Customer Ratings & Reviews

Only had it for a week so rating doesn’t include reliability. Prints fast for an inkjet. Haven’t used copy/scan functions yet. Setup was a little confusing mainly around the brother connect for dashboard. It took several tries to successfully connect.

Years ago, I had a Brother printer that I absolutely loved. It was a small MFC printer, and I never had any trouble with it until it got fried by lightning strike near my house. That's why I jumped at the chance to test this Brother MFC printer. This unit doesn't have a large footprint, although it is larger than my previous Brother printer. Initial setup was straight forward; the most challenging thing I had to do was contact my email provider and have them enable the ability to allow the printer to send scans via email using my email address. The whole setup took about 20 mins. The printer is fast and extremely quiet. The text and images are crisp and the color are exact. The display seems a bit small, but it's bright and clear, and finding the setting you want is fairly intuitive. I was really liking this printer... for the first few days. About 4-5 days after I started using the printer, I tried to print something, but nothing happened. I checked the printer queue, and it showed the printer being in an 'error' state. When I checked, the Wi-Fi icon on the printer's display showed that it wasn't connected. The Brother printer is in the same room as my router AND another popular name-brand printer, which I could still use to print. So, I went through the settings and selected "Recover WLAN", which failed. So, I rebooted the printer, and the Wi-Fi connection was restored, and I could print. Later that day, the same thing happened, and again, I had to reboot the printer to restore the connection. The next day, the same thing happened, multiple times. I called Brother support and after about 30 minutes of discussing the issue, I was told the problem was with my ISP. I thought this was a stretch, but I did contact my ISP, and of course they said the problem wasn't on their end. Moreover, the other printer, never lost connection. I went into my router settings and set a static IP for this printer; it continued to lose the Wi-Fi connection. Then I had the issue escalated, but when the email arrived and I replied, my response was kicked back because it said the sending email didn't match the account owner's email. The email also stated that I could log onto the Brother website and update the ticket, so I did that (using the email address that I was told didn't match my account), but I could find absolutely no way to access the ticket. So, I called support again and asked why my emails were being kicked back and/or how I could update the ticket through the website. The rep initially began trying to help me figure that out, but at some point, he decided he was going to help me fix the connection issue. While on the phone with the rep, I removed the printer from the device list on my laptop, but then I couldn't re-add it. After an hour on the phone, the rep told me the problem was with my ISP. After the call, I wound up installing a large software/driver package from Brother and was able to re-add the printer to my laptop, but even though the printer showed itself as being connected (on its display), and even though I could see it in the client list of my router, and even though the Brother software saw the printer and could access info (e.g. ink levels), and although I could see the printer from the Dashboard in my account on the Brother website, and all of the IP addresses matched, when I tried to print, the docs went to the queue but errored out. Today I rebooted the printer and was actually able to print several documents, but an hour later, the connection had dropped, so I just started using my other printer. I'm not really sure what the problem is, it could be something I'm missing with my router, but I don't understand how the other printer doesn't exhibit at least something similar. Overall, when the printer works, it's great. The problem is, the one I have hardly works. Maybe I need to rethink my fondness of Brother printers.

