Customer reviews from brother-usa.com
Brother - MFC-9840CDW Wireless Color All-in-One Laser Printer
Average customer rating
3.7
(115 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 115 reviews
5 Stars
41
4 Stars
32
3 Stars
21
2 Stars
12
1 Star
9
71%of customers recommend this product.
(
81 out of
114)
Customer Reviews for Brother - MFC-9840CDW Wireless Color All-in-One Laser Printer
Customer Rating
4
Great Printer with one major flaw
on April 6, 2011
Posted by: Absolute
from Texas
I have had this printer to about 5 years. The print quality and speed are exceptional. The consumable cost is reasonable. The mechanism is very good. I use it to print mailings and the tray accommodates and feeds envelopes very well.
I have had very few problems with the unit.
I do however have two negative comments - one minor and one major.
Minor:
The output tray is not that well designed. If you print larger runs the output stack is a mess. Even using the little tab does not really help. The brand I had before this had a steeper receiving tray which worked better. But overall this is a very minor complaint and causes no real problems.
The output tray is not that well designed. If you print larger runs the output stack is a mess. Even using the little tab does not really help. The brand I had before this had a steeper receiving tray which worked better. But overall this is a very minor complaint and causes no real problems.
Major:
I discovered via some online research about 3 years into owning this unit that it calls for toner replacement (by calls for I mean it turns off and forces replacement of toner or reseting of counter) when your cartridges are somewhere between 40 and 60 percent full. This probably cost me 2 - 3 K over that time consumables.
I discovered via some online research about 3 years into owning this unit that it calls for toner replacement (by calls for I mean it turns off and forces replacement of toner or reseting of counter) when your cartridges are somewhere between 40 and 60 percent full. This probably cost me 2 - 3 K over that time consumables.
There is a way to work around this that I will not get into here. Since learning this method I am getting a significant higher number of copies from my toners without losing print quality.
I find this practice (which I can only believe is intentional) to be almost criminal. I buy onlly OEM products for quality. Buying toner is part of the deal. But the this is ridiculous. While the work around I mentioned does allow me to get the actual full life out of the toners, it does not allow me to know when I am running low, other than seeing the print quality degrade.
They should be able to manage this monitoring better. Causing consumers to throw away toner cartridges that are still half full is stupid, bad for the environment and poor quality in every way.
This may be a Brother issue on more models than this unit. It is too bad, because in almost every other way this is a absolutely great printer.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting brother-usa.com
Customer Rating
5
Very Capable System
on April 6, 2011
Posted by: lrwalker
from Little Rock, AR
I bought this system for my wife's new business over a year ago and it has been the workhorse for her ever since. The system itself was easy to set up. The software was a small issue because of Windows 7 I required a new version of the Brother software but their support team was great in troubleshooting that. I would recommend this device to any small office.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting brother-usa.com
Customer Rating
3
Some good things, some bad things
on April 6, 2011
Posted by: DaveA
from Miami
The machine works fine, except in two areas. The paper loader in scanning mode does not consistently take 20lb paper one page at a time. It often will take 2 or sometimes 3 pages at once. I have changed to using 24lb paper for documents I will need to scan, and that seems to work consistently. The other item is the very short life of the color toner cartridges, which are quite expensive. I have used two full sets of the color cartridges and still have not reached 5000 total pages printed, and the machine has told me to replace them. And MOST of my pages are black and white. In addition, it says that all 3 color cartidges have to be replaced, not just the one which is empty. It makes no sense to think that all 3 run out at exactly the same time. Decent quality of printed product, but I wouldn't buy it again, since the toner cost in less than a year are greater than the cost of the machine.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting brother-usa.com
Customer Rating
4
Best MFP I've Ever Owned
on April 6, 2011
Posted by: rtibbitts
from San Diego, CA
What doesn't this multi-function printer do well? In my opinion nothing - as long as you use OEM toner that is. I've tried a couple of off-brand toner cartridges and they just don't hold up to the pricey but high quality Brother cartridges. Aside from the high expense of these cartridges I love everything about this printer. I'm a Realtor so I'm constantly scanning single and double sided documents. The document feeder works almost flawlessly (ocasional jams but not many). I also do lots of duplex printing and love this feature. And having a wireless connection allows the rest of the family from anywhere in the house to access the printer too. I've had this printer three years. When it breaks down I'm sure I'll research what's out there, but expect I'll buy another MFC-9840 CDW!
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting brother-usa.com
Customer Rating
2
Disappointed
on April 5, 2011
Posted by: Ellie
from Idaho
After careful research of all available products in our price range this machine seemed to fit our needs.
Wrong decision. I love my Brother printers - cheap, fast, dependable. This MFC is slow to warm up, gives a "no paper" signal when paper is still in tray (although low), and the color reproduction as to be adjusted every single time we print from Quark or Pagemaker, and even then the colors are not as they should be.
On the plus side, B&W prints are clear and very fine and cost per piece is excellent.
We purchased it mostly for color printing/copying and would not recommend to anyone for that purpose. Unfortunately as a small nonprofit, we don't have the funds to buy a replacement machine and are stuck.
Final note: we brought IT folks in from a research center and they had no success figuring out how to setup the wireless connection with one of our Apple computers, our other Apple is connected by hardwire. The PCs all connected effortlessly when these experts arrived.
