All-in-One / Multi-Function

First, let me say this is just a J6710DW without the extra paper tray, so you should probably read those reviews too.

I don't do a lot of printing, but like others who bought this, I needed scanning and printing of oversize stuff (music, in my case). For under 3 bills, this is about your only choice.

Performance:

Greyscale printing is average, but you can make it very very good by changing the print settings (which of course slows it down somewhat).

Color printing I would say is somewhat below average. However, I have not spent any time tweaking this for better performance. Why? Because I virtually never print color, and when I do, it's just to run off a web page for friends/family. I don't do photo printing, so I can't comment about that.

Yes, the supplied black cartridge seems to be dwindling fast. No worries. For $30 (if you shop hard) you can get the high-cap black, which is rated for 2400 pages. Folks, this is really cheap black printing.

Software:

I've dealt with HP and Lexmark software installations for MFC machines in recent years, and this Brother was BY FAR the slickest, easiest software configuration and setup.

Interface:

It took me a while to find all the print settings and figure out how to create the presets. It's a little clumsy, but it works. I can now print 9.5x12.5 in high quality black. I dare ya to find another printer for under two bills that can do THAT!

Scanning:

Scanning quality is really excellent, and fast too. I scanned a few things at the higher end (1200x1200) and I thought I was seeing jaggies. Then I took a magnifying glass to my original and lo and behold, it had tiny little jaggies I couldn't even see with the naked eye. But the scanner was picking that up, so when I blew up the scan on screen, there they were. It's also extremely fast. For scanning text at 300x300 dpi, it will rip through a page in about 10 seconds. That's including the few seconds it takes to get started after you click the button.

Other Info:

I've had no problem with any of the feeding. My papers feed straight and true through the ADF, through the manual feeder, and out of the paper tray. I use standard copier paper 99% of the time.

Note about printing black: There's a cool print setting called "Ink Save Mode" which can save you a lot of black ink. With this option selected, whenever you print a large area of solid black, the printer will draw the outline of the black area, but it doesn't fill in all the black space. For draft-type printing, it's very useful, or if you print scans that have large black areas on them. (Don't use this option when printing music, or else all your quarter notes will look like half notes ;-)

Summary:

Overall, I'm very pleased with this machine. If I had it to do over again, I'd pony up the extra $50 and buy the 6710 just to have the second paper tray. Absolutely no complaints about this machine though. A few things could be better, but it's a good deal for the price, and it does everything I need it to do without being fussy.

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I've had this machine less than a month now and had to replace the first one I purchased under warranty due to a printing issue with the black ink. Had both wireless connectivity issues as well as print head issues. Will say that Brother support is top notch if you have problems. They might be located in India but they know their stuff. The second machine is working quite nicely so I am keeping my fingers crossed. I't a big machine so make sure it fits the space you have for it. My daughter has an HP and loves it....

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