Customer Reviews

Canon i860 Photo Printer

5 star:		(90)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

If you are looking for a printer that can print photo-store quality prints quickly, quietly...AND print high-quality text...then look no further...The low cost, separate (and relatively inexpensive) ink tanks, and separate black ink for text are just an added bonus!

I spent months looking and shopping around, and finally settled on the i860 after going to a store and testing the printers side-by-side. True, at the highest photo quality, a lot of these printers will look alike...but after "looking under the hood," I decided the Canon was the way to go...Here is the skinny:

"Top Ten Reasons To Buy This Printer"
(1) Great photo quality prints in a jiffy (some say like 43 seconds, but it seems faster);
(2) Quiet (it almost whispers);
(3) Good print quality on regular text/regular paper;
(4) Easy to set-up, and the documentation is excellent (took me less than 10 minutes);
(5) Fantastic software package that comes with the unit...try the "Easy Web Print" and I guarantee that you won't be disappointed;
(6) Ink tanks are separate (meaning you don't have to replace a whole 3, 4 or 5 color tank when one color runs out) and relatively inexpensive;
(7) The paper that works best with the printer is made by Canon, which is also relatively inexpensive;
(8) Their customer support is phenominal (I had one small issue that turned out to have nothing to do with the printer itself), and their support staff not only knew what they were doing, but I didn't have to hold for an hour;
(9) It's very moderately priced; and
(10) True borderless printing (no perforated paper).

"Top Six Reasons Not To Buy This Printer" (can't think of 10!)
(1) Maximum print size is 8 1/2 x 11. If you like to print posters, find another printer;
(2) No LCD screen, so the printer needs to be controlled from the computer (or Camera if you have PhotoBridge on your camera) and you cannot review pictures on the printer before you print;
(3) No USB or Parallel cable in the box (why not, I ask?);
(4) Photo quality prints do not look great on other papers besides Canon;
(5) It's really big;
(6) The 4x6 paper try is a tad bit awkward;

I hope this helps!

I really wanted to buy a b&W laser printer, but with a small kid at home, I knew I also needed color, both for digital pictures and crafts projects. After doing a *ton* of research online, I decided on the i850, only to discover it was relpaced with the i860, which I bought based on the strength of the 850's reviews.

This printer is great -- for text printing it uses a pigment-based black ink which looks sharp on *any* paper (even some crappy old typing paper I had lying around). For printing color images, it uses a dye-base black in (and dye-based cyan, magenta, and yellow inks).

The results are great: When printing text, this printer is FAST -- nearly as fast as my laser-jet at the office. The pigment based text is genuinely laser-quality. You simply cannot tell it was done on an ink-jet. For printing color images, the usual caveats apply (items look best on Canon products, etc.), but the results easily outpace six-color ink jets.

Finally, I've found that the ink is *much* cheaper than with competitors, making your cost per page much lower with this printer than with a Lexmark, Epson, or HP. If you're so inclined, it also does not have chips in the ink cartridges, so you can refill them easily as well.

I just installed this printer (which replaced an aging Epson 800) and printed a test photo that was taken with a 5.0 megapixel Sony P92 Cybershot digital camera. The results are unbelievable. The print, using Canon's "Photo Paper Pro" 4x6 paper, has got to be seen to be believed. I used the Easy Photo-Print utility that came with the printer, at its default settings. The print is as glossy and shiny as the paper it was printed on, with no surface imperfections and no evidence it came from an ink-jet printer. The sharpness and resolution is just remarkable, with a depth and richness of color that I didn't think was possible from an ink-jet printer. If I hadn't watched the print being made, I would swear it came from a professional photo processor.

The great thing is that the I860 produces very acceptable color results on copier-grade paper as well, with sharp edges and no bleeding or running of colors. I wet a finger and dragged it across the page 15 minutes after it printed and there was no smearing or blurring. That was never possible with my old Epson.

There's a separate black ink cartridge reserved solely for text documents, I think, that prints reasonably sharp black text that looks like it came from a laser printer. And black-and-white text prints are fast, too.

