I was in the market to replace 3 devices; a laser printer. photo printer and a scanner. I also wanted something that I could share across my home network. I’ve had the printer for 2 weeks it has met my needs. It is currently being accessed by 5 PC’s plus my IPhone using the Canon Ap. Setup was quick and simple. I had the unit hooked up and all printers connected within an hour or so. The unit is fast and prints great. I would highly recommend it.
This is my first “All In One” printer that can scan, fax, copy, and print. I don’t use the fax that much, but I do use the other functions often in my home. Anyway, I ordered this printer on Feb 28 and it came in on March 2. I was quite surprise on how big this printer is. Its almost 2 feet wide and just over a foot long. First thing I had to do, remove all the orange tape and wrap on the printer. There’s a whole bunch of orange tape and there’s more inside the printer. The instructions are pretty much straight forward and very thorough. I had to install this part to hold the ink cartridges. After that, I had to install 5 ink cartridges. To me, taking off the plastic orange safety cap off the ink cartridges was frustrating. You have to carefully twist the cap and don’t apply too much pressure on the cartridge. You will know if you have successfully installed the ink cartridge because each cartridge has a built-in red light. When you see the red light, you have installed the ink cartridge correctly. After that, I put paper in it. Then I had to add a network key because I’m using the wireless function. After the printer is all ready to go, I had to install the software. Installing the software took about 20 minutes.
Anyway, I started using some of the functions. I made a copy, sent a fax to myself, scan some pictures, and printed some stuff. So far no problems. The default print settings is set to print on one side of the sheet of paper. If you want to print on both sides, you have to go to print properties and select “duplex printing” What happens is that it will print on side of the paper and then paper will rewind back into the printer to print on the other side.
Scan images are not that great, even if I set at highest resolution of 600 dpi. The images look a bit blurry.
The best part of all this is that I can access the printer wirelessly from multiple computers! You don’t need a USB cable connected to one machine if you have a wireless router.
I set up my new Canon Pixma MX870 last night. Took me 30 minutes to setup the printer and install on both my iMac and MacBook. Both Mac’s run Mac OS X 10.4.11. I did have a hard time selecting a brand. I normally buy only HP printers but after my last AIO deskjet 6200 decided to breakdown again and the wireless deskjet 6800 worked only 1/2 the time I wanted to try a Canon or Epson. I will admit, I haven’t owned a Canon printer since my old bubblejet from 1994. But it lasted until new OS’s would no longer support it. I decided to buy the MX870 instead of the MX860 since I have read on several different sites that the 870 solves plenty of issues plagued by Mac users and has a better print speed. I also read that the MX860 was slow to start. Well, my MX870 was pretty quick starting up and gives a quality print. The wireless is awesome. Much easier to install than my last HP. I haven’t tried printing any photos just yet. I am happy to see that there are 5 separate print cartridges. This printer is a great value for the money. I will say that if printing high quality photos and CD/DVDs is important to you, you should go for the Epson Artisan 810 instead. However, if you want a quality AIO without breaking the bank, choose the Canon Pixma MX870.
I needed to replace my aging HP-85 multifunction printer. My initial thought was to buy another HP and had looked closely at the Officejet 6500; however, the larger number of out-of-box failures that users were reporting put me off. The features and reviews of the MX870 were impressive, so I decided to switch to the Canon. After three weeks with the product, I can say that I continue to be impressed. Setup was straight-forward. I use it both via a USB cable (when my notebook is docked) and wirelessly. I have multiple computers, some running Windows 7 and others Mac Snow Leopard. All my computers print and scan wirelessly to it without a hitch. I was impressed that I was able to install it without the CD, over WiFi, on Windows 7 machines by simply selecting “Add Device” in the control panel — whatever drivers it needed it found itself over the Internet.
I like the extra rear paper source for feeding heavy material straight through the printer. With the HP-85, heavy material was a recipe for paper jams. The automatic document feeder has worked flawlessly thus far. I’m amazed at how quickly the scanner works even in high precision — typically only a few seconds per page. The print quality is excellent, and the printer itself is gorgeous. It is silent when not printing and reasonably quiet when printing. I cannot comment on how long the ink lasts (I’ll admit that the ink tanks look a little small). I would have liked a bigger paper tray as this one holds only a quarter of a ream.
After having many HP and Epson printers over the past 20 years or so, this is my first experience with a Canon and I am very glad to report that this is one great all-in-one machine. My old HP all-in-one was good, but this one seems to be so much better. And, the fact that it’s wireless makes it just about perfect for my personal and home office uses. I took my time setting up this machine, following each instruction carefully and had absolutely zero problems. The individual ink tanks were a “snap” to install and the whole printer looks as if it should cost much more than the price I paid.
I have two laptops “hooked” to this printer through the wireless connection and they both worked perfectly the first time I tried to print something. I have also used the copy and scan functions and have sent a fax. I have not had occasion to receive a fax yet, but I’m confident there will be no problem when and if I do.
I like this new Canon so well that I donated my old HP all-in-one and gave my other HP printer to a family member. The Canon PIXMA MX870 Wireless Office All-in-One Printer is a large, well-made, easy to use, very affordable unit that I hope to enjoy for years to come.
