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2Brother MFC-L8690CDW

Brother MFC-L8690CDW

MPN: MFC-L8690CDW
2Brother MFC-L8690CDW
1.8

15 reviews

Positive vs Negative
20%13%67%
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Build Quality
2.4
Value for Money
2.0
Ease of Use
2.3
Ink Cartridge Longevity
3.0
Reliability
1.5
Printing Speed
2.9
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15 reviews
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Ben
BenQLD5 posts
  Verified

Purchased this printer brand new. Carefully followed the set up instructions, including firmware update. And the printer immediately was jamming on printing double sided. Checked the instructions again, contacted Brother support (who were useless, they failed to even read the first thing I wrote, making me repeat both their question and my answer… Read more

back to them. Pulled the printer apart carefully -- there were two more plastic packing pieces that were not listed in the set up guide. Removed them and it's all good, otherwise working fine. Brother's response to this was, "We're going to take a note of your feedback and will reach it to the higher ups for them to update and release a new user guide." Sigh.

Photo attached of extra orange pieces, they were under the toner section, you can remove them by pulling out the belt slightly. Just follow the dismantling instructions carefully.

Wireoffcut
Wireoffcut6 posts
 

It turned out to be a $700.00 lemon. Brand new. Paper jammer. Definately not a printer. Though my old one the 4050 CDN is still working perfectly after printing many thousands of pages.

Wireoffcut
Wireoffcut   

Brother fixed it, but the local Tasmania Brother rep was useless. The second time it was sent to… Read more

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helen g.
helen g.WA11 posts
 

Used to work for a short while doesn't now - can only print from phone not from Mac or Laptop. Go to support online can't submit because their recaptcha doesn't work - bet their complaint handling has good figures because no one can contact them expensive piece of junk Show details

Ask the reviewer
Jess S.
Jess S.VIC2 posts
 

Absolute nightmare to use. It's a battle anytime I try to get it to do anything.

Apple
Apple48 posts
 

ok for back office printing. has issues but will last a good 12-18 months – for the price, it can pump out heaps of copies relatively cheaply. We use for internal office paperwork only, as its not the best quality, but for $700 its ok. We cycle through them every 12-18 months. When they die, they do it in a fashionable explosion of colour no-one can miss! I've disassembled and cleaned spilt colour from this about 20 times… Read more

over the 18months we had it. At the point where buying cheap non-genuine ink is worthwhile as its too expensive to replace genuine toner cartridges when they leak. Not worth the time to pay staff to do so and return at our expense and spend hours on the phone. This printer is overall ok provided not used for important business. Its cheap but you get what you pay for.

Jurek
JurekNSW57 posts
 
Build Quality
Value for Money
Ease of Use
Functionality

Ongoing experience has been dissapointing – July26 update. I have had to revise my opinion and experience with the L8690 unit. We had two machines at the outset. Both failed. Both with the same issue. Paper jams in the fuser area and cannot be reoved. In one case, the paper actually burnt to a char. I have photos. I did manage to removal the chars and printer worked OK for about another… Read more

couple of months before the coating on the fuser assembly peeled off. I have no solid evidence but it would appear that the original unit worked better (before the fuser jam) than the newer units. For example, the original unit printer large documents with heavy colour easily, the new units do motor take forever to start printing.

Original review 2020 I have read the negative reviews below. Cannot see any of the issues here. But there is an issue that Brother is fixing under "warranty". The print quality is excellent. Both single and double side. The scanning software works very well. Also double sided if needed. Yes,, the scanned pages can come out a little skewed on occasion but still very good compared to a $200 "el cheapo". The printer can handle 160gm paper via the multifunction tray which is a pre-requisite here. That gives excellent results. Paper jams are non-existent. The toner is expensive, as it is with all these types of printers. The overall feel of the unit is that it is solid. It is heavy. I have no problems with connectivity. After 15 months, the fuser roller failed and Brother is fixing that at no cost. So thumbs up for the service there.

KaviM
KaviMNSW
 

Wifi feature is a joke – Wifi feature is an absolute joke I have my office set up in the garage and I have my modem in a different room. There is two walls in between and maybe is about 8 meters distance. It has been an absolute nightmare trying to print or scan anything. Called/ had a online chat to brother and the only solution they have is to buy wifi… Read more

extenders/amplifiers. What an absolute crap. So unless it is wired or sitting right next to the modem there is no point. Absolutely disappointing, disheartening and frustrating to think I have spent money buying this product.

Marsattack1
Marsattack1VIC2 posts
 
Build Quality
Functionality

An absolute lemon! – Since purchasing this printer 2 years ago, it has been a nightmare of faults, problems and breakdowns. It frequently can't be identified by computers and can't be connected. Sometimes it will print but won't scan. Other times it will scan but won't print. We have had endless issues with toner leaking and damaging documents and going through… Read more

the device. The latest issue is that it refuses to print anything at all and keeps disconnecting from wifi. After countless hours of support from our IT department, I can easily say, this is the worst machine I have ever come across. It is an absolute lemon!

Traveller
TravellerNSW16 posts
 

After 34 pages I get black blotches all over the page – This is a nice printer and quality is good .. especially printing photos... though the Made in China does it again... After only 34 pages I get a mass of black dots all over every print. Speak with Tech support and after sending multiplie pictures of the balck toner cartridge and serial numbers they agree to send a replacement black toner... The… Read more

rub is that I have to pay for the return of the faulty cartridge to them... the printer is only 2 weeks old.

