Brother MFC-J985DW

Inexpensive, high-capacity ink cartridges make for very low running costs. Good range of connectivity choices. Above-par photo quality. Port for USB thumb drive and memory card slow.

Can't match the speed or paper handling of some similarly priced systems. Slightly below-par text and graphics.

Conclusion The Brother MFC-J985DW XL is priced higher than the physically identical MFC-J985DW, but provides three times as much ink as that model. Even when the ink finally runs out, the cost of replacing it is very low. But it's no great bargain...

Quick at scanning and making copies ; Low cost per page ; Prints text quickly ; High print quality ; Manual feed and 4 x 6 photo trays

Slow at printing color graphics and glossy photos ; Cannot print or scan in grayscale from LCD menu ; Does not print text or PDF docs from USB Direct port ; Limited photo paper handling ; No USB port to connect directly to a PC

With a low cost per page, the Brother MFC-J985DW all-in-one offers a very good bargain for workers performing small office tasks, with few downsides.

Good text, graphics-output quality ; Decent print speed for a low-volume printer ; Easy to set up and use ; Low cost per page

So-so photo quality ; Non-"XL" version of this printer may be a better value for some buyers

Our first impression of the MFC-J985DW XL and this iteration of INKvestment is that, from an economic standpoint, it makes a little more sense than Epson’s EcoTank—at least at the level of this low-volume model. But frankly, the numbers are even better...