- Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 98 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
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63 out of 64 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Better Print Than HP"
Pros: ADF, FAX with built in modem, 2400dpi scanner, Separate Ink Tanks, Media Slots, USB, Great Prints
Cons: PC interface to fax is a print driver, No network capability
Summary: I am absolutely amazed at the various individual reviews on the various multifunction inkjet printers. I spent a lot of time reading reviews and it seemed there is always one or a few that get an absolute lemon. I'm not sure why that is. Perhaps quality control is difficult on a device that does so many things. Perhaps its mostly the people with problems that take the time to post. But it didn't seem like there was one clear winner out there. In fact, the highest rated magazine review machines seemed to have the most problem posts from individuals. And the best magazine reviews seem to be in the 8.0 region. It was very confusing. But my research lead me to believe that this unit had fewer individual problems than the comparable HP units. I will not buy an Epson again although I looked at them and the reviews reinforced my decision made a long time ago. Lexmark and Brother seem to suffer from the start - from the magazine reviews. And they don't seem to get better with individual reviews.
I have had Canon printers before and they always served me well. The HPs appear to have serious network problems and, as I'm used to with HP, folks are complaining about HP's drivers and bloatware. Surprising they have so many network problems on the models that support it however.
Enough about general multifunction device research, lets get back to the MP830. I really didn't need network capability so what it came down to was having the kid at the store do test copies for me on the various HP and Canon machines. What I was looking for was a single device that would serve as a fax, scanner and inkjet printer for general printing. Clean that desk up as my Visioneer, HP laserjet and inkjet, and USR modem was taking up a lot of room. What was important to me was speed and quality of scan and print.
Now the kid at the store was really pushing the HP and I can understand that. I've had HP printers that served me well too. We picked a color page from a magazine and used the same page for the comparisons. Now I don't print text below 8pt. At my age 8pt. is tiny. I fully expected this printer to have problems printing text having read these reviews and because it shares the same ink cartridges and basic mechanism as the Canon iP6600D Photo. In reality though, I have no problem reading the 8pt. text. And the photo output on the copy was better than the HPs. Admittedly I don't use a 10x jewelers loupe, I just print and look and read. So admittedly it's very subjective. But the print on the Canon was noticeably better to these old eyes.
After getting it home I took some photos of my Murano and 350Z with my Pentax *istDS and printed them from my PC on highest resolution on Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy. I also printed out a few sheets on premium Hammermill laser paper of publications and text test sheets. I also faxed and received a fax. I am very happy. It prints great, text is very readable. The photo prints on the Canon glossy surprised me. I can now get rid of my ALPS MD1300. The photo output is that good. For the ultimate in photo quality however, I'm looking at the Kodak 1400 but wondering if I even need it.
A note about paper, I don't use the cheap stuff. I tend to buy the high brightness dense 98/106 premium. So I don't know how it will do on crappy paper and could care less. If you want a quality print you better start with quality paper.
The scanning function does well. The MP830 is USB 2.0 capable so it?s fast. The drivers are TWAIN and WIA based and I was able to scan photos and magazine sheets in with Corel Paint Shop Pro X, Micrografx Picture Publisher 9, Adobe Photoshop Elements, and Microsoft Publisher 2003. It does better than my older SCSI Microtek and my current USB 1.1 Visioneer in terms of speed and quality.
The SW and driver install was flawless and I am running Antivirus, antispam and firewall software. You also get OmniPage 2.0 for OCR on the CD along with Pagemaker 7.15 and Canon?s Easy Photo Print 3.3.0 and MP Navigator 2.2 for basic functionality.
Finally about the fax implementation, you send a FAX on your PC by selecting the Canon MP830 FAX printer driver. It does not interface with FAX modem software like Symantec WINFAX. And I haven't looked into WINFAX to see if it can be configured to function through a printer driver vice COM port modem. Not a big deal really as I thought about it. The only two features that WINFAX really did above the FAX function, was the address book and the cover sheet designer. Well, now I have a custom Cover sheet that I insert into a document and I manage address book information through OE contacts. So there is one more app that I can rid my PC of...good bye to one more Symantec product Yea! However there is a downside for those that want to keep electronic copies of the faxes they receive. The manual for this machine does not say how this can be done. It only says that the machine has enough memory to store 250 fax pages if it is out of ink or paper. But there appears to be no functionality to save a received fax to your computer digitally. I suppose you could scan in the printed out faxes if you just had to have a digital copy.
This machine has no built in networking capability. I don't use it myself but I you can try the share printer functionality of XP or a print server. In the past on other printers and peoples networks I have had good success getting them running with this approach, but not always. Perhaps others can comment on how well this approach works with this model as I don't use it myself.
In conclusion, to all those looking for a good multifunction device to replace their printer, scanner, and fax modem, take a look at this Canon PIXMA MP830. Don't let the technobable and pico points per fortnight scare you away. Go to the store, do some test copies and judge for yourself.
Why test COPIES? It gives you a good idea of the capabilities of the scanner and the printer functions both in terms of time to get a copy and quality of that copy. I made them set the machines to defaults, no tweaking. So tweaking them may yield different results. But I figure if it gives a good product without diddling, then the manufacturer has done a decent job.
Tip: To figure out what multifunction machines share inks with what printers, go to staples online look up ink and toners for a specific machine, click on one of its inks then click on Machine Compatibility.
- 6 replies to this review
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Any way to broadcast fax? Can only put in one recipient from address book at a time.
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I love reviews like this one. Very thoughtful and one person who has the same thought pattern as me.
I always get so overwhelmed when I am shopping for any tech product. I go from cnet to Nextag to Pricegrabber. I ALWAYS look at the customer reviews after narrowing down to a couple from editors reviews (I unfortunately have had two bad experiences with devices I bought strictly on the editors reviews).
This review was terrific. Keep up the good work! Also (I know this may sound naive) Id never thought to take a file of mine, a magazine copy of mine and a text copy of mine so I am not swayed by the primary colored, beautifully shot, clear stock photograph images they have at the store. I could NEVER see much difference!
Thanks again!
Deborah Flate -
I am looking for a multifunction printer that does print , scan , copy & fax. Especially able to receive fax into pc rather than direct printout.
Can any one advise which good brand/model that has this feature ?
So far from what I had searched thru, the fax received comes in direct printout only.
Is Cannon Pixma MP830 the closest to my answer ? -
I like to consider myself a very "evenhanded" type, but, 350ZMO's has just clinched the category. Good job! Great writing skills! and kudo's to you for doing the research!
I actually feel my last opinion about Symantec's business ethics regarding Systemworks 2005 Premier was a little "Heavy Handed", but,,,,,, NAAaaaa! What they are doing isn't very nice at all. -
I wish you had mentioned in your review which HP model you did the in-store comparison against. Even the HP line has some models better than others when compared amongst themselves.
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I have never commented on a review before, but I have to say that this is very well written and very persuasive. Very professional. Thank you for your input.
