Brother MFC-7840W Laser Multi-Function Center with Wireless and Ethernet Network Interfaces

Customer Rating:
Summary: Works well. Easy setup.
Comment: Extremely easy to setup. Small device that packs a lot of feature. Very happy with the printer.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Good MultiFunction, but high peak power demand
Comment: My HP LaserJet 3055 (also a networked, muti-function printer) broke about a month ago, and I chose this model as a replacement. I use it primarily as a printer, occasionally as a scanner or fax. I have a dedicated copy machine, so don't use that feature too much. I haven't yet used the automatic document feeder too much, but it worked well on the one 20 page document I scanned. I'd expect that this kind of flat ADF would work well -- as opposed to the vertical type which is known to be jam prone.

The printer, scanner and fax all work well, but as noted by another reviewer (B. Bassett 9/10/08), the power requirements are unusually high during printing. I have a 20 amp circuit coming into my study and no previous printer or copier (all laser based) caused my UPS to click over to battery, but this one does every time I print. It only squeals its warning for a fraction of a second, but it typically happens several times during the print cycle, including once well after the printing is done. Not a huge annoyance, but one I didn't expect and enough to drop at least one star in my rating. I'm not sure if I'd have given it 3 or 4 stars otherwise, but suspect that 3 is what I'd have given it due to the general difficulty of installing networked printers (see below).

The average power consumption is good. I have a power meter and test all new devices like this. Over 10 days of light usage it averaged 7.3 watts which is close to the instantaneous reading when it's in standby mode. The fan stays on longer than I'd like after even a short printing job (I hate fan noise), but that's only a minor annoyance compared to the UPS squeals.

Another reviewer complained about Brother's quality control and said he'd stick with HP. Well, my HP printer was only two years old when it broke and a similar unit I'd bought my daughter failed after just one year. So, I'm not sure HP's QC is any better (or as good as) Brother's.

I had no difficulty getting the networking feature to work with my Macs, but that may have been because I spent a lot of time figuring it out two years ago when I got the HP. As a warning: Setting up a networked printer is not as simple as it sounds. At least a significant fraction of the people I've talked with about it found it to be a major pain. That's a general comment on networked printers, not specific to this model.

Customer Rating:
Summary: No surprises
Comment: I have used Brother printers for many years in my home office, and this wireless model, held no surprises for me. It performs on demand, prints great, copies great, and my faxes can be received and sent when I need.
I applaud Brother for it's easy interface with the MAC, and I am a loyal follower. I have only one suggestion for those setting up the wireless feature: Call the technical support if you are not familiar with how wireless works. I don't really understand it, know just enough to be dangerous and, even though I tried to follow the manual, I ended up knocking out my laptop's access to my home network when I "connected" the printer to the network wirelessly. I called Tech support who got me set up again, in about 15 minutes. They know what they're doing, so if you are in the least bit unsure how to connect the printer wirelessly to the network, call the toll-free support and they will walk you through it. Otherwise, you can connect to your router with ethernet. Good luck and happy printing. This printer is worth every cent.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Good all-around MFC
Comment: This is my second Brother MFC, the first being a 6800. This one is similar in many respects, but has wireless capability- very handy to print from my laptop on another floor.

This printer warms up and prints quickly. The controls are straight forward and the functions versatile. It's convenient to have both flatbed and auto sheet feeding. Print quality is fine. Provision is there for single sheet and envelope feeding as well.

Wireless set-up took a lot of experimentation as the instructions weren't great. I'm not a very knowledgeable network person. Suddenly it worked, and it now works beautifully. I'd recommend for home or small office.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Defective product with bureaucratic customer service
Comment: I had high hopes for this product after reading the positive reviews here. Unfortunately it was defective out of the box. There seems to be a known issue with a toner cartridge error: the sensor fails to read that the cartridge is full. As soon as I plugged it in with the factory-shipped cartridge, it registered the error. Fortunately, thought I, i've ordered a spare cartridge so I banged that in and up popped the same error. I then went to the online help site which has no mention of this problem even though a google search shows it to be an issue with related Brother printers.

Customer support is only available on weekdays so finally on my one day off in months I call Brother. Their rep insisted on sending me another print cartridge to try even though I pointed out that I had already done that. Her response is that they are required to proceed on that basis. When I asked what would happen if the same error resulted, she refused to give me any details, saying that there were 3 options that "they were not at liberty to discuss with customers". I asked to speak to the supervisor who revealed the incredible secret that the next step if the cartridge replacement did not work would be to do an exchange of the printer. I asked why that was kept from customers and she responded that it was company policy. At this point I felt like I was in some French bureaucracy. Elapsed wasted time with Brother = 1 hour.

Fortunately a quick call to Amazon resulted in an immediate return option. Thank God for their customer service. I'm going to go with the H-P products, which are American to boot.

This may be a wonderful product when it works but if you're buying it online you will depend on the customer services and the Brother service is primordial.