We have only three staff members and don't have the time to go through the hoops with Brother support to try to get it all straightened out. We bought it because it was presented as basically a machine anyone could network and get to perform as advertised. As I said: Disappointed
Disappointed.
Wrong decision. I love my Brother printers - cheap, fast, dependable. This MFC is slow to warm up, gives a "no paper" signal when paper is still in tray (although low), and the color reproduction as to be adjusted every single time we print from Quark or Pagemaker, and even then the colors are not as they should be.
On the plus side, B&W prints are clear and very fine and cost per piece is excellent.
We purchased it mostly for color printing/copying and would not recommend to anyone for that purpose. Unfortunately as a small nonprofit, we don't have the funds to buy a replacement machine and are stuck.
Final note: we brought IT folks in from a research center and they had no success figuring out how to setup the wireless connection with one of our Apple computers, our other Apple is connected by hardwire. The PCs all connected effortlessly when these experts arrived.
We have only three staff members and don't have the time to go through the hoops with Brother support to try to get it all straightened out. We bought it because it was presented as basically a machine anyone could network and get to perform as advertised. As I said: Disappointed
Disappointed.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting brother-usa.com
Customer Rating
2
Sub-par for purchase price
on April 4, 2011
Posted by: RockyMountain
from California
If you are looking for a good black and white printer, this one is decent. However, I have not been satisfied with its performance as a top-end "prosumer" model. My issues:
1. Operating costs. They are extremely high. The machine says toner runs out prematurely even though there is plenty left.
2. Color output. I cannot accurately reproduce colors, but more importantly I cannot print solid colors without some type of banding or shadowing.
3. Brother software is sub-par. I am constantly frustrated by the Brother Software locking up. Especially on the Mac it really needs some help.
4. Tray selection. This may or may not be a printer/driver issue, but it is constantly frustrating. Some programs will default to the manual tray with paper loaded there; others will ignore the manual tray with paper loaded unless it is specifically selected. Mostly switching between Word/Excel exhibits this behavior.
1. Operating costs. They are extremely high. The machine says toner runs out prematurely even though there is plenty left.
2. Color output. I cannot accurately reproduce colors, but more importantly I cannot print solid colors without some type of banding or shadowing.
3. Brother software is sub-par. I am constantly frustrated by the Brother Software locking up. Especially on the Mac it really needs some help.
4. Tray selection. This may or may not be a printer/driver issue, but it is constantly frustrating. Some programs will default to the manual tray with paper loaded there; others will ignore the manual tray with paper loaded unless it is specifically selected. Mostly switching between Word/Excel exhibits this behavior.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting brother-usa.com
Customer Rating
4
Has met nearly all of my home printing needs
on April 4, 2011
Posted by: Anonymous
from Chicago area, IL
The MFC-9840CDW is a Swiss Knife of laser printers, doing duplex printing, copying, faxing, and scanning- all of them well.
One negative I have run into so far is that I have had problems with the printer cartridges starting to leak print powder before they are empty. The spilled powder gets on documents, causing spots and smudges. This has been especially bad on the black, hi-capacity OEM cartridges (both of the last two I bought have had this problem; my magenta unit is also leaking and putting a magenta stripe on one side of some documents). They also do not use up nearly all of the print powder they contain, leaving about 2 or 3 ounces in the cartridge after starting to leak or when the display says it is time to replace them.
Another problem has been occuring lately- a squealing sound like a bad bearing somewhere that is running out of lubrication. If it gets any worse, I will need to call for service and hope that I read the warranty correctly and that it is fully covered for on-site repairs for one year after purchase.
Tip #1: If you are going to print envelopes, I recommend making the proper settings on the levers under the back panel. When set for envelopes, they print properly, and it doesn't seem to affect printing on other media.
Tip #2: If the printing starts to get white shadows around the characters printed on a colored background, running an auto registration procedure will get you back to crisp printing again.
Other than the problems noted above (unusable print powder, leaking cartridges, and squealing noise), I am fairly satisfied with the performance of my unit, which I have had for about 10 months now. Even though I use it at home only, I use it a lot (about 14,000 pages already), and, based on my experience so far, would recommend it to others who need a reliable, multi-function, duplexing, color laser printer.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting brother-usa.com
Customer Rating
4
A good color laser printer, but could be better!
on April 4, 2011
Posted by: clwrocks
While I like this printer there are many details that could be made better. It takes a while to warm up and since I am a home user I do not use it as frequently as an office user so when I need to print something and go this is inconvenient. The color print quality could also be better.
I have an issue with the way that Brother handles the toner cartridge when it is suppose to be empty. It is based on the number of uses and not of the fact that the cartridge is actually empty. There are ways around this which are posted elsewhere but I just wish they were more honest in their approach with an empty toner cartridge, it shows the integrity of a company.
I have had some problem when using Windows 7 with the printer being offline. I just checked my status monitor and it is offline right now. It may be attributable to a firewall but I don't think so as I have had the same security software for a while and the problem has been intermittent for a couple months now. Yes I have called tech support but still have the issue.
For the most part it has been reliable and that is appreciated. If they could work on some of the details this would be a great product.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Written by a customer while visiting brother-usa.com