Brother MFC J5910DW Ink Cartridges

This is one of those earlier all in one models which could print in larger sizes up to A3 but the scanner was limited to A4. It is a light duty machine with average print and scan quality.

Brother MFC J5910DW can print up to A3 sized papers with a maximum resolution of 1200 x 6000 dpi. The print quality however is average to say the least. The grayscale and shades do not come out smooth or clear. The input tray is large and capable of handling 250 sheets but the monthly duty cycle is only up to 2500 pages, both of which are at odds with each other. The Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges supplied with the printer has a life of 390 pages each. While the connectivity options are good with USB, Ethernet, WiFi, SD cards and PictBridge support, the speed is very slow at effective 4 ppm in colour printouts. The dimensions are naturally large being a A3 printer, but the feeder tray does not feel durable and when the automatic feeder is open it look all the more awkward

The touchscreen controls give Brother MFC J5910DW more ease of use. The duplex printing and automatic document feeder add to the ease furthermore. The easy phone transfer using iPrint&Scan adds to the feature list.

• Can print upto A3 size
• Programmable functions on the panel
• Good connectivity options including smartphones and memory cards
• Good and wide range of features
• Individual Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridge slots

• Scans only upto tabloid size - 11x17 inch
• Print quality poor

While the Brother MFC J5910DW comes loaded with features and a whole range of connectivity options, it falters where it matters the most, print and scan quality. Usually A3 printers are taken for projects, reports and similar heavy duty printing. With a light duty cycle and average print quality, the device qualifies for no such use. Its practicality thus is restricted to home and educational uses.

The compatible Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges are:

• Brother LC1240 ink cartridges
• Brother LC1240B Black ink cartridge
• Brother LC1240C Cyan ink cartridge
• Brother LC1240M Magenta ink cartridge
• Brother LC1240Y Yellow ink cartridge

There a few things that explains the low level or constant consumption of colour ink, even when you are not printing colour.

Factor 1: Printhead Cleaning Cycle
One of the major reason that explains the colour ink consumption if printhead cleaning process. When you run printhead cleaning cycle it uses ink from each cartridge to clear the nozzles. Even when it wasn’t you who ran a cleaning process, it automatically would take place. The machine is designed to automatically flush and clean ALL of the ink jet nozzles on a programmed schedule. A periodical cleaning or "flushing" of all the Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges occurs approximately every two days. During the cleaning process, the machine draws out a small amount of ink to remove air bubbles from the cartridge and to remove dust and dried ink from the ink nozzles and channels. This not only ensures premium print quality but also ensures the life of the print head. Because of the ink jet technology, this process is common to all ink jet machines.

Factor 2: Printer is on Color printing mode
The second factor that can affect your colour ink consumption is the amount of prints from a computer, even if the print jobs are black only. The reason behind is, the printer driver is set to COLOR mode. In that case even when you want print in black the printer would automatically mix all the colours in from the Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges to produce a black print.

You can reduce the colour ink consumption by changing the printing mode to Grayscale. We also recommend that you select "Plain Paper" at Media Type in the printer settings to reduce the ink consumption.

Q. What is the difference between original Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges and the compatible ink cartridges?
A. The difference between the two is that original ink cartridges are manufactured by the printer manufacturer, that is, Brother. Whereas, compatible ink cartridges are made by third party companies. Also, compatible Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges are comparatively cheaper as compared to the original ink cartridges while capable of yielding the same number of pages. Although our compatible ink cartridges are cheaper, we assure you that the quality of output will be as good as the original ink cartridges.

Q. What devices can I use with a Brother MFC J5910DW printer to print from?
A. You can directly print pages using a computer (Windows and Mac), Android or Apple mobile devices, USB Flash Memory Drives, Memory Sticks, SD Cards, Multimedia Cards and PictBridge enabled cameras.

Q. Are Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges replaceable individually?
A. Yes, Brother MFC J5910DW printers come with a 4 ink cartridge system, which allows the user to replace only the ink cartridge that has run out. This feature enables savings as you only replace the colour that has run out, thus avoiding wastage.

Q. How do I clean the print head of my Brother MFC J5910DW printer?
A. Your printer automatically cleans the print head whenever required to maintain good quality printouts. In case you face a problem, you can also manually clean the print head. Follow the steps below to understand how to clean print head of your printer:

• Press the Ink button.
• Use the arrow keys to select the “Cleaning” option.
• Use the arrow keys to choose whether you only want to clean the black print head, colour print head or both.
• Once the printer is done cleaning the print head, it will automatically go to Ready mode.

