Brother MFC-8860DN All-In-One Laser Printer

My Brother—been never better

Posted Mar 24, 2008 - I finally bought the right printer and I am thoroughly satisfied. Everything works—everything! Duplex printing: fascinating to watch. Envelope printing: exact without bent or creased corners. It copies and faxes both sides and works seamlessly with my Mac Leopard. One reviewer commented that their unit seemed "A little loud when printing" but I find the noise level acceptable, and like them, I find the speed, overall print quality, and general excellent functionality superb. Comparing the Brother MFC-8860-DN to my old and vanquished HP 3330, well, there is no comparison. Like I said, everything on the Brother is well thought out and functions. I have not had the need to call Brother's tech support for any reason. By the way, for what it's worth, after retiring the HP, I bought an Epson CX11NF. After almost a year of trying to fix it, Epson finally bought it back. So, if you have the urge to buy a color laser printer my advice is to sit down until the thought goes away. Color is simply not worth the expense or the trouble and mess of having four toners to replace/refill. Don't do it. If your looking for a multi-function laser printer and can live without color, you will be pleased with the Brother 8860. Thanks Keith

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A Dream Machine

Posted Apr 26, 2007 - I got this machine about 6 months ago and feel it is now safe to tell everybody what a gem this is. After struggling with a Xerox multifunction machine for years, this Brothers MFC-8860DN is a real pleasure to use. It does everything and does it well. I got it from Provantage, a vendor I had not dealtr with previously. I got a great price and prompt delivery!

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Good value for price range

Posted Mar 26, 2007 - All in all, I'm very pleased with this machine. The creaks and pops noted by others at warmup do not bother me. The lack of a single page bypass is somewhat annoying, however - you can't simply feed a single envelope without reconfiguring the paper tray. The most annoying thing with the scanner is probably software related. When you open the scan screen, the paper size is set at A4 - even though you set the properties to letter, the scan screen is always at A4 and has to be manually set to letter FOR EACH SCAN...very annoying. Other than those two gripes, everything else works as it should and quickly. Fix those two problems, add color and it would be my perfect machine...

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Great Printer

Posted Feb 27, 2007 - I've only had this printer for a day, but it's really nice. My wife needs to print duplex all the time to save paper plus less paper to carry around. It also doesn't take much space.

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Brother MFC860DN

Posted May 18, 2006 - I love it, everyday I find somthing this machine does that I love, so far I love the fact when you fax all the paper goes thru and comes out, then the fax goes thru, I'm not sitting & waiting to re-file my papers if their fax is slow at the other end. I kept my other printer for color reasons. But I send 3 pages to the old printer & three to the new one & the new one is done bofore the old one is half way thru the first page. It's great, so far very happy. I get more done & faster. I save paper using the duplexing feature. This is a small one woman office, it's more then I need, but I deserve it. The copy's are very crisp, 10 times better then my ink jet. I'll never go back.

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Excellent MFC, easy install, flawless duplex

Posted Sep 17, 2006 - We purchased this product about 3 months ago. We bought this product because my wife wanted the duplex capability for home-schooling. We love the speed and ease of us for this product. We have a 4ppm HP Laserjet 4P that I bought while in college 12 years ago. 30ppm is so much faster. When I print a document less than about five pages on this printer, it is normally done before I walk over to it. The duplexer works flawlessly. It even scans and copies duplex automatically. The startup control center is fully capable of controlling the printer from your computer. It is possible to scan directly to a file, image, or OCR. It will also send a PC fax or make copies from the computer, although these both seem to be easier to do at the printer itself. I liked the idea of hooking this printer to our network via an ethernet cable, but our router is upstairs and this printer is downstairs. So, instead of spending the extra $100+ for the flagship model that has wireless, we spent $100 on a DLink DPR-1260 to hook the printer into our wireless network. This printer does fine on our wireless network. Just be aware that most print servers do not support scanning, you will have to unplug the printer from your print server and directly into your computer. Although, I haven't tried using scanning while using an ethernet connection to my laptop.

