Customer Rating: 
Summary: Very good printer for the money
Comment: I purchased this printer because I purchased a HP Officejet 7410 last year and have had many problems with the wireless interface and software. The Brother is less than half the money and works much better than the HP. The paper handling of the Brother is the only weak item. The plastic is cheap and low quality. It works OK, but it is low quality.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Recommend this unit highly
Comment: I shopped and asked everyone I know about these multi function units. The Brother is compact, easy to set up, looks great, and works great.
I know several people who bought the HP unit and it eats ink and breaks down. My brother has performed flawlessly. A very nice purchase
Customer Rating:
Summary: Oh, Brother! Wireless That Needs A Wire.
Comment: Why a one star review? Well, you can get all of the 820-CW's functionality in a less expensive, "wired" Brother printer with the same form factor. So if you're paying the extra bucks for this unit, it's for the wireless convenience--and wireless is the one feature that the 820-CW executes most poorly.
Set-up with my MacBook was a breeze, and initial testing led me to believe that I had found a great wireless printing solution at a reasonable price. But, as another reviewer noted and as I soon found out, the problem is that the 820-CW constantly drops its wireless connection--even if you're within a few feet. To restore it, you have to unplug, wait a half-minute or so, then replug and allow the unit to reboot. Toggling the on/off switch on the control panel would be easier, but that doesn't seem to work--I'm guessing that "off" via the switch is more like sleep rather than a true shutdown.
WiFi technology has come a long way in the last few years, and there's just no excuse for a product with such poor wireless performance to be released to the public in 2006. If you've been waiting to get a wireless printer, I'd strongly suggest waiting longer and not buying the 820-CW.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Weak Wireless
Comment: I like the machine as an all-in-one, but I am certainly disappointed with the wireless connectivity. My MFC-820CW is about 8 feet from my wireless hub, unobstructed. None of the other four computers in my home, of varying ages, have any problem connecting with it. But the MFC-820CW cannot seem to maintain a connection for more than about one minute - and after losing the connection, it seems to just give up.
My routine now is to print a document, and then go and unplug the printer and plug it back in. That generally wakes up the wireless connection and allows the printing to proceed, albeit slowly. I may switch to USB, although at least this way I don't have to actually bring the computer to the printer ;-)
Anyway, overall I love the form-factor, and for the rest of the limited use I have put it to I am quite satisfied. I don't like the seemingly-non-detachable advertising stickers which come on top of the actual machine, but perhaps I just haven't tried hard enough to remove them.
Also I would comment that several of the early reviews on this site re-appear, word-for-word, on other sites and I personally suspect - strongly - of being placed here by marketers for the product. It will be easy to spot which ones they are - sort of a Turing Test for amazon reviews.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Terrific Printer for the Money; Handles the Basics Well
Comment: I also did plenty of research and bottom line ... I was looking for a multi-function (printer, fax, copy, scan) that did wireless out of the box without any added print server hardware and so forth. I purchased it for slightly over $200 from Amazon. This unit worked great out of the box. The wireless config was a breeze and the color screen made configuration especially easy. It prints well, copies well, and the software for the PC seems to work nicely and simply. This is not a top of the line multi-function ... but if you need quick and easy wireless printing, decent print quality, and don't print huge volume ... this is a nice choice.
Summary: Very good printer for the money
Comment: I purchased this printer because I purchased a HP Officejet 7410 last year and have had many problems with the wireless interface and software. The Brother is less than half the money and works much better than the HP. The paper handling of the Brother is the only weak item. The plastic is cheap and low quality. It works OK, but it is low quality.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Recommend this unit highly
Comment: I shopped and asked everyone I know about these multi function units. The Brother is compact, easy to set up, looks great, and works great.
I know several people who bought the HP unit and it eats ink and breaks down. My brother has performed flawlessly. A very nice purchase
Customer Rating:
Summary: Oh, Brother! Wireless That Needs A Wire.
Comment: Why a one star review? Well, you can get all of the 820-CW's functionality in a less expensive, "wired" Brother printer with the same form factor. So if you're paying the extra bucks for this unit, it's for the wireless convenience--and wireless is the one feature that the 820-CW executes most poorly.
Set-up with my MacBook was a breeze, and initial testing led me to believe that I had found a great wireless printing solution at a reasonable price. But, as another reviewer noted and as I soon found out, the problem is that the 820-CW constantly drops its wireless connection--even if you're within a few feet. To restore it, you have to unplug, wait a half-minute or so, then replug and allow the unit to reboot. Toggling the on/off switch on the control panel would be easier, but that doesn't seem to work--I'm guessing that "off" via the switch is more like sleep rather than a true shutdown.
WiFi technology has come a long way in the last few years, and there's just no excuse for a product with such poor wireless performance to be released to the public in 2006. If you've been waiting to get a wireless printer, I'd strongly suggest waiting longer and not buying the 820-CW.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Weak Wireless
Comment: I like the machine as an all-in-one, but I am certainly disappointed with the wireless connectivity. My MFC-820CW is about 8 feet from my wireless hub, unobstructed. None of the other four computers in my home, of varying ages, have any problem connecting with it. But the MFC-820CW cannot seem to maintain a connection for more than about one minute - and after losing the connection, it seems to just give up.
My routine now is to print a document, and then go and unplug the printer and plug it back in. That generally wakes up the wireless connection and allows the printing to proceed, albeit slowly. I may switch to USB, although at least this way I don't have to actually bring the computer to the printer ;-)
Anyway, overall I love the form-factor, and for the rest of the limited use I have put it to I am quite satisfied. I don't like the seemingly-non-detachable advertising stickers which come on top of the actual machine, but perhaps I just haven't tried hard enough to remove them.
Also I would comment that several of the early reviews on this site re-appear, word-for-word, on other sites and I personally suspect - strongly - of being placed here by marketers for the product. It will be easy to spot which ones they are - sort of a Turing Test for amazon reviews.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Terrific Printer for the Money; Handles the Basics Well
Comment: I also did plenty of research and bottom line ... I was looking for a multi-function (printer, fax, copy, scan) that did wireless out of the box without any added print server hardware and so forth. I purchased it for slightly over $200 from Amazon. This unit worked great out of the box. The wireless config was a breeze and the color screen made configuration especially easy. It prints well, copies well, and the software for the PC seems to work nicely and simply. This is not a top of the line multi-function ... but if you need quick and easy wireless printing, decent print quality, and don't print huge volume ... this is a nice choice.
Brother MFC-820cw Wireless Network Color Injet Multi-Function Center w/2.5" Color Flip up LCD Reviews: Page 4 of 4
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