Q. Do we get Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges of colours other than those mentioned on your website?
A. No, Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges are only available in cyan, magenta, yellow and black. This is because Brother MFC J5910DW printers, like most printers, use the CMYK(cyan, magenta, yellow, black) colour model for their printer. A mixture of these colours enables the printer to make all other colours, hence it does not require more colours.

Q. Can I fax letter size document with Brother MFC J5910DW? If yes, then how do I go about working it on my printer?
A. Yes, you can fax documents with letter size or A4 size by changing the scan size settings. Following are the steps for letter size scanning:

• Press on the fax icon
• Press on the options
• Press on the arrow button to see the scan sizes
• After the scan size is displayed, select ‘Letter’ or ‘A4’ size

Q. Last time I placed an order for standard Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges. But now I require high yield cartridges. Does your website offer Brother MFC J5910DW high yield ink cartridges?
A. Yes. We supply Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges (LC1280XL) that are high yield cartridges. The LC1280XL multipack consists of a black cartridge that supports printing up to 2400 pages and the the colour cartridges (cyan, magenta and yellow) that support printing up to 1200 pages each.

Q. I don't use my Brother MFC J5910DW very often. Does this affect my printer?
A. In cases when you don't use the printer for more than 5 to 6 months it will affect the printer cartridges and the printer (to some extent). When printer has been left idle for a very long time, it will spend some amount of ink to clean the printheads. Moreover, the ink in the Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges may also get dried up if not used at least once in a month.

Q. Can I print embossed envelopes using Brother MFC J5910DW?
A. Sorry. Brother MFC J5910DW printer does not support envelopes with embossed or raised writing.

Q. While changing Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges from my printer, I opened their packages a few minutes before beginning the process. Now I’m facing some difficulty while printing. May I know the reason?
A. In all likelihood, the print head nozzles have dried out. That is why it is recommended that you avoid opening ink cartridge packages until you are actually going to install them in your printer. Please clean your printhead nozzles first. If it solves the problem, which it most probably will, well and good. Else, you’ll have to find out what is causing it and rectify the same.

Q. Could you please tell what can happen if someone touches a printer’s print head?
A. Touching the printhead of a printer can cause permanent damage to it. Replacing it is usually a more expensive deal than buying a new printer in fact, so it’s better to take maximum care to not touch it.

Q. My printer has started showing the low ink light. Is it ok if I will wait a bit more and change my Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges later as I’m still getting the printouts?
A. It will be better if you change your Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges right away instead of waiting now. What happens is that as the cartridges become empty, air forces its way in through their nozzles, which can block the flow of ink, which affects the print quality.

Q. How do I print a Print Quality Check Sheet on the Brother MFC J5910DW printer, which is a touch-screen?
A. Please carry out the following procedure:

1. Press the Ink indicator (coloured bars instead of an ink button) by touching the ink indicator on the touchscreen.
2. Press s or t to display Test print.
3. Press Print Quality
4. Press Start (the printer starts printing the Print Quality Check Sheet at this point).

Q. I have been noticing print qualities issues with my Brother MFC J5910DW printer of late. Can I clean it manually?
A. Yes, though your printer cleans the print head automatically, manual cleaning can be done by you to overcome the print quality problems.

Q. Is it ok to clean the printhead of the printer frequently?
A. Cleaning the printhead of printers consumes some amount of ink every time it’s done. If you clean it too often, ink will be unnecessarily wasted and your cost will rise, so please do it occasionally.

Q. I just finished using my Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges, but the number of papers it printed was lesser than before. I’d like to know if lesser ink was supplied in these cartridges and if I can confront the seller over this.
A. Counting the number of pages wouldn’t be the correct way of determining the yield of your Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges. A lot of it actually depends upon how much content or graphics are printed on each page. If you take a printout of a page with only a few words on it, the amount of ink consumed will be less whereas if a page has heavy graphics or long-winding text, more ink will be utilised and the cartridge will be emptied sooner. You probably took more of printouts of text or graphics-rich pages last time around, hence they drained faster.

Q. Could you please tell me how exactly should I store my Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges so as to avoid damage to them? Thanks.
A. The Brother MFC J5910DW ink cartridges are best kept in an upright position consistently. And when it’s time to install the ink cartridge for use, please keep it in the upright position for a few hours so that its ink moves to the bottom of the cartridge and thus pass through the sponge, which enables the cartridge to print properly.