Brother MFC-J985DW Inkjet All-in-One Color Printer, Duplex Printing, Wireless Connectivity, Amazon Dash Replenishment Enabled, Cost-Effective Color Printer, Business Capable Features – Best for Home Use
Over last couple of years, Brother has developed and introduced new ink delivery system to help you reduce the cost of using its printers, especially in term of PPC or per page cost of consumables. Their system is called INKvestment which saves the users on money and resources allowing them to print plenty of pages for a reasonably reduced cost.
The Brother MFC J985DW Inkjet All-In-One printer can also be categorized as an INKvestment printer that includes 2-year worth of ink which can print up to 7200 monochrome and 3600 color printouts. Though, this ink system may cause you to spend considerably more money on a per page foundation with the first ink tank, the printer box has 12 ink cartridges allowing you to save money on subsequent ones.
Design
Weighing about 18.3 pound, the printer covers 13.4 inches from front to back, 16.5 inches across, and is 6.8 inches tall. It has a quite compact and space-saving design that can respectfully sets to any desks. The machine has a 2.7 inch touchscreen display accompanied by a control panel from where you can use most of the functions for printing, scanning, copying and faxing. The power button and Wi-Fi connectivity LED are the parts that reside outside of the control panel.
Available under $200 price tag, the printer is basically intended as a non-XL gadget. It doesn’t include 3 sets of ink cartridges but it has 1 set of the XL tank. When needed, additional tanks can be purchased at an affordable price for continuing low-cost printing.
The printer has a 100-sheet input tray placed at the bottom front of the chassis and a 20-sheet photo bypass tray covering almost 4×6 inches of the machine.
Setup
The Brother MFC J985DW printer has a very simple and easy-to-understand setup so you can effortlessly connect it to a single computer or bring it a network using a USB. With an approximately 20-minue process, you just get it off the box, power up, install the appropriate drivers for the network, load the paper, install the ink cartridges and print out the first test page.
Performance
The Brother MFC J985DW Inkjet is a relatively low-volume printing device so you cannot push tons of pages using it every month, regardless of its low-cost ink system. It produces good quality of printing and scanning without any paper jams or other common printing mishaps.
The printer has been designed without any hardware changes to accommodate the INKvestment system. It, in fact, is a low-volume multifunction machine that comes with a 20-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF) to push originals to its high quality scanner.
Unfortunately, it lacks auto duplexing and so cannot scan 2-sides pages without manually flipping the page. However, this all-in-one machine has an efficient print engine with auto duplex printing, allowing you to print both sides of the pages automatically. This feature not only helps you cut on paper cost but also saves on your time and efforts to print multiple documents in a busy office environment.
Furthermore, the printer uses inkjet printing technology, and has an average printing speed that prints 12 monochrome pages or 10 color pages per minute. It produces clear, crispy and near-laser quality text with good-looking colored graphics and photos. For scanning, the machine works flawlessly with the scanner and the OCR (Optical Character Recognition).
Similarly, the MFC J985DW does a good job to make copies of your important originals with clear and readable text at an average speed of 6 pages per minute for both monochrome and color pages. It also produces fine-quality copies of graphics and images.
Despite the fact, the printer makes use of the INKvestment which goes more effective when used regularly, and most importantly, within its duty cycle limitations. It comes with a 2-year warranty so you can get hardware support and 24/7 phone customer services.
With the INKvestment cartridges, you not only get your ink cartridges cost reduced but also minimize the overall expenses of printing with the Brother MFC J985DW inkjet printer.
Supported Paper Sizes
The Brother MFC-J985DW Inkjet All-in-One Color Printer supports an assortment of paper media sizes. These include letter, legal, A4, A5, A6, Executive, 3.5″x5″ Photo paper, 4″x6″ Photo paper, 5″x8″ Index card, 5″x7″ Photo paper, Envelope, Com-10, C5 Envelope, DL Envelop, and Monarch.
INKvestment Cartridges
The printer uses INKvestment cartridges to provide high page yields at very reasonable. This means you spend less money on all ink cartridges and still get more printed pages than those with ordinary ink cartridges. Ideally, the idea of ink cartridges aims at offering you a low-cost printing alternative without having to deal with multiple time cartridge replacements.
Main Features
- Duplex Printing
The all-in-one machine helps you save on both paper and money by offering automatic duplex printing. With this amazing feature, you can print on both sides on a paper without needing to turn it over hence save your time, efforts and resources.
- Mobile Printing
The Brother MFC J985DW printer comes mobile printing ease, making your on-the-go printing and scanning easy. Apart from wireless convenience, this multifunction machine supports a host of printing and scanning apps including AirPrint for Apple users, Mopria and Brother’s very own iPrint & Scan app for Android devices. Furthermore, you can also use your mobile phone or tab to print or scan any content from different websites, emails, or similar using Google Cloud Print.
- Cloud Convenience
The all-in-one machine offers cloud convenience with more portable options to print and scan content from Gmail, Google Drive, Facebook, Dropbox, OneDrive, OneNote and numerous cloud apps from Brother. One of the best parts of this feature is that you don’t need to pay anything extra to avail the benefits of aforementioned apps. This means you can enjoy smart printing and scanning anytime and anywhere. In order to support cloud convenience, the Brother offers several unique web-based cloud apps that can be utilized for free of cost. These include Notescan, Office Doc Creator, Outline & Remove, Outline & Copy, and Outline & Scan.
- Peaceful Printing
The Brother MFC J985DW all-in-one printer is a good enough machine to get dozen of prints without any significant noise or shaking when printing. This way you can ensure non-stop productivity without even causing others any kind of annoyance and disturbance.