By the way, I ordered this printer from Amazon on a Thursday using the free “super saver” shipping. Two days later, at 10:00 on Saturday morning, the deliveryman was ringing my doorbell. Now THAT’s service!
A very nice All-In-One unit. In my first week with this printer: I faxed a few documents, scanned a few pictures, scanned a 30 page document into a pdf file, copied a 1-sided -> 2-sided document, copied a 2-sided -> 2-sided document, and printed 4×6 and 8×10 photos.
Initial setup was pretty easy. The most difficult part was installing the inks because the cartridge carrier is toward the back of the printer and the lid only opens to about 40 degrees. You need a lot of light to see what you are doing. Once you figure it out, though, snapping in the ink cart is very easy.
My printer is set up for wireless, so Wi-Fi configuration was next. This was also very easy, just picking your network and (in my case) entering your WEP key. The last part was to set up my computer (WinXP) to talk to the printer. Again, very easy because the setup is all driven from a CD program, auto-detecting the printer and installing the drivers. Rinse and repeat the CD for additional computers.
Scanning documents and photos was easiest through the Canon application that gets installed during setup. The app guides you through the various options of scanning single sheets, using the document feeder in single-sided or double-sided mode, and destination file. I scanned photos, single-sided docs, and 2-sided docs with no problems.
Copying documents was even easier, as that can all be done from the printer front panel. Using the panel, I was able to copy a 1-sided document into a 2-sided copy by changing the Standard Copy print options. I was also able to copy a 2-sided doc into a 2-sided copy by changing the Copy Menu from Standard Copy to Two-Sided Copy. It was a little confusing at first, but I got the hang of it.
On my first few dozen document pages, I had an intermittent black smear at the bottom of the pages. That eventually went away and I have not seen it since. I’m not sure if it was because my paper was slightly wrinkled or if the ink had smeared during installation, but it’s gone now.
For printing photos, I again used the installed app. It allows very basic photo editing and positioning functions, but nothing fancy. You’ll want to use your own application for photo editing, if you are so inclined. You definitely want to change the settings for highest photo quality, as the default settings can produce artifacts.
I’ve never owned a fax machine, but I’ve used them many times before. The fax operations seem pretty standard, although they have a nice option to share the phone line by assuming that all calls are voice calls until it hears the fax protocol. This avoids having to switch any settings to allow faxes to come through. I received one fax and it worked just fine. Maybe this line sharing is a standard feature in all fax machines these days, but it was new to me.
Print speed is a little on the slow side, but tolerable. Also, I wish that the paper tray had a higher capacity, but again tolerable. As with many inkjet printers, printing a single-sided document will result in the pages in reverse order in the output tray (but using the Auto-Document Feeder, the original is still in correct order). Interestingly, printing/copying with 2-sided output will result in the document in correct order because each sheet of paper has been flipped over. Regarding the Auto-Document Feeder: make sure that your document is lined up precisely within the page guides, as the feeder can pull in the sheets slightly crooked if you are not careful.
I bought this printer at full price and thought it was a steal. At its current price, it’s pretty awesome.
This is my third all-in-one since the category was introduced in the 1990’s. My previous two were both HP. With the purchase of this Canon machine I was replacing an HP C6180 which was 3 years old. The HP machines I’ve had were both slow and very noisy and the scanning software was buggy. So I was generally dissatisfied with the HP equipment, but the issue that brought about the replacement was a clogged print head. After several support calls with HP, I finally got to a technician who knew enough to conclude the print head was clogged and needed replacement. When I asked for a referral to a repair facility, or the number for an HP repair depot, I was told “These machines are not designed to be repaired, they are designed to be replaced and recycled.” I asked to speak to a manager, and when he called back a day later I was told the same thing. So I called the office of the CEO of HP in California, and was referred to another organization who said the same thing. Then I called a local independent printer repair shop and was told “the print heads in the HP all-in-ones are not replaceable, and that I should consider buying a new machine. For want of a $0.10 print head, the entire device had to be scrapped. Now Eco-friendly is that ?!?!?!?
Since I was generally dissatisfied with the HP all-in-one’s I had owned I decided to temper my brand bias and research the field and make an informed decision based on other user reviews. This lead me to Epson and Canon. The newer HP equivalent replacement model I tried at an Office Depot and it was as slow and noisy as my previous two HP machines. While there, I looked at the Epson models, and while I liked their photo printing capability, I was more interested in low-duty-cycle printing and not having to scrap the machine when the ink dried out when I was traveling. The Epson machine does not have a replaceable print head, and I had read a review here on Amazon that the Canon machine did have a replaceable print head. So sight unseen, I ordered the Canon.
The reviews are correct when they give high praise to the Canon Pixma line. I have been delighted with the performance and it’s significantly less noisy than all the others. What really has impressed me is the scanning with the automatic document feeder – it’s flawless. The HP could never scan more than 3 pages with the ADF without the software crashing or the wireless connection faltering and creating errors. With the Canon, it has worked like a dream and in less than an hour I’ve scanned in twenty years of income tax returns – something that would have taken a day to accomplish with the HP.