This Brother Inkvestment MFC-J5010DW is a solid printer and my 3rd Brother MFC printer and 2nd Inkvestment printer. It is replacing my still functioning, 11yr old MFC-J885DW that has started to show signs of increasing gaps and streaking--largely due to my infrequent, random printing. While larger and a bit louder than my smaller, 11yr old J885 printer, the MFC-J5010DW is FAST in comparison: EVEN FOR COLOR PRINTOUTS! 28ppm B/W, 26ppm color. Unlike my J885, this printer will also hold 250 sheets of paper and will automatically print duplex if desired. The manual feed is great for specialty paper like sticker paper (for all the Cricut users out there) or 8.5x14. The ADF (automatic document feeder) is a non-negotiable for me: I need a printer that has an ADF and can do dual-sided scanning. For me, it is less about making copies and more about scanning to PDF which brings me to the onboard software and screen... The onboard touchscreen is the main reason I have knocked a star off the review. The screen is too small and the software/display is unchanged in over 11 years. In some ways it is nice that the software hasn't changed but it also feels like I am running Windows 3.1 on a brand-new device. All the basics are there from maintenance functions to email/scanning/copying/faxing functions, to an address book, etc. but they are hard to navigate on such a small screen. Fortunately, you can use a web browser (with password protection you set up when you onboard the printer to your network) to do much of the setup and maintenance. Plus, the web interface has FANTASTIC metrics about your ink levels, print history, error logging, etc. Much of my scanning to PDF goes to the cloud or email. Brother offers "easy" (in that the process is simple but the use of the touchscreen can again be a bit challenging for thicker fingers) connectivity to cloud sources like Google Drive and One Drive (and Dropbox, Sharepoint, OneNote, Box, Evernote). Fortunately, the entire process is NOT driven by the touchscreen. To scan to Google Drive, for example, you select "Scan to Google Drive" on the touchscreen to start your account setup. After that, the bulk of the activation is done by going to bwc.brother.com and authenticating your cloud service on a phone or computer rather than the tiny Brother printer screen. To complete registration, you grab a multi-digit code from your bwc.brother.com browser session and tap it into the printer touchscreen rather than having do all the authenticating on the device. The print quality is very good. A keen eye knows it is inkjet and not laser, but the quality is on par with laser at least for b&w printing. The "Inkvestment technology" effectively pours individual, higher yield ink cartridges into a storage pool in the printer resulting in less replacement of cartridges. Inkvestment is not an ink subscription program (however, Brother does offer a "Refresh" ink subscription service). Out of the box setup was easy. Unbox, peel off some blue tape holding things together in shipping, turn it on, select your language, scan a barcode, connect to your wifi, install the ink and follow prompts. (There was an option to set up the printer without the phone app or direct from the touchscreen but I was not willing to navigate the smaller screen.) There is a mandatory test print and optional scanner alignment process but all-in-all I think it took about 5 minutes. My Windows 11 PC found the printer almost instantly and configured it on my laptop within 60 seconds. Another reason for me to replace my 11yr old printer with the MFC-J5010DW is the Brother Mobile Connect app. I am not a huge fan of apps to control printers, but it was time to take advantage of the upgraded Brother app (which is not backwards compatible with my old printer). I would recommend the printer unless you have serious issues working with a small touchscreen. I am more than satisfied with the quality and speed of the printer as well as the perks to connect to various services for printing, scanning, faxing and copying.

Having tried a variety of printers from various brands has given me an affinity for Brother printers. They never let me down. This printer is easily discoverable by any device and prints double-sided in just seconds. It is definitely perfect for home-based and small businesses. *Quality of Product* The printer doesn’t make more space than the average home printer in width and depth, it is just slightly taller. It feels robust and well-made, all the hinges and opening feel durable and sturdy, plus the plastic is thick even on the extendable printout tray. The screen can be pulled up for easy viewing if it is below eyesight, is highly responsive to touch, and makes a satisfying click to register touch. The one downside is that I want to lower the volume of the clicks but can’t find a way to do so. It has volume settings for other noises but not for that. *Print* When it comes to printing, it is incredibly fast. It will print out a full double-sided page in about five seconds. The quality of the text is pretty good for its speed. There is a tiny bit of fuzziness when printing under “normal” quality, but the effect is so minimal that most people won’t notice it if they aren’t specifically looking at that as the text is completely legible. I have had similar results with another ink saving printer, and it seems to be a cause of ink conservation. With the “best” quality setting, the text is highly pigmented but there are still a few out of place ink “pixels,” just far less frequent that with the normal quality. It does, of course, take slightly longer to print out a page under this setting. I actually printed an entire 91-page textbook for a weekend course I took and am pretty satisfied with the quality and color. I also printed out a photo I took and it did a fantastic job at keeping the colors accurate. *Scan* This printer has duplex scanning capabilities, a feature that is absolutely worth it to have when the need arises, which for me is quite often due to my remote job. I like being able to have all the functions in one machine, rather than a separate scanner for just that. The printer was able to scan over 10 pages in under a minute. I had about three sets of 10 pages to scan and all had been folded in half, but it only jammed once and the compartments are easy to lift to clear the jam. *App* The Brother app is very simple and streamlined. It shows the function options clearly, plus the amount of ink level remaining. It has no frills, no distractions, just what is needed for printer use. *Conclusion* This is overall a great multi-purpose printer than is benefits any small business and even families that prints a lot. It is quick, prints adequately, saves ink, and has duplex scanning plus has a small footprint.

FAST! Very clean print-outs that rival my laser printer and Brother DOES NOT force you to buy their ink! Does everything I need for my small business, and then some!

