Brother HL-8260CDW-Color laser printer
I received this product for free from Brother in exchange for my honest opinion/review of the product. This business class color laser printer is an ideal printer for those who want a dependable, consistent, feature rich, and flexible business workgroup printer. It is not only suited for small business (high output, long toner lifecycle, and multiple networking connectivity options) but also a great fit for a home user. I consider this class of printer a professional office grade product, with fantastic support and the reputation that Brother has established for itself in the Printer/scanner/fax machine world. Previous to this product, my experience with Brother International was mostly in the business class fax machine category. As an IT professional I have setup, used and supported many different business class workgroup laser printers by top manufacturers. This gives me an idea of what to expect from a product and to accurately compare and conclude my findings during the review phase. \
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Prior to receiving this product, I had high expectations from Brother. As I have grown to trust its brand in the printer/scanner/fax world. My initial impressions during the unboxing and setup phase was positive. The printer design and footprint are favorable. Specs and build quality were impressive. With a high yield toner cartridge option, and its high duty cycle, I expected great things during testing. \
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I was met pleasantly with its consistent print speed, and quality. Power consumption was good, printer noise level was about par with others in its class, although I found it to be a bit loud during printing for a home environment, but other than that, it was off to a good start. \
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During the network setup phase, I found this printer to be very user friendly and intuitive. It has a nice LCD display with logical placed and well prioritized button functions. Design and execution of its display and functions were top tier. Wifi setup was a breeze as it was all pretty much automatic with few user necessary inputs. \
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During its printing phase, it put out everything that i threw at it, with good speed, and great image/print quality. From printing documents in Black and white, to printing high resolution images in color, it delivered without a hitch. Duplex printing performed without incident. I also wanted to see if the Gigabit Lan setup was as easy as the Wifi setup, and it was. \
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Additionally I opted to install a few of the extra software utilities that were available from Brother to troubleshoot, test and manage its functionality in a workgroup networked environment. I administered the printer through a very simple and effective software tool called BRADMIN Pro. How well the printer carried out changes to its settings via the admin tool was an important factor to me, as this printer was designed to be used in a business office environment. There is also the Status monitor software which is included in the CD that comes with the printer. Its great for fast troubleshooting, and checking printer supply and status. \
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Overall from initial impressions, unboxing, physical setup, and print cycle testing, I honestly could not find anything to complain about. It made quick work of all print jobs that were thrown at it. Frankly, besides the noise while printing and a few seconds of delay when sending print jobs wirelessly (receiving data), i was satisfied that this product would provide years of reliable, consistent and cost effective printing duty in any small to medium size workgroup environment. \
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My favorite feature of this printer is definitely the mobile device direct printing capability (IOS air print and droid). No setup on the mobile device, just pick something and print it! seamless!\
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Overall I was very impressed from start to finish in my testing and review of this product. I am proud to have it in my home office for all my printing needs.
