Brother MFC-L8905CDW [MFC-L8895CDW, MFC-L8900CDW]  Printer Review

The build quality is outstanding. The construction is a mix of plastic and metal and feels very sturdy, including the input tray and all the moving parts. The power cable is removable, so it's easy to replace if damaged. You can quickly access the toner cartridges from the front. For paper jams, you can get to the sheet rollers from a panel on the back or by removing the toner cartridges. Two minor complaints about the design: it's hard to move because it's bulky and heavy, and the display can't tilt or swivel for better visibility.

The Brother MFC-L8610CDW variant is smaller. Here are the measurements (as indicated in Brother's specifications):

• Height: 21.2" (53.9 cm)
• Width: 17.1" (43.5 cm)
• Depth: 20.7" (52.6 cm)

If you're looking for a smaller printer with similar performance, check out the Canon Color imageCLASS MF665Cdw.

The printer doesn't need much maintenance. Unlike inkjet printers, there's no risk of clogging if you don't use the printer for a long time. Additionally, the toner cartridges last a long time, so you won't need to replace them often. If you experience print quality issues, there are a few built-in functions to help resolve them, like Toner Calibration and Toner Registration (which helps remove fringes around colored areas).

You can access the toner cartridges by opening the front cover and pulling out the tray. Paper jams are accessible through a large panel on the back of the printer. You can also access paper jams through the front; you just need to remove the toner cartridges, the waste toner box, and the belt first. Brother specifies that the waste toner box (WT-320CL) and belt (BU330-CL) are good for 50,000 prints, while the drum (DR431-CL) is good for 30,000 prints. The input trays (main tray + multi-purpose tray) hold 300 sheets of paper, which is a fair amount, so you likely won't need to refill it often unless you print a lot. If you want to make maintenance easier and prefer a laser printer that uses toner cartridges with an integrated drum, check out the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw/4301fdn.

You can download the user manuals here.

The display is excellent. It's a large color screen with a user-friendly interface. You can quickly access important settings, like cartridge and network settings, from the top of the display and rearrange the icons to your preference. However, visibility is limited when viewing the screen at an angle, and there's no tilt or swivel adjustment.

The other variants have a different size display. The Brother MFC-L8900CDW and Brother MFC-L8895CDW have a 5-inch (12.59 cm) display, while the Brother MFC-L8610CDW has a 3.7-inch (9.34 cm) display.

This printer yields a large number of prints, meaning you won't need to replace the cartridges often unless you print a lot. There are many high-yield cartridges available that'll further increase the page yield. Here are their advertised yields:

• TN433 High-yield (CMY) - 4000 pages
• TN433BK High-yield (Black) - 4500 pages
• TN436 Super High-yield (CMYK) - 6500 pages
• TN437 Ultra High Yield (CMY) - 8000 pages
• TN437BK Ultra High Yield (Black) - 9000 pages

The printer warns you when the toner level is low. It can't detect the amount of toner left in the cartridge; it only uses an internal page counter. It's worth noting that once you remove a cartridge, the printer will consider it empty, even when there's toner left. This makes it hard to reuse a toner cartridge, as the printer continually prompts you to change it. The only way to resolve this issue is to access a hidden service menu and manually reset the toner level. This process isn't particularly user-friendly. It involves pressing multiple buttons in a specific sequence, which doesn't always work and isn't documented in the manual. Also, performing this reset repeatedly can damage the cartridge and the printer.

This printer has outstanding scanner features. It can quickly process multi-page and double-sided documents through its automatic feeder, saving precious time. The lid's hinges can extend so that it's easier to close the lid over thicker items like textbooks and magazines. Its OCR (optical character recognition) feature lets you scan and save documents as searchable files. You can use OCR with just the printer or through software. A few applications are available: iPrint&Scan or Kofax PaperPort SE for Windows devices and Brother ControlCenter2 for Macs.

The Brother MFC-L8610CDW variant has a smaller flatbed with a max scan size of 8.5" x 11". It also has a smaller 50-sheet ADF capacity and doesn't support automatic duplex scanning.

The scan quality is outstanding. Text looks sharp, and all of the finer elements are present. The only complaint is that the colored areas look a tad grainy.

• Documentation
• Power cord
• Phone cable
• Software and driver CD-ROM
• Set of TN431 starter toner cartridges:
• 1x Black
• 1x Cyan
• 1x Yellow
• 1x Magenta
• Not shown:
• DR431-CL drum unit (comes pre-installed)

The print quality for black-and-white documents is outstanding. Text looks sharp, and all of the fine elements are present. There's some vertical banding, but they're only visible in colored areas and aren't overly distracting.

The print quality for color documents is outstanding. Everything looks sharp and clean, and the colors look vibrant but not oversaturated.

The cost per print is excellent. The toner cartridges are expensive, but since they last a long time, you won't have to replace them often. You have to replace the drum separately, which isn't factored into the cost; however, the drum doesn't need regular replacement. Brother specifies that the drum is good for 30,000 prints.

This printer is very fast. It doesn't take too long to warm up compared to most laser printers, and it prints documents very quickly, almost matching the advertised 33 pages per minute. It can automatically print double-sided sheets at up to 16 pages per minute (eight double-sided sheets). The posted input tray capacity includes the main and multi-purpose trays. The main tray holds 250 sheets, while the multi-purpose tray holds 50. The output tray holds 150 sheets.

This printer has a poor color gamut. It can't produce bright, saturated colors, and it struggles with darker shades of green and yellow. Its narrow color range makes photos look flat and lacking in detail. There's banding in the lighter shades, and color transitions look grainy due to the printing pattern.

Color accuracy is sub-par. Most colors, especially blues, greens, and browns, look different from the original image. It isn't an issue if you just want to add some colors to a document, but it isn't ideal for photo printing.

This printer is bad at reproducing small details. It prints at a low resolution, and like most laser printers, the printing pattern is very noticeable and causes the loss of fine details.

The Brother MFC-L8905CDW, as well as all of its variants, can print directly off a USB flash drive. The USB port is on the front left side of the printer. Except for the Brother MFC-L8600CDW, all variants support NFC, which allows you to connect to the printer by tapping your NFC-enabled device against the printer.

Brother's iPrint&Scan mobile app is superb. You can print, scan, copy, check the toner levels, and order supplies. The app also lets you access and print photos and documents stored on cloud services like iCloud, Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, and OneDrive. On the iOS version of the app, you can only print documents shared through 'iTunes file sharing' and from the print history of other supported apps. Neither version (Android or iOS) can print HTML files directly; you need to go to the website and print from there.

You don't need to install any drivers to print or scan on Chrome OS and macOS devices, but you do on Windows devices. You can find the drivers here. Although it isn't necessary, you can use the same iPrint&Scan mobile app from the Google Play Store on Chrome OS devices. Some users have reported having trouble connecting to the printer on a Chrome OS device, even after successfully installing the printer; however, we didn't experience this issue.