I bought this to replace an older Brother home inkjet (J4335DW). Main uses is for school and work. So far so good. However, the print quality is about the same as the prior printer. I thought this would be a step up. Also, the printer is substantially bigger. Set up was pretty easy, so we will see how it goes.

Hands down best printer i have ever had. Just soo easy to navigate through everything. This is the 1

I went into this purchase a little skeptical of inkjet printers in general, but the INKvestment system changed my mind fast. The headline feature is real, the cartridges that come in the box last a long time, and Brother isn't exaggerating when they market this around low cost per page. If you print regularly, the savings over a typical inkjet add up quickly. Setup was straightforward. The touchscreen walks you through everything from loading paper to connecting Wi-Fi and I was printing within about twenty minutes including the initial test pages. The Brother Mobile Connect app made adding the printer to my home network painless, and I haven't had a single dropped connection since. Print quality is genuinely good for an all-in-one at this price. Black text is crisp, and color documents come out with nice colors rather than the washed-out look you sometimes get from previous cartridge printers I have used. We have printed everything from regular paperwork to photos for some crafts my littles wanted to do and both came out better than expected. The two-sided automatic document feeder is a feature I didn't think I'd use much, but it's become one of my favorites. We like to scan and save our kiddos schoolwork and getting clean double-sided copies without manually flipping pages saves a surprising amount of time. The footprint is reasonable too. We have a dedicated nook for a printer, but It doesn't dominate the desk the way some all-in-ones do. For anyone tired of researching and replacing ink cartridges way too often, this printer is worth a serious look. It's quiet, capable, and the ink savings alone make a strong case for itself.

Brother has released a new printer, the Brother INKvestment 5010 inkjet all-in-one printer. The printer is easy to setup and works well. Brother used it’s 2.7” color touchscreen with this printer. The interface and menu system is the same as my Brother laser printer. The touchscreen makes it easy to navigate the menu. The responsiveness is reasonable. It also makes it easy to connect it to a wireless network. The all-in-one 5010 has the added feature of 2-sided scan and copy as well. There have been a few times over the years where I could have used this feature. I scan and copy through out the year, but don’t typically need to be able to do 2-sided scan or copy. But the times I have needed that feature in my previous printers, I was frustrated not being able to do that. I’m glad this has been added into the 5010 as I no longer have to deal with it being frustrating even though I would only use the feature about 1 or 2 times a year. The print quality for text is really good for an inkjet printer. Color printing is good, but this is not a photo printer. It can print photos, but other printers from Brother would be better for that. Color graphs and text though are good with the 5010. The ink tanks are a new design. It’s interesting and simple to replace a tank. The ink tanks can only fit in one way, so no worries of misaligning a replacement tank. Also, with the color tanks, I can see the level in the tank just by looking at it as the tanks are clear allowing me to see the ink in the tanks if I open the cover and remove the tank. The firmware also, as it typically is with printers, will also show the tank levels. This is a good printer for me for remote work and for personal printing. The text printing quality and graph printing is really good. I like the addition of the 2-sided copying and scanning. I also like that it uses ink tanks. If you are looking for a small office inkjet printer or a remote work inkjet printer with all of the necessary all-in-one features, then consider Brother’s INKvestment 5010 color all-in-one inkjet printer.

The Brother 5010 (MFC-J5010DW) is my 3rd Brother printer I have used, I am currently using the 1365 printer. The printers do seem to be getting better every year. I personally like the INKvestment as using the ink, monitoring and ordering more is a breeze. Now this could just be me, but the Brother 5010 printer is very fast and responsive. The 2.4” touch screen does a great job responding to touch and doing any tasks you may have to do like cleaning the ink heads printing, or printing from Google Drive for example was easier than I thought it would be with the Mobile Connect app. This printer is perfect for home office use with what it offers. This is a very versatile printer that can do several jobs. I have not had the best luck with using printers on a network in the past, Brother has made these tasks pain free because they are responsive and quick at printing whatever is needed and showing the drives and files that can be printed. The mobile connect app is one option in printing to go along with the phone, desktop, etc. It is handy as it shows all Printers you have registered and if they are showing on the network. Printer ink levels can be checked on both printer and app along with scan, copy, buy ink, support & printing options for regular or photo. There was only 1 issue I came across with the Brother 5010 with my time with it thus far and that was with the set up process. When attempting to connect the printer to the app for initial registration, it never showed up. After inputting the model number and verifying this actual printer, it connected to the app and was usable immediately. I recommend this printer for solid home use or home business due to the functions it can perform locally or online. Putting all the functions in the app and a snappy printer, I am happy with the performance and functions.

