Customer Rating: 
Summary: Worked for 3.5 Years
Comment: I loved my printer until it died a week ago. It has started with error codes and the inability to print without white streaks. My guess is that it is having problems with the heads - since it is out of warranty it will cost around $100 to repair. But since it was also having trouble with picking up paper I do not think I will spend the $$ to repair.
The best thing about this printer is that it hooks up to a network. This is my most favorite feature. I have scanned, copied and faxed with the machine and everything worked great. Printing is the part of the machine that had ever given me any problems. Colors weren't as crisp and clear as other printers - and it definitely prints very slow when you print at high quality settings. I didn't have any problems with the printer going through ink too fast either. It does go through its own cleaning cycles on occasion - but not enough for me to notice. I probably went through a whole set of cartridges every 4-6 months.
I had a good run with this AIO - and I hope to trick it into letting me to continue to use the fax and scanner until I get to buy a new AIO.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Terrible machine! Don't waste your money
Comment: I bought this all in one printer approximately 7 months ago for my small office. I chose it over HP for monetary issues (the Brother was cheaper), and how sorry I am that I didn't go with the HP in the first place! I would give it 0 stars or even negative stars if that was an option.
Within a couple of weeks, the paper began jamming for no apparent reason. Every time this happens you have to remove the back cover, and this is a major pain and inconvenience. It is hard to reach and hard to see if you have the printer sitting with its back to the wall (like most people probably do).
I wish I could say paper jams were the only issue, but alas, it isn't so. This machine also decides to quit printing after about 1/4 to 1/2 of the page is complete, and all for no apparent reason. Turning the machine off and on doesn't fix the problem. It usually requires turning off the printer and shutting down the entire computer system and rebooting. And sometimes you have to do this 2 or 3 times in a row before it will start working again! This would be inconvenient if it happened every once in a great while, but it happens at least once a week and sometimes a couple times a week.
The clarity of the printing leaves a lot to be desired. The print (using standard paper), looks fuzzy. But even more disheartening is the amount of envelopes that have been ruined by this printer. For reasons as of yet unknown, it does not like to print envelopes, and will scrunch up the words into illegible, lop-sided print, making the envelope unusable. During the last printing session of 35 envelopes, only 9 printed perfectly (and "perfectly" still includes the slight fuzzy quality of the words). The other 26 envelopes were so flawed they had to be scrapped.
In addition to the fuzzy printing, and the scrunched up printing, this printer also splatters ink onto the top of the pages quite frequently. Again, not a very professional-looking image to have ink droplets on your letters and envelopes.
Also, as some other reviewers have said, this printer goes through ink like there's no tomorrow. And even if you don't use color printing, the cartridges still deplete and require changing if you're going to use the machine at all. I have printed only approximately 25 color pages in the past 7 months. Yet I have had to replace the color cartridges twice. And I think I'm now on the fifth or sixth black cartridge already.
I wrote to Brother on 4-26-07 regarding this printer and all its problems and they never responded. So I imagine they know what a waste of money it is and really don't have an explanation. I bought an HP LaserJet 1020 (printing capacity only) at the beginning of May and it is awesome. It has not ruined a single envelope and the print clarity is amazing. And it was only $79. I plan on replacing the Brother machine with an HP all in one soon.
In summary, avoid this machine at all costs, unless you don't mind running up your costs. If you don't like throwing money and time out the window, explore alternatives.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One year and eight days then dead
Comment: Great for basic fax/receive for a full year. A bit slow in printing - like most inkjet faxes. But then -- when we were just days past the warranty -- the machine jammed and reported "unable to print." The Brother website was no help. We ultimately had to replace the unit.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Does not work
Comment: This printer worked well for about a year, and then abruptly failed. None of the troubleshooting steps on the manufacturer's website worked. I don't recommend it..
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great for Home or Business!
Comment: I bought one of these printers and within a few weeks purchased a second. The clarity is great, photos were a little slower to print than I hoped but for regular printing, its fast! The dual trays are sweet! It's hard to find a printer with direct connection to a network that offers LAN Faxing and Scanning. Before i purchased this printer I read the 'box' about a dozen times on several visits before buying the first. I found it hard to believe for the price all the features worked as described but it worked so well it didn't take long before I bought a second one. I have a home office with 3 offices, 1 printer was in the lower office and another upstairs. If you noticed I stated that I 'had', both printers have died from the use of OEM printer ink. I purchased a large quantity of ink for the printers and don't print that often but when i do it's usually 100's pages. The OEM ink dried in the printers causing the ink flow to stop to the print head (I have another review on the OEM ink) - I've since purchased the Brother 420 which is almost as good as the 5840 but i sure do miss the paper capacity of the 5840! (The reason for the review is simply because I'm looking for a deal on another 5840!)
If you need fast text printing and built in network capability, this is one to consider!
