Rating: 
Summary: Support non-existence
Review: The product is brilliant. The installation was smooth. However, the instruction manual covers primarily fax functions only. There is effectively no part for the printer. The scanner function is also poorly covered. The software suite is not explained anywhere. I sent an e-mail to Brother asking a couple of questions. There was no answer for two days. So I sent another to their support. I have not heard any, even confirmation, for a week. Due to their no response, I ended up buying an unnecessary thing. Again the product is great and I will recommend to anyone. But if you need help. You have to take care of yourself. Brother does not seem to have any intention to help their customers.
Rating: 
Summary: HP watch out, here comes Big Brother.....
Review: The truth is that a "really good fax" will separate you from about a thousand of your beloved George Washingtons; they don't sell them at places where most of us shop. For the average SOHO buyer the options in Laser multi functions are limited at best. This is my fifth printer and second multi function through the years, my first Brother product. I am a retired Network Engineer and I have personally laid hands on some of HPs biggest and badest printers, lets just say I have been around the block.I bought the MFC 4800 and a Panasonic and returned both within three weeks because of misfeeds; so far the 8500 has not skipped a beat yet. Is it fast? Yes, very fast and the print quality is as good as it gets. Notable differences from the 4800; prints faster, scans faster, copies more clearly, has a larger capacity sheet feeder, has one touch faxing, is network capable, holds more paper, can add another 250 sheet paper tray, has a larger LCD, and ships with a full toner instead of a starter. The warranty may also be better. Also the feed mechanism is better than the 4800 thus eliminating misfeeds. The 8500 will suck up your 20-page fax faster than you can say, "I'm a nine to five slave", spit it out, and let you get back to playing solitaire while it takes care of business. For those of us who own real office equipment the 8500 feels light and flimsy but remember it is only four hundred street price, you get what you pay for. I like the fact that it goes silent in sleep mode, that's good. The dedicated left and right arrow keys make programming the unit such a snap that even a CEO can do it. For support ask for a supervisor when you call Brother, the front line people don't know how to turn it on much less trouble shoot it. The manual is horribly lacking, it will do more than the manual tells you it will and Brothers web site about using the online manual is wrong, it is not any better. If you have trouble with the software and want to just install the drivers they are on the CD. Use the Distinctive Ring feature from your phone company if you don't have a dedicated line but be sure to read the manual to set up the unit. In my epinion this is a great unit, full of features at an entry-level price. It's a laser and remember a few years ago these things did not even exist yet so we are lucky just to have them at all. Stay away from ink jets, they are loud, slow, messy, very expensive, and just don't belong in a real office setting. Go for the high capacity toner, for ten more bucks you get twice the toner, it's a no brainer and it gives you about a penny a page printing cost. Get the 8500, take it home, love it and it will love you back but watch the return date on your receipt in case you want to file for divorce but I doubt that will happen, this is one sexy, snappy little baby....
Rating: 
Summary: Agony for Windows XP users
Review: This is my second Brother MFC. I was reasonably happy with it when I was using windows 98. But I recently bought a new computer with windows XP, and trying to get this thing to work properly with XP has been a nightmare. After hours of download tutorials and uninstalling and reinstalling drivers from the Brother web site, it still does not work properly. Under no circumstances should you put the driver CD that comes with the unit in your CD drive if you are using XP. Beware also: The "updated" printer + scanner drive on the Brother web site does not work properly. A separate printer-only driver does work, but then you don't have all of the fancy scanning and character recognition stuff. For those who are still using windows 98, this is probably a reasonbly good unit if you want a combined laser printer/scanner/fax machine.
Rating:
Summary: Good all in one product
Review: This is used in my husband's office. We like the all in one feature because it takes up less room and is less expensive than buying a fax, a copier, a printer, etc. It is a little bit difficult to use at first, but once you get the hang of it and get familiar with all the features, it is a breeze. We would recommend this product to others.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT MACHINE!!
Review: This machine is great! We use it as a fax only. It scans multi-page faxes into memory very quickly (a few seconds per page) and then sends them. We also send the same fax to a dozen or so people (broadcast) and this works flawlessly. Have had no fax feeder jams even on 20 page faxes. Print quality and speed are excellent. Cartridge cost and life are much better than ink jet. Look out HP, Brother makes a far better machine at a better price.
Rating:
Summary: Great Machine!!
Review: We use this machine as a small office fax only machine. It scans pages into memory very fast and then dial and sends. No paper jams even on very lengthy faxes. Prints clear and fast. Buy this machine; far better than the 2 month old HP machine I just junked.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice Printer...awful software
Review: Well, the printer itself isfantastic...but I can't get the scanner& & fax software to stay functional on my Win 2000 computer. When I stripped the install down to just the printer driver I have had no problems. I didn't really need the scanner and modem capabilities anyway... I give it 3 stars because of the poor software, but the mechanical functionality of the unit (super quiet, FAST warm up to first page, and quick) I give 5 STARS!
Rating:
Summary: It keeps going and going....
Review: What a major improvement after switching from my HP OfficeJet piece of junk! I realize this is an apples to oranges comparison, but I was ready to throw that HP in the street and run it over. I've been using this machine for nearly 8 months. It is a true workhorse and I am very pleased with performance. Faxes, copies and prints very quickly. Scanning feature is pretty good, too. Help via email was ok, but not stellar. My only reason for giving this machine 4 stars and not 5 is that I have a hard time believing I'm really getting 6000 pages with its larger toner drum. Then again, some of the stuff I print and copy is hardly standard text. Overall--a great performing machine and I highly recommend it.
| 
