Canon Pixma iP4200

Pros: Draft Speed, Photo Print Speed, Paper handling (Cartridge & Top Feeder), Drivers and Software, Easy Setup,

Cons: Slow high quality print speed; Color accuracy

Summary: I wanted to say perfect, however I refrained from using the perfect rating just because there is always room for improvement.

My frame of reference for this review is:
a) I'm a long time photo hobbyist with prior dark-room experience
b) My prior ink-jet printer was a high-end $400, purchased 10 years ago! (My value perspective is skewed by the amazing advancement in printer technology over the passed few years.)
c) I have an engineering background in an electronic related field
d) I've used this printer for about 1 week before writing this review.
e) I haven't had the opportunity to evaluate any other printer in this class.
f) I haven't spent any time tweaking photos in photoshop or using the printer utilities to optimize color rendition.
g) I have no financial interest of affiliation with Canon.

That being said, I was debating between buying a $500 high-end printer and a $100 budget model. I wanted to have a printer which could do both text and photo's. Staples had this printer on sale for $100, so before plunking down $500, I thought I would own a $100 model first and get an education on photo-printers. I've heard about the expense associated with the high-end models and some issues with reliabilty and decided to defer my high-end photo printer purchase.

It's absolutely amazing what this $100 printer can do. For comparison I've had the same digital image printed by this printer, Shutterfly, CVS, and a dye sublimation printer at a local photo specialty store. The quality of the prints (details and color rendition/precision) easily exceeds that of CVS, Shutterfly and Mystic (mail order, film based). The more expensive dye sublimation print was superior but not by much. The colors of the Canon print don't match the screen exactly, but I found this with all of the test prints from the above mentioned sources. If you have been happy with Internet, CVS or mail order photo services like Mystic, you will definitely be satisfied with the prints produced by this printer - Canon prints, in my opinion, are superior.

If you are a professional photographer or have a very very critical eye, you will find some fault with the pictures - but those types of people should not be buying $100 printers and expect art/professional-quality photo finishing.

Rest assured, the prints delivered from his Canon printer are very good! The laymen I've shown the prints to have been very impressed and very pleased with the quality. I will, however, be buying a dedicated high-end printer in a few years when I have more hobby time and the performance/reliabilty/cost improves.

For my other computer printing needs, this printer is excellent. Most of the time I print in draft mode for expediency and to keep the costs down. I don't typically keep draft documents for a long period of time. The draft mode text/graphic quality and performance is very good and certainly much better than my 10-year old HP ink-jet in draft. The high-quality text and graphics is excellent, albeit much slower relative to draft. (This is true for all printers.)

The software is very easy to install and use. The photo printing utility makes it very easy to select prints and crop to fit the paper format size.

The paper management mechanism is excellent. I keep plain paper in the cassette and use the top feeder for envelopes and prints. The printer can be configured to select the paper source automatically or manually.

It's too early to make an assesment on reliabilty, print quality consistency, or consumable costs (ink & paper). I'll update this review as I gain more experience.

In short, I highly recommend this printer. It's an outstanding value.