I have the Canon MX 860...paid a lot for it and would never buy this machine again. It does have the 5 ink inserts and they run out randomly. No it doesn't work if one is totally out. Yes it is wireless but if it runs out of 1 insert and doesn't work, who cares. I would not buy this again. I know it's a different model but if it has the 5 ink system, you'll end up paying a lot for ink. I'm just saying.

showcaller wrote:On the Epson machine I had, if I put in any cartridge other than Epson, a statement would come up on the screen asking me if I was sure that I wanted to go ahead and use this other non factory authorized cartridge. The implication was clear. If I went ahead and pushed the button for the printer to accept this cartridge, the Epson police were going to surround my home within a couple of hours, have the streets blocked so I could not escape out of my own neighborhood, possibly take my family hostage or at the very least steel the bar b que out of my back yard. The tone of the message was that threatning. I risked everything, my family, my well being, the home, the boat, the bar b que and hit the "proceed" hoping for the best. It worked fine but I still have nightmares about the Epson police.

lol! this is hilarious!

I don't think you can find a "new" printer where you can refill the ink cartridges
Most "new" cartridges have a chip on it, it basically has a counter and every time you print it subtracts one counter
It doesn't matter if the cartridges still has ink or not, once that counter hits 0, your printer will refuse to print unless you replace the cartridge

There was a court case involving this with Epson printers and Epson won
I'm going to assume all other printer companies have followed to grab as much as they can from consumers

I'm glad my old HP PSC 750 still works
Only two cartridges: one color, one black
And refillable

zephalis wrote:Um...pull the trigger? It's probably cheaper to go to a print store, including the gas money for most wooters. Unless you live in the boonies, this is a convenience, not a deal, and you will pay for that convenience.

Actually, at 3 dollars per gallon and 20 miles per gallon, it would cost fifteen cents to drive a mile. I doubt most people live less than a mile from the copy center, justifying driving to print out a ten page document, or a map, or scan a document, or send a fax.

i've got 2 canon printers, one happens the be the earlier version of this, the mp600. truely an awesome printer. ink does come out pretty costly, but you get to use every drop of it versus a cartridge with all colors and one runs out, you have to replace. with this printer, it will just keep printing and you only have to replace ones that run out.

prints amazing.

zephalis wrote:To all wondering about the separate cartridges...it's a pain in the ass. It seems to be a good idea, only having to replace one color, until you realize that you are spending ~$40 per cartridge just like you would with the multi color ones. That and unless you select greyscale mode, you use the color cartridges no matter what.

Oh, and the colors used most for black and white printing are the more hard to find (read expensive) ones.

I have an Epson that requires separate cartridges, and it's not a huge problem. Cartridges are less than $10 each from online print suppliers, and I don't feel like an spoon for having to throw out a color ink cartridge full of colors I didn't use. Also, you're wasting ink if you're using full color to print black documents...and all of the cartridges cost the same amount, regardless of color.

I'd also like to note that the ONLY printers that I've had consistent problems with have been HP printers. Dying prematurely, difficult to configure. I notice that most of the folks bad mouthing this printer seem to be HP proponents...or possibly shills.

I love my pixma printer, if you do a web search you can find all 5 ink cartages for 25 bucks shipped, they arnt name brand but work just the same. its not true that it freezes up when you run out of 1 ink, the rest still work

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828102344&cm_re=CLI-221-_-28-102-344-_-Product

under $40 for a new set of all colors. So order one of these and you can replace after the ones that come with it run out.

showcaller wrote:On the Epson machine I had, if I put in any cartridge other than Epson, a statement would come up on the screen asking me if I was sure that I wanted to go ahead and use this other non factory authorized cartridge. The implication was clear. If I went ahead and pushed the button for the printer to accept this cartridge, the Epson police were going to surround my home within a couple of hours, have the streets blocked so I could not escape out of my own neighborhood, possibly take my family hostage or at the very least steel the bar b que out of my back yard. The tone of the message was that threatning. I risked everything, my family, my well being, the home, the boat, the bar b que and hit the "proceed" hoping for the best. It worked fine but I still have nightmares about the Epson police.

I think that only happens with Apple. You will, for sure, end up in one of those offshore CIA secret prisons.