Setup was easy and the wireless connection worked from the first try. I’ve used the machine now to fax, scan, copy and print and I’m very satisfied. During installation I discovered that the print head is indeed separate – you have to install it as part of the ink cartridge installation, and it’s offered as a spare part that the user can easily replace. Printing is about twice the speed as the HP machine I tried in the store that’s in the same price bracket.
I have not tried using this printer for photo finishing. I have a high end Epson I use for that which handles 11×17 inch media. My guess is the Epson is better for photos because it has more ink colors and they are generally known as the photo printing leader. But the ink cartridges are more expensive to replace since there are more colors involved.
I would also comment that the software for the Canon machine comes with the device and needs installation. I’m using a Mac and support for the Epson and HP machines is part of Snow Leopard operating system. But the software installation was easy and the Apple OS discovered that there was an update for it and downloaded it and installed it automatically without a hitch. The only thing I would like to see added or improved would be an ability to fax directly from the computer (HP supports this, Epson and Canon don’t). But this is a minor issue compared with having a machine that in all daily use categories exceeded my expectations by a large margin. It’s still is astounding to me that such a useful and functional piece of equipment as this is under $200. After this experience, my brand preference for inkjet office printers/scanners is now Canon.
All right, perhaps this is not the world’s greatest, but it is close to perfection! This met all my needs for printing, scanning and copying like no other printer ever did, all for $129 at Costco. Here are the details that I was impressed by:
1. Scan to PDF or JPG – this is essential nowadays, with so many requests for scanned copies of important documents in PDF format, as well as photos in JPG format.
2. Continuous Form Feed – this works excellently, enabling one to copy or scan a whole set of sheets at the touch of a button.
3. Ease of use – almost everything that needs to be done is intuitive, and there’s not a single thing that appears complicated.
The setup took some time, but that was it – everything else is an A++!
(note: I copied this review (my review) from when i reviewed it on canon’s actual site. No point in making a new review, just don’t want someone to think i’m a marketer or canon employee if they see this elsewhere)
This is my first and only All in one photo ink jet printer so its hard for me to compare to anything else. However, regardless whether or not I have something to compare it to, I can say that I am more than happy with my product.
I’ve had it for only a few days now, but i’ve already put it through you know what trying to test out numerous features and settings as well as using different products (trying different photo papers, etc.). So far, I can not find even one complaint. It prints brilliant photos ( I have noticed, photo paper brand makes a very noticeable difference as well), performs excellent scans and copying / faxing functions as well as it could.
I love the design of the mx870. When your not using it, everything closes up making a nice neat little package, unlike some other models where trays are popping out left and right. I also LOVE the “gun metal” color. It looks very sleek.
The wireless connectivity is just awesome and setting up the wireless connection was EXTREMELY SIMPLE. Took less than 5 minutes.
Another important note is that so far, the ink really seems to last. I’ve already printed NUMEROUS photos, all at max quality (most ink used), including many 8.5 x 11″ photos (which use a lot of ink due to sheer size), and the ink levels still say they are full!!!! Maybe too good to be true, hope its not a faulty ink level indicator lol (I doubt it).
Quality seems great. They made it very functional. When you open the printer to access the print head and ink etc, a handy little kickstand pops out and keeps it open for you to free up your hands. There are handy little red lights that light up when you install ink correctly. I guess I do have one complaint in this area though (if I HAD to nitpick); when your done placing something to scan and you go to close the bed, at first glance there seem to be some nifty “gas shocks”(?) that gently let the bed fall back down. This is a great and convenient idea, HOWEVER, not implemented entirely well because they work great right up until the last inch or so of closing at which point they “give out” and the bed slams shut. It’s possible mine could just be defective. Either way, its really a small complaint because I just gently assist the closing with my hands anyway, no big deal.
The on screen display is well suited, and easy to use. As gimmicky as it sounds, I even like the blue light up WIFI logo when you’re wirelessly connected, just sort of looks cool.
Finally, the included software is really good considering its simplicity. I have photoshop CS4 extended which will obviously blow any other photo tools out of the water. HOWEVER, i still constantly find myself using the included software instead! This is because it has really SIMPLE/QUICK but at the same time EFFECTIVE tools such as face smoothing. Just click a button, and the program automatically finds faces and helps smooth out wrinkles, or other imperfections. It’s quite a noticeable improvement, sort of how Nancy Pelosi was airbrushed for that magazine cover and she looked 20 years younger. It may sound cheesy, but once you use it and see how simple it is, I can’t imagine printing photos without it.
Now this isn’t a complaint, just something I can hope for in the future. Having a wireless printer is handy, but it would be even more AMAZING if Canon could come up with a way to make the fax wireless. I don’t see how this could be hard. Maybe wirelessly send the fax to the computer and have the computer dial out using the internet? Another option would be, considering most people have digital phone service nowadays through their modem, the printer could again wirelessly send the fax to the router which is already connected to the modem containing the phone line for digital phone service. With today’s technology, having the fax be wireless as well should be AN EASY problem to solve. This would make their printer TRULY WIRELESS and would be a class leader (though, I must say I would buy a whole new printer just to have such a feature, which is bad for my bank account).
Sorry for the wall of text, just trying to be as descriptive as possible and cover all angles for any people considering this printer.
