Brother MFC 685cw All-in-one with CISS

Printing abilities

As it is claimed, brother printer mfc-685cw is basically a superset, adding Wi-Fi; a larger color LCD for photo preview (3.3inch); it is also a phone handset and, sure, answering machine.

Looking through the feature list, its length catches the eyed. The multifunctional device prints and scans, works as a fax machine and copier. It prints directly from USB keys, PictBridge cameras and memory cards. Connection opportunities include both Wi-Fi and a wired network connection, which makes faxing from and scanning to a PC through a network possible. Finally it includes a 10-page ADF (automatic document feeder) for easy copying, scanning and faxing of multipage documents.

As with previous models from the company, for example, the BROTHER MFC-255CW, paper handling is not the best, with only a 100 pages input capacity and a separate 20 pages tray for 4 x 6 photo paper.

Light-duty printing

Such a low capacity is a great part of what limits the brother mfc-685cw printer to light-duty printing. On the other side, the additional photo tray helps make it fit fine into the role of both home office and home printer, so you can start printing photos just without swapping out the regular paper.

The best can be said for its speed, so it is faster than majority of popular printers. We set a time at a total of 21 minutes and 51 seconds. It almost six minutes faster than BROTHER MFC-290C, but it is not even among first top ten fastest printers. Photo speed is also notably low, averaging 4 minutes and 7 seconds for each 4 x 6, 9 minutes and 23 seconds for each 8 x 10.

Quality and colouring

Quality of output by brother printer mfc-685cw is mixed. Text is sub-par, though photo and graphics quality are similar to majority of ink jets. All standard fonts were easily readable during our test. They were good-formed characters at 10, but just a half passed test for 8 points, and all failed at smaller point size qualification.

Output quality is mixed. Both graphics and photo quality are the same as most ink jets, but text is sub-par. During our test, all the standard fonts were easily readable, with well-formed characters at 10 points, but only a half passed a test at 8 points. And none (!) qualified at smaller point sizes.

All stated in the previous proves that brother printers mfc-685cw may be good for most basic business needs and schoolwork, but surely not for anything that need small fonts. So, for graphics output you may need to by some paper, which is heavier-weight, as in our test the multipurpose paper used for a full-page graphics curled. We also noticed a tendency to shift colors towards green; this is brightly seen with blues and gray.

The photos quality is not bad. They are waterproof and reasonably scratch-resistant, but if the paper becomes too wet, they curl when dry. So in routine use, you can look the photos through without worrying about them being damaged. Just don't let the photos soak thoroughly.

What it is

Clearly, relatively slow speeds and the paper capacity limit brother mfc-685cw wireless inkjet all-in-one printer to light-duty printing. But if you don't need anything special and require only standard performance, it is all you need. As the device offers a full range of office machines – scanner, printer, copier, fax machine, phone handset and even answering machine – complemented into one compact package.