I might be a little biased, but the last brother printer I had was my absolute favorite. I really hated that they stopped making that specific one, so the ink was not available at every store, and Amazon charged a lot for just the black ink cartridge. I ended up donating my perfectly good printer because it wasn't worth the cost of ink. I am loving this brother printer so far. It is a fairly large printer, but I don't mind that. The printer was so easy to set up and connect to. I was able to easily add it to my brother's profile and print directly in the app. I am still trying to figure out how to connect it to AirPrint. I love that you can print directly in the Brother mobile connect app. The print quality is great. It also prints very fast. I printed an 8x10 picture on plain white paper, and it printed quickly, and the picture looked pretty good. If you are printing pictures to display at a party, the quality is great for that, and even not too bad to place into a frame and hang around your house. It's not high-quality prints like you would get off a photo website, but good enough for a quick job. A color-printed document comes out very nicely. The speed at which it prints is top-notch. This printer can scan, copy, print, and fax. One of the great things about this is that it comes with a set of color and black/white ink cartridges, and when those run out, you can either purchase a new set or sign up for instant print. My old printer had an instant print subscription that lets you pay based on how much you print per month, instead of paying so much for cartridges when they run out. I would definitely recommend this. My favorite printer brand, and it did not disappoint.

GOOD - Fast print speed - No account necessary to setup printer - Easy to setup w/o using a mobile app - USB port allows printing directly from thumb drives - Doesn't seem to require subscription plan to get all functions and features - Brother provides Linux drivers BAD - Default print quality could be better - Single feed tray has problems with small photo paper sheets TLDR Brother's 5010 makes a good multi-function office printer if your priorities are speed and lack of subscription. Color printing speed is fantastic, even when doing double-sided pages, and Brother has full driver and software support for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The biggest downside is that color saturation is somewhat low by default. But if you're mostly printing office reports and not photos, it's not something that will bother you. DETAILS As stated, the 5010 has a fast print speed for an inkjet. Not just in B&W mode, but also while printing color and two-sided pages. I've had other printers where the page flip for two-sided mode took a while, but the 5010 doesn't even bat an eye. Setup is easy to do, whether you use the mobile application or not. The touchpad controls are quick to use and the menus are well organized. Brother also provides full drivers and software utilities for Linux and not just Windows and Mac. Perhaps best of all, you don't need to create an account with Brother to setup the printer or use all the features. Nor does it look like any subscription service is required to utilize all features. The biggest downside is color saturation in default print quality modes. Color saturation seems to be on the light side, whether printing normal office documents or photos on glossy paper. Black sections look like a very dark grey and photo colors aren't as vibrant as they should be. The makes sense if the 5010 was set up primarily for office printing. It saves a little ink for each page, which lowers cost of operation. And if you're mainly printing financial reports and such, then no one really cares if the colors don't perfectly match the source material. Fine tuning the print quality profiles can likely rectify this, but this isn't a printer I'd use for printing out hard-copy family photos. The ink cartridges are just that: ink containers and not the whole print head. When you replace the cartridges, the ink gets siphoned into an internal tank. Whether that means you can use third-party cartridges or refill existing cartridges, I don't know. The printer also costs a little more than typical small-office multi-function printers of this caliber. This is likely because the printer isn't being subsidized by a required subscription service or ink replacement plan. So while it might be a little more expensive upfront, long-term costs are probably about the same as most others ( or perhaps even less ). A few minor quibbles I ran into while testing was with the single-feed tray and front USB port. The single-feed tray in back is for printing one-off documents on different media rather than changing out the paper in the main tray. This worked well for me using regular full-size sheets, but single feeding small glossy paper for photos ( like 5x7 or 4x6 ) didn't work for me. Also, I had trouble getting the front USB port to read my thumb drives at first. I bounce between Windows and Linux on my home computers, so it's possible the drive was formatted in a way the printer didn't like. After formatting the drive between FAT32 and exFAT a few times, it started working. I was able to print images directly off the drive without issue. However, it still didn't read PDFs off the drive.