One final note. Before I settled on this printer, I must have researched and compared other all in ones for 3 days or more. In the end all that research pointed to this printer, and now that I have received it and tested it, I can confirm it. Other potential printers included “somethingpro 8500” (not allowed to say actual name, but you get the idea). That thing is more than 2.5 times more expensive and lacks many of the mx870’s features. Point is, not only is this printer great, its VERY WELL PRICED. I would have paid twice as much as or more after testing this thing out. Can’t believe I picked this thing up for only (not allowed to say here, but i assure you its a really great price when compared to similar products) with free shipping (shop around and you’ll find it, substantially lower than MSRP).
If you need an all in one, BUY THIS CANON. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT. YOU WILL WONDER HOW YOU EVER GOT BY WITHOUT THIS THING, AND WITH ALL THE MONEY YOU SAVE OVER ITS COMPETITION YOU CAN BUY ENOUGH INK TO LAST YOU THE REST OF THE YEAR!!!!
(as overly positive as this review seems, I PROMISE YOU I am NOT working for canon. I normally don’t even review items, but when I’m this pleased I want to spread the word. ENJOY!)
PROTIP: From my experience so far, get the printworks gloss photo paper over HP’s 5 star version. Its cheaper, and identical images come out noticeably better on printworks. Can’t speak for other finishes i.e. matte or semi-gloss, but the gloss is much better. I also have not tried canons line of products, but intend to next.
I have been looking at all-in-ones casually for the last couple of years. After considerable research, I purchased the MX870. My old printer, a HP I purchased in 2000, still works well. With that in mind, here is what I was looking for in this purchase:
– Primarily, I was looking for a good scanner that could also replace my existing printer should it fail since it is so old.
– Easy to use scanning software
– Duplex scanning was desired
– Duplex printing was desired
– Separate ink for each color
– The ability to print in B&W even if a color ink is out
– Print speeds were not a concern – this is for home use
– Print quality was not much of a concern either – I haven’t had a color cartridge for my current printer for 4 yrs
– I don’t print photos, so printing on photo paper/borderless printing/etc. are not attributes I researched (in my opinion, it is just easier and cheaper to upload them to a service and have them sent to you. In the rare instances I need pictures sooner than that, I go to CVS, which I think is still cheaper than printing from home.)
So far the MX870 has lived up to my expectations.
– Set up was very easy. I would say it took 30 minutes, including unboxing and setting up the wireless (and I was taking my time).
– Scanning has been great. It scans really well from the feeder, and there are very easy to access options for color, dpi, etc. Last night I scanned a 25 pg document, front and back, and had no issues.
– The software does not seem to be a resource hog. You can select exactly what you want to install on the CD (just drivers, scanning software, photo software, etc). I think this is great. For my laptop and desktop, I needed the scanning software, but was able to opt out of installing the photo software for now. For my netbook, I can easily just install the drivers, and none of the other software.
– The scanning software is light on resources and easy to use. You scan something in, a window pops up so you can review it, rename it, etc. Couldn’t be easier.
– Print quality is fine. I have it set to print fast duplex by default and this results in a product that works for me. In the 4 days I’ve had it, I haven’t tried to print it on normal or best quality, so I cannot speak to those results, but judging by the quality of the fast, I would assume it would work for most home users.
– Copy is easy – no complaints.
– Print speed is a little slow. As I stated above, I’ve only printed on Fast, but this printer’s fast is definitely not any faster than my old HP – even with duplex printing turned off. If speed is critical, this may not be your best bet. For most home users I would suspect it prints fast enough for general use.
I’ll quickly mentioned the competition. Based on the criteria above, I was very seriously considering three other printers:
(1) The HP 6500 wired for $150 or wireless for $200
(2) The HP 8500 Pro wired for $200 wireless for $260
(3) The Brother MFC 6490CW – $200 on sale at Office Depot, regularly $300
(1) I decided against the HP 6500 wired because for $50 more you got wireless and duplex printing/scanning. I decided against the 6500 wireless because for $200, I could get the 8500 – from HPs better printer line – which even though it was wired, had more features and a higher quality scanner.
(2) I decided against the HP 8500 despite the fact that it is: (1) recommended by CNET, (2) discounted through my employer, (3) I have enjoyed my current HP for a decade. The reason I did this was simply because there are just too many bad reviews. I know there are a lot of reviews for it – almost double the amount there are for this printer – but they seem to be too recurring: bad printer heads, failing after a couple months, bad software, driver issues with Windows 7 and XP, and the list just went on. Before buying the HP, I would read not only the reviews on Amazon, but also the reviews on CNET and […]. After an hour of reading “stay away” and “do not buy!” I imagine you’ll be as scared as I was.
(3) I chose the Canon over the Brother because quite simply because it was cheaper on Amazon ($146) than the Brother on sale ($199, currently back to $299 it looks like) and it is much smaller. Both have great reviews all over the web, so without any reason to pick the more expensive Brother, I chose the Canon.
I hope this review helps and I’ll update this review if I encounter issues (my expectation is a printer of this cost should last at least 5 years).
