BROTHER MFC-8500 TONER CARTRIDGE

Brother MFC-8500 Review

Overview:

The Brother MFC-8500 is basically a multifunctional variation on Brother’s stand alone fax machine hardware. While its print speeds are painfully slow and the unit is much larger than it needs to be, this old top loading unit does offer fully functional scan, fax, print, copy, and PC fax functions, making it a true 5 in 1 unit that, however slowly, provides a lot of versatility for a single device.

Pros:

The Brother MFC-8500’s strong point is its extensiveness. The unit is not only a 5 in 1 multifunctional unit, it even includes a corded handset; something we rarely see these days in the flatbed multifunctional units that are so common today. With auto switching, the machine switches back and forth between the modem and the regular phone line seamlessly, allowing the device to be used as a regular telephone with no additional buttons to push.

Even though the unit can scan only through the automatic document feeder, as a scan glass is not present on the unit, its scan functions are credible. It features three individual dedicated scan buttons that make scanning directly to and e mail, document, or OCR fast and easy. Scan resolution defaults to the device’s optical scan quality of 600 x 600 dots per inch, but this unit is capable of a 9600 x 9600 dot per inch interpolated scan as well for extra high quality.

As expected, the paper storage capacity of the Brother MFC-8500 is 250 sheets to start with, but an additional 250 sheet paper tray can be added as well to bring the unit’s total storage capacity up to 500 sheets. The printer is also equipped with a single sheet bypass slot that can be used to supersede the standard paper supply when a different type of paper needs to be used. The feed slot is also compatible with special media types such as envelopes and transparencies.

Broadcasting can be done to up to 166 locations, while 16 one touch dial buttons make your most common fax recipients available with literally the push of a button. 100 additional speed dial locations can be programmed into the phone book and accessed through the device’s menu system. 

Cons:

Unfortunately, as a fax machine at heart, the Brother MFC-8500 does not utilize the popular flatbed design, but instead relies solely on a top loading document feeder. Without a flip top flatbed, there is no scanning glass to speak of and therefore three dimensional objects such as magazines cannot be scanned, nor can anything that is not a standard size, such as a round piece of paper.

While it is nice to have this fax machine double as a PC printer, its 15 page per minute overall print speed is just awful. Those who require print capabilities as anything other than a rarely used bonus feature on their fax machine should definitely look at a newer, faster multifunctional machine. The new MFCs have just as much fax functionality but are also capable machines in their other processes as well.