The Brother INKvestment MFC-J985DW is actually the best ink efficient printer and the best all in one printer for budget shoppers. You might even think the kind of ink efficiency and performance this printer offers is not possible at $150, but that’s exactly what the Brother INKvestment MFC-J985DW achieves. It is also the best printer for screen printing below $200.
Related: For those who prefer to use monochrome printers, check the Brother Hl L2300d review
Why We Like It – Brother INKvestment MFC-J985DW
The Brother MFC J985DW is a “buy once and forget about it” kind of printer. On other printers, running out of ink, replacing ink cartridges, setting up, all that can feel like such a chore sometimes. But not on this printer.
- 20-sheet automatic document feeder included
- 100 sheet paper tray capacity
- No router required with Wi Fi Direct
- Ink dries out quicker than other printers
Speed
The Brother MFC J985DW is relatively fast and can print out up to 6 pages per minute. And that print speed is pretty much the same for both monochrome and color prints. Some might think that’s a bit too low. But this printer is made while keeping low cost per page in mind. Printing cost per color page is actually below 5 cents. When it comes to monochrome prints, the cost is even lower, under 2 cents per page. So the print speed is pretty great for what it is. Now, if you don’t care about low cost per page and only need higher print speed, get the HP OfficeJet 6978 Wireless Printer instead.
Related: If you want a faster printer, check the Brother Mfc J805 review
Print Quality
Even though it doesn’t cost much, the print quality is actually very good. You can select up to 6000 x 1200 DPI print resolution from the settings. It’s good enough for printing on photo paper. And the optical scanner is capable of 1200 x 2400 DPI (flatbed) and 1200 x 600 (automatic document feeder). Do note that this printer does support two sided printing (duplex printing). However, the optical scanner doesn’t support two sided scanning. If you need that, the Canon PIXMA G5020 MegaTank Inkjet Printer might just be a better option.
Efficiency
We already gave you the cost per page numbers. So it should come as no one’s surprise when we say this printer is incredibly ink efficient. And if you buy any of Brother’s genuine super high yield ink cartridges, you can get up to six months of printing out of them.
Advanced Features
It is a Wi Fi printer and supports Wi Fi direct. Basically, you can connect your mobile device to the printer even if you don’t have a wireless router. It also has NFC. If your phone has NFC built-in, you can seamlessly pair with just one tap.
Value
All in all, at just $150, the Brother MFC J985DW is incredible value for money. Duplex printing, low cost per page, Wi Fi direct, all these add ons are just a few bonuses on top of an already amazingly priced inkjet printer. But, if you have a bit more to spend, you can also go with Brother MFC-J805.
Brother INKvestment MFC-J985DW Wrap Up
The Brother INKvestment MFC-J985DW provides a lot of flexibility to its users, no matter their use case. It’s really quite surprising to see such a superb printer at such a low price.