Rating
I was in the market to replace 3 devices; a laser printer. photo printer and a scanner. I also wanted something that I could share across my home network. I’ve had the printer for 2 weeks it has met my needs. It is currently being accessed by 5 PC’s plus my IPhone using the Canon Ap. Setup was quick and simple. I had the unit hooked up and all printers connected within an hour or so. The unit is fast and prints great. I would highly recommend it.
Rating
This is my first “All In One” printer that can scan, fax, copy, and print. I don’t use the fax that much, but I do use the other functions often in my home. Anyway, I ordered this printer on Feb 28 and it came in on March 2. I was quite surprise on how big this printer is. Its almost 2 feet wide and just over a foot long. First thing I had to do, remove all the orange tape and wrap on the printer. There’s a whole bunch of orange tape and there’s more inside the printer. The instructions are pretty much straight forward and very thorough. I had to install this part to hold the ink cartridges. After that, I had to install 5 ink cartridges. To me, taking off the plastic orange safety cap off the ink cartridges was frustrating. You have to carefully twist the cap and don’t apply too much pressure on the cartridge. You will know if you have successfully installed the ink cartridge because each cartridge has a built-in red light. When you see the red light, you have installed the ink cartridge correctly. After that, I put paper in it. Then I had to add a network key because I’m using the wireless function. After the printer is all ready to go, I had to install the software. Installing the software took about 20 minutes.
Anyway, I started using some of the functions. I made a copy, sent a fax to myself, scan some pictures, and printed some stuff. So far no problems. The default print settings is set to print on one side of the sheet of paper. If you want to print on both sides, you have to go to print properties and select “duplex printing” What happens is that it will print on side of the paper and then paper will rewind back into the printer to print on the other side.
Scan images are not that great, even if I set at highest resolution of 600 dpi. The images look a bit blurry.
The best part of all this is that I can access the printer wirelessly from multiple computers! You don’t need a USB cable connected to one machine if you have a wireless router.
Rating
Canon PIXMA MX870 Wireless Office All-in-One Printer (4206B002)
I set up my new Canon Pixma MX870 last night. Took me 30 minutes to setup the printer and install on both my iMac and MacBook. Both Mac’s run Mac OS X 10.4.11. I did have a hard time selecting a brand. I normally buy only HP printers but after my last AIO deskjet 6200 decided to breakdown again and the wireless deskjet 6800 worked only 1/2 the time I wanted to try a Canon or Epson. I will admit, I haven’t owned a Canon printer since my old bubblejet from 1994. But it lasted until new OS’s would no longer support it. I decided to buy the MX870 instead of the MX860 since I have read on several different sites that the 870 solves plenty of issues plagued by Mac users and has a better print speed. I also read that the MX860 was slow to start. Well, my MX870 was pretty quick starting up and gives a quality print. The wireless is awesome. Much easier to install than my last HP. I haven’t tried printing any photos just yet. I am happy to see that there are 5 separate print cartridges. This printer is a great value for the money. I will say that if printing high quality photos and CD/DVDs is important to you, you should go for the Epson Artisan 810 instead. However, if you want a quality AIO without breaking the bank, choose the Canon Pixma MX870.
Rating
I needed to replace my aging HP-85 multifunction printer. My initial thought was to buy another HP and had looked closely at the Officejet 6500; however, the larger number of out-of-box failures that users were reporting put me off. The features and reviews of the MX870 were impressive, so I decided to switch to the Canon. After three weeks with the product, I can say that I continue to be impressed. Setup was straight-forward. I use it both via a USB cable (when my notebook is docked) and wirelessly. I have multiple computers, some running Windows 7 and others Mac Snow Leopard. All my computers print and scan wirelessly to it without a hitch. I was impressed that I was able to install it without the CD, over WiFi, on Windows 7 machines by simply selecting “Add Device” in the control panel — whatever drivers it needed it found itself over the Internet.
I like the extra rear paper source for feeding heavy material straight through the printer. With the HP-85, heavy material was a recipe for paper jams. The automatic document feeder has worked flawlessly thus far. I’m amazed at how quickly the scanner works even in high precision — typically only a few seconds per page. The print quality is excellent, and the printer itself is gorgeous. It is silent when not printing and reasonably quiet when printing. I cannot comment on how long the ink lasts (I’ll admit that the ink tanks look a little small). I would have liked a bigger paper tray as this one holds only a quarter of a ream.
Rating
After having many HP and Epson printers over the past 20 years or so, this is my first experience with a Canon and I am very glad to report that this is one great all-in-one machine. My old HP all-in-one was good, but this one seems to be so much better. And, the fact that it’s wireless makes it just about perfect for my personal and home office uses. I took my time setting up this machine, following each instruction carefully and had absolutely zero problems. The individual ink tanks were a “snap” to install and the whole printer looks as if it should cost much more than the price I paid.
I have two laptops “hooked” to this printer through the wireless connection and they both worked perfectly the first time I tried to print something. I have also used the copy and scan functions and have sent a fax. I have not had occasion to receive a fax yet, but I’m confident there will be no problem when and if I do.
I like this new Canon so well that I donated my old HP all-in-one and gave my other HP printer to a family member. The Canon PIXMA MX870 Wireless Office All-in-One Printer is a large, well-made, easy to use, very affordable unit that I hope to enjoy for years to come.