- Wi-Fi Direct Connectivity
The printer supports Wi-Fi Direct, allowing you to connect your Android devices (such as mobile phones and tabs to it without having the need of being connected to a router or network.
- Near Field Communication
You can use Near Field Communication or NFC to get similar connectivity with some more advanced portability. This technology works as a touch to print functionality, allowing you to touch your Android devices to a hotspot on the printing gadget.
- Borderless Printing
The MFC J985DW enables you to produce border-free text and images with its amazing borderless printing feature. This significantly eliminates the unwanted white edges around your text and makes it more appealing.
Specifications
| General | |
|---|---|
| Machine Type | Multi-Function/ All in One Printer (AIO) |
| LCD Display | 2.7" Touchscreen Display |
| Toner Save Mode | Yes |
| Monthly Duty Cycle | 2,500 Printed Pages |
| Recommended Monthly Print Volume | Up to 1,000 Printed Pages |
| Unit Dimensions | 16.5" x 13.4" x 6.8" (W"xD"xH") |
| Weight | 18.3 lbs. |
| ENERGY STAR ® Certified | Yes |
| Wireless Network Security | WEP 64/128bit, SSID (32 chr), WPA2-PSK(AES) and WPA-PSK(TKIP/AES) |
| Near Field Communication (NFC) Enabled | Yes |
| Supported Network Protocols (IPv4) | DHCP, APIPA or Auto IP, ARP, RARP, WINS/NetBIOS name resolution, BOOTP, DNS Resolver, mDNS |
| One-Push Wireless Setup | Wi-Fi Protected Setup and AOSS |
| Duplex Printing Enabled | Yes |
| Minimum Paper Width/Length of Paper Tray | 3.5" x 5" |
| Maximum Paper Width/Length of Paper Tray | 8.5" x 14" |
| Supported sheet Weight for main paper tray | 17-58 lbs. |
| Supported sheet Weight for multi-purpose tray | 17-58 lbs. |
| Supported sheet Weight for Manual Feed | 17-79 lbs. |
| Printer | |
|---|---|
| Print Technology | Color Inkjet Technology |
| Maximum Printing Size | 8.5" x 14" (Legal) |
| Consumable Type | INKvestment Cartridge System (4-Cartridges) |
| ISO-based Print Speed (black) | 12 pages per minute |
| ISO-based Print Speed (color) | 10 pages per minute |
| Print Resolution | Up to 6000 x 1200 dots per image |
| Borderless Printing Enabled | Yes |
| Printer Driver Compatibility | Windows and Mac OS |
| Copier | |
|---|---|
| Copier Type | Flatbed |
| Black white and color copy | Yes B/W & Color |
| ISO-based Copy Speed (color) | 6 pages per minute |
| ISO-based Copy Speed (black) | 6 pages per minute |
| Stand-alone Copying Enabled | Yes |
| Paper Reduction | Up to 25% |
| Paper Enlargement | Up to 400% |
| Sorting Function Available | Yes |
| Duplex Copying Enabled | No |
| Poster Function | Yes |
| Document Glass Size | Letter 8.5" x 11.7" |
| ID Copy | Yes |
| Fax | |
|---|---|
| Black & White and Color Faxing | Yes |
| Fax Modem Speed | 14.4K bps |
| PC Fax Capability for sending & receiving fax | Yes (only in black & white format) |
| Best Transmission Speed | 7 pages per sec (approx.) |
| Call Waiting | No |
| Caller ID | Yes |
| Distinctive Ring Ready | Yes |
| Out-of-Paper Reception | Yes |
| External TAD Interface | Yes |
| Broadcasting (# of locations) | 250 |
| Fax Page Memory | 200 maximum |
Pros & Cons At A Glance.
Why to Buy Brother MFC-J985DW All-in-One Printer
Pros
- The Brother MFC J985DW is an all-in-one device to help you save on time, getting all office jobs done from a single machine.
- It has a very easy setup and simple use making it a convenient AIO option for small or home based offices.
- It features duplex printing so you can automatically print both side on the paper to save on paper and time.
- The machine works flawlessly to produce high quality scans.
- The device offers easy mobile printing with a range of mobile printing apps to allow you print with your android, iOS and iPhone & iPod devices.
- It also supports Google cloud print, allowing you to print content from various websites and emails.
- Its borderless feature allows you to create any types of content without having white edges around it.
- The printer offers low cost printing in term the price of both black and color pages using INKvesement ink cartridges.
Cons
- It’s a low-volume printer hence cannot be used in offices with heavy monthly printing requirements.
- The printer’s ADF doesn’t support automatic duplexing so you cannot scan 2-sided pages automatically.
- It doesn’t produce a very good quality of images or graphics.
- It has 2-year limited hardware service warranty and free-of-cost phone customer service for your printer’s lifespan.
Final Verdict
The Brother MFC J985DW all-in-one printer is an entry-level all-in-one machine with copying, scanning and faxing capabilities. It produces great looking documents at a low-cost per page facility. Some of the main advantages of using this machine include good output quality for text and graphics, decent printing speed, low-cost per page as well as an easy setup and use. Furthermore, the printer supports auto duplex printing allowing you to print two-sided pages without having to manually turn it over. It is a more sensible machine than other similar devices available in the market. The MFC J985DW printer uses the latest INKvestment ink technology that is meant to reduce CCP offering you economic printing facility. As an XL printing gadget, it saves you on money for a quite longer period. However, it is a low-volume machine; you can still make most out of its other advanced features such as mobile and cloud printing. Largely, this all-in-one is a handy and convenient gadget that suits most home offices and small workgroups with modest printing requirements.