A great fax/answering machine combination!
This really is a Great little machine: a dependable fax machine along with a message center. What makes it really desirable is that you don't have to fiddle with trying to set up numbers of rings and/or fax answering schedules, since the machine does both, it comes ready to determine what kind of call you're getting, and even if you pick up on a fax call, if you set the receiver down quickly, the fax will still come through without the caller having to call back, trying again. Also, it has a blinking light when you have messages so you don't miss seeing them, uses plain paper, and has the capability of setting of quick dial numbers. On top of all that, it is priced Very reasonably. I have one at home, and like it so well, I bought it again for the office. Highly recommend this nice little machine. Oh yes, it isn't a large machine either, and that is another plus.

Buy it only because it's an excellent fax machine
This "Brother 885MC" is an excellent small office fax machine; not fast but does what it needs to do. However, I miss my Panasonic because it had an excellent "Message Center" (i.e. answering machine) while the MC on this product is poor and it's remote capability is even worse. While it does support paging it is frustrating to retrieve messages remotely and you cannot selectively delete mesages. Apparently the Message Center was somthing they did not really want to add to this product. Buy this product for the fax capability, pretend it doesn't have a MC. BTW: they allow you to connect an answering machine to a supplied jack; plan on it!

Where's the answering machine????
This machine has everything it stated with the exception of the answering machine. Three of us in the office tried for two days to figure it out with no success. I read the manual and it stated that I had to use an external answering machine. That didn't work with it either. And I can't leave it plugged in to receive faxes because the fax overrides the phone. It's really involved just making a copy. Wouldn't recommend it.

Crappy, flimsy cartridge. Impossible to replace.
I hate this fax.

Trying to insert a new cartridge is an exercise in frustration. I've been at it for a half hour now, and can't figure it out.

buy something else
re: the brothers intellifax 885mc. I bought this machine as I had an earlier model that I loved. It was easy to use, lasted a few years and inspired me to buy a new one. What a mistake. Even with graduate degrees the manual is difficult and cumbersone and one can't figure out how to make it work without it.
I tried the "greener" replacement film without the cartridge and after 15 minutes of trying to get it loaded, I took it to Office Depot to see if they could do better. Another 15 minutes later they had the film loadedon the cartridge for me and I took it home. There it got stuck, tore and I threw it out, returned to the store, and bought the ungreen full cartridge. I must admit my frustration tolerance is low and when that I got home poppedthe film in and the paper jammed I decided to junk it.
I thought I'd give the brand and model another chance, but before purchasing wanted to make sure I could use the phone answering machine without the fax. The folks at Office Depot were quite accomodating broke open a box and together we read the manual. After many minutes it appeared one could not disable the fax and still get the message machine to work without it storing all those hateful junk faxes in memory.
I opted to buy a cheap fax machine w/o a phone answering machine and called it a day.
Has anyone noticed that these machines get more and more complicated without being more and more efficient or green? Who's designing the stuff? Thanks, pam