Brother MFC-7820N 5-in-1 Network Monochrome Laser Multifunction Center
by Brother Printer
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List Price: Our Price: $199.00 You Save: $50.99 (20%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Brother MFC-7820N 5-in-1 Network Monochrome Laser Multifunction Center
Customer Review: The perfect buy for the money.
Summary: 4 Stars
I have had this printer for only two weeks, but so far it has performed admirably. Although it does have some limitations, one expects these with such an inexpensive network all-in-one printer. Only a few things have bothered me about this printer, and one of them is software based.
First, this printer does not seem to be able to print on 24# parchment paper, even if there doesn't seem to be any texture to it (I can't detect any, at least). I have tried changing settings, but nothing appears to make any difference, and ghosting occurs every time. Oddly enough, the printer ghosted on everything I printed until I took out the toner and cleaned it.
The other major problem I noticed was in scanning multiple two-sided pages, but this relates to the software. The pages get messed up, no matter what order I put them in. I flip them over, and the pages go backwards on one side. Frustrating if you want to copy a two-sided packet.
But, on the other hand, the printer has some excellent pros. First and foremost is that this was the cheapest network all-in-one laser printer I could find. Our former printer was not networked, and we had to have my wife's computer on to print, which was a pain. Having it on a network means we can print with either of our computers on as well as wirelessly with our laptop.
Also, while the curling up that others have reported has occurred, the pages, as long as they're not too moist, flatten out quite quickly afterward. The prints appear to be great (after cleaning the toner up), and the paper feeder has not given me any issues (yet).
This printer will not function like a $300-$400 printer, but that's to be expected. For the money, this printer is fantastic, except for the caveats I've noticed.
Customer Review: Excellent bang for your printing buck
Summary: 5 Stars
I've owned Brother printers for years now. They're inexpensive, include much needed standard features, and last. We've had another bigger, more capable Brother printer/copier at work (MFC-8840DN) that prints hundreds, if not thousands of pages per month, and it has performed more reliably than our previous Xerox. The MFC-7820N is a home or small office printer/copier/color scanner/fax machine with a small footprint and ethernet network connectivity. It was easy to set up based on my experience with Brother network printers. You should know that it's best if you DO NOT set it up to use the DHCP server to assign it an IP address. It's best if you assign it an address manually so that it remains fixed, in case you lose power or have to shut it off to re-set it (neither of which has happened to me yet, but did with my previous ink jet Brother). I set it up to be used with my Macintosh AND with my wife's laptop PC, and it has worked flawlessly. The Mac sees it on the network and you can add it easily. The PC uses the driver software that goes through all the install steps, pretty much by itself, with little input from the user. I manually set up its IP address (on the printer controls) to 192.168.2.119 but that depends on your particular network. Just make sure you don't have a duplicate address on your network. You can also connect it via USB directly to your computer.
I would highly recommend this printer if you don't need color printing (it scans in color though). My personal experience is that color is rarely needed unless you plan on printing color reports or photos. Do yourself a favor and save lots of $$, take your color report files to Kinkos, your picture files to Walgreens, and stick to a monochrome (B/W) laser for home. This Brother prints quickly and beautifully.
Customer Review: Nice bargain with a little disappointment
Summary: 4 Stars
In general, this is a very good produce with bargain price. It does everything that it claims. It's very easy to setup without manual. It works immediately after plug into network. I use web interface to configure. It only takes a couple of minutes. This thing comes with web server, ftp server(I still don't know what to do with ftp server. Transfer stored fax?), telnet console, DHCP, WINS etc.... this is more like a router! It can copy, scan, fax without any problem. And it is worth the price.
A few things you need to know before you purchase. I am a little disappointed that they can make a print as a router, but they cannot do some basic funtionalities.
1) Limited support on windows 2003. ONLY printting is supported! (Well, make more room for a high end product?) Too bad, I cannot use terminal server to send fax or scan.
2) You cannot receive fax from PC if you connect 7820N over network. You have to connect USB or LPT port in order to receive a fax. (Well, this is not too hard to do, right? You made send fax working over network, why not receive?) Manual and online support don't mention that at all. Until I read someone's comment online and reinstall with local USB driver. Then fax receive appears. That means you can only receive fax from only one PC.
3) Online support doesn't provide any useful information regarding software update. You don't know the software/driver they put on their web site are the same as they shipped on CD. No changes log for any Firmware update. This stopped me upgrading firmware. For example, latest firmware on support is v2.1.0. And my 7820N says current firmware is version G. (Are they talking about same product firmware update?)
Well, in summary, it's a nice product with nice price.
Customer Review: Does what it says, and has a good web management console
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a really nice printer-scanner-fax for its price: perfect for casual home printing or even a small office. The printer has a webpage where you can see how many pages have been printed, scanned, faxed etc. The speed is good - a 20ppm laser is way way faster than a 20 ppm inkjet since the inkjet only gives the 20ppm speed at its lowest (almost unusable) settings while the laser gives it at its normal settings. Another advantage over the inkjet is, it can print a large document (100 page or maybe more) without getting stuck or running out of paper - my previous brother inkjet MFC always ran into paper jam or something if printed 40 or more pages at once.
I have not had any problems with it in the last few months I have had it.
Faxing and scanning work over the network as well, aside from printing. And thats not just on the home network: with a little configuration of ports on your home router, you can even access the printer from outside your home. You may say thats not very useful since you need to be home to pick up the printout but it is a good feature to have for some occasional usefulness. I once printed a document when connected to the Internet at an airport, just to have it ready for reading when I got back home.
It automatically enters a low power mode if not used for 5 minutes (can increase the timeout to more than 5 minutes on its management webpage if needed). The low power mode is absolutely quiet since theres no fan running.
It seems the unit has an FTP server but that is not documented and I could not figure out how to really use it- I put a file in its FTP folder, the unit automatically deleted the file. And maybe I should have expected this, it printed the file before deleting it.
Customer Review: Does every thing well.
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchase this machine about a month ago. I have a printer and a scanner already, so this is used primarily as a fax machine and a backup printer. Physically this is a nice, compact machine that fits well on a small desk. Though primarily plastic, it does have a robust feel to it. Setting up under windows xp could not be any easier. I have mine in a network and all my computers found the machine without any problem. Once a computer is registered, this machine can scan to any computer on the network. I had difficulty using the control panel to scan to a computer at first, but once I turned off the firewall, the scan to computer function works flawlessly. As a fax machine, it is awesome. There is so much flexibility with sending and receiving that I'll never go back to a lesser machine. Faxes are fast and the come through with good quality. The document feeder is excellent...I've not had a jam yet. As a printer, text quality is excellent, graphics is so-so. It warms up quickly and is impressively fast. It does make light flicker as other reviewers noted, but it has not triggered my 15a circuit breaker yet. All my laser printers cause lights to flicker. The scanner is slightly slow and the quality is noticeably worse compared to my epson scanner. But overall scan quality is certainly acceptable. I find the software suite useless. The only function I'm interested in is the pc fax. Unfortunately, it does not let you send a file (such as a word document) directly as a fax. You have to print it, then fax it. Overall, this is an excellent, flexible machine that is also an excellent value. I'm real pleased with my decision.
Edit: actually, I found that I can fax documents using the software. Totally awesome!