Fully-Integrated 30-sheet auto document feeder for rapid document copying, scanning and faxing Super G3 high-speed fax2 with 20 coded speed dials storing up to 50 incoming pages when receiving ITU-T Number 1 chart Various security features including password protected PDFs
List Price: Unavailable
Sale Price: See "More Info" for price.
Rating
Got this printer couple of weeks ago and it has been performing up to my expectation. I still cannot believe the price of this AIO printer. Even at the MSRP of $99 from Canon, it is still very well below a comparable unit from other brands. I like a good bargain, so originally I had 2nd thought on getting this because it was only $10 cheaper at Amazon than list price. However, after comparing other AIO printers with similar features like wireless, fax, auto-document feeder, this became a no-brainer.
Pros:
– AIO with fax.
– Mac friendly software
– Price point
– Sleek symmetric design vs. other brands (i.e. all trays are closable to create a neat look)
– Self opening output tray if tray is closed. I had other printers where if I forgot to open the output tray, the paper would just cumple up.
– Easy Wi-Fi setup
– reasonable replacement OEM ink cartridge prices.
– iPhone/iPod touch app for printing photos from your iPhone or iPod touch.
– USB cable included, useful and a must for initial setup
Cons:
– so far I have not been able to fax from my MacBook wirelessly, though faxing from PC wirelessly works.
– slow start-up like most other users have experienced
I have owned AIO printers from HP, Lexmark, and Epson before. This model by far has been the best price performance for me.
Rating
I was impressed as soon as I unpacked this printer. It feels solid and well made. I was also impressed that Canon included EVERYTHING I might need, including both ink cartridges, USB cable, and telephone cabling. They didn’t skimp on cable length, either. These might seem like small things, but I notice when a company takes extra steps to make sure their customers’ needs are met because that’s the sort of company I want to do business with.
So far, this seems to be a very well designed machine. Even though it has so many features that I’ve barely begun to explore them all, the basics were simple to find and easy to use. It supports Wi-Fi Secured Setup and fortunately so does my AT&T U-verse router. If your router does too, you’re in luck. From the printer side, just tell it to use WSP. That takes some menu scrolling, but the instructions are clear. Then go push a button on the router or (as in my case) on the router’s web interface, and voila…the two find each other and get married. That’s it. Now you have a networked printer!
I like that this has a document feed on top. That’s a nice feature you don’t always find in home printers.
Driver and software install via the CD was flawless. As a software developer, I’m critical of install software that doesn’t quite work right or that wastes my time, but there was nothing to criticize here. I’m also impressed by the quality and quantity of useful software utilities delivered on the CD. The one niddling complaint I could make is that it would have been nice to have everything installed under one (Windows) StartMenu folder instead of 5(!), but that’s no big deal and is easily changed.
I can’t speak to ink usage or to longevity yet because I’ve only just started using this machine. If I have problems, I’ll update this review, but for now at least I’m waaaay more than happy with this purchase.
Rating
This is the first printer I’ve bought that wasn’t an HP. It is a wonderful product and so far, I’m very impressed with it. It was fairly easy to set-up so that was a plus. The print quality is great and I really like the lower cost of the ink cartridges (HP cartridges have gotten expensive). The other features work great from copying, scanning and faxing. The only thing that was a little unexpected is that the printer itself is bigger in size so it needs a little more space (it’s more square than rectangular). It’s a great value for the money and the quality is great.
Rating
My ancient HP G5 All-In-One finally croaked, so I ordered one of these. I didn’t really expect it would be any good considering how cheap it is, but I have been pleasantly surprised. The construction is really excellent, and it looks a lot better than most of the flimsy competition I looked at from HP and the rest. There aren’t any floppy pieces dangling off it waiting to get broken. I am using it with an iMac 30″ running OS X 10.6.3.
Setup was fairly straightforward using the wireless connection. The manual takes about 50 pages to get round to telling you that all you need to do is hit the menu button on the printer and find the LAN sub-menu, then choose the network and enter the password. The software for the iMac pretty much installs itself.
The included software is good. This is usually a problem with Macs and printers/scanners, but not this time. The scanner will scan straight into Mail, or into your Pictures folder, in jpg, tiff, or pdf. The scans are excellent, much better than the stand-alone HP Scanjet I paid $300 for not so long ago. Print quality is quite good, and reasonably fast, but I really got this for scanning and faxing, with just light duty printing when I don’t want to walk over to the laser printer.
I am still laughing to myself over the insane value this represents. I honestly can’t remember ever getting such a great piece of gear so cheap. It cost more to buy the Airport Express that hooks it to the LAN. I have never posted a review on Amazon before, but this machine is just so great that I had to.
Rating
I have a part time job that requires quite a bit of faxing and scanning, and I had an Epson, I hated that thing. So a few weeks ago I was faced with 2 sets of 27 pages (54 pages) that had to be faxed 2 different places and scanned, so I would be standing there faxing 2 sets to 2 different numbers–…..The Epson did not have group faxing, each destination had to be done separately. The ADF, which never worked well (see previous review) was more than I could face that day—it would take hours! So I started looking. I researched, checked other reviews, and finally decided to try this one & bonus (!) it was on sale. This is a great machine! And group fax—1 scan and it will then send to up to 20 numbers. The ADF requires no babysitting, no handfeeding. I’m amazed how quickly I’m done. Not to mention it does make nice pics and copies
The software was easy to load, although some of the programming was,for me, a little difficult. And I’m sure it can do more than I’ve figured out. However I’m not a techy person, so someone else may not have a problem. A bonus surprise, I have one line, 2 numbers–1 for phone and 1 for fax. I can have the fax on, and it will catch faxes coming in, and calls are not subject to the fax signal. On the Epson if the machine was on, anyone calling was treated to the fax squealing in their ears. Would I recommend this one? Absolutely!
