Canon Pixma MX850 Office All-In-One Inkjet Printer (2436B002) by Canon
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Digital camera reviews of Canon Pixma MX850 Office All-In-One Inkjet Printer (2436B002)
Digital camera Review: Astoundingly Excellent Printer for the Mac
Summary: 5 Stars
I would recommend the MX 850 to anyone looking for a robust multifunction printer - particularly if you are a Mac user. We have run multiple brands of multifunction ink jets at my office, and this Canon is the King.
Pros:
-Excellent Paper Handling
-Print Quality Better than printers that cost 3x as much
-Two Paper Magazines
-ADF almost bulletproof with full duplex scanning (both sides of a page)
-Quieter than competition
Cons
-Size: it's big
-LEDs on control panel could be brighter.
Running a mac, I have become used to dumbed-down software from what is seen on the windows side. Canon's software integrates incredibly well with OS X, without loading up your Mac with metric tons of bloatware (I am looking at YOU Epson and HP!). I utilize the ADF for scanning docs and storing them in Evernote, and the mechanics of the unit are amazing: the ADF scans and auto-levels the documents quickly, and I have yet had it jam after 5 months of heavy use (probably 1000+ pages scanned).
Indeed, the mechanics throughout the unit are best described as "Beefy." The roller wheels, lifters, separators are twice the size of those in the more compact and twice as expensive HP C6180, which probably contributes to this unit's larger size. I have yet to have a paper jam on this device in five months of usage as well, although I do take exceedingly good care of our printers (clean scanning surfaces with alcohol wipes, blow out dust regularly, etc.)
The two magazines work well - I keep 4x6 photo paper in the rear magazine for photo printing, and normal paper in the front magazine. Borderless 4x6 prints look great - you won't be disappointed.
If you are in the market for a printer, do yourself a favor and buy this unit. If you have the space for it, you will be thrilled with this device.
Digital camera Review: Awesome printer...
Summary: 5 Stars
I think the Canon Pixma MX850 is great. There's a bit of a learning curve to figure out some of the features and somethings you may have to refer to the manual in order to use them until you familiarize yourself with the printer. I made sure I used all of the functions of this printer and everything works well. I'm really impressed with the speed in which all the functions are carried out and the print and scan quality. The Canon Pixma MX850 has a lot of positives but this product is not perfect so of course it has some negatives.
Positives:
- All the controls are in the front. You don't have to get up out of your chair to do anything. Everything is at your fingertips.
- It's wireless. I've got my MacBook hooked up to this printer wirelessly, though it wasn't an easy setup. However, the Canon rep. I talked to was very helpful in walking me through the process. Once it was set up, documents print out flawlessly just as if it were connected to the printer via a USB connection. I also have my HP desktop computer hooked up via a wired network connection.
- It takes most types of media cards so if you don't want to hook up your camera via USB cable and you would rather take out your media card and view and print your pictures that way, you can.
- Prints quietly
- The printer has a bright color LCD screen, which is especially useful when you put in your media card and you want to view or make any adjustments to your photos before you print them.
- Fast 20-22 sec. 4x6 photo prints
- Photos print out beautifully
- Prints documents almost immediately, no long thinking or waiting time and they print out fast. One color documents print out fast even in the standard setting.
- The text prints out clear and crisp. The ink dries fast so there isn't any smudging.
- Auto two-sided printing(Duplex printing)
- Comes with software that allows OCR(optical character recognition) meaning you can scan a document then the program will translate it into editable format. In other words, the document you scan in will become a text document that you can edit. Instead of having to type over a whole document, you can scan it and make changes to it once transformed into text format. This program is a part of the Canon Utilities bundle that is included with this printer. The bundle also contains other neat programs with a variety of features.
- Too many other great features to numerous to name
Negatives(a very short list):
- The size. The Canon MX850, as has been said, is enormous and very heavy. This printer takes up quite a bit of space on my small desk. Though this wasn't a deal breaker for me, I do wish it was smaller. Canon really has to work on reducing the size of their all-in-ones.
- I also don't like the fact that when I open the lids of the print, whether it's the scanner lid or the cover that you have to open to put in the ink, doesn't slam down softly or smoothly. I always feel like I'm slamming them down even though I'm not plus the lids are not exactly light either.
Despite the size of the Canon MX850, it's very attractive looking and pretty easy to use. There are plenty of menu options for you to adjust the printer the way you want it to function. I even got it to work as a CD label printer by hooking up a a removable CD label tray. This can be purchased on the net. All in all, this is a fantastic printer with excellent features and I'm glad I decided to purchase it.
Digital camera Review: Awesome, but one piece of info they don't tell you...
Summary: 4 Stars
I love this printer/fax/copier/scanner. Everything functions wonderfully and easily... when it functions! You MUST keep a few extra ink cartridges on hand, because NOTHING will work when one cartridge is empty. Crazy because it requires 2 black ink cartridges - and if one runs out, better have another on hand if you want it to keep printing.
Oh - and when I say nothing works, I mean NOTHING. You can't even SCAN a picture to your PC/Laptop. WHO designed that? So the first time I ran out of ink, I learned the hard way when I went to scan in an old pic.
Like I said, I do love it when it is functioning, just make sure you keep plenty of extra ink on hand!
Digital camera Review: BEST printer I ever had!
Summary: 5 Stars
I use a printer a LOT. I am involved in many community projects (Signs and posters), have a big family (photos..11 grand children!), do a lot of creative work (greeting cards, craft projects) and would rather keep recipes in a box than on the computer. Without a doubt, this is the best printer I have had for years! YES it is ink efficient, it prints photos that are as nice as any lab and it is way way easier to use than many other printers. I would suggest this one to any family or friends ! Thanks Canon !!Digital camera Review: BUYER BEWARE!!!
Summary: 2 Stars
This is a nice printer/scanner/copier. The operations have worked well, and it's one of the few printers/scanners/copiers with DUPLEX which is very nice. BUT..... the printer is a Canon ink gouger.... which means it's a money-in-your-wallet gouger!!! It goes through ink faster than my Canon iP8500! It shuts down ALL OPERATIONS when the ink is low... which happens quickly. Low ink? You can't scan! Low ink? Faxes come in to it's memory and you can't SEND! Low ink? You can't use B&W ink only! And for that ALONE, Canon should be ashamed. Obviously this is a NEW ploy by Canon.
My Canon iP8500 from a good number of years ago allows me to continue printing beyond when the printer "feels" you should replace the ink cartridges. Usually I can get another 50 prints on a cartridge when the warning comes up. Even when the printer says "I'm out of ink," I can get 15 pages or so out of it!
If you have a lot of money, enjoy the printer.
UPDATE 3/2011
Go to Costco and refill the ink cartridges. $8 per cart. plus membership is still cheaper than $24 per cartridge every 100 pages!