- Multi-function unit prints, copies, scans, and faxes
- Prints up to 2400 x 600 dpi (HQ1200) at up to 20 ppm
- Multiple-copy up to 99 copies; up to 20 ppm copying speed
- USB 2.0, parallel, and Ethernet interfaces
- Dimensions: 17 x 11.6 x 15.6 in. (WxHxD)
Install/instructions:
The installation of this printer will be easy if you''re used to adding network printers. I was able to assign it an IP address easily and get it working without even looking at the instructions. The printer has a web page where you can adjust settings and so on, very easy to use. HOWEVER, to install the scanning functions was a totally different matter. That required the instruction book, which refers you to the electronic manual if you''re doing a network install. The instructions are incomplete and leave out some XP settings you need to adjust in order to use it. I had to call tech support to resolve the issue, but it was relatively quick and painless. They really need to make the instructions for this process more complete.
Print quality:
Print quality is excellent. The one problem, one that you''ve probably heard about, is that it curls the output paper. For small jobs this doesn''t tend to create issues other than the annoyance of your paper curling up at the ends. When printing ten pages or more though, they tend to fold over while outputting, thus jamming up the output tray and/or spilling papers on the floor. Sometimes this is just annoying, and sometimes it creates an internal paper jam. This gets to be a hassle when printing 30 copies of a 5-page test and the pages get all scrambled by the jam. This effect is always there, though certain kinds of paper seem to curl more than others.
Scanning:
There''s a really frustrating problem with the scanner feature. It auto-detects the edge of your paper such that you can not scan a larger area than the paper occupies on the glass. At first it seems like that wouldn''t be a problem, however the software forces a 1/8" blank margin around the image, which cuts off anything close to the edge of the paper. So if you have documents or photographs with important stuff close to the edge of the original, it will be lost and there''s no way to compensate. You can''t stretch the scan area, move the paper on the glass or anything else I''ve tried. You just have to give in to losing an eighth inch around the edges. Argh!
Toner:
On my first toner cartridge I got 2215 pages. Exactly 2215, and no more. Why does that matter? Because with most printers, when the toner gets low you can pull it out, rotate it a few times, put it back in and keep printing as long as you can tolerate the results. Not with this printer. Once it senses that the toner is low, it will never print another page from that cartridge. It displays a "toner low" message and refuses to print. This is especiallly irritating for a couple reasons. First, the pages still look perfect so I know there''s more toner in there and I''d like to use it until the pages look bad. Second, if it''s not a convenient time to run out of toner and you don''t have the replacement standing by, you''re not going to print a single page. You get NO warning, the printer just quits. This is unacceptable design in my opinion. When the pages start to look bad, I know the toner''s low. I should be able to keep printing as long as I can tolerate the results. Unacceptable.
[update 2/20/08: On later toner I have managed to remove the cartridge, rotate it to redistribute the toner inside, then put it back in the printer for a few more pages. Inevitably it does detect that toner is low and refuses to print until you repeat the process, but at least you can finish the print job without being stranded. This really is an unacceptable ''feature''. A warning that toner is low might be nice but refusing to print when the pages still look fine is just bullying us to waste money, and I resent that emphatically.]
Telephone Answering Devcice (TAD):
This multifunction printer will allow you to connect to a telephone answering machine. It automatically detects if an unanswered call is a fax or voice call. It will route the call accordingly, either to the fax or to the TAD. The one thing about this that they bury in the fine print is that in order for this to work the TAD has to be plugged into the jack on the printer itself, thus meaning the printer and answering machine must be located together. I find this to be a significant drawback because I would rather have the TAD in the kitchen where we''ve always kept it. Now instead we have to keep it way back in my office wiht the printer where we don''t spend a lot of time, and especially not convenient when returning home to check for messages.
That''s my roundup of the important issues you might not know by reading the specs. Other than these I am very happy with the printer and would reccommend it as long as you can live with these few shortcomings.
UPDATE:
After using this printer for 6 months, the curling problem has gotten worse. The printer jams much more easily in the output tray than it did originally. Also the pickup mechanism often jams when pulling fresh paper from the tray. It is working OK, but it seems that it''s not going to last too much longer without crippling problems.
