Like the MFC-685cw, the MFC-5890CN just can't get a handle on output quality. All of our test subjects, including pages of text, graphics, photos and presentations, appeared fuzzy and hard to read, even after several print-head adjustments and troubleshooting attempts. All of the characters, especially those in smaller font sizes, suffered from jagged and distorted edges, as if the nozzle wasn't properly aligning with the paper.
Coloured graphic prints looked even worse, with heavy line weights and blotchy colour blends that transition so abruptly you can see white blocks between them. We also tried to print graphics and photos with the driver's 'vivid colour' and True2Life settings, but neither offered a significant improvement. Finally, we also noticed a pale white haze blanketing all the prints in our test.
Conclusion
We expected to see much better output quality from the Brother MFC-5890CN, given its price. We advise that you avoid this model and check out the Canon Pixma MX330 instead.
Additional editing by Charles Kloet
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User reviews2
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George Ginger Hewitt 26 March 2011
Good: nothing
Bad: everything
Comment: this has got to be one of the worst printers i have ever had the misfortune to own, this is the second one of these printers because the first lasted about 2 weeks. Now all i get is problems wont print, inks not coming through its not even 6 months old, piece of crap.
daniel2011 21 February 2011
Good: high quality prints. ink lasts an extremely long time and are very cheap
Bad: a bit slow but thats what you would expect when it has to print a whole a3 page - nothing major
Comment: one of the best printers i have ever had
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