolution was not bad either. BUT - watch out for the printer part of this thing. It is not that great. First off, i would suggest that brother really get it together with their ports. The USB port is located *inside* the machine. It is really easy to close the lid and cut the cord if you wire it the wrong way - so maybe having it *outside* like all other printers would be a thought. Next the tray is all messed up and doesn't load right. When i try to load paper i am serious that the tray doesn't even fit in any grooves. It seems poorly designed. Then there was this big fin type of thign that i don't know *what* was for and just threw it out. The paper also gets jammed frequently. So in all, this thing is not a bad document scanner or copier. That part is pretty darn good actually. The software is not bad either. But the printer part sucks.

In a small office environment, this has got to be about the least expensive fax/printer to run.

The printer does go through cleaning cycles periodically, and if you don't use your printer often, you might be better off with something else. But look at the ink cost before deciding.

We're getting compatible ink for under $2 per tank. (the tank type is LC41) The savings on ink in the first year compared to our Canon bubblejet fax more than paid for the Brother. We've taken to using it for routine office printing too - it's actually cheaper to run than our laser.

We're using roughly 5 tanks of black and 2 or 3 of each color in a typical year in a small office environment where we typically print a few hundred pages a month. At $2 per tank, that works out to less than $30 per year, or less than a penny per page.

One glitch is a few times a month, my computer looses contact with the brother, and I need to reboot the computer. (my computer is on 24/7) I don't know if the problem is in the computer or the printer.

We've never used the scanner function, but we have used it as a color copier. The normal quality mode is much faster than the best quality mode for copying, and is fine for things like copying letters and forms.

The normal print quality is fine for typical household, school or business printing. If you're looking for professional quality printing for photos, you'll do better with a dedicated photo printer, but the "fine" and "photo" settings do surprisingly well.

After 18 months, the printer is still going well, and if something happened to it, I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

1. ) Use too many ink to clean head. Cited from http://global.solutions.brother.com/Library/en_us/faq/faq000038_000/index.html

Why do the color ink cartridges run out of ink even though I never or rarely print in color?

DESCRIPTION:
One factor that will affect your color ink consumption is the cleaning cycles of the machine. The machine is designed to automatically flush and clean ALL of the ink jet nozzles on a programmed schedule. A periodical cleaning or "flushing" of all the ink cartridges occurs approximately every two days. During the cleaning process, the machine draws out a small amount of ink to remove air bubbles from the cartridge and to remove dust and dried ink from the ink nozzles and channels. This not only ensures premium print quality but also ensures the life of the print head. Because of the ink jet technology, this process is common to all ink jet machines.

2.) If any one ink cartridge empty (there are four cartridges here, one black and three color), you cannot print anything, even fax. E.g. you run out of yellow ink, you cannot print black/white fax. This is not the case when I with my other inkjet printer. This is designed feature for printing quality. You can find something in brothe's web site.

So this is a cheap machine. I got it from Staple for $70. If you do a lot color / black printing. Then this is the one for you. Photos printed are not too bad as this cheap printer.

Another, do buy "One-Year Replacement Plan" You will need to replace this within one year!

I've owned this multifunction machine for a year now, and am VERY pleased with it. I use it as a family network printer, super G3 fax machine, and color copier. Its ink use is typical for my other printers (Canon, Epson). For this price, or even twice this price, this is a great machine.

As of August 2007, this machine is still performing like a champ. Have it hooked up to a network of Macs, and frequently use it as a fax machine as well. Haven't tried the scanning ability. Still satisfied with ink use vs. other printers.

Broke in less than a year. brother customer service is a joke. wont replace machine, give you the run around, pathetic. buy anything else

You get what you pay for...... Read all of the features and this sounds like a great deal! My printer worked for about two months, then the black wouldn't print. Customer Service shared an undocumented trick of cleaning the replaced color 5 times after changing the cartridge. That trick worked for the next two cartridge changes, now after cleaning it 20 times, it still will not print! The local Brother Service Center says they are swamped with this model. I have to deliver it to them and then wait for Brother to send a replacement!!!!!