3-year Update:
I am now quite impressed by this printer. After three years of pretty heavy use this guy is still doing great. It has lasted much longer than I expected for a ''cheapo'' consumer grade laser printer. The paper curling is still a hassle, but the low toner warning problem has improved somewhat. It now lets me remove the cartridge, shake it around and re-insert for more printing, however it will only do a couple pages at a time before it senses the low toner and stops again, forcing me to repeat the process--but at least I can work at it and get my job printed instead of being stranded. It tried an office-depot brand cartridge last time which was total crap, it made streaks and uneven print density on anything that wasn''t text. Just buck up and get the real Brother toner, the ''equivalent replacements'' are no such thing.
Buy Brother MFC-7820N 5-in-1 Network Monochrome Laser Multifunction Center Now
After months and months of market research and reading endless reviews of Brother multifunction machines, I am so glad I chose the Brother 7820N as my business machine. All my friends and associates said to stick to HP for laser, but I am telling you... HP should stick to 1 function laser printing and ultrasound machines as Brother is the KING of multi-functions!!!!!I have had this machine since the beginning of March and even with fairly heavy daily use, I have not had one single complaint. The unit is small, but performs better than most of the Canon and HP monstrocities that I have worked with in offices. I guess this proves that bigger isn''t better.
I run an outsource admin and bookkeeping company and this machine keeps up just fine. The set-up was easy and the functions are user-friendly. Faxes are clear, photocopies are fast and printing is crisp. The unit seems to take a lot of the heavier card stock and labels through the manual feed just dandy it hasn''t choked yet! I have not had to clear any paper jams so the only time I''ve been into the front panel was to load the start-up toner, which by the way I have yet to replace!!!!
I highly recommend this machine. I''ve worked with printers, scanners, copiers and faxes for 16 years and I can tell you... when it comes to multi-function Brother knows what they''re doing. Do yourself a favor and buy one.
Oh yeah... the best part I already received my $50.00 rebate from Brother!!!!
Read Best Reviews of Brother MFC-7820N 5-in-1 Network Monochrome Laser Multifunction Center Here
Update 6/30/06: The rebate did finally show up, but it took a month longer than promised!The printer still works and I''ve applied patches that probably fix the setup bug below. Brother''s web site and patch software distribution is very hard to figure out, but this really has been a great purchase over time. I regularly fax from it, copy from it, scan from it, and even print from it. My wife, who was quite skeptical about the value of this complex beast (she''s usually right to be skeptical) is a huge fan.
An OS X update broke the abiity to send a scan to OS X. I didn''t fuss with this as it ended up being just as easy for me to launch the scan from OS X. I''m not sure this works that well with XP either -today''s firewalls make this hard.
I gave this a 3 star rating originally, but now I''d say 5 stars.
-------Original review ----------------------
I have both XP and OS X Tiger (10.4.2) machines on my home LAN. I installed the brother to both machines. In both cases I downloaded the very latest software patches from Brother''s site.
The XP install went rather well, but I realized too late the downloaded drivers didn''t include the OCR shttp://g-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/reviews/preview-your-review.gifoftware. Annoying. I''d recommend doing the CD install first then downloading and updating from the downloads.
The OS X install was another story. Actually, this is pretty outrageous. Bonjour (was Rendezvous) install didn''t work at all. The printer didn''t appear in my network display.
It took about a half hour of late night hacking and googling and amazon review reading to figure out that Brother misconfigured the printer. They didn''t define something called a ''mDNS'' name. Without this name Bonjour/Rendezvous doesn''t work.
How do you define this? Well, to make a long story short, dig through the CD and find the help file called ALL_EngNet.pdf. Chapter 7 describes the browser interface. Use your browser and the IP address of the brother to get the web UI. You need the admin un of ''admin'' and pw of ''access''. (This is publicly downloadable, not secret, you can chang pw.) Then from the home page click Network Configuration then click on configuremDNS, then name the machine (BrotherMFC works). Now you can add it as a printer.
It''s astounding that Brother doesn''t even mention this on their web site help files. It''s a pretty darned serious bug.
I''ll add the rest of my experience later. The Mac is definitely a poor cousin for this device. It does appear, however, that (contrary to the Brother specs) it is possible to fax to a Mac.
Update: I''ve definitely warmed to this device. I''ve an evolving review with comments on both XP and OS X experiences in my blog. Amazon does not permit URL inclusion in reviews, but for more information go to Google''s blog search and search Gordon and 7820N.
The XP support is better than the Mac support, but a geek armed with my review will have no trouble getting this machine working well with OS X -including push button scanning directly to disk! (I suspect there may be some nasty security implications here ...) It''s not, however, a device for the average user. It really needs a geek to install and configure it.
