Customer Ratings & Reviews

For an entry-level MFP, the Brother MFC-L2820DW offers a surprising amount of features and capabilities. It’s a bit on the “chunky” side as small-office MFPs go—but at least you don’t have to bother with dodgy flip-out panels or unfolding paper guides and output trays like a Transformer—all you need to worry about are the small flip-out paper stops for the two output trays; no extra wall clearance required for other feeders or flaps. The small color screen is a nice change of pace from the tiny non-backlit LCDs we’ve gotten used to on our other MFPs and budget laser printers, and the litany of capabilities and apps available on the screen mean you don’t HAVE to use a companion app or attached PC to get the most out of your printer. Once you’ve set the printer up on your network, you have access to a rather extensive array of features from the touchscreen including scan, copy, fax, 2-sided ID printing, and a whole host of online services like scanning to email or online storage services like Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, etc., or you can create a searchable PDF or scan documents into MS Office apps (all of them, not just MS Word). Hardware capabilities are equally as impressive, especially for a budget box like this. Along with auto-duplexing the output, the auto-document feeder can hold an impressive 50 sheets while you can feed the main paper tray 250 sheets. Scanner resolution clocks in at 600 DPI on the ADF while the flatbed glass produces nice archival-quality scans at 1200x1200 DPI with software interpolation maxing out at a whopping 19200x19200 DPI. Flatbed copies came out nice and sharp, even slightly better than the original thanks to some quick tinkering on the LCD screen’s easy-to-read copy settings menu. Print speeds were reasonably quick but varied wildly depending on whether “Quiet Mode” was engaged or not. This setting is ostensibly there to help dial back some of the mechanical whirring and imaging noises made during printing, but the difference in noise level wasn’t really all that noticeable to me. On Quiet Mode, a simple 3-page document took close to half a minute to print with the first page not spitting out until a good 17 seconds after the printer registered the document in the print queue. The same print job took less than 12 seconds with Quiet Mode disengaged, including just 6 seconds for the first page to come spilling out into the paper catcher. Connectivity options are extensive with 2.4 and 5Ghz wireless, Ethernet, and USB options to get the printer online. Airprint worked flawlessly with my iPhone 14Max Pro, as did wireless printing from my Chromebook and Windows 11 PC. The Brother Mobile Connect App was definitely useful to help get the printer online as it walked you through network setup and registration with simple, easy-to-follow instructions and images; and once you have the app installed, you can use it to print documents and photos remotely, are well as scan documents and manage any optional toner subscription service. But frankly, the usage experience has been so seamless and has worked so well with all our computing devices, I don’t honestly see a need to use the app (unlike some other manufacturer’s smart printers which basically REQUIRE you to use a companion app to access any real functionality). For all it can do at a very reasonable budget-oriented price point, you would think the Brother would be a hands-down winner; but if there’s one place that the MFC-L2820DW gets a BIG demerit, it’s in print quality. Don’t get me wrong, for a budget laser, I wasn’t expecting professional, print-store quality output, but unless you turn off all the ECO and toner-saving features, text quality is just okay. With toner-saver and ECO modes enabled, text just looks a little…weak…that is the best way my wife and I could describe it. Not that it looks BAD by any means, just a bit thin and light in a way that makes you feel like you’re missing something--like the output really SHOULD be looking a bit better than it does. Of course, you might expect such compromises when ecology settings are turned up to the max, and if so, maybe the slightly underwhelming weight of the text on the page won’t matter to you. However, if you turn off ECO and toner saver modes, the output does becomes appreciably better looking. Image reproduction fared even worse. Even at the “best” print quality settings with all toner-saving features turned off, large and small images suffered from significant banding and poor gradient reproduction. If your B&W printing needs include a bit of mixed media or graphical output, color banding issues will render pretty much any content, even simple, single-colored shapes, looking like “draft” output. I’d LOVE to make a stronger recommendation for this printer because it’s SO capable in so many ways at a price-point that’s really hard to beat; but passable print quality and subpar graphical/image reproduction make this unit a tough sell. I would say that if you plan to do mostly text-based output and do not need publishing-house print quality, the MFC-L2820DW might just meet your needs; otherwise, you’ll have to think hard about whether the attractive capabilities this printer packs under the hood are worth the tradeoffs you’ll see on the printed page.

I love it. Wish I got color not just black and white. No problem with it prints great, and fast and easy to use, easy to connect it with your phone and WiFi. This is my second printer.

