Brother Wireless All-in-One Inkjet Printer, MFC-J491DW

Overall impression, this is a fine printer for the price. Print quality was great for color and normal black and white. Plenty fast for both color photo and black and white. Scanner works fine, copier function works fine, prints from cell phone fine. Haven’t tried NFC as I added it to my phone on the LAN and haven’t tried the fax machine function using cellphone yet. I don’t have a land line to hook it up to either. Printer is very compact and sturdy. Does not feel like thin plastic and nothing sticks out of it when not using scanner to snag or break. A very thoughtful design, it does not look like a big clunky office machine but certainly works aw well. Perfect for an individual or a home office .

Only because of the following setup caveats I gave it a four star rating. Overall device, print quality, speed, and other Brother software (scan) rate a five star review. But I can’t do that and I do understand the frustration of lots of folks who can only follow instructions for this sort of thing – like me and any sort of plumbing, just not my thing.

LAN Setup was super easy, but there was a catch. I didn’t mess with supplied CD, just uploaded latest software from the Brother site, which I recommend to get the latest version. Big hint here for setup: It couldn’t find the printer via the install software (no surprise, I’ve never found a new printer right off, and if you think about how security and networks REALLY work, you can’t without doing something physical) so I had to do it manually on the printer itself (add SSID and password) and although that would work, there is a printer control panel option for WPS. Choose it, press the WPS button on your router, tell the printer to use it and your done. No finding the SSID, entering the password via the arrows and OK buttons, etc. Then you can complete the installation normally as it sees the printer on the LAN at that point. Other PCs on the LAN will see the printer and all goes fast. I added the printer to remaining four computers in under 30 minutes, and added it to my phone at the same time. Why the quick start doesn’t talk about WPS, I have no idea. Alternatively, you can hook up via Ethernet cable to the LAN or hook up via USB once to configure printer for wireless access, but you don’t have to at all. Compared to other wireless printers I have (a bit older so not as feature rich I suppose) this was a 10 out of 10 install because I did not have to hook up via USB or RJ45 connection initially. WARNING: USE WPS WITH CAUTION. ONCE YOU PRESS THAT BUTTON, YOU WIFI LAN IS OPEN FOR A BIT AND IF YOU’RE IN SOMETHING LIKE A COLLEGE DORM OR APARTMENT SETTING, YOUR LAN CAN BE ENTERED AT THAT POINT. IF YOU’RE WORRIED, USE USB OR HARDWIRE TO ROUTER TO ADD IT TO YOUR LAN SECURELY.

Another LAN downside maybe – i have a slower 2.4 GHz and a fast 5GHz WiFi LAN and it doesn’t see the 5GHz SSID, only the 2.4GHz one. All of my other printers only see the 2.4GHz SSID as well, so not unusual, but I’d have expected it to see the faster one.

Physical setup was simple. Do what the quick start says to do, period. Put the ink in, put the paper in, took off all the transport tape strips on doors/access panels and it worked. Again, one caveat here – when it auto registered, it prints out a test page to show that everything is aligned – reminded me of the ancient HP500C. Anyhow, see attached photo. It is SUPPOSED to look like six solid blocks as the screen on the printer shows, not the dashed and angular print. But I noticed that the image on the bottom (innobella) was properly aligned black & White and color so I said it was ok, I could always fix it later. It was OK as is. I printed out a picture and it was flawless. So the alignment thing is bogus. Again, because of the way the cartridges are detached from the print head (they’re just ink tanks it looks like) it HAS to be aligned. It’s not like you can align the cartridges at all so not even sure of why this is tested and part of the install process. Other color ink jets don’t.

I read other reviews that gave Brother high marks because their printers will use generic cartridges with no problems. My HP (one I replaced with this one – my fault not the printer because I dropped it and it exploded into lots of plastic bits) would only use genuine HP high $$$ cartridges and that stunk. But actual Brother ink cartridges are cheap enough that I’m going to use them and not chance using knock offs. Knock offs are not that much cheaper that it’s worth it to chance clogging the printer with inferior ink.

I haven’t had the printer long enough to comment on ink life or sturdiness of the unit. It does appear to be more solid and feels sturdier than the one I replaced, certainly smaller for sure but not much lighter- one third the size of the monster HP 8710 I dropped.

I don’t know about the reviews that say it “eats ink”. But, I have to say that unless you are a low volume user (like < 10 pages printed a week) and mostly use for scanning, I wouldn't use this as my primary printer – this or any inkjet for that matter – the cost per page is too high and changing cartridges is a pain. if you do print a lot, get a laser and have at it. Make sure it uses knock off cartridges (both my Samsung's, a B&W one and a color one, do just fine with them) and print away. If you have kids who print a lot, definitely get a color laser for the cheapest cost per page.

I use this printer for my home office. It prints, scans, copies and faxes like no other printer I’ve ever owned. The paper tray is designed for easy loading and yes, it prints on both sides….with ease. The ink is easy to load. It’s the perfect size too. With the paper tray pulled all the way out to receive copies the printer sits about 19″ out from the wall. It’s 16″ across and about 7″ high. It’s very user friendly with wifi set up and an easy-to-read display panel. There is absolutely nothing bad about this printer. Worth every penny. Don’t even look at another printer. Get this one. You’ll love it.

was under the impression this copier was easy on ink usage. It’s a pig. Going aftermarket for refills. Won’t reward Brother for shipping a printer with barely any ink to get started. Other than that the printer is easy to set up, it’s wireless, and the quality is ok.

-update 6 months later: this printer has not worked properly from day one; works only when it feels like it- somedays it’s missing a driver and prints nothing, some days it prints something from a few days prior; if you are like me and require a printer a few times a week, stay clear of this Brother: even when it is not in use, it gobbles up the ink (colour and black) in scheduled cleaning; can’t get it to just print b&w without it telling me to refill the colours as well. This is my second Brother printer- the first one lasted 10 years and it was great, but I’m never buying Brother again.

I am just reviewing my set up experience, which was excellent. Print on everything seems just a tad light, but very crisp and clear. This machine was relatively inexpensive at $59 considering that replacement inks on the internet are about $13 from brother and about half that amount from other suppliers. It is also full featured with 2 sided printing and auto doc feeder. It took me about 15 minutes to get on my WiFi and printing. First time, no glitches. This is a huge advance over my multi day experience years ago with Hp and Half day with Epson. I bought the 4 year extended warranty. Hope I don’t have to use it. *****2/1/2020 update so far performance is almost perfect. Use it very lightly but almost daily for over a year? It’s jammed maybe 3 times but cleared from the back almost instantly. Controls are a bit clunky and hard to figure but the set up was easy and WiFi always works from a number of app,e Devi es. Printer accepts very inexpensive but well rated after market ink cartridges. Prints absolutely perfectly with not a single printer head clog problem. Has not needed a single head cleaning problem. It was about $60 to buy and the least expensive to operate in inks by far. I have owned every brand and this the best by far.