I bought this printer (at a much higher price) when it first came out, and I highly recommend it. Photos come out great, black and white printing is fast, the duplex printing has been very reliable, the scanner seems just fine, you have to press on button to make a copy, and the wirless networking was a snap to set up and has been very reliable.

Regarding ink cost: My old HP printer takes a 3-color cartridge and a black cartridge, both with print heads built into the cartridges. They cost $37 and $29 each at current Amazon prices. This printer has a built-in print head, and the only thing that gets replaced are ink tanks, at $38 for a set of 4 color tanks and $13 for a black ink tank. I estimate it takes two of the Canon ink tanks to print as much as one of the HP cartridges, but I believe the cost per page for this printer is about the same as for my old HP. But I like the idea of only throwing away ink tanks that are empty, and my empty 3-color cartridges always had two colors working when I took them out.

It is true that this printer won't print if any tanks are empty. That doesn't bother me, because I almost always have a spare on hand. And if I don't, the nearby Wal-Mart has these ink tanks for about the same price as Amazon.

Cheap ink for this printer:

http://www.meritline.com/s-1473-canon-pixma-mp640-ink.aspx

third one in, set of 5 for $16.95 and free shipping.

MWPollard wrote:Keep in mind that with any ink jet printer, the ink dries out if you don't use it regularly. If you don't print once a week, and using all the colors, the ink may become unusable in only a few months. If you get one, try to print at least one page a week in color...

I have a Canon Pixma MP150 (all-in-one) that I bought over 4 years ago. I hardly ever used it, and it always printed perfectly. Never had a problem w/ink drying up, or print heads clogging (unlike a previous Epson). I used it quite a bit over this winter, and only had to replace the original black cartridge a few weeks ago. The color cartridge (this model only has 2 cartridges - color & black) ran out awhile back, but I'm not replacing it, since I really only need B&W/Gray Scale and it prints fine. It is a wonderful printer, and I would only replace it with another Canon, should I choose to upgrade.

FYI, I have it plugged in to my Airport Express which allows me to print wirelessly. I have a Macbook Pro & Powerbook, and my only complaint is that the MP150 won't scan wireless, even with keeping the Canon Printer software up-to-date. I have to USB directly to the computer.

If this model also scans wirelessly with a Mac, that would make it nearly perfect. Perfect would mean lower ink cartridge prices.

As far as the separate - different color cartridges go, I thought that might be more cost effective if you use some colors more than others, but the deals I find for the multi-different color cartridges always involve buying them as a set & not individually, which may negate any cost effectiveness.

BTW - the ink tanks showed "low" for a very long time before they actually ran out, so don't replace them until it just won't print properly.
I recently bought a high capacity black ink cartridge as the replacement, otherwise I would snap this MP640 up!

zephalis wrote:Um...pull the trigger? It's probably cheaper to go to a print store, including the gas money for most wooters. Unless you live in the boonies, this is a convenience, not a deal, and you will pay for that convenience.

As said... "if you're in the market" relax. I think everyone understands wallyworld can print pictures cheaper than we can at home.

zephalis wrote:To all wondering about the separate cartridges...it's a pain in the ass. It seems to be a good idea, only having to replace one color, until you realize that you are spending ~$40 per cartridge just like you would with the multi color ones. That and unless you select greyscale mode, you use the color cartridges no matter what.

Oh, and the colors used most for black and white printing are the more hard to find (read expensive) ones.

NOT TRUE! Costco has 5 cartridges (3 color plus the 2 black ones) as a package deal for $58.

Wow, so much misinformation. I own this printer, I love this printer and I'm buying another one for my son to take to college.

1) Printer will keep printing when one cartridge runs out of ink. Just dismiss warning and keep printing away.

2) Printer will use generic cartridges, although I have always had the best luck with Canon ink.

3) Name-brand cartridges can be found for around $10 or less each, and generics can be found for about half of that.

4) When printing B&W documents if your settings are correct you will only be using the black document ink, not any of the color inks. It doesn't "use all the inks even for black and white documents" unless you have it set to think it is printing a photo.

5) I've never had an ink cartridge dry out on me, and I sometimes go weeks between printing anything.

6) I've owned HPs and Epsons. Canon is my choice for most dependable by a wide margin.

7) Not the fastest printer in the world, but makes wonderful color prints and good B&W documents.