I can confidently say this is the best home office printer I’ve owned in over 15 years—and I’ve tried them all. After cycling through multiple Canon, Epson, and HP inkjets (and even some laser jets), I was constantly frustrated with software bugs, connection issues, and printer failures. In just six months, I went through three different models that couldn’t keep up with basic demands. I honestly overlooked this Brother All-In-One at first—mainly because it seemed a bit larger than what I thought I needed. But when I finally gave it a chance (especially since it was on sale), it turned out to be the best decision I could’ve made. The value for the price is simply unbeatable. Out of the box, setup was seamless. No headaches, no software problems. It connected to my phone instantly, and I easily configured multiple scan-to-email locations for sending invoices and receipts. I print and scan heavily for work, so the automatic document feeder was a must—and it performs flawlessly. This printer has completely changed my perception of what a reliable, efficient, and user-friendly printer should be. If you're tired of the same old printer issues, do yourself a favor and invest in this one—especially if you catch it on sale like I did. You won’t be disappointed.

I purchased this multi function printer to replace an older hp printer that was very difficult to use. The new Brother printer was easy to setup and pairs up with my iphone seamlessly. So far I have used it to print and copy documents and it works perfectly. We are very pleased with this purchase and highly recommended it.

Love the printer. Works great. Easy set. Great price Great quality. I have had other printers in the past. This one I am very happy with. I would buy again. I recommend this one too anyone looking for a printer.

After about 15 years our old Brother "gave up the ghost" and quit working. Needing a replacement quickly, we chose the Brother MFC-L2820DW, and we are very pleased with its performance. It was easy to install, takes up far less room than the last one, and makes great copies. We print wirelessly from 2 computers and are pleased with the results. It was a perfect choice for our needs.

This is my first laser printer. This printer is fast and it delivers a quality printed page. I have not had it long enough to know how long the toner cartridge will last. It has a short period of high noise when printing. I am happy with it. I returned another printer before I got this. I have found that I need to print more color documents than I expected so I will likely get a color inkjet as well.

It works wonderful! So pleased with it.Perfect photo copies plus great printing from computer! Suffered with big old printer for a long time. This printer has made everything easy. Should have bought a long time ago.

My first Brother printer was purchased about 15 years ago and was such a welcome change from the high-end printer I had been using. In all this time I have never had a single problem or any down time. When we determined it wise to get a second printer for the house, our first choice was Brother. We discovered this model, which is like the "Baby" Brother of the one we already have! An easy choice to make and we are delighted with our purchase. The great advantage to this all-in-one device is that it does everything and is also wireless. Summary: this is an excellent machine that prints beautifully, makes great copies, and scans accurately with great resolution. Very highly recommended!!!

We9re very happy with this printer. The reviews were spot on: it IS a bit noisy, but it was simple to set up and prints essiciently and clearly.

After a bit of struggle downloading the software to operate the printer/ scanner, it works great with good quality prints and easy scans.

Easy to set up and use. We have been looking at this printer for awhile now and am not disappointed with this product.

Setup was mostly easy, though connecting to Wi-fi was a little tricky (but made it on the second try). Fast, high quality printing from iPhone or MacBook is great. Scanning is ok, lower quality photo scans than the flatbed Epson I have, but I haven’t used that feature much. I’m very happy with it so far.

This printer/scanner/fax is just what i was looking for after a couple of HP's that i could barely get to connect either wired or wireless....so frustrating. Easy to use and easy to set up. I work remotely so it is a necessity to have a working device! Wish, i would've made the changer quicker to Brother printers.

This Multi-Functional Printer seems at this point to be working well. Copies well and printers well.

Easy install Fit small offices, clinics It has room for papers and printing fast

Very easy to use it ! Set up not bad at all! Work great

Brother - MFC-L2820DW Purchased this due to a previous Brother MFC that would not turn on due to a power surge. (wasn't plugged into a surge protector) Very pleased with the Brother printers, having installed them at several offices. Good work horse printers that don't trouble you with 'Ink / Toner subscriptions) Brother software is always updating which is nice they are keeping it up to date and secure. Will keep buying Brother printers..

Works great! So very quiet! Great size - its footprint is the same size as my old ink jet printer - - it fits on top of my small filing cabinet. As we were walking out of Best Buy with our new printer, someone stopped us to tell us they have the same printer and love it. Hearing her unsolicited opinion made me feel more secure with my purchase.

It’s great. The setup was the easiest! For us that was important. Best of all it works great.