Brother SX-4000 Electronic Typewriter

I bought this typewriter from Amazon a few weeks ago in order to write briefly on forms and have found that it works great. Has more features than I can use. I like the spell checker altough I write many medical words (as a radiologist) like "epiploic appendagitis" that get "beeped" by the unit. Hey, the spell checker has 70,000 other words! The 16 characters in the LCD display help cut down the spelling errors. Comes with a very good manual. Arrived well packaged in a large box. There is no case for the typewriter, but there is a removable hard cover over the keys. I carry it around in a cloth bag that used to hold beach towels. People at work have cautioned me not to leave it around. Even in a room with three computers...someone might steal the typewriter! Go figure. I'm gonna keep it and will order a couple more ribbons. Mike

Nice little typewriter, but DOA. Unfortunately I bought in USA and took it with me to England before I found out. Everything comes alive, carriage moves, Daisy Wheel whizzes round, but little electric hammer won't hit type. Bought it for my old-fashioned wife, who is very disappointed. It is obviously my fault (first rule of marriage) My life is not worth living. To be perfectly honest it was so cheap that it is not worth trying to repair. I suppose I must chalk it up to experience and buy another for peace in household. Be warned!

We still use a type writer at our work for occasional items. This one works well. A vast improvement from our old one.

I got this typewriter to fill out 3 page carbon copy forms and it does the job great. It was easy to setup and get started right away. Loading paper is easy and keyboard feels great to type on. There are many options to make typing easier. It is quick to setup left and right margins. The one issue I had, which I saw in previous reviews is the way it handles Capitol letters. There is no cap lock in the traditional sense and I can't figure out why. It has a shift lock key instead, this enables you to engage Capitol letters, but won't disengage, instead you have to hit the shift key below it. I don't feel comfortable typing in the traditional way because I had to keep taking my hands off the keyboard to disengage shift lock, otherwise I kept typing in Capitol letters. Fortunately feeling out the forms doesn't take long lines to fill out and I use another feature to prevent accidental Capitol letters. There is a mode that lets you preview each line before it is printed, while this slows things down a little it helps reduce the frustration of making mistakes and dealing with shift lock key. The only other issue I have is that there is now way to store margins settings, you have to set it up each time you turn the typewriter back on, fortunately this is quickly done. This typewriter does everything I want it to do, just wish there was a traditional cap. Lock key and able to store margins settings. When using the typewriter, I turn off spellcheck since I'm using a lot of medical terminology and it would just keep beeping. The correction tape works great, but again I don't use it with the preview line feature, but nice to know it's there. Also the handle is great to have since I will be taking this floor to floor at work. I'm still happy with the typewriter and amazed how fast I got it.

This is really a poor quality machine. Every single time I take it out to use it, I have to run a test sheet through to make sure the ribbons are lined up - they get knocked out of place extremely easily. Can't tell you how many red-ink, scannable IRS forms I have ruined in the beginning when I kept forgetting to test it and the correction ribbon was out of place again. In general, the construction is pretty substandard. Definitely go with a Smith Corona instead. UPDATE: As has been mentioned in the comments, Smith Corona hasn't manufactured typewriters since 2005. Best I can tell, Brother is now the only company in the entire world selling typewriters. UPDATE: Used this typewriter for over two years now, and still a piece of junk. Luckily, I don't need it very often - pretty sure it would have fallen apart if used on even a weekly basis. Apparently, most of the reviewers here are happy with theirs, so it's possible I just got a lemon.

I bought and used a brand new typewriter for about one month and then I returned it. The ribbon comes with a fixed length, as we type the ribbon moves from the left to the right or from the right to the left (I don't remember). Let us suppose it moves from the left to the right. Because of the way of the typewriter was made, when the film of the ribbon all goes to the right, then we need to replace a new ribbon regardless the film was not worn out. That is how it determines how many output characters so the output characters is a fixed number. Because there is a space in between two characters and the ink on the film, it would be nicer to have the typewriter to use the ribbon until it is completely worn out. Thanks to the Amazon.com gave me a full refund.

Great for use in filling out forms etc. Has a small window that shows what is being typed in case you want to make a correction. Saves on paper this way.

It doesn't work it gives me only IIIIIIII like this IIIIIIIIII why