Installation was a breeze, after first uninstalling the Epson software and deleting the Epson printer from the Win98's printer list. The supplied CD is simple to follow and about 25 minutes later I was printing the test photo. Installation of the software on our other networked Win2000 computer went just as quickly.

All in all, this has got to be the best value for the money, ever.

I have never written a product review before, but I have often used them when shopping. This time I felt obligated to submit my own.

After failing to research printers adequately, I purchased an HP 7550...I hated it! It was loud, slow, and the quality of the photo prints were at best mediocre. When I knew I was planning to replace it I looked up some reviews and found that the i860 was highly recommended, so I decided to try it.

I am both thrilled and amazed at how much I love this printer. It is fast, it is quiet, and the prints of photos I get on high gloss paper are the highest quality I have ever seen on a home printer.

I would recommend this printer over most of the $200-$400 printers out there. I've seen demos and comparisons, the i860 hangs with the best of them for far less $$.

On the $$ note, the i860 aslo kills the HP when it comes to ink replacement. The HP seems to use up ink faster and the replacement cartridges are too expensive.

I own both the Canon i860 and i960 printers, plus a Lexmark Z52.

If you are wondering how the i860 and i960 compare, this may help. The i860 operates on a five ink tank system, while the i960 has six ink tanks. Better to have six? No, because Canon has developed a wonderful photo-enhancement technology that AUTOMATICALLY selects the inks that it deems will produce the most beautiful photos. The photos from either printer are really very similar, and both will do a fine job. If I had to choose, I would have to say that the i860 has a very slight lead in photo appearance as far as crispness and color brightness, but the difference is minimal.

The i960 costs about $50 more, which is probably due to the extra USB port for high speed data transfer, and the extra ink tank.

One more thing: Dark values can sometimes go very dark with these printers and lose some detail. The i960 will show a little more detail when this happens, but I have found that unless I am printing night or very dark photos, this is not a real problem.

Pros:
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Cheap to buy and run, Virtually Dotless Photo Prints, Fast and crisp text printing, Lasting Machine due to removable print heads.

Cons:
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Print fading, Loud paper loading, Occassionally Creases Cheap paper (doesn't jam), Occassional light cleaning

The Bottom Line
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Despite the potential inconveniences, I definitely recommend the i860 as it provides a niche for those who want stunning photos and prints yet desires rock bottom price and affordability.



In depth review
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All in all I am impressed with the speed, appearance, and quality of this printer. It's a bit bulky, but the exterior is quite attractive, being metallic silver on the top with white and gray on the sides and bottom. The expanding top loader and frontal tray feels a bit loosely attached, and needs a little coaxing to store and expand, but the plastic itself is sturdy.

The pictbridge is in front although the lack of an lcd makes direct from camera printing less intuitive. It comes with a relatively handy 4x6 photo tray that seems to do a good job directing the paper in a perfect manner.

It does NOT come with a usb cable necessary for printing from the computer. And for fans of the more expensive european/asian i865, this doesn't include the cd printing kit.

To make installing the printer trouble free you truly shouldread the step by step pictoral sheet as not everything is intuitive on the get go. The setup asks that you install the print head and so on, which is quite different from HPs and Epsons. Worthy to note is to hold the cartridges on the long ends NOT the sides when snapping off the orange tip so as not to spill the ink. After the printer is installed, it is powered off when you install the drivers so Windows does not autodetect until the drivers are ready. In the middle the software prompts you to turn on the printer and afterwards, the printer is ready to use.

Printing is alarming at first as the loading mechanism is quite loud. You may experience some strange cycle in the beginning that loops. The solution to this problem is to simply wait and not panic by shutting off the printer. I waited about 2 minutes (look at the clock, don't simply guess) and if your loop extends into 3, I would cancel the job through the software then try printing from another program. Remember not to use the native windows image viewer to print, as that caused problems for me. After some time it will start printing and working it's magic. From there on out, printing is fast, quiet (after the paper loading), dependable, and brilliant.

