This time Brother did not Forsake me.

In hindsight, I was crazy to buy another Brother product.

The Brother MFC 440CN was purchased, in haste, as a replacement for a now deceased Brother Intellifax Printer/Fax machine.

The Intellifax 1828C was horrible right out of the box, so I must have had a gun up to my head when I made this most recent purchase.

So the story goes, I needed a fax machine, and I needed it immediately, due to the demise of my new Brother's Brother.

I didn't really need a multi-function unit, because I already had an excellent ink jet, a good laser jet and an excellent scanner.

But if you've looked around lately, there aren't very many dedicated fax units to be had, anymore. For the small differential in cost, compared to a stand alone plain paper fax, I searched through the multi-function aisle.

I initially turned my nose up at all of the Brother units, but somehow I kept returning to the MFC 440CN.

I'm glad I did.

I made the purchase and was up and running in no time. Connection to my network was simple, overall setup was easy and intuitive. I did learn, however, that part of the reason that there was a small differential in cost is that there is no telephone hand set included, although there is a modular jack if you want to add telephone capacity.


Compared to my previous Brother unit, the print head and ink cartridges are not a disaster waiting to happen. The stationary cartridges, there are 4, 1 black and 3 color, are easy to install and do not leak, like previous Brother cartridge iterations. Additionally, the annoying confirmation process during the changing of cartridges has been eliminated, as has the very lengthy self cleaning (and ink wasting) process.

I have found the paper carry and delivery mechanisms to be excellent, except for the 4 x 6 photo holder area. Using this has consistently resulted in paper jams. So if I have need to print an isolated photo, I use the main tray and get predictable results.

Like all printers, speed ratings are overstated. If you want 100% coverage in fine detail, expect to spend some time. However, with some printers, you might get your photos faster by uploading to Shutterfly and waiting by your door for the mail. Not so with the MFC 440CN. Not speedy, but adequate.

Although I continue to use my dedicated scanner,on a networked basis, the ease of the all in one unit can't be beat. As with most combined units, control software suffers a bit, so if you need perfection, use the dedicated machine, and not the combination unit.

However, both scanning and copying were acceptable in quality and speed. As an aside, I did print an edge to edge 8.5 x 11 on the Brother unit, at its highest quality and I was very impressed with the colors and definition. Set against a field of grass, my dog's fur and the blades of grass were distinct and sharp.

As with all inkjets, the cost of replacement ink can be prohibitive. Brother is adamant about the use of its proprietary inks. I will not recommend otherwise, but I can tell you that I print quite a bit, and the cost savings from purchasing inks from on-line vendors is significant.

I happen to do much of my on-line shopping through a consolidated shopping portal, www.shopandroll.com. It connected me directly to Inkjets123.com and at a pittance of full cost, I get ink delivered faster than the actual printing time. And in a feel good moment, a contribution to charity is made based on purchases through the shopandroll web site.

Finally, the on screen menus are relatively easy to follow. Not liking to deal with manuals, unless absolutely necessary, I appreciate straight forward instructions directly from the hardware. The LCD flip up preview screen gave adequate representations of images on the inserted media cards and allowed for some perfunctory editing prior to printing. However, you are better off relying on your own image editing software.

In all, a surprisingly functional machine, at a good price.