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10 out of 10 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"Excellent All In One"
Pros: Paper Handling, Photo Quality, Scanning, Copying, ADF, Separate Ink Cartridges
Cons: No built in Networking
Summary: Why did I buy it? Good question? I wanted to combine my scanner and printer in an all-in-one to have the convenience of a copy machine and printer in one unit (i.e. quick copies without the PC). I was also hoping to pick up an automatic document feeder (ADF) that would auto feed old 35mm color photo prints (typically 4?x6?) and scan them in to the computer in bulk. And of course I wanted the all-in-one to perform all design functions well and with quality.
How long have I owned the MP830? Three weeks. Other printers/scanners owned? Two HP?s (895cxi workhorse), HP Photosmart 7550. Two other Canon Printers (S600 and Pixma IP6600D). Scanner Visioneer One Touch 8100.
What I?ve tried and what I think:
Copy Feature: I?ve copied using the ADF and directly on the glass. I think the MP830 does a very good job at copies. Comparing a copy of a photo on the MP830 to my Visioneer the Canon was more much faithful in capturing the original colors and the resolution was hands down better on the Canon. Copying standard letter size documents is a breeze using the ADF and the copies come out very nice.
Scanning: On one occasion I copied 15 pages out of an manual using the ADF and the Omnipage SE software that came with the MP830. I converted the scans to editable text and found this to be very accurate saving me a lot of typing time. On another occasion I copied pages out of a workbook with questions to study for a test and again used Omnipage to convert to editable text which I pasted in to Word for Windows. I then put index cards in the MP830 auto sheet feeder (rear feed) and ripped off 60 index cards very quickly (using fast mode on the MP830). They came out great and were a great study aid. I did try scanning some 35 mm color prints using the ADF and though it fed the prints through ok, they came out slightly skewed. So I ended up putting three directly on the platen glass and used the ?Auto Detect? multiple document feature of the Canon MP Navigator software that came with the MP830. This software allowed me to save separate JPG?s of each picture automatically corrected for any slight skewing of each picture laid on the glass. Though I would have preferred the ADF process for handling my old photos, this feature is a nice touch for scanning multiple prints. By the way I tried running a 4x6 print through the ADF on an HP Photosmart C6180 in a store and the C6180 ADF jammed with the 4x6. I did a lot of searching on the Internet for an ADF scanner that would handle batch scanning of old prints and really could not find anything so I don?t know if any of these machines can accomplish such a task.
Fax: Didn?t really have much need for a fax machine but after reading the manual and setting up the fax feature I was able to successfully send and receive a fax just fine. I did not try any of the auto answer modes as faxing in my house is a rare occasion and I?d rather answer a fax call manually which is a simple press of one of two start buttons on the MP830, works for my needs.
Memory Card Reader: I tested the MP830 with a Smart Media card out of one of my digital camera?s and found the MP830 to be very quick and responsive at reading the pictures on the card. My previous HP Photosmart 7550 card readers were horribly slow, so much so that I?d never use it for that reason but the Canon works well. However, my newer camera?s use XD memory cards and the Canon doesn?t accept those without purchasing an adapter to use in the Compaq Flash slot on the MP830. I had the same issue with my Canon IP6600D. Personally I don?t think it would break Canon?s bank to add the additional slots natively. Not a big issue for me because I use my computer memory card slots most of the time anyway, but it is an opportunity to make a very nice product that much nicer. My newer camera?s do work fine on the PictBridge port on the MP830, but I rarely have a desire to print right from my camera before using the excellent features of Photoshop to touch them up first.
Paper Handling: Here?s where I think this machine really shines. Canon?s paper handling is wonderful! You have two separate feed sources. Cassette feeding from the front and drop in feeding from the back. I had a chance to test out an HP all-in-one C5180 that my mom-in-law bought and was disappointed in HP?s idea of paper feeding. With HP you have one way to feed, from the front. This requires all papers to go in to the HP printer and wrap around the platen before being printed and ejected. If you try to run invitation size envelopes (4-3/8? x 5-3/4?) through the HP they?ll work after you find the right magic spot to put them, but sounds like it?s going to eat them in the process. With the Canon MP830 you have the option of dropping specialty paper such as envelopes and photo paper in the rear auto sheet feeder and the printer runs the paper through without wrapping them around the platen. Plus you can keep regular letter paper in the front cassette and switch back and forth with one button. Very nice feature! Though neither HP nor Canon mention feeding invitation size envelopes through their printers I find the Canon MP830 handles them very well through the rear auto sheet feed. And the index cards I mentioned above are another example of the great paper handling of this unit. Plus getting an automatic duplexer in a printer of this class is awesome!