I have the non auto-duplexing little brother to this printer (the MP620) and I'm very happy with the quality of the print both with photos and text. However, note that this printer (as it is with ANY inkjet) has very expensive ink. A full set of 5 genuine inks will cost about $67 ($12.99 x 4 + $14.99 x 1) though you can usually find the genuine ink discounted about 10-20% if you shop around. (Like @ wally-world) You may have noticed, it's ALMOST cheaper to just buy the printer and toss it when it's out of ink. This is not by accident folks. Virtually ALL profit in making printers is in selling the consumables.

Hey WOOT!, how about hooking us up with some sharply discounted ink! You'd probably sell TONS of it.

Generic ink refills are readily available, but I don't use them because I've never been happy with how the generic inks look when printing photos. Every generic I've tried results in off colors. (Your mileage may vary - I've only tried two generic brands.)

Overall, this is a good all-around scanner / printer for typical home use. In particular, the photo quality (on proper photo paper) is excellent. However, due to the high cost of ink (as is for all ink jets) you can get much better pricing on printing large amounts of photos from your favorite department / drug store or via the web (snapfish, shutterfly, york, etc.) So you won't be using this as your primary way of making prints for your digital camera unless you only need a few per month.

jannypop wrote:NOT TRUE! Costco has 5 cartridges (3 color plus the 2 black ones) as a package deal for $58.

Sorry, that is the price for the 5 set for the Canon MP 500 Pixma. I think this printer uses even cheaper ones and COSTCO has a variety of Canon name brand cartridge sets.

Skimming reviews for it now, but I'm curious what those who use it think of printing non-photo color documents? Is it a waste of photo-quality ink or does it really matter at all?

It's still cheaper than "non-photo" inkjet alternatives, but it seems to be the trend that a color inkjet IS a photo printer these days.

bainst wrote:I'd also like to note that the ONLY printers that I've had consistent problems with have been HP printers. Dying prematurely, difficult to configure. I notice that most of the folks bad mouthing this printer seem to be HP proponents...or possibly shills.

Lets face it, it's not really about the cost of the printer. What is "dying prematurely" anyway? One month? Six months? Two years? The truth is that most of these printers, regardless of brand or features, cost the same as two to three tanks of gas in your average car. It really comes down to the print cartridges and if you are the fan the two cartridge machines or four or five or six. There is no right answer here. Some folks (at least one) are fine replenishing the refillable cartridges, which is probably the least expensive way to go in actuality. I don't know about the quality of doing it this way, but I suspect that most of us are to lazy to give this a go.

I had the Epson, and while the theory is that it is less expensive to replace each color as it runs out, for me, the reality is the opposite. I spent much more keeping my Epson going than the two cartridge system I have with my current H P. I know this after having my H P for over a year. Also, for what it is worth, I spend the few extra dollars for each cartridge and get twice, if not more, the amount of ink than just buying the standard cartridges - and they do last significantly longer. I don't know if you can buy the "extended" cartridges for the four - six color systems but for those who have these units, if you can buy the cartridges that pack more in them, do it! You will save money.

Can some one tell me whether or not the cartridges this comes with are refillable? Some conflicting information has been posted and I'd like to know before buying, thanks.

while I don't have this PIXMA canon printer I do have the MP620 and the only complant I have is the ink cartages are too small. why day do dat? there is plenty of room down there.? come on canon,get with the program.

speedoo wrote:Can some one tell me whether or not the cartridges this comes with are refillable? Some conflicting information has been posted and I'd like to know before buying, thanks.

They're certainly not designed to be refillable, but you might be able to inject more ink.



I'm in for one.

DANG IT - just when I need a new photo printer I am unemployed and out of money. Sucks.

What your saying is, the 'Black CLI-221BK (smaller) Ink' is more of a photo quality ink, while the 'Black PGI-220BK (larger) Ink' is better for printing documents?

Say I print a picture on photo paper with the photo black ink, in order to print an essay on regular paper, would I have to manually remove the 'photo' black and insert the 'document' black? Or does the printer actually hold 6 ink cartridges?

This is a steal, and if I didn't own the step up MP990, I'd be handing over my credit card. Comes with full size inks, not starters, so that's a $65ish value right there. WiFi is really easy to set up!!

Ink: you shouldn't print when you're out of a color. The ink lubricates and protects the printhead. You get plenty of warning before you run out. Stock up when you see a sale on Canon ink - unlike most brands, there's no expiration date coded into that chip that will make it suddenly stop working. And even tho' nobody's asked, no, it will not use one black when it runs out of the other. They're not interchangeable.

