Brother MFC-5890CN user reviews

Pros This product is great. I am a tester for Windows 7 and I had no trouble installing this in my computer. I have a dual boot system and installed it on my XP also and works great.

Cons Large foot print but what do you expect for a machine that will print 11X17 pages.

Summary Need to adjust the print settings for pictures. They have a default setting and you need to tweak it for much better picture quality. I love having separate tanks for the ink. When one runs low you just replace that one and not all of the color ink. Very BIG cost savings too me. I use this for work and it is much better than the 500 dollar machines that we use at work for printing. Get some good quality paper if you want to print pictures.Big screen for easy set up and use. Network able this is a huge factor that at first I did not think I would use but I added a computer to the house since I bought this and all I did was add the software to the new computer and presto I have t a printer with out having to buy another one. Bought on sale at Best Buy and glad that I did. I will never look back at the old HP that I replaced. Well OK I did have fun smashing it and then recycling it.

Pros It comes with extra software for image and document enhancement, I love that I can plug my camera card directly into it, I haven't tried the Ledger size printing yet. And it hasn't used any ink to speak of, where my other printer would have already.

Cons Can't think of any yet.

Summary For my business, it was important for me to be able to print borderless so when I'm creating a brochure I don't have to leave my home, go to the printers, go back home, fix it, on and on. Now I can print it directly here and make corrections. And as I design book covers, it will be great for printing out a book cover draft for the client to see without having to send it to the publisher for them to print it. All in all, even though I've not even had it one month, I am just in love with it. What more can I say.

Pros 1) Price (refurbished w/ $25 coupon) was under $85 shipped with tax.
2) Very easy to setup- under 15 minutes.
3) Works better than my old Brother MFC-5440 that it replaced.
4) 11x17 printing is a plus for when I may need it.
5) Low cost ink.

Cons 1) Takes up a little more desk space than my old MFC.

Summary ***This review is for a refurbished machine***

My Brother MFC-5440CN died after many years and pages recently and I searched for a replacement. I had used mainly HP Deskjets & Officejets before that one. It seemed like every machine I looked at from HP, Epson, Lexmark, Brother, etc. had mixed reviews (much like the one here at CNET for the 5890- editors hated it, users loved it). My install and use will of course be somewhat skewed since this machine sets up and operates much the same as my old one.

The HP reviews seemed better than average, but their consumables cost was a good bit higher than the Brother. Lexmark had a big ad campaign for a printer that used $5 ink, but I couldn't find the $5 ink anywhere, plus the printer was nearly twice the cost of this one. Since I had a good experience with my old machine, I leaned towards this brand.

I need mostly a printer, but on occasion will need to scan or send/receive a fax. The PC-fax capability of the Brother line is handy. I did not want a wireless capable printer, since I was set up for a hard wired installation. While I picked the 5890 mainly due to the price and deal, the features it has such as 11x17 printing are icing on the cake. The color LCD display is a nice upgrade from the basic panel on my old printer. I was used to the network cable jack being inside the machine on my old machine, and this one had connectors in all the same places.

On Windows XP, the setup went perfectly, and the machine was detected via my third-party firewall. The main differences I've noted on this one vs. the 5440 so far are as follows:
1) Larger (for 11x17 paper)- only like 2" deeper though
2) Color LCD display panel
3) Paper tray with lid and guides for several sizes of paper/printing stock
4) Uses LC61 (std capacity) and LC65 (high capacity) ink cartridges
5) Ink loads w/o opening the top part of the machine
6) Media card ports
7) Scan to FTP capability

I was up & running inside of 15 minutes, to include setting the date/time/preferences. I printed some test pages, and scanned an image via a photo editing software. No bugs or problems at all. It seemed noisier than the old machine when I put the ink in and it went through a start-up cycle, but if it was, it was not by much and certainly not intolerable. The machine has several advanced settings such as the above scan to FTP. Since this is not anything I do, it's nice that you don't have to fool with it if you don't use it.

After a lot of research and shopping, I found this one refurbished at Staples for $99 with free shipping. I had a $25 off coupon, so the total cost with tax was right around $80. This machine was just what I needed and I'm hopeful it will last as long as my last one.

Pros Easy to use. Great quality outputs, Good ink prices, Quick set up, 11 x 17 prints

Cons Needs a bigger LCD screen but that's about it...

Summary Not sure why the guy from cnet gave this printer a bad review. I love this printer.

I am a Art Director and i needed a printer that can produce decent 11" x 17" outputs. This machine went beyond my expectations. For the price, you can't go wrong. Works great!