Printing: After owning two HP?s with multi-color cartridges I just had to move back to a single color cartridge system. Every time I replaced an HP multi-color cartridge because one color was out I was sure I was throwing away ink! That being said, both of my HP?s still perform like they did on day one in quality because their cartridges contained the print head so you always got a new print head (and most likely paid for in with the cost of the ink). With my Canon IP6600D I have six individual color ink cartridges to replace, however I only have to replace the color that?s actually out at any given time. However it does seem that some of the colors always run out together and others (yellow and black) run a different replacement cycle (more often) for the kind of printing my family does. With the MP830 there are only three dye ink color cartridges plus a black dye ink for color/photo printing. It also has a black pigment ink cartridge for non-color printing. Unfortunately I?m not sure you ever know which black cartridge it?s using when it?s printing, but my experience so far has been the pigment ink cartridge gets used the most for standard everyday document printing (web pages, emails, word documents, spreadsheets, etc.). For photos I believe it?s the dye ink black that?s used. After three weeks I have used up about three fourths of the pigment ink. The dye black doesn?t look like much has been used at all. The three colors are down about one half to three fifths of their capacity. I have printed probably twenty 4?x6? color photos, and my daughter printed 35 picture contact sheets which she ran through the ADF to copy (she was happy to see this machine run through those and they were sticker sheets to boot!). Honestly my wife and I think the photo quality of the MP830 is so close to the IP6600D (which has the photo colors) that it would be hard for us to tell the difference. The prints are wonderful. The ink use seems high, but I?ve always thought all my inkjets use too much ink (HP & Cannon). Of course we all know this is where the manufactures are making their money, ink. As stated by others if you use auto duplexing in the ?fast? print mode on the MP830 the printer does a sub standard job and seems to use the color inks for black verses the pigment ink. However in normal duplex printing it does a fine job. In all modes of simplex printing (fast included) it does a fine job. Auto duplexing on the MP830 is not a fast process, but I use a much more expensive Tektronix color laser at work and it?s duplexing mode doesn?t break any sound barriers either. I?m sure the cost of the Tektronix far exceeds that of this MP830. The great part about auto duplexing is there?s no wasted paper trying figure out which side of the paper should be up or down like you would when manual duplexing. The MP830 does it for you automatically.
LCD Display: Nothing to brag about here, it serves its purpose but the wheel feature on the MP600 I checked out would have been a handier way to get around the machine in my opinion. But then I own an IPOD...;-}
Networking: This is an area I would have liked to see Canon offer options. For me I would have rather had wired or wireless networking built in to the MP830 verses the fax feature? I have the machine connected to a PC running Windows XP Media addition (USB cable attached) and it?s shared on my home network with other PC?s using Windows networking so any PC can use the MP830 for printing. However none of the other MP830 features are available to the other PC?s; only the one it?s directly attached too. Not a real big deal for me but again I would have gladly traded the fax for the built in networking.
Finally for some reason Canon left out the IR port on the MP830 that they included on my Pixma IP6600D printer. With all the other features the MP830 offers this is really not a big deal, but kind of curious why they left that one out.
In summary I am very happy so far with all the useful features and quality of this all-in-one. Unfortunately I don?t have the run time yet to know longevity and hope I don?t experience some of the infant mortality issues a few have, but time will be the author of that chapter of this story. I hope this helps someone else out. I have read many reviews by others which helped me in my decision to purchase this product. I appreciate the professional reviews, but also highly value reviews by people like us who get them home and really use them for everyday tasks. I was really torn between the Canon MP830 and the Canon MP600 which has received many positive reviews and none negative that I?ve found. However I did have a brief experience with an MP600 and the scanner seemed slow to me and not as accurate in reproduction as the MP830. Since the MP600 uses a CIS scanner element verses the traditional CCD sensor the MP830 has I?m still a little skeptical of the MP600 scanning feature. Only because I don?t have any experience with CIS technology (and tend to believe they have opportunity to improve, but that?s just my opinion). By the way I still think HP makes a fine printer as all my HPs are still in service and working like the day I bought them, but I think HP could learn from Canon on paper handling.
- 1 reply to this review
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I am still contemplating whether I really need the unit, but the review clearly answers any questions I had about the unit's performance. Thank you!