By the way, I ordered this printer from Amazon on a Thursday using the free “super saver” shipping. Two days later, at 10:00 on Saturday morning, the deliveryman was ringing my doorbell. Now THAT’s service!
Rating
A very nice All-In-One unit. In my first week with this printer: I faxed a few documents, scanned a few pictures, scanned a 30 page document into a pdf file, copied a 1-sided -> 2-sided document, copied a 2-sided -> 2-sided document, and printed 4×6 and 8×10 photos.
Initial setup was pretty easy. The most difficult part was installing the inks because the cartridge carrier is toward the back of the printer and the lid only opens to about 40 degrees. You need a lot of light to see what you are doing. Once you figure it out, though, snapping in the ink cart is very easy.
My printer is set up for wireless, so Wi-Fi configuration was next. This was also very easy, just picking your network and (in my case) entering your WEP key. The last part was to set up my computer (WinXP) to talk to the printer. Again, very easy because the setup is all driven from a CD program, auto-detecting the printer and installing the drivers. Rinse and repeat the CD for additional computers.
Scanning documents and photos was easiest through the Canon application that gets installed during setup. The app guides you through the various options of scanning single sheets, using the document feeder in single-sided or double-sided mode, and destination file. I scanned photos, single-sided docs, and 2-sided docs with no problems.
Copying documents was even easier, as that can all be done from the printer front panel. Using the panel, I was able to copy a 1-sided document into a 2-sided copy by changing the Standard Copy print options. I was also able to copy a 2-sided doc into a 2-sided copy by changing the Copy Menu from Standard Copy to Two-Sided Copy. It was a little confusing at first, but I got the hang of it.
On my first few dozen document pages, I had an intermittent black smear at the bottom of the pages. That eventually went away and I have not seen it since. I’m not sure if it was because my paper was slightly wrinkled or if the ink had smeared during installation, but it’s gone now.
For printing photos, I again used the installed app. It allows very basic photo editing and positioning functions, but nothing fancy. You’ll want to use your own application for photo editing, if you are so inclined. You definitely want to change the settings for highest photo quality, as the default settings can produce artifacts.
I’ve never owned a fax machine, but I’ve used them many times before. The fax operations seem pretty standard, although they have a nice option to share the phone line by assuming that all calls are voice calls until it hears the fax protocol. This avoids having to switch any settings to allow faxes to come through. I received one fax and it worked just fine. Maybe this line sharing is a standard feature in all fax machines these days, but it was new to me.
Print speed is a little on the slow side, but tolerable. Also, I wish that the paper tray had a higher capacity, but again tolerable. As with many inkjet printers, printing a single-sided document will result in the pages in reverse order in the output tray (but using the Auto-Document Feeder, the original is still in correct order). Interestingly, printing/copying with 2-sided output will result in the document in correct order because each sheet of paper has been flipped over. Regarding the Auto-Document Feeder: make sure that your document is lined up precisely within the page guides, as the feeder can pull in the sheets slightly crooked if you are not careful.
I bought this printer at full price and thought it was a steal. At its current price, it’s pretty awesome.
Rating
This is my third all-in-one since the category was introduced in the 1990’s. My previous two were both HP. With the purchase of this Canon machine I was replacing an HP C6180 which was 3 years old. The HP machines I’ve had were both slow and very noisy and the scanning software was buggy. So I was generally dissatisfied with the HP equipment, but the issue that brought about the replacement was a clogged print head. After several support calls with HP, I finally got to a technician who knew enough to conclude the print head was clogged and needed replacement. When I asked for a referral to a repair facility, or the number for an HP repair depot, I was told “These machines are not designed to be repaired, they are designed to be replaced and recycled.” I asked to speak to a manager, and when he called back a day later I was told the same thing. So I called the office of the CEO of HP in California, and was referred to another organization who said the same thing. Then I called a local independent printer repair shop and was told “the print heads in the HP all-in-ones are not replaceable, and that I should consider buying a new machine. For want of a $0.10 print head, the entire device had to be scrapped. Now Eco-friendly is that ?!?!?!?
Since I was generally dissatisfied with the HP all-in-one’s I had owned I decided to temper my brand bias and research the field and make an informed decision based on other user reviews. This lead me to Epson and Canon. The newer HP equivalent replacement model I tried at an Office Depot and it was as slow and noisy as my previous two HP machines. While there, I looked at the Epson models, and while I liked their photo printing capability, I was more interested in low-duty-cycle printing and not having to scrap the machine when the ink dried out when I was traveling. The Epson machine does not have a replaceable print head, and I had read a review here on Amazon that the Canon machine did have a replaceable print head. So sight unseen, I ordered the Canon.
The reviews are correct when they give high praise to the Canon Pixma line. I have been delighted with the performance and it’s significantly less noisy than all the others. What really has impressed me is the scanning with the automatic document feeder – it’s flawless. The HP could never scan more than 3 pages with the ADF without the software crashing or the wireless connection faltering and creating errors. With the Canon, it has worked like a dream and in less than an hour I’ve scanned in twenty years of income tax returns – something that would have taken a day to accomplish with the HP.
