Another Computer Printer Question : Brother - INKvestment Tank MFC-J4335DW

[Clarence Martinn]

Having a hard time trying to find an all in one inkjet printer. Stores are either out of stock , or delivery won't be for another Month or so. Came across this Printer.

Brother - INKvestment Tank MFC-J4335D

Anyone used this printer? Was it worth the money? How hard was the setup and the quality of the prints ? Any issues with that printer ?


Thanks

Clarence.

[Jim Becker]

I own a similar Epson tank system and really have enjoyed it. When Professor Dr. SWMBO recently needed to replace her old, monstrous, huge HP multifunction printer, we went with another, slightly smaller tank type Epson. So setting brand aside, I really like the format and not buying overpriced ink cartridges that "expire" before they can be used up. I do find that regular cleaning is required and on my particular unit, there's a special reservoir that has to be replaced occasionally that catches the excess ink including that expended during cleaning. I'm at two years in and still have half of the original year's worth of ink left. (my unit came with "two years" worth of ink...obviously for someone who prints a lot more than I do!)

Hopefully, someone will have had experience with the Brother. BTW, if you're a Costco member, check what they have available. Both of our printers were purchased from them at very attractive prices.

[Clarence Martinn]

I own a similar Epson tank system and really have enjoyed it. When Professor Dr. SWMBO recently needed to replace her old, monstrous, huge HP multifunction printer, we went with another, slightly smaller tank type Epson. So setting brand aside, I really like the format and not buying overpriced ink cartridges that "expire" before they can be used up. I do find that regular cleaning is required and on my particular unit, there's a special reservoir that has to be replaced occasionally that catches the excess ink including that expended during cleaning. I'm at two years in and still have half of the original year's worth of ink left. (my unit came with "two years" worth of ink...obviously for someone who prints a lot more than I do!)

Hopefully, someone will have had experience with the Brother. BTW, if you're a Costco member, check what they have available. Both of our printers were purchased from them at very attractive prices.

Jim: Do you have the Epson Ecotank ET-2800 ? I found one on sale , and I can get it delivered to the store in 5 days. Was that Eco tank printer difficult to hook up and install ? Want to use a USB cable . Never had luck with wireless.

[Jim Becker]

Jim: Do you have the Epson Ecotank ET-2800 ? I found one on sale , and I can get it delivered to the store in 5 days. Was that Eco tank printer difficult to hook up and install ? Want to use a USB cable . Never had luck with wireless.

Mine is the ET-7700 and The Professor's is the ET-2760. We do use them wirelessly, but both support USB. We initially hooked up hers with USB while we deciphered the network configuration process. Model numbers change all the time...the ET-2800 looks very similar to the ET2760, but I didn't compare specs.

[Curt Harms]

I bought it's bigger brother - MFC-J4535DW a month ago. I wanted wired ethernet connectivity the 4335 does not have. The 4335 has USB and wifi, I don't do wifi if I have a choice. Print speeds are fast, faster than our laser for single pages IMO. Quality is very good for text and color graphics. I haven't tried photos using photo paper. Another difference between the 4335 and 4535 is that the 4535 has two paper drawers, the 4335 has one. Both have a single sheet bypass in the back. Right now Brother ink is the only source, 3rd party ink producers have not gotten the LC406 ink cartridges cloned yet. I'm sure they will. The Brother Inkvestment system is a little strange, the (large) cartridges fill internal tanks and the printhead draws ink from the internal tank. I'm not sure why they did that. Brother claims a year's ink supply in the box. Maybe if I don't print too many pages and don't use too much ink/page. I'm pretty sure if I were printing 8 X 10 color photos the supplied ink wouldn't last a year. The criteria used in determining rated ink usage is published.

A primary reason I bought Brother doesn't apply to most - they have very good Linux support. I haven't installed this printer on a Windows machine so can't comment there. I just unpacked the machine, took the tape off a few parts, inserted the ink cartridges, plugged in an ethernet cable and turned it on. Printer and scanner were both found and worked. I did find however that the driverless 'drivers' didn't find the bypass paper feed or the document feeder. Both paper drawers and the flatbed scanner were there as soon as I turned it on. Installing Brother drivers found the bypass paper feed and document feeder. I'm happy with it. This printer replaced a Brother MFC-6490CW purchased around 2010 or 2011 and still working as advertised. The drivers were having issues with some newer files and it never did print envelopes well. The new printer fixes those shortcomings. The old printer found a second life in a school.