This is a good printer. It prints well, fast, and does not bombard you with ads trying to sell ink subscriptions over and over, while including extremely tiny ink cartridges. I think you all know which brand I’m referring to. Also, this other brand’s cartridges are insanely expensive. Anyway, the printing works well, scanning works well, and setup is a breeze. Ink has lasted a good while so far, seems to last much longer than my previous HP printer. The refills are cheaper too. The scanner works well and scans both sides via the auto feed tray. I haven’t had any issues scanning or copying a few documents yet. Although I don’t copy many documents much as I just print from a pdf file after checking the scan. I’d highly recommend this printed to anyone who need a quality home office printer that can scan well, copy. And print with ease. For anything other tasks that are more robust, I would go with a laser printer. That is not a knock on inkjet printers. They have their place, but that pace is light duty at home.

Summary up front: The Brother MFC-J5010DW is a fine all in one machine. Setup was fairly straightforward. Printing quality seems to be very good for such a reasonably priced machine. Printing was also surprisingly fast - I expected slower for something in this price range. The scanning, copy and fax functions all performed admirably. The Brother iPrint and Scan software makes scanning a breeze and gives you lots of control on how you want to fax and store your scans. The automatic feeder performs double sided scanning, copying and faxing well. Paper handling is its weak point since there is no Multipurpose tray and the manual feed slot only allows for one sheet; therefore, if you need more than that, spend a little more for one of Brother's more expensive models (e.g. 5110 or 5115). But many users casual won't care about that. The Brother Mobile Connect App works fine and is useful to print items directly from your phone and scan in items directly to your phone. I am impressed - especially at its price point. DETAILS: • UNPACKING AND PHYSICAL SETUP: - Setup was easy and straight forward. The machine is fairly light and has a pretty small footprint for an duplex all-in-one. ○ The small footprint comes with a caveat in that the scanning glass only does 8.5" x 11" size. - Connecting to Ethernet and phone line easy - Documentation from the Brother support page was easily located and downloaded. ○ The only "nit" is there was not a direct link to the 430 page User's Manual. For that, you actually had to click on the "on-line" User's Manual. There was a link on that page to download the PDF manual. C'mon, Brother - why didn't you just include a direct link to download the manual from the "Manuals" Page?!?? - • SOFTWARE SETUP: - Just like seemingly everything else these days, Brother wants you to use an App. So at first I "played along". ○ It was easy to install the Brother Mobile connect on my Android phone. ○ I then tried to use the app to setup the machine. However, the only option seemed to do it wirelessly. That may make sense if you are doing all of your functions from an app. However, I connect my devices with a wired Ethernet connection when possible. So I gave up trying to set up the machine with the app. I like setting up using my PC anyway as it always seems I am in more control. - I then used the easy link to the product support page, then clicked on "Downloads" ○ The web page asks for OS and then there is some decisions to make on which sw download to use: § "Easy Setup" (140MB and released 4/23/26) § "Full Driver & Software Package (264 GB and released 1/8/26) § I wanted to use the Full package since that is what I am used to doing and configuring myself. However, reading more closely it stated to choose Full Driver & Software if you have completed initial setup. So I chose the Easy Setup. It was minor decision making that could have been a bit more descriptive on the web page, but It went well. ○ Note that there seems to be excellent support with "Drivers", a link for Firmware Update Tool, and Other Utilities including Brother iPrint & Scan and Management Tools for professionals. ○ It states to disconnect an interface cable if you have already connected. I assume they mean a USB cable. I leave my Ethernet cable connected. § This was confusing but it ended up being ok and the full suite of software was installed perfectly. • USE: - I tried / tested the four major functions. All executed well. - The auto document feeder and duplex features work well. - Although the glass/platen is not by itself long enough for legal size documents, you can use the ADF to scan or copy a legal document (and can also do that in duplex mode - a great feature). - The Brother iPrint & Scan software makes scanning items easy from a PC. There is a lot of flexibility in what format you want to store and where to store it. - I also tried using the Brother Mobile Connect app from my phone. There were no issues and I printed a document from my phone quickly. ○ I also easily scanned in a double sided document using the app. That could be useful for storing a document or photo directly on your phone. - You can print envelopes and also legal documents using the manual feed slot (although models J5110 and J5115 have better / multiple paper/envelope handling abilities) ○ The J5010 only lets you load one sheet in the manual feed slot. This is its biggest shortcoming. If you want more, buy one of the more expensive Brother printers. - You can easily print multiple pages on one page as well and chose a plethora of other options and paper types in the print menu and save profiles. ○ These are fairly standard things, but this machine does it all at a compelling price. • BOTTOM LINE: I am pleased with the print quality and with this machine in general and highly recommend it at its compelling price. Get the more expensive J5110 or J5115 if you want more extensive paper handling capabilities.