I have not yet tried the default draft setting, but using a 3rd party software to control the ink level (InkSaver) the economy prints are outstanding and speedy. The text is sharp and clear and there is visible dotting on the color pictures, but still a beauty for draft mode. Where this machine truly shines is on photo prints. Though it has a tendency to veer to the reds it is stunningly detailed and you cannot see the dots even on close inspection. After it's done, it has a habit of entering a quiet looping cycle that I speculate is a light head cleaning/realignment. While I feel this is a bit unnecessary I'll only complain if months later my ink levels drop at an alarming rate.

Paper is important for this printer, but vitally so for photo prints. For economy mode, I recommend a paper that is about 24lbs or heavier. My experience with using 20 lb copy paper is that it occassionally misfeeds then recorrects itself. A noteworhty trait of this printer is that it truly corrects jams before they happen. First the paper creases and looks like it's about to turn into an ugly jam that will make me worry about the hardware life. Then, with a cheerful snap, and a quick realignment, it starts printing dutifully like nothing ever happened. I'm not sure if this was intentional, but if so, I'm very impressed with this printer. It's better if no misfeeds ever happened, but admittedly people don't use the recommended inkjet paper and opt for cheaper copy paper that simply misfeeds more often in all printers (epson and hp included).

For photo prints you must make note of two papers:
Canon's own line
Epson glossy paper

I have heard good things about ilford, but other paper isn't recommended. I feel that since this printer isn't made for archival purposes that you can save by buying cheaper alternatives than the ilford and canon. Epson glossy is reputedly the cheapest and many have recommended it for beautiful borderless prints.

Aftercare of the printer is garnered from online readings and a bit of first hand inspection. First, Canon has a separate printhead you need to install, and I have heard you can purchase online from canon (ebay if you're willing) if you ever have a problem with the printhead. To avoid clogging, it's wise to print at least one photo print a day to minimize clogging. Also, after some time you'll run into the waste ink tank full notice. The fix for this can be found here.
http://www.neilslade.com/papers/inkjetstuff.html

These seem like inconveniences but throwing away 2 3 year old epsons, and having suffered heavy HP costs, canon's inconveniences are considerably better.

But most of all remember that your prints use dye based inks. What this means is that they are prone to fading unless they are kept framed and sealed. HP uses the same dye based process (not inks) but epson uses pigment and can back a longer print life than HP and Canon. However, Epson's archival printers are significantly more expensive to run, and have their own problems (mostly printhead related) so keep that in mind before rushing off to buy one.

Let me preface this review with the fact that this is my first photo printer and I am using it for personal use only so I'm no expert. I just purchased this printer last weekend mainly for printing photos and so far, I am extremely impressed! I bought greeting card software as well and I've printed some incredible cards too. I really like the 5 separate ink cartridges - one is for black text printing only which I think will save a lot of money in the long run. The photo printing seems fast enough to me (under a minute for a 4X6) and the text printing is even faster than I expected - much faster than my HP LaserJet4L. I was planning to use the Canon for photos only but I think it will become my only printer. One other feature that I really like is the 4X6 attachable paper feeder - makes printing photos basically fool proof.

For around $150 + some good photo paper, you are printing pictures as good as any photo lab I've had mine printed at. Plus fast, cheap text priting. A++ printer for the price in my opinion.

I've own a digital camera for 3 years, but I always had my photos developed by ifoto, shutterfly or snapfish. Recently I bought a new camera, and was looking for an all around printer to go with it. I was trying to decide between i850 and i950, when the new ones came out. Not only were they cheaper, they print better quality photos!

My hardest decision was to get the i860 or i960. After visiting the local electronic store countless times and scrutinizing the photo print quality of both printers. I decided to get the i860. The print quality for both is excellent, with the i960 a tiny bit better. But the i860 is much faster in printing regular documents. For home, sometimes I need to print driving directions or emails, so the i860 seems more appropriate.