Ink Deals: at Amazon, search your printer a few times, maybe add it to your shopping cart, with Save For Later, or wish list (even if you already own it). Every few 3 weeks or so, you'll get deals on ink on the Gold Box page. Also, the camera supply site 2filter.com has good prices for genuine Canon & great service.

Save on ink costs: Windows people (I'm a Mac & wish I could do this), set your default printing setting to Grayscale and draft mode. PG220 is dark enough in draft for most everyday printing/copying. Save standard for critical stuff, like resumes. Don't use color unless you really mean to.

Oh, and the photos are astonishing. And fast. And quiet. Use Canon paper for the best color (but buy it on sale!). The cost for a photo is the cost of a sheet of paper plus about 2-3 cents for ink on a 4x6

This might be a great printer/scanner/etc, but...I had the MX300 for a year (bought it for my sister, but it wasn't compatible with her older computer, so I 'borrowed it' back! Then I bought a new laptop for my niece!) and it was Noisy, Heavy, and Used a Lot of Ink.
Hopefully, this one is better. I did have a wonderful Canon Scanner for years, that finally died..it was small, and usb-powered! So...I do like the brand, just not really sold on their printers. But, at least nothing can be worse than Lexmark!!

showcaller wrote:... I don't know if you can buy the "extended" cartridges for the four - six color systems but for those who have these units, if you can buy the cartridges that pack more in them, do it! You will save money.

I got a CIS system for my Epson 6 cartridge system (RX580, I think) and it has worked fine. I use the printer as an everyday printer and my photo printer. Spent $65 on the system on eBay and its lasted me over 2 years. Well worth it and I still have 15% of ink left. Beats refilling or replacing the cartridges with a STICK.

Found a CIS for this Canon on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Continuous-System-Canon-printer-PGI-220/dp/B00375HFX0
Sure you could find other CIS systems too...

SpkrBox850 wrote:What your saying is, the 'Black CLI-221BK (smaller) Ink' is more of a photo quality ink, while the 'Black PGI-220BK (larger) Ink' is better for printing documents?

Say I print a picture on photo paper with the photo black ink, in order to print an essay on regular paper, would I have to manually remove the 'photo' black and insert the 'document' black? Or does the printer actually hold 6 ink cartridges?

No, all 5 tanks are in the printer at all times. It chooses the right ink depending on what you tell it you're printing. Book report on plain paper, PG220. Wedding photos artistically rendered in black and white on photo paper, CLI221. Copying a page from a magazine with text and a photo, PG220 for the text part and CLI221 for black needed in the picture (it blends better with the other colors). All this happens automatically

TestFreaks gives it a 10 out of 10...but--

Pros & Cons

+ wireless connectivity is fantastic, instructions straightforward, easy to connect to, scanning copying also good, bottom paper feed

- print pauses during jobs, cost of oem ink, no auto power on, wet photo ink, no document print from usb

lunaxxblue wrote:I got a CIS system for my Epson 6 cartridge system (RX580, I think) and it has worked fine. I use the printer as an everyday printer and my photo printer. Spent $65 on the system on eBay and its lasted me over 2 years. Well worth it and I still have 15% of ink left. Beats refilling or replacing the cartridges with a STICK.

Found a CIS for this Canon on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Continuous-System-Canon-printer-PGI-220/dp/B00375HFX0
Sure you could find other CIS systems too...

Very interesting! I assume it sits outside the printer? If so, how do the tubes get to the cartridges?

I almost bought the MP870 that was on sale last week at OD for $99, had a 15% coupon to make it $85 but ended up passing on it because it seemed to big and also reading about it not working if one of the inks ran out.

Thinking about this one instead due to a smaller size, but wondering if it would be better to get the other model as it has the fax, auto-feed, better/more reviews and some other features I can't remember at this ridiculous hour when I should be sleeping!

Still, I see this issue with the printer not working if one of the inks is out - still doesn't seem to be a firm answer on it, many say it will work, many say it wont???

I just hate having to buy spares, as I did with my Lexmark when I saw them at a good price. It gave out and I'm stuck with ink cartridges for a printer I can't use anymore.

How easy is this to set up with a computer using Windows 7?

Thanks!