Setup was easy and the wireless connection worked from the first try. I’ve used the machine now to fax, scan, copy and print and I’m very satisfied. During installation I discovered that the print head is indeed separate – you have to install it as part of the ink cartridge installation, and it’s offered as a spare part that the user can easily replace. Printing is about twice the speed as the HP machine I tried in the store that’s in the same price bracket.
I have not tried using this printer for photo finishing. I have a high end Epson I use for that which handles 11×17 inch media. My guess is the Epson is better for photos because it has more ink colors and they are generally known as the photo printing leader. But the ink cartridges are more expensive to replace since there are more colors involved.
I would also comment that the software for the Canon machine comes with the device and needs installation. I’m using a Mac and support for the Epson and HP machines is part of Snow Leopard operating system. But the software installation was easy and the Apple OS discovered that there was an update for it and downloaded it and installed it automatically without a hitch. The only thing I would like to see added or improved would be an ability to fax directly from the computer (HP supports this, Epson and Canon don’t). But this is a minor issue compared with having a machine that in all daily use categories exceeded my expectations by a large margin. It’s still is astounding to me that such a useful and functional piece of equipment as this is under $200. After this experience, my brand preference for inkjet office printers/scanners is now Canon.
Rating
All right, perhaps this is not the world’s greatest, but it is close to perfection! This met all my needs for printing, scanning and copying like no other printer ever did, all for $129 at Costco. Here are the details that I was impressed by:
1. Scan to PDF or JPG – this is essential nowadays, with so many requests for scanned copies of important documents in PDF format, as well as photos in JPG format.
2. Continuous Form Feed – this works excellently, enabling one to copy or scan a whole set of sheets at the touch of a button.
3. Ease of use – almost everything that needs to be done is intuitive, and there’s not a single thing that appears complicated.
The setup took some time, but that was it – everything else is an A++!
Rating
(note: I copied this review (my review) from when i reviewed it on canon’s actual site. No point in making a new review, just don’t want someone to think i’m a marketer or canon employee if they see this elsewhere)
This is my first and only All in one photo ink jet printer so its hard for me to compare to anything else. However, regardless whether or not I have something to compare it to, I can say that I am more than happy with my product.
I’ve had it for only a few days now, but i’ve already put it through you know what trying to test out numerous features and settings as well as using different products (trying different photo papers, etc.). So far, I can not find even one complaint. It prints brilliant photos ( I have noticed, photo paper brand makes a very noticeable difference as well), performs excellent scans and copying / faxing functions as well as it could.
I love the design of the mx870. When your not using it, everything closes up making a nice neat little package, unlike some other models where trays are popping out left and right. I also LOVE the “gun metal” color. It looks very sleek.
The wireless connectivity is just awesome and setting up the wireless connection was EXTREMELY SIMPLE. Took less than 5 minutes.
Another important note is that so far, the ink really seems to last. I’ve already printed NUMEROUS photos, all at max quality (most ink used), including many 8.5 x 11″ photos (which use a lot of ink due to sheer size), and the ink levels still say they are full!!!! Maybe too good to be true, hope its not a faulty ink level indicator lol (I doubt it).
Quality seems great. They made it very functional. When you open the printer to access the print head and ink etc, a handy little kickstand pops out and keeps it open for you to free up your hands. There are handy little red lights that light up when you install ink correctly. I guess I do have one complaint in this area though (if I HAD to nitpick); when your done placing something to scan and you go to close the bed, at first glance there seem to be some nifty “gas shocks”(?) that gently let the bed fall back down. This is a great and convenient idea, HOWEVER, not implemented entirely well because they work great right up until the last inch or so of closing at which point they “give out” and the bed slams shut. It’s possible mine could just be defective. Either way, its really a small complaint because I just gently assist the closing with my hands anyway, no big deal.
The on screen display is well suited, and easy to use. As gimmicky as it sounds, I even like the blue light up WIFI logo when you’re wirelessly connected, just sort of looks cool.
Finally, the included software is really good considering its simplicity. I have photoshop CS4 extended which will obviously blow any other photo tools out of the water. HOWEVER, i still constantly find myself using the included software instead! This is because it has really SIMPLE/QUICK but at the same time EFFECTIVE tools such as face smoothing. Just click a button, and the program automatically finds faces and helps smooth out wrinkles, or other imperfections. It’s quite a noticeable improvement, sort of how Nancy Pelosi was airbrushed for that magazine cover and she looked 20 years younger. It may sound cheesy, but once you use it and see how simple it is, I can’t imagine printing photos without it.
Now this isn’t a complaint, just something I can hope for in the future. Having a wireless printer is handy, but it would be even more AMAZING if Canon could come up with a way to make the fax wireless. I don’t see how this could be hard. Maybe wirelessly send the fax to the computer and have the computer dial out using the internet? Another option would be, considering most people have digital phone service nowadays through their modem, the printer could again wirelessly send the fax to the router which is already connected to the modem containing the phone line for digital phone service. With today’s technology, having the fax be wireless as well should be AN EASY problem to solve. This would make their printer TRULY WIRELESS and would be a class leader (though, I must say I would buy a whole new printer just to have such a feature, which is bad for my bank account).