Rating
I bought this printer mostly for the reasonable price. When I recieved it, I was amazed by the quality of the machine. Much nicer than most desk top printers. I was very nervous about setting it up, but the instructions are excellent and the Canon Pixma was operational in no time. It located my router right away.
The printing function is super easy. The copy function is very fast and the copies look like the original. I haven’t tried the scanning or faxing.
This is a pretty big unit, so make sure to note the dimentions and make sure it will fit where you plan to place it.
I’m very glad I bought this printer!
Rating
I really like my new Canon all-in-one. I had no problems setting it up and I love that it takes the place of three devices. It freed up space on my book shelf because I got rid of my old printer, my scanner, and my fax. It prints beautiful pictures and I have had no problem printing checks from Quicken or printing letters or screen prints from the web. My only complaint is that the ink is not waterproof like my old epson printer.
Rating
As a notably non-tech person I was a little leery of trying to set this printer/scanner/photocopier/fax machine up by myself. First off, let me say I own a Mac Powerbook, and while I can troubleshoot a few minor things even the thought of trying to navigate my way through a technical manual can induce hives. As I worked my way through the pages, illustration-by-illustration, I found it went surprisingly smoothly.
Having illustrations to accompany the instructions ensured that I could coordinate the effort between written instructions and what I saw. What was particularly nice was that the manual did not talk down to me, nor did it talk above me. Instead it provided the necessary information in a clear, clean manner that make hooking up the printer a straightforward process. The whole process went so smoothly that it took me less than a half hour from beginning to end–and that included both the time the software needed to install itself and the time I spent registering. Amazing!
As for its ability to do what it says, well, all I can say is: Fantastic!
First, I printed out a page of text, and it is beautiful! Clear, clean, sharp, dark. Next, I scanned an antique bookmark and it came out with all its colors looking rich and vibrant. Then I printed a photograph using the sample of 4×6 photo paper Canon enclosed with the printer, and it too turned out a glossy and stunning image. And finally, I copied a page just to test that out, and the copy proved to be an excellent reproduction. And faxing was just as easy and simple.
In my view, Canon earns very high marks, five stars in fact, for making such a high-quality machine for a very reasonable price and developing a manual so clear and easy that even I breezed through it.
Rating
I have owned an MX850 and MX860, and did a side-by-side comparison with an MX350, so I was positive that the MS340 was the absolute bargain basement type of AIO available. But to my surprise, Canon packs a lot of features and quality in to such a low price.
As it turns out, the MX340 and MX350 are so similar (almost identical, in fact), that just about everything I had to say about the MX350 applies here.
With the previous experience, setting up the MX340 to work on my home network was pretty straightforward. I’m using three Macs and a Windows 7 machine in my house, and anticipated that Canon would put ancient drivers on their installation disc. Not willing to chance it, I downloaded the latest software from Canon’s site, and was on my way in a matter of minutes.
If you’re planning to skip the disc, and use a Mac, you’ll want to install the IJ Network Tool first, to reduce frustration. From there, go with the driver, and then the MP Navigator software. Trust me, you’ll skip a lot of frustration this way, if you’re not using the disc.
As expected, the text output was “cheap laser” quality, if not a touch better. Scanning was surprisingly quick, for text and simple graphics. Not surprisingly, doing any sort of higher-res photo scanning is on the slow side, though the image quality is better than acceptable for most home users. Printing out photos produced better than expected results, though not without some edge bleeding even on decent-quality paper.
One thing you may be contemplating is whether to go with the MX350 or Canon PIXMA MX340. If you’re trying to decide between the two, here’s the only difference I found after a side-by-side comparison: the MS340 doesn’t have an LCD screen.
What’s the LCD screen worth? That really depends. If you’re planning on connecting your camera directly to the MX340, it definitely makes it easier to find your pictures on the color LCD that’s on the higher-prices MX350 (assuming your camera isn’t capable of displaying the pictures when connected to a PictBridge-capable device). On faxing and scanning, the on-screen instructions on the MX350 can also be helpful to less technical users. That’s not to say that the display on the MX340 is lacking, though. The display on the MX340 is easy to use if you aren’t expecting illustrations.
Ultimately though, they’re both solid printers that are a steal if you’re going to use the scanner and / or fax.
Rating
Before purchasing this computer, I had an old HP pSC 1200v for about eight years. I was said when it finally died, so I was trying to find something that was both affordable and of good quality. I went shopping and came across this printer. It’s not the fastest or the smallest or even the coolest looking one, but it’s definitely a good buy. I’ve used it with great ease. I’m a PhD student and I wanted something reliable that was also on the low end of the cost spectrum.
I had little trouble getting it set up for wireless use. I had to run back and forth between my wireless router and the printer (since they’re not in the same room), but it wasn’t that difficult. The screen is a little small when compared to more expensive printers, but it’s perfectly fine for me. It’s not the fastest, but it’s fast. Also, it does a nice job of scanning, especially when you want to scan multiple pages and turn them into a pdf. It’s amazingly easy. Also, the printer isn’t bad, although it’s not as crisp as I would have liked. However, it’s still a good quality.
Overall, I’m pleased with the purchase and I assume you will be, too.