With all the debate about ink cartridge costs, you should consider a CISS (Continuous Ink Supply System).
Upfront cost is higher @ $69, though over the long run it's far cheaper. You might be able to get 2 sets of ink carts for that price, whereas the CISS will equal hundreds of carts. You won't have to deal with expensive replacement cartridges or messy refilling (the CISS reservoirs are designed to be easily filled).
Canon MP640 CISS on Ebay (I have absolutely no affiliation with that seller or any CISS seller)


And not sure why Woot or everyone else has neglected to mention WiFi security support... Dug through Canon's support site and confirmed that this printer supports WEP, WPA and WPA2 (TKIP and AES for both WPA's). The only one it doesn't support is WPA(2) Enterprise, but no one at home uses that.

Valharik wrote:Consumer reports rates this model 8th out of 63 tested. It received a rating of 70 with the highest printer(hp) receiving a 74 and the lowest(lexmark) receiving a 48.

4x6 photo cost = .50 @ 1 pages per minute
8x10 photo cost = 1.70 @ 1.8 ppm
text cost 7.7 cents @ 7.7 ppm

Sounds like a go to me if you are in the market, pull the trigger.

Val

Actually if you go to Snapfish.com you can get 4x6's professionally done for just 9 cents per print (or 8 cents if you prepay). You get some free ones too if your a new customer. Then when you use the free ones from Snapfish, you can head over to Shutterfly.com and get more free ones.

I normally just use my b&w laser printer when I just need to print a document or something and if I want to print photo's I do it at Snapfish/Shutterfly.com etc.

Every once in a while, they'll email you deals too, like Shutterfly recently sent me 75 free 4x6 prints.

I like the professional quality too, better paper, glossy, you don't have to cut anything that's not an 8.5x11 yourself etc. Plus the ink lasts a lot longer and doesn't smear if it its moist or wet.

Found this on Printercomparison.com's review

At the ratio of 3:1 in Canon’s Standard Printing mode, the Pixma MP640 printed 386 pages before the pigment black ink cartridge expired (ran out of ink) followed closely by the magenta cartridge. The Pixma MP640 will allow you to continue to print after the pigment black ink expired but the Canon status bar throws up an error warning against printing due to possible printer damage. Since I was in the middle of printing a large document, I hit continue and ended up printing well over 400 pages even with the pigment ink expired. Of course, being the worrier that I am, I immediately changed the cartridge when the job was completed.

(Warning: OT rant follows.)

ap210 wrote:Heh.

http://moofi.woot.com/moofi/streetwalkingcheetah

Link

Good God. Not another woot! (or, in this case, "Mooʇ¡") site to monitor. Friends, it's become clear that woot!'s irresponsible staff treat their web sites like pets, but they haven't learned the most basic lesson about...you know. The birds and the bees. What Bob Barker used to talk about at the end of every show. Remember that embarrassing time when your 5-year-old asked, "Mommy, what are those two dogs doing?" That could have been avoided. But noooo. ("Streetwalking cheetah"? I rest my case.)

At this rate, ICANN's going to have to give woot! its own domain suffix (.com, .net, .woo) by the end of the decade just to handle the proliferation of woot! web sites.

Does this print duplex automatically or do you have to manually turn the paper yourself?

When in use with the rear tray open, the output tray extended, and the control panel flipped up, the Pixma MP640’s dimensions are approximately 18 x 25 x 12 inches. Factor in the scanner lid when opened and the space needed for the printer is about 18 x 25 x 18 inches.

Found the above on printercomparison as well. Does it really take up that much desk space when extended? Just seems like a lot.

Wigi wrote:Does this print duplex automatically or do you have to manually turn the paper yourself?

It's automatic, I wondered how it worked as well and saw a video on it on YT. There's a pause between each side for the ink to dry, I guess.

These printers are awful. They keep all control to themselves and leave the user sitting there crossing their fingers, hoping they will work. The ink runs out very quickly and the only cost effective solution is to refill the cartridges yourself, which is tricky. Once you start refilling cartridges yourself, the sensors don't read accurately anymore and it states that it is out of ink all the time. Additionally, refilling these cartridges gets harder and harder with each subsequent cartridge design they go with. I've had extensive experience with manufacturing a wide assortment of things and struggled with this. You will end up with stained fingers, counters and clothes. Go with an HP printer, I've had the best luck with them, plus, their cartridges are easier to fill.