Want Brother MFC-7820N 5-in-1 Network Monochrome Laser Multifunction Center Discount?
''Old Reliable'' -aka my Samsung ML 1210 -was wheezing more than a climber at the top of Everest. My Panasonic fax was as feisty as ever, grabbing 4 pages at a time while sending/receiving faxes Jackson Pollack-style. It was time for an upgrade. Wow; what a step up.Of all the companies to offer ''true'' OS X, Mac-compatibility, surprising to see it from a traditionally fax machine/label maker one. Brother''s MFC 7820N software functionality is flawless for my wife and I''s iBook''s, running 10.3 and 10.4, respectively. True ''touch controls'' power this unit, the Control Center software allows seamless and intelligent faxing, copying and scanning to customizable folders, email locations, etc. I did a double-take when spotting PC Fax capability LIMITED TO MAC''s(!). Control Center is so Mac-friendly, it even comes with software for folks running OS 9.
Moreover, setting up this unit to print wirelessly from a network was a snap. It quickly linked up with my Belkin Wireless Access Point, finally allowing affordable printing AND faxing (from local files) without being tethered to a desk. The Remote Setup function is likewise very clean; a nice break from endless scrolling across the sharp LCD. I still, however, face the occasional (once every month, on average) software glitch in print jobs not communicating wirelessly with the printer. Turning the system off/on again solves the problem pronto.
Hardware-wise, the MFC 7820N is standard quality for multifunction units...hardened plastic with decent give...although with a much smaller footprint than competitors (including several from Brother). To put size into perspective, the MFC 7820N is approximately 1/3rd wider than standalone, monochrome laser printers, same height. Dig the large slide out paper try + print output at the center of the unit. No paper mess spewing from this one. Related, the paper feed (at early review) is outstanding. Take that, Panasonic fax.
Cost-wise, the MFC 7820N is a steal, a couple hundred bucks less than similarly featured units. Toner can be had at 1/2 the price of most conventional laser units -$40 or lower.
Nearly 8 months in, I am left wondering why I stomached the high pitched squeal of my ML 1210 for this long. This Mac user finds the MFC 7820N a winner.
Power HogYes, I suppose it is. But my old HP-5L laser made the lights flicker a little too, but it never even came close to blowing a circuit and actually became a reliable way to tell that the machine was printing from a distance. (my glass half full view there...) But since I was really replacing a recently deceased Brother FAX-2600 (fax only) I figured I''d check the power specs on that. They are identical. And that machine never created a problem in the house either. So do I wish it ran on air? Yes. Is there a better alternative overall? In my opinion, no.
Paper curlingIn my unit, not a problem at all. It is so minor I wouldn''t even think to mention it if I hadn''t been so worried about it based on previous comments.
Output trayAgain, a non-issue to me. I haven''t done a run of 250 sheets, but the 30-40 I have done was neatly stacked in place without even fully using the extension gizmo provided.
Paper feedThe automatic feed on top works great. No problems with crooked copies here. The manual feeder is in fact pretty bogus. Crooked copies do seem to be the norm. For me this isn''t a big problem, but it should have been better designed.
NoiseGuilty as charged. The machine resides 5 feet from my bed, and night faxes are a nuisance. But it''s not much louder than the Brother Fax-2600 I replaced. So if you want a laser machine, it probably goes with the territory. If it gets to be in issue (freakin junk faxes!) I''ll set it to receive to memory at night. In practically any other setting, the noise would not be an issue.
ScannerHaven''t tried it. But for the 2 times a year I will use it, if it''s that bad I''ll get out the Epson scanner I just shoved in the closet... The rest of the time I''ll enjoy the liberated desk space and the ability to make copies on the flat glass when needed.
Now the positives. Set up was simple. It is fast at printing and responds to network commands 10 times faster than my old HP did. (It had an Ethernet print server attached to the parallel port. It used to spend a lot of time deciding whether or not it was going to print my documents. Whether it printed the whole document or not never seemed to be up to me...) Print quality is excellent. Not quite up to the old HP-5L, but better than I expected. Fax works well and is more than adequate for most SOHO needs. In fact, the only other machine I was seriously considering, because a fax is essential to my business, was the Brother FAX 2820. The 2820 is essentially the way ugly dedicated fax version of the MFC-7820. For a few dollars more I got a new network laser printer, a far faster modem, more memory, a sleeker looking unit and a lot of free space in my office/bedroom where the other machines used to be.
So yeah, I love it. If it holds up, I''ll be a happy camper...
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