Brother MFC-J5855DW All In One: In-Depth Review and User Opinions

The Brother MFC-J5855DW is an affordable all-in-one inkjet printer aimed at home and small office users. This multifunction printer offers print, scan, copy and fax capabilities in a compact desktop design.

Some key features of the MFC-J5855DW include:

• Print speed up to 22ppm black and 20ppm color
• Automatic 2-sided printing
• 150-sheet paper capacity
• 2.7" color LCD touchscreen
• Built-in NFC for easy mobile device printing
• Wireless/Ethernet/USB connectivity
• Scan-to and print-from the cloud
• Inkvestment tank system with super high-yield ink cartridges

This printer is well-suited for low to moderate print volumes in a home or home office setting. Its suite of features offers versatility for handling basic document printing, copying and scanning needs.

Design

The Brother MFC-J5855DW all-in-one printer has a sleek, compact design that will look great in any home office or small business. It measures 19.4 x 16.7 x 11.1 inches and weighs 28.8 pounds, so it doesn't take up too much space but is still sturdy and stable when printing.

The MFC-J5855DW comes in either a stylish, matte black or white finish to match the decor of your workspace. The angular lines give it a modern look. There is a 2.7" color touchscreen display on the front which allows for intuitive navigation of the printer's settings and menus.

Overall, the printer's dimensions and weight combined with the color options make it an attractive addition to your desk that quietly blends into the workspace when not in use.

Print Quality

The Brother MFC-J5855DW delivers excellent print quality with its inkjet technology. It has a maximum print resolution of up to 6000 x 1200 dpi for crisp text and vivid color graphics.

The printer uses Brother's unique INKvestment ink cartridges with specially formulated pigment inks for rich blacks and vivid color. The inks are designed for better saturation and greater print density compared to standard inkjets.

Print speeds are fairly fast for an inkjet all-in-one. In normal mode, it can print up to 22 pages per minute in black and 20 pages per minute in color. For quicker draft printing, it can reach speeds of 35 ppm in black and 27 ppm in color. The first page out time is also rapid at just 10 seconds for black and 11 seconds for color.

Overall, the print quality and speed of the MFC-J5855DW is very good for home office and small business use where professional looking documents and photos are needed at an affordable price.

Scan and Copy Features

The Brother MFC-J5855DW all-in-one printer comes with versatile scanning and copying capabilities.

For scanning, it offers optical scan resolutions up to 1200 x 2400 dpi for vivid image reproduction. You can scan documents and photos directly to your computer or to a USB flash drive. It has a 50-sheet automatic document feeder for quick scanning and copying of multi-page documents.

The MFC-J5855DW can scan in both color and black & white at reasonably fast speeds. Color scanning is rated at up to 23 ipm (images per minute) and mono scanning at up to 46 ipm when scanning letter or A4 size pages. So you can digitize documents and make digital copies efficiently.

When it comes to copying, the MFC-J5855DW delivers output speeds up to 22 cpm (copies per minute) for black & white copies and 20 cpm for color copies. The maximum copy resolution is 600 x 2400 dpi. You can make 2-sided copies and collate multiple copy sets as needed. Reduce and enlargement options from 25% to 400% are also available for flexible copying.

Overall, the scanning and copying capabilities are very solid for both home office and more intensive small business usage. You get good quality scans and the ability to digitize documents rapidly with the automatic document feeder. Copy speeds and features are sufficient for most users' daily needs as well.

Connectivity

The Brother MFC-J5855DW offers excellent connectivity options for both wired and wireless setups. For wired connectivity, it has a fast Ethernet interface that allows you to connect it directly to your router with an Ethernet cable. This provides a very stable and fast connection speed.

For wireless, the printer supports the latest Wi-Fi standards including 802.11b/g/n and also has Wi-Fi Direct. You can connect it to your Wi-Fi network and print from anywhere in your home. It also supports Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) for quick and secure setup. Wi-Fi Direct allows you to connect your smartphone or tablet directly to the printer without a wireless network. Overall, the wired and wireless connectivity options on the MFC-J5855DW provide a lot of flexibility.

Paper Handling

The Brother MFC-J5855DW has versatile paper handling capabilities. It comes with a 250-sheet paper tray that can handle letter, legal, executive, A4, A5, A6, envelopes and photo paper sizes. There is also a manual feed slot for printing envelopes, letters, and other media types one sheet at a time.