K bradford
K bradfordVIC5 posts
 

Good value – Easy to set up Pretty good value for money Easy to connect to the wifi Easy to use Instructions could be better Little bit bulky otherwise really good Not the cheapest per copy but not too bad Show details

Tanya
TanyaQueensland2 posts
  Verified

Issues after just 6 months and no support from Brother to help – I paid nearly $700 for this printer and after just months of use there have been issues with this machine. I personal don’t expect a printer I brought in good faith to break down after such a short time. I understand things happen and sometimes it is just that. However, the why Brother handles the situation and has taken no reasonability for… Read more

their poor quality product made me feel very dishearten.

A quick outline of some of the issues:

* Printing: hundreds of lines across the page making the print quality terrible, none professional and very poor.

* Wifi: the wireless wifi would drop out constantly so a lot of time was wasted entering the details in all the time. Then it got to the stage where the wifi dropped out and simply will no longer work at all. I’ve had to spend a further $25 on a cable however, the worst part is now I have to plug and unplug the cable each time I need to print. Time consuming.

* Scanner: there is a dark line down the side of each page that is scanned and the pages never scan straight, again, certainly not ideal or professional.

I have spent hours and days dealing with these printer issues time that should be spent on my customers and building my business. I have Brother’s called customer service and they advise me that the machine has to be sent back them for testing and the following would take place:

* I am responsible for delivery to their depot. Brother will no collect the fault machine or help with the delivery in any way. This is something I disagree with considering it is their machine that is faulty and therefore, I feel they should be doing all they can to help their customer resolve the issue. The machine weight is approx.. 20kgs and Brother expect me to carry this down the stairs, to my car and to their service team or pay for the delivery myself I feel this is totally unfair.

* The machine wold be tested by Brother and during this time, I would be without a printer because they do not provide a loan printer. Again, I do not understand how they can expect a business to be without a printer while it’s being tested. I brought this printer in good faith and I certainly don’t expect it to stop working months later. The machine is faulty; I use this machine for business. Brother could not provide a time frame I'd be without a printer.

At the end of the day, I feel like Brother doesn’t care about their customers or the quality of their product and to me, this is very poor on Brother’s behalf.

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rainsoft.001
rainsoft.001NSW38 posts
  Verified

Brother australia thinks, printing in areas of same color shade is not correct – I received the printer brand new. Since first print, it was printing / streaking if same color is used. I tried some black text and dont seem to have problem. But as soon as you have color boxes repeated on them, its where the trouble strarted. Brother thinks and says this is normal. spent an hour over in phone. Tech support wanted me to install… Read more

Drivers, use acrobat to print PDF and all typical shit. At end of day, they suggested a maintenance mode and changed some thing and its printing darker but streaks are still present.

For some reason, Brother Australia thinks attached images are of acceptable quality.

Retailer, i got it from, says, this is a brother problem and they cannot help out.

Attaching images of the print quality and the streaks out in my prints.

A $699 cannot print same color without streaks in them is beyond me.

Tony S
Tony SNSW4 posts
 

Fantastic Printer !! – Like the other two reviewers I have high praise for this Brother printer. I also purchased it from Office Works. This was the only professional grade printer I could find at Office Works as I needed it for my business. My previous printer was having issues for a while so I had already been researching new models to purchase, until suddenly it… Read more

died. So I made a mad dash on a Saturday to get a new printer. I spent a good four hours in the store redoing my research based on what they had in stock. The Brother was a clear winner. Since I made a sort of unknown purchase I wasn't quite sure what to expect. However - setup was a a breeze on both our PCs and Macs. Speed of printing is nice and fast. But most importantly for us is the quality of full color page photos; which is fantastic. I thought my previous printer was good at color matching but the Brother is spot on. Photos are clear and the quality on the page is beautiful. In the 4 weeks I've had it (at the time of writing this) not even one paper jam, no toner problems, no scanning problems or any other issues. If I could give it 6 stars at this point I would. It's by far the best color laser printer I've had and I've been in the computer industry since 1991.

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Neil
Neil11 posts
  Verified

Best printer ever made – I’ve been using printers through work and at home since they were invented. Used dozens of different makes and models. With this printer I have not yet experienced even one of the many problems every printer seems to have at some stage. The printer is really fast. Simple to set up. Works seamlessly over the WIFI. Never crashes or freezes or… Read more

loses documents. Easy to replace ink. Good quality. Printing directly from my iPhone or iPad is so cool.

My only issue is that ink is pricey but that’s an issue for all laser and ink jet colour printers. Scanning is a breeze. Everything just works well. Love my printer.

Since writing above. After several months of excellent use printer is now repeatedly spilling ink over pages. Wasting ink and it’s a pain to clean. Drops my rating from 5 to 3 stars.

Larry
LarryVIC5 posts
  Verified

Brother is amazing !! Highly recommended – Amazing quality printout. Does 31 PPG per min. Fast reliable wireless GIGA Ethernet connects to all devices. I can print from my phone laptop very easily. Has huge storage for paper up 1050 papers. Toner is well priced as well especially on Ebay. It does everything I want couldn’t be more happy.  Show details

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