Customer Reviews

Canon ImageCLASS MF5550 Laser Multifunction

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I had been looking at multi-function devices (MFDs) for a little over one year. One of the things that delayed my purchase is that the all-in-one machines are usually a generation or two behind in technology. The Canon imageCLASS MF5550 is able to print-copy-scan-fax, with an automatic document feeder (ADF) and a glass platen for laying objects flat for scanning and copying. Because this Canon was also the first MFD with USB 2.0, I bought it for my solo law firm. This unit also looked more graceful than other Canon or Brother models. I have owned this unit for three months. I paid $450 plus tax from Office Depot. The manager agreed to come close to available online prices.

While this unit does some functions very well, it does other basic functions very poorly, and I do not recommend it. Although you are buying the Canon name, they actually outsourced the design of this model, and the design company has taken the position that if there is some way to get a function to work, no matter how convoluted, then the printer does what it claims to do.

* CONS *

ENVELOPE PRINTING is the main reason to stay away from this MFD. It will not allow you to print an envelope unless you change the paper sizes for both the copier (7 steps) and Windows (6 steps). And there are 2 pop-up Windows error messages if your Word document has an envelope on one page and a letter on another. These 2 errors show up again when you change the Windows settings back. There are also 2 more error messages when you actually hit the print button to print the envelope only. So you have 6 error messages that require a keystroke or mouse click. Then you have to change both the copier and Windows settings back again to print a non-envelope. That is a grand total of 34 EXTRA keystrokes or mouse clicks. I did not count the basic keystrokes or mouse clicks when you select the Word print button and go through the Word pop-up dialog box. Make sure you only print the envelope page, or otherwise on your letter-size page will only be printed with an envelope-width-size strip of text down the middle.

With my old HP 4P printer, the Word print pop-up dialog was the only step required to print envelopes and letters. The HP automatically waited for me to feed an envelope in the manual paper feeder for any pages that were not letter size, and then printed the rest of the letter-size pages in the same print job. One of the less senior (but know-it-all) Canon reps claimed that the problem was with Windows, even though the old HP did just fine and the Canon was a nightmare under the same OS. One of the more senior Canon reps said that problem was built-in to the printer, and a driver update will not fix the above issues.

The MFD documentation claims you need insert the envelope into the manual feeder with the stamp-end first. However, Word will print the envelope upside-down. The MFD manual claims that the printer will jam if you put the return-address side in first, but mine has never jammed.

On the upside, the envelopes do come out okay without using the back door to make them go straight out the back instead of coming out the front.

ODD PAPER SIZES - this Canon only handles the preset paper sizes specified in its driver, so you cannot use this printer to address Christmas card envelopes or certified mail receipts. Using the manual feeder is not a work around. The Canon locks up, and you either have to open the toner cartridge door or unplug the machine to get it to reset. My old HP printer works fine with all Windows (98SE, XP Pro), and will automatically default to the manual paper feeder if I am not printing a page that is the default paper tray size. The HP won't give me an error, no matter what paper I put in the manual feeder.

ENLARGE/REDUCE - automatic or manual 50-200%; but unfortunately you cannot zoom pages that come through the ADF. Also, the glass platen cannot see past letter-size 11", even though it is about one inch longer than that. Thus, you cannot copy anything longer than 11" with either the ADF or laying a page on the glass platen. If you had a document or image on your hard drive that was legal size, you could probably print it - or maybe the ADF plus the manual feeder would allow you to copy legal size (I have not tried either).

INK/TONER CARTRIDGE is combined; but cartridge is too small (2,500 printouts) and expensive at $80.00. That's where companies make their money these days. HP, Lexmark and probably even Canon use proprietary codes to prevent third parties from making generic cartridges. I have not seen a non-Canon X25 cartridge available anywhere, and only a few drill-and-refills are available on ebay.

EXPOSURE - images appear too dark when printing or copying.

"2 ON 1" COPYING - the manual states that you can copy on both sides of a page, but the errata (i.e., correction) sheet confirms that the machine really cannot.

FAXING requires that you use a shorter telephone line (I wanted to use 25 feet), or you will have trouble sending and receiving.

THE PAPER TRAY really is too small for 250 sheets, so expect to break your 500-sheet pack in three parts (this means more refilling and running out of paper in the middle of a job).

THE ENERGY-SAVER LIGHT is a surprisingly strong nightlight for its small size (well, I mentioned everything else - I might as well include it all).

WARRANTY - one year is too short. Real (i.e., non-outsourced) Canons carry a three-year warranty.

* PROS *

PRINT AND COPY QUALITY is excellent, and you cannot tell the difference between the original and the copy. It is every bit 600x600 dpi printing.

AUTOMATIC DOCUMENT FEEDER - I had no problem with misfed pages; it claims to handle 50 pages.

COPY AND PRINT SPEEDS are very fast - it spits one page out and prints the next right away.

COVER - stays up with no balance problem; it can be raised about 1 inch when closed. You need to keep it down when copying small papers like receipts and checks, because it will waste a bunch of black toner printing in the empty areas without the cover closed. The cover provides a white background.

COLLATE function works well.

FAX - You can store often-used fax numbers, and the fax documentation says it recognizes "distinctive ring" from the phone company.

LACK OF NOISE - It is completely silent quiet when in energy-saver mode or in standby after an operation. There is no on/off button on the Canon. My HP was very noisy when it was turned on and even louder when printing. When the Canon is working, it is also less noisy than the HP.