For paper output, there is a 150-sheet output tray. The printer supports a variety of media types including plain paper, inkjet paper, glossy photo paper, envelopes and labels. Both the main paper tray and manual feed slot can handle media weights between 17 lb to 28 lb.

The automatic two-sided printing feature allows you to print on both sides of the paper, helping save paper. Overall, the MFC-J5855DW offers robust paper handling with multiple input options and supports a wide range of media types and sizes.

Ink Cartridges

The Brother MFC-J5855DW uses Brother’s INKvestment ink cartridges. It comes with standard yield black, cyan, magenta and yellow cartridges that can print approximately 200 pages each. High yield replacement cartridges are available that can print approximately 600 pages in black and 500 pages in color.

The standard yield black ink cartridge (LC3217BK) costs around $20 for a pack of 2 cartridges. The high yield black ink cartridge (LC3219XLBK) costs around $30. For the color cartridges, a pack of 2 standard yield costs around $25 and a pack of 2 high yield costs around $40.

Replacement costs are fairly typical for inkjet printers. Using the high yield cartridges can help lower ongoing costs for higher volume printing. One advantage of Brother ink cartridges is that they come with chip resets, allowing you to reset the chip three times to utilize all the ink in the cartridge. This helps reduce waste and maximize the number of pages you can print from each cartridge.

Overall, the ink cartridge system is robust and cost-effective for both home and office use. The high yield cartridges provide very good page yields to keep replacement costs down.

Special Features

The MFC-J5855DW comes with a wide array of useful special features including:

• Faxing: The printer has a 33.6Kbps fax modem that allows you to send and receive faxes directly from the printer. You can store up to 400 pages in the fax memory and access advanced fax features like broadcasting to up to 210 locations.

• Automatic Document Feeder (ADF): The 35-page ADF allows you to easily scan, copy, or fax multi-page documents. Simply place the pages in the ADF tray and the printer will scan them one page at a time.

• Mobile Printing: The printer supports printing from your smartphone or tablet through the Brother iPrint&Scan app, Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, and Mopria Print Service. You can print from wherever you are right from your mobile device.

• NFC: The built-in NFC (Near-Field Communication) card reader allows you to print from or scan to your Android device simply by tapping it to the printer.

• Brother Web Connect: Print customizable templates, documents, images, and more from popular web services like Google Drive, Dropbox, Evernote, OneDrive, and OneNote directly from the touchscreen.

• Cloud Storage: Scan documents directly to popular cloud services like Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote, OneDrive, and OneNote.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Fast print speeds of up to 27 pages per minute in black and 15 pages per minute in color
• Automatic 2-sided printing to save paper
• Large color touchscreen for easy navigation
• Built-in NFC for printing from mobile devices
• High-yield ink cartridges help lower cost per print
• Scan and copy functions with options for scanning to email, image, OCR and more
• Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct connectivity
• 250-sheet paper capacity expandable to 1,370 sheets
• 1-year limited warranty

Cons

• High cost of replacement ink cartridges
• Lack of fax capability
• No ADF (automatic document feeder) for scanning multiple pages hands-free
• Maximum paper size of 8.5 x 14 inches limits printable area
• Only compatible with Windows and Mac operating systems

Conclusion

The Brother MFC-J5855DW is an excellent all-in-one printer for home and small office use. It offers fast print speeds, high-quality output, scanning and copying capabilities, various connectivity options, automatic two-sided printing, and a large paper capacity.

One of the standout features is the inkvestment tank system which allows for extremely low-cost printing. The high-yield ink bottles used with this printer provide enough ink to print thousands of pages. This results in an exceptionally low cost per print when compared to printers that use standard ink cartridges.

The print quality is superb, producing crisp text and vibrant graphics. Photos look excellent when printed on photo paper. Scan and copy functions are easy to use and deliver great results.

Connectivity is versatile with options for wireless networking, mobile device printing, USB and Ethernet. Integrated fax capability and an automatic document feeder for the scanner add to the versatility.

Paper handling is a strong suit of this printer thanks to the 250-page capacity tray and rear paper feed slot for specialty media. Two-sided printing helps conserve paper.

Overall, the MFC-J5855DW is highly recommended for home offices, small businesses, and families looking for an affordable all-in-one with excellent print quality, low running costs, and versatile features. It's an excellent overall value.