Don't worry, you're not giving up much to the i960. I still can't believe the quality of photos coming out of this baby. Compared to photo developed at drug stores and supermarket, it blows them away. And for less than $150, you really can't go wrong!

You if want a printer solely dedicated to photo printing, then go for the i960. Otherwise, get the i860 and you'll get the best of both worlds.

2 years and a super printer. Very fast and stunning photo quality! Thanks Amazon!

The issue of the printhead clogging has an easy solution. 1st, remove all the ink and pull the printhead out. The carrier the ink sets in, not the entire unit, tilts forward and slides out. Soak the printhead for 24 hours in 2/3 cup ammonia and 2 cups warm water. Rinse with clear water and allow to air dry for an hour or so. Reassemble and run test prints. If you have banding or other problems with certain colors (probably photoblack), don't worry.

Take an empty cartridge of the same color and pull the top refill plug out. Fill the cartridge with ammonia based window cleaner (you'll need a syringe), and reinstall the plug. On mine, I blew through the air hole of the cartridge over the sink to purge the cartridge and refilled it a couple of times to get as much ink out as possible.

Install the cleaner cartridge you made, and then run 5 pages with the cartridge. If it is the photoblack, draw a big black square in Word or whatever you have, and set the printer preferences to Photo Glossy Paper. Print 5 pages or until the problem disappears. When done, take the cartridge out and print 1 page without a cartridge to purge the printhead. Reinstall the ink cartridge and you'll be back to normal.

Takes longer to type it than to do it. You've got nothing to lose if you have clogging issue.

I was totally shocked when I first printed out the photo using the sample paper(Canon Photo Paper Pro) provided, I mean that I was really SHOCKED and was blowed away by the astonishing quality of photos came out of it! After using for a while, even using Canon Photo Paper Plus(Glossy), it gives great photos which can be compared with professional photo processing. I personally think the photo quality actually is even better than some professional photo labs. The photos are very vivid in color and well-balanced in contrast, true boaderless print. All I can say is that if you need a photo printer, get this one and you never regret!

I compared my photos with my friends' photos came out of Epson(using Epson high quality paper), HP($200 plus one, using HP high quality paper), definetely canon i860's photo beats them without a question. I don't say they are not good, but not good as this one.

However, i860 is picky on papers. I would stick with Canon paper, while I tried Kodak soft gloss regular paper(which is the cheapest one of Kodak papers and it looked cheap anyway), it didn't give promising results like using Canon photo paper plus(glossy). I don't even think to try other cheap generic papers.

Also ink usuage is remarkable, after printing about 100 pictures, I checked the ink, it still has about 4/5--3/5 left. Combined with the on sale Canon paper in Amazon.com, the cost per photo is close to professional processing labs but you got the convience and high quality photos at ease. I would recommend using genuine Canon inks for photo printing. They are a little more costy than other generic or compatible inks, but they provide the best quality for your photos and it's worth. Amazon.com sells these inks at reasonable price, about $45 a set, much cheaper than other stores. According to the some comments from the web, no other inks can match the quality of genuine inks which is true for all printers as for photo printing. Worst of all, generic or compatible inks prints usually would fade in color in a few days, not mentioning the printer head clogging problem.

Another nice thing is this printer is VERY QUIET, I even didn't know whether it's printing or not and the photo just came out smoothly. The 4x6 photo paper tray is indeed a handy device.

As for printing speed, it's not the fastest for photo printing but it's very fast for me. Text printing is very fast and quality is very impressive. Since it's using a different black ink tank for balck text, it's very economical to save inks.

Boundled Canon Easy-print software is a simple and nice program for photo printing, a good starting application with limited photo editing tools.

Printer set-up is easy and runs in few minutes. But it's a little hard to serve as a network printer. Driver is good and provide good interface and settings, easy to use and control the printer.

Overall, it's amazing that this outstanding i860 printer outputs such high quality photos and Canon sure is the leader in this field. I am very satisfied with this printer. There are some better printers around, but compared with price/quality, this one is the winner!