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Versatile document center

Posted Nov 26, 2006 - I needed to replace an ordinary laser printer (NEC 870) but settled on this Brother 8860DN, which has a boatload of features that I don’t use. Yet, I am extremely pleased with this machine. The 8860DN, at heart, is made up of a very good duplex laser printer and a fine multi-sheet feed scanner. The printer churns out word docs in a blur. Text is sharp and graphics decent. Duplex (two-sided printing) shrinks the stack on big print jobs and saves paper. In two months of moderate use, the paper feed has only jammed once, due to old cruddy paper that confounded the duplex mechanism. The flatbed scanner/copier works real well. No more 10-cent copies at the local CVS. Color graphics and photo scanning doesn’t quite match the Epson Perfection 1660 Photo, but most of the time, speed takes precedent over super-fine resolution. The multi-sheet feeder tray works like a charm. Thanks two the printer’s duplex capabilities, the copier can make double-sided copies and combine two single sided docs to a double-sided copy. All this is easier to use than the Xerox at work. Used the OCR a couple of times. Fairly accurate and fast. Haven’t used the fax yet or the message center. Some had complained of noise. The unit sits silently in sleep mode most of the time and kicks up in a whirl upon receiving a print or copy job. Yes, a few clicks from the drum as the toner heats, but nothing out of the ordinary from usual drone/beeping of office equipment. Unless you work in a sound-recording booth, I wouldn’t worry about noise on this unit. From reviews elsewhere, I also read concerns about power consumption. Its powered from a home basement outlet with four power protectors sustaining: three computers, a monstrous 21” and a big 19” CRT monitor, a photo scanner, two high-powered lamps, cable modem, routers, two sets of speakers. Lights haven’t dimmed and every unit works fine. Overall, the breadth of this unit’s functions probably exceeds the needs of my home-office, but the printing/scanning/copying features work so well, I was glad to pay a bit more for the convenience.

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MFC 8860

Posted Jan 19, 2007 - I used to share an office with several attorneys, and we had some pretty good office equipment. I just moved my office to my home, and not having the resources for the fancy printers and copiers, I bought this one, and am very pleased. It sits 3 feet behind me, and I have no problem with the noise. However, it does sit in a rest mode for about 30 minutes before "going to sleep", and during that period there is a buzz, which might drive some folks a little batty. I could probably set the sleep mode to a different timer setting. The scanner is slower than I would like, but it's as fast as any dedicated scanner in that price range - about 8 pages/minute, b&w. After about 7000 pages, everything is working great, and I hope it's durable, but at this price, I can buy a new one every year!

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Good product.

Posted Nov 29, 2006 - MFC-8860DN is the best all-in-one I have used. It prints, copies, and scans, and best of all, in duplex (double sided). In addition, you can scan to PDF (via email or FTP). So the machine is ideal for small businesses (e.g. 5-20 people). Finally, the print speed is amazing, about 25ppm. With this machine, you don't need to lease those expensive copiers anymore (easily 200 to 400 per month).

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Brother printer - NEVER

Posted Mar 9, 2007 - I was with HP for 15-20 years, needed MFP read all reviews here and decided that MFC-8860DN will be a good choice (other option was HP 3055). It has everything I need – copier, network print, scan, fax. Easy setup (I am in IT for 25+ years). Everything was almost perfect. The only complaint you need to keep in mind – IT EATS 1100 WATTS when starts printing – light could flash. It was OK, until I reached 1500 pages mark – it start printing small dots every ~3”. No problem – need to clean everything (per my experience and confirmed on Brother’s web site). Cleaned – it was the biggest mistake – all outputs were with tons of small dots all around the page. Called Support 2 times. After few hours of troubleshooting – they advised me to replace DRAM. Hey – its only 1500 pages, nowhere close to promised 25000! After I mentioned it, they offered me 75% discount on it. What’s about warranty? Sorry. I spoke to supervisor, he explained that Support in Philippines can’t do it, the only option – to call USA office. I replaced DRAM. Now counter shows around 2000 pages and I have same problem again. Hey, I heard this before – never say never. Still as of today: I would NEVER, NEVER buy Brother printer/MFC again!!!

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First Rate Machine!

Posted Feb 19, 2007 - I suffered for years with a Xerox multifunction machine that failed often and could only be serviced by shipping it back to the factory. This machine is like a breath of fresh air. When you push the button or click the mouse, it does every is says it is going to do. It is loaded with features. A real pleasure to use. PS - It cost less than the Xerox and the supplies cost less.

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