SCAN SPEED - The scans are much faster than my old parallel-port, dedicated scanner, and the supplied word-recognition programs (OmniPage and PageManager) do a decent job. One of the programs defaults to .bmp images for image scanning, which take up a lot more room than a .jpg. You cannot change the default.

CANON CUSTOMER SUPPORT does actually answer their phone, and the three senior reps, Bill (who helped me), Josh and Steve will spend time with you explaining why this machine is a piece of junk.

This HUGE (compared to other printers in its class) printer has a very poor design when it comes to paper handling. The feeder tray comes in two parts that you hook together. The parts that connect two parts are all plastic (of course) and, if you are not careful, easily breakable. But that's not the worst part. The worst part is the paper sensor. The sensor is a black plastic thing hanging down on the tray right next to the rollers. Insert the tray at a slightly elevated angle by mistake and snap, the sensor breaks. Unbelievably poor design.

The only saving grace is the 19ppm speed which is above average in its class.

You would be better off buying HP Laserjet 3030 than this monster. Its same price, smaller, lighter and better.

I purchased the MF5550 to replace my old hp inkjet fax machine. Out of the box employees were complaining that they were having problems faxing. Talking to tech support they said that the MF5550 is not compatible with all fax machines. She said there is a known problem in connecting to Sharp fax machines. I was having problems connecting to a Brother and my old fax machine works just fine. When confronted with this she stated there could be noise in the phone line that the MF5550 is more sensitive to. They would not help solve my problem saying there was nothing wrong with their machine. Solution, I put the MF5550 on e-bay and purchased a new laser fax from a different manufacture. DO NOT BUY THE MF5550. It is a steamy moist pile.

I purchsed this machine because of the relatively low price after rebate - it was a replacement for a HP OfficeJet v40 that kept having problems.

The other reviews make a valid point - printing single envelopes is a stupid, time consuming process. Aside from that, this is an excellent machine. It makes excellent copies, scans, and faxes, and it is lightning fast.

I use the machine as a fax machine on a dedicated line, and to print large quantities of handouts for my athletic club - this saves me costs for printing and copying that I used to take to the office supply store or the professional printer. Now I only need them to make 2 part forms and color advertisements. The laser printer function alone was worth the purchase price, and the scanner, fax and copy functions all work well. It does what I need it to do, it does it quickly, quietly, and cheaply (only one toner consumable, much cheaper than anything inkjet).

This printer is such a bargain at 139.00$. Although the design is a few years old the power and versatility of this machine cannot be matched. This machine originally sold for almost 1,000$ so a purchase price of 139$ made me quickly purchase a Canon MF5550. Once my Canon arrived, I was amazed. Although it was rather bulky, it has amazing capabilities. This multifunction is able to print many different things in many different quantities, especially envelopes. My last printer was awful at printing envelops so this was a pleasant surprise considering I had read some previous reviews saying that the printer was awful at printing envelopes. However, I can assure you that this is not the case. This machine is also very fast at copying and has both a flatbed scanner and a normal scanner. Both work wonders and are very quick. In addition, this printer is capable of scanning and faxing, both, it is very good at, despite the dated technology of the machine. The price however, was it's best selling point, for this printer can be found no where else for 139$. Although it may be a little bulky and a little dated, I would recommend this printer to anyone because it was one of the best purchases I have ever made.

PS. I have many years of tech experience so I know what I am talking about.

I purchased My Canon MF5550 used and listed in like new condition. At first, I didn't believe that such a condition was possible but I took a chance and bought it considering it's extremely low price for the quality of technology. This purchase was one of the best I have ever made. This printer is capable of printing and copying large quantities of documents at a time while not sacrificing quality. This printer also is great for printing envelops, as long as you know how to properly feed an envelope. In addition it was very good at faxing, something that my old printer lacked. Finally, although this printer does have a few negatives such as an annoying energy saver button and the fact that the model is a little old, the printer itself is top of the line for 149$ and is very much worth the investment. I would recommend this printer highly.

This product is referred to as a "prototype" Well--that's all it should have been--it should have never gotten through the exit doors at Canon. I spoke with a Canon customer service rep. about this product and he said "That's what we get for having someone else design it for us."

The envelopes require three settings (2 on the computer and 1 on the printer) to print one envelope--I'll handwrite it, thank you. The feeder tray doesn't recognize label mini-sheets, so I have to throw out the rest of a full size label sheet after printing a couple of labels (bad for the environment, although Canon claims to be an environmentally sound company and expensive!).

The most annoying thing is that the printer has to be unplugged and plugged in daily because it goes offline. Most folks at Canon won't tell you why--when they finally tell you what they think the problem is, they say it's not their problem. Oh--I see--you manufacture these devices in a vacuum and suck us in!

This printer is great. It sets up in minutes and before you know it you're ready to rock and roll. This printer is capable of printing, faxing, copying, and scanning and is great considering it's low price. This printer is most certainly worth purchasing and something I would recommend to anyone and everyone.

I have owned one for about a year and only successfully faxed something once. If I want something faxed it takes less time to go to Kinko's and fax it. I have spent enough faxing things to by a new fax machine. It takes over 1hr to receive a fax, it had to be sent multiple times and we have a dedicated fax line. What ever you do don't by this for the fax spend the $49 dollars on a Panasonic it worked 100% better.

This printer will not feed paper through the paper tray. It will only feed paper one at a time through the slot. The paper trapy stopped working within a week of when I purchased it.
It is almost useless without a working paper feeding mechanism.