Expert Verdict
The Brother MFC-L8690CDW is a chunky multi-functional device, which is designed for a busy small and medium-sized business. This printer is large enough to support 300 sheets of paper in its two in-trays and 150-sheets in the central out tray. Along with it, it comes with a black toner Brother MFC-L8690CDW toner cartridge which is suitable to print at least 3000 mon prints. Besides, high yield cartridges are also available that will double the figure, meaning with high capacity cartridges, you’ll be able to print around 6000 monoprints.
It does not support A3 paper and also lacks NFC connectivity without the dongle, though it is a very well featured machine. You can control the operations via a large 9.3cm LCD touch screen. Moreover, it comes with a duplex printing feature and a Wi-Fi Direct feature. The bundle of the printer contains Wi-Fi and four standard toner cartridges that can print up to 3,000 mono pages and 1,800 colour pages. The set of four toner Brother MFC-L8690CDW toner cartridges include - black, cyan, yellow and magenta colours.
A brother is a big unit that would rather prefer standing on its own table than some desk. It is also reassuringly heavy so you will need the help of around two people in moving it from one place to another. Basically, Brother has strengthened its printers to increase longevity and for a largely plastic device, it certainly feels very solid. The larger size means there is plenty of room for paper and toner Brother MFC-L8690CDW toner cartridges. You can even buy an additional paper drawer for adding another 250-sheets of plain paper. The conventional design of the printer has the scanner bed and ADF located above the central delivery tray along with the toner cartridges container and two paper trays below that. The touchscreen display is very excellent with large keys to the side which registers with a beep when pressed. There’s a USB port in front of the printer for flash drives and a square USB port at the rear for plugging in a data cable, with an Ethernet port beside it. Also from the large flap at the front, you access the four toner Brother MFC-L8690CDW toner cartridges. They’re good for around 3,000 mono and 1,800 colour prints, which is just as well because Brother cartridges are a bit expensive and having this capacity reduces the chances of buying them at an early stage. Being a four-in-one device, the Brother MFC-L8690CDW can print, scan, copy and fax.
It is unusual for The Brother MFC-L8690CDW not to have a setup wizard on the display to take you through the initialisation, but it's not a problem because the printer setup guide is very easy to follow. Installing both the software and Brother MFC-L8690CDW toner cartridges is an easy task. When it comes to printing text, this printer is both fast and precise. The time to print ten pages of text on both sides, including the time to warm up, is just about 50 seconds. Brother’s claimed page rate of 31 pages per minute is much faster and it delivers the same speed with colour documents. In addition to this, each page is consistently clean, with no bandings, smudges, or paper jams. Though the colour prints are not impressive. This machine scans at a higher resolution than it prints and it scans quickly too.
In all, Brother’s replacement Brother MFC-L8690CDW toner cartridges are on the expensive side, but this bundle includes enough toner to make this package a good deal for any small to mid-sized business that needs to churn out paperwork with minimal fuss.
Review
The Brother MFC-L8690CDW colured printer is designed for providing prints for home projects and office work. The printer is capable of performing print, scan, copy and fax the documents. It is backed with a 9.3cm touchscreen coloured display for a better view and navigation while performing the tasks from the machine. It has an automatic document feeder up to 50 sheets which saves time and paper costs. MFC-L8690CDW printer has a good paper handling capacity of standard input tray (up to 250 sheets), Multi-purpose Tray (up to 50 sheets) and output tray (up to 150 sheets). Moreover, the printer is flexile with multiple media sizes, excluding A3 size. Also, it shows compatibility with various operating systems, including Linux and series of Mac, Windows.
The MFC-L8690CDW printer has Hi-Speed USB 2.0 & USB Host for an external card reader with Wi-fi direct to print via the network. Not to mention, mobile connectivity makes the printing task easy and fast. This Brother printer belongs to the fast printers category with a high printing speed of 31ppm, irrespective of the type and media used. Along with laser technology, the printer uses Brother MFC-L8690CDW toner cartridges for impressive business documents or creative graphics.
Advantages
- Multi-tasking printer
- More productivity with a high printing speed
- Allow wired and wireless connections
- Easy navigation with 9.3 coloured touchscreen
- Automatic double-sided printing
- Secured printing option available
- An energy effecient printer which follows German Blue Angel, Nordic Swan and Energy Star standards
Disadvantages
- Bulky printer
- Prohibitive purchasing cost
- Low paper storage capacity
- Poor print quality for heavy documents
Cartridge Requirements
Brother MFC-L8690CDW toner cartridges include:
- TN421B toner cartridge
- TN421C toner cartridge
- TN421M toner cartridge
- TN421Y toner cartridge
Conclusion
Brother MFC-L8690CDW is a professional colour laser printer that provides great print speeds. This Brother machine provides impressive print quality with optimum speed. It has a comprehensive mobile and cloud connectivity options, making integration into your office seamless.
I have been printing with the Brother MFC-L8690CDW printer for a while now. Recently noticed that the colour on the printout was not appropriate. What should I do to fix this problem?
Perform the following steps to solve this problem:
Step 1: Calibrate with colours and adjust the print position, in order to improve the colour density. Follow the steps below to do so:
- Tap the Toner button on the touchscreen of your Brother MFC-L8690CDW printer and go to the ‘Calibration’ menu.
- Press yes button after selecting the ‘Calibrate’ option.
- The calibration will begin and take a few minutes.
- Press the home screen button. Select the toner button again.
- Tap on the ‘Registration’ option and press the yes button to adjust the colour alignment.
Step 2: Make sure that the ‘Toner Save’ option is disabled. The toner save feature reduces the amount of toner consumption in order to increase the life of your Brother MFC-L8690CDW toner cartridges. This affects print quality.
Step 3: Uncheck the ‘Improve Grey Colour’ checkbox on your printer driver, if the print quality is poor.
Step 4: Before printing, select the ‘Enhance Black Printing’ checkbox in the printer driver, to improve the quality of the black portion of the printouts.
Step 5: Identify the colour causing the issue and replace that with Brother MFC-L8690CDW toner cartridge. Follow the steps below to identify the cartridge that is causing the problem:
- Download the colour chart from the brother support section.
- Compare your printout obtained with this chart to identify the defective Brother MFC-L8690CDW toner cartridge.
- Remove the defective toner cartridge and insert a new one at its place.
- Make sure you only use high-quality toner cartridges for your printer in order to achieve optimum print quality.
- Check your online user manual for the instructions on how to replace the toner cartridge.
Step 6: The drum unit of your printer might be worn out or damaged. Install a new drum unit. Check for the instructions on how to replace your drum unit.