Brother MFC-8220 Toner Cartridges

Brother MFC-8220 Printer Review

The Brother MFC-8220 is a multifunction monochrome laser printer designed for the home or small office user. Its print speeds are fast, and its multiple functions are generally well-designed, but print quality is below average, and it can't scan in color.

The design of the MFC-8220 is fairly compact, so it will be a good choice for tight spaces. It makes a few sacrifices to achieve its small size, but not many. Its automatic document feeder holds only 35 pages, but still likely to be enough for its target market. Unfortunately, there is no flatbed scanning surface, so documents that can't fit in the feeder can not be scanned. Print speed is quite fast, at around 16 pages per minute. Its print quality is a little below average, however, in both text and graphics printing.

Scanning is generally good, but unlike many multifunction devices, it can not scan in color, only monochrome. This is probably not a big issue for many office users, but those with color scanning needs will have to consider buying a separate piece of equipment or buying a different multifunction.

Faxing is very full-featured, and seems to be the focus of the MFC-8220. It includes all the standard features, and a few extra features that are very convenient. When traveling, users can set the machine to forward faxes to another number, and this setting can even be changed remotely. It can beep to alert users that it has picked up a voice call by accident, and can take over a call when a user picks up a fax call accidentally. This will be particularly appealing to home users with only one phone line.

The Brother MFC-8220 toner cartridges are available in two sizes. The standard cartridge has a capacity of 3,300 pages and the high-yield version has a capacity of 6,700 pages. It's more economical to buy the high-yield Brother MFC-8220 toner cartridge rather than the standard capacity which contains half the amount of toner. Buying third-party compatible cartridges rather than the more expensive Brother brand cartridge can reduce costs even more.

Overall, the Brother MFC-8220 is a good choice for users who need mainly a solid fax machine with the ability to occasionally print and scan documents. Users who need a color scanner or high quality printing will need to look elsewhere.