Summary: Worked for 3.5 Years
Comment: I loved my printer until it died a week ago. It has started with error codes and the inability to print without white streaks. My guess is that it is having problems with the heads - since it is out of warranty it will cost around $100 to repair. But since it was also having trouble with picking up paper I do not think I will spend the $$ to repair.
The best thing about this printer is that it hooks up to a network. This is my most favorite feature. I have scanned, copied and faxed with the machine and everything worked great. Printing is the part of the machine that had ever given me any problems. Colors weren't as crisp and clear as other printers - and it definitely prints very slow when you print at high quality settings. I didn't have any problems with the printer going through ink too fast either. It does go through its own cleaning cycles on occasion - but not enough for me to notice. I probably went through a whole set of cartridges every 4-6 months.
I had a good run with this AIO - and I hope to trick it into letting me to continue to use the fax and scanner until I get to buy a new AIO.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Terrible machine! Don't waste your money
Comment: I bought this all in one printer approximately 7 months ago for my small office. I chose it over HP for monetary issues (the Brother was cheaper), and how sorry I am that I didn't go with the HP in the first place! I would give it 0 stars or even negative stars if that was an option.
Within a couple of weeks, the paper began jamming for no apparent reason. Every time this happens you have to remove the back cover, and this is a major pain and inconvenience. It is hard to reach and hard to see if you have the printer sitting with its back to the wall (like most people probably do).
I wish I could say paper jams were the only issue, but alas, it isn't so. This machine also decides to quit printing after about 1/4 to 1/2 of the page is complete, and all for no apparent reason. Turning the machine off and on doesn't fix the problem. It usually requires turning off the printer and shutting down the entire computer system and rebooting. And sometimes you have to do this 2 or 3 times in a row before it will start working again! This would be inconvenient if it happened every once in a great while, but it happens at least once a week and sometimes a couple times a week.
The clarity of the printing leaves a lot to be desired. The print (using standard paper), looks fuzzy. But even more disheartening is the amount of envelopes that have been ruined by this printer. For reasons as of yet unknown, it does not like to print envelopes, and will scrunch up the words into illegible, lop-sided print, making the envelope unusable. During the last printing session of 35 envelopes, only 9 printed perfectly (and "perfectly" still includes the slight fuzzy quality of the words). The other 26 envelopes were so flawed they had to be scrapped.
In addition to the fuzzy printing, and the scrunched up printing, this printer also splatters ink onto the top of the pages quite frequently. Again, not a very professional-looking image to have ink droplets on your letters and envelopes.
Also, as some other reviewers have said, this printer goes through ink like there's no tomorrow. And even if you don't use color printing, the cartridges still deplete and require changing if you're going to use the machine at all. I have printed only approximately 25 color pages in the past 7 months. Yet I have had to replace the color cartridges twice. And I think I'm now on the fifth or sixth black cartridge already.
I wrote to Brother on 4-26-07 regarding this printer and all its problems and they never responded. So I imagine they know what a waste of money it is and really don't have an explanation. I bought an HP LaserJet 1020 (printing capacity only) at the beginning of May and it is awesome. It has not ruined a single envelope and the print clarity is amazing. And it was only $79. I plan on replacing the Brother machine with an HP all in one soon.
In summary, avoid this machine at all costs, unless you don't mind running up your costs. If you don't like throwing money and time out the window, explore alternatives.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One year and eight days then dead
Comment: Great for basic fax/receive for a full year. A bit slow in printing - like most inkjet faxes. But then -- when we were just days past the warranty -- the machine jammed and reported "unable to print." The Brother website was no help. We ultimately had to replace the unit.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Does not work
Comment: This printer worked well for about a year, and then abruptly failed. None of the troubleshooting steps on the manufacturer's website worked. I don't recommend it..
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great for Home or Business!
Comment: I bought one of these printers and within a few weeks purchased a second. The clarity is great, photos were a little slower to print than I hoped but for regular printing, its fast! The dual trays are sweet! It's hard to find a printer with direct connection to a network that offers LAN Faxing and Scanning. Before i purchased this printer I read the 'box' about a dozen times on several visits before buying the first. I found it hard to believe for the price all the features worked as described but it worked so well it didn't take long before I bought a second one. I have a home office with 3 offices, 1 printer was in the lower office and another upstairs. If you noticed I stated that I 'had', both printers have died from the use of OEM printer ink. I purchased a large quantity of ink for the printers and don't print that often but when i do it's usually 100's pages. The OEM ink dried in the printers causing the ink flow to stop to the print head (I have another review on the OEM ink) - I've since purchased the Brother 420 which is almost as good as the 5840 but i sure do miss the paper capacity of the 5840! (The reason for the review is simply because I'm looking for a deal on another 5840!)
If you need fast text printing and built in network capability, this is one to consider!
Brother MFC-5840CN Network Color Inkjet Multifunction Printer with Photo Capture Center Reviews: Page 2 of 7
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