Sorry for the wall of text, just trying to be as descriptive as possible and cover all angles for any people considering this printer.
One final note. Before I settled on this printer, I must have researched and compared other all in ones for 3 days or more. In the end all that research pointed to this printer, and now that I have received it and tested it, I can confirm it. Other potential printers included “somethingpro 8500” (not allowed to say actual name, but you get the idea). That thing is more than 2.5 times more expensive and lacks many of the mx870’s features. Point is, not only is this printer great, its VERY WELL PRICED. I would have paid twice as much as or more after testing this thing out. Can’t believe I picked this thing up for only (not allowed to say here, but i assure you its a really great price when compared to similar products) with free shipping (shop around and you’ll find it, substantially lower than MSRP).
If you need an all in one, BUY THIS CANON. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT. YOU WILL WONDER HOW YOU EVER GOT BY WITHOUT THIS THING, AND WITH ALL THE MONEY YOU SAVE OVER ITS COMPETITION YOU CAN BUY ENOUGH INK TO LAST YOU THE REST OF THE YEAR!!!!
(as overly positive as this review seems, I PROMISE YOU I am NOT working for canon. I normally don’t even review items, but when I’m this pleased I want to spread the word. ENJOY!)
PROTIP: From my experience so far, get the printworks gloss photo paper over HP’s 5 star version. Its cheaper, and identical images come out noticeably better on printworks. Can’t speak for other finishes i.e. matte or semi-gloss, but the gloss is much better. I also have not tried canons line of products, but intend to next.
Rating
I have been looking at all-in-ones casually for the last couple of years. After considerable research, I purchased the MX870. My old printer, a HP I purchased in 2000, still works well. With that in mind, here is what I was looking for in this purchase:
– Primarily, I was looking for a good scanner that could also replace my existing printer should it fail since it is so old.
– Easy to use scanning software
– Duplex scanning was desired
– Duplex printing was desired
– Separate ink for each color
– The ability to print in B&W even if a color ink is out
– Print speeds were not a concern – this is for home use
– Print quality was not much of a concern either – I haven’t had a color cartridge for my current printer for 4 yrs
– I don’t print photos, so printing on photo paper/borderless printing/etc. are not attributes I researched (in my opinion, it is just easier and cheaper to upload them to a service and have them sent to you. In the rare instances I need pictures sooner than that, I go to CVS, which I think is still cheaper than printing from home.)
So far the MX870 has lived up to my expectations.
– Set up was very easy. I would say it took 30 minutes, including unboxing and setting up the wireless (and I was taking my time).
– Scanning has been great. It scans really well from the feeder, and there are very easy to access options for color, dpi, etc. Last night I scanned a 25 pg document, front and back, and had no issues.
– The software does not seem to be a resource hog. You can select exactly what you want to install on the CD (just drivers, scanning software, photo software, etc). I think this is great. For my laptop and desktop, I needed the scanning software, but was able to opt out of installing the photo software for now. For my netbook, I can easily just install the drivers, and none of the other software.
– The scanning software is light on resources and easy to use. You scan something in, a window pops up so you can review it, rename it, etc. Couldn’t be easier.
– Print quality is fine. I have it set to print fast duplex by default and this results in a product that works for me. In the 4 days I’ve had it, I haven’t tried to print it on normal or best quality, so I cannot speak to those results, but judging by the quality of the fast, I would assume it would work for most home users.
– Copy is easy – no complaints.
– Print speed is a little slow. As I stated above, I’ve only printed on Fast, but this printer’s fast is definitely not any faster than my old HP – even with duplex printing turned off. If speed is critical, this may not be your best bet. For most home users I would suspect it prints fast enough for general use.
I’ll quickly mentioned the competition. Based on the criteria above, I was very seriously considering three other printers:
(1) The HP 6500 wired for $150 or wireless for $200
(2) The HP 8500 Pro wired for $200 wireless for $260
(3) The Brother MFC 6490CW – $200 on sale at Office Depot, regularly $300
(1) I decided against the HP 6500 wired because for $50 more you got wireless and duplex printing/scanning. I decided against the 6500 wireless because for $200, I could get the 8500 – from HPs better printer line – which even though it was wired, had more features and a higher quality scanner.
(2) I decided against the HP 8500 despite the fact that it is: (1) recommended by CNET, (2) discounted through my employer, (3) I have enjoyed my current HP for a decade. The reason I did this was simply because there are just too many bad reviews. I know there are a lot of reviews for it – almost double the amount there are for this printer – but they seem to be too recurring: bad printer heads, failing after a couple months, bad software, driver issues with Windows 7 and XP, and the list just went on. Before buying the HP, I would read not only the reviews on Amazon, but also the reviews on CNET and […]. After an hour of reading “stay away” and “do not buy!” I imagine you’ll be as scared as I was.
(3) I chose the Canon over the Brother because quite simply because it was cheaper on Amazon ($146) than the Brother on sale ($199, currently back to $299 it looks like) and it is much smaller. Both have great reviews all over the web, so without any reason to pick the more expensive Brother, I chose the Canon.
I hope this review helps and I’ll update this review if I encounter issues (my expectation is a printer of this cost should last at least 5 years).