Customer Reviews

Canon PIXMA MP130 All-in-One Photo Printer

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

First off, if you're in the market for a printer, you can't go wrong with a Canon. Canon printers consistently beat out the competition in independent tests for print quality. Their items are elegant, well designed, and most importantly, ink is affordable.

We all know the razor and blade scheme: sell the printer below cost and make it up with pricey cartridges. Canon, however, saves you a lot of money by including the print head with the printer and not on each cartridge. Because of this, genuine Canon cartridges can be had for around $12, while 3rd party cartridges, which many claim work just as well, can be found for as low as $2.

If you've already decided on a Canon multifunction, lets see which model is right for you. Canon's current market list is as follows:

MP130 - New model, and the most affordable yet.
Copy/Print/Scan
18ppm black, 13ppm color
2 ink tanks
No auto sheet feeder!
Card slots

MP390 - Has a fax, About half the cost of the MP7xx's.
Copy/Print/SCan/Fax
18ppm black, 12 ppm color
2 ink tanks
card slots

MP750 - Older model - exactly the same as mp780 but no fax.
Copy/Print/Scan
25ppm black, 17 ppm color
5 ink tanks
Built in Duplexing

MP760 - New Model - geared towards photo enthusiasts.
Copy/Print/Scan + Special Photo Features
25ppm black, 17 ppm color
5 ink tanks
No auto sheet feeder!
Built in Duplexing
*Unique photo features:
2.5 inch lcd screen
Built in film adapter for 35mm slides or negatives
can print directly from negatives
Card slots

MP780 - Does it all except for the mp760 photo features.
Copy/Print/Scan/Fax
25ppm black, 17 ppm color
5 ink tanks
Built in Duplexing

Now, let's look more closely at some key differences between these models:

*Fax: The first thing you should do is decide if you need a fax or not. If you do, you should choose between the MP780 or the MP390. If not, don't rule those two out just yet, they may have have other features you can't live without.

*Note: There is NO auto fax/telephone switching on these models if you wish to use the same line for faxes and voice calls.

*Number of ink tanks: The next important thing you should look at is whether you want to be able to replace each color individually or not. The MP750, MP760 and MP780 all have 5 individual ink tanks (photo black, black, cyan, yellow, magenta), while the MP130 and MP390 have only 2 (black and tricolor). The cost of each cartridge is about the same, but you will waste some leftover ink by throwing out the MP130 or MP390's color cartridge when just one color runs out.

*Photo printing: If you're planning on printing a lot of photos, you should probably go with an mp7xx. These have a superior print head, as well as the 5 separate ink tanks. The MP760 is especially noteable with all the features Canon has added specifically for photos. These come at a price however, as the MP760 does not share the auto sheet feeder of its MP750 and MP780 cousins, or the fax of the 780.

*However - If you plan on printing directly from memory cards, beware! The mp750 and mp780 do not have card slots! The 2 cheaper models and the mp760 do.

*Auto sheet feeder: The mp130 and mp760 do NOT have an auto sheet feeder. All 3 of the others do. An auto sheet feeder is very useful when doing a lot of scanning or faxing.

*Duplexing: The mp7xx models each have built in duplexing.

*Size: The mp7xx models weigh around 30 pounds and are quite big. The MP390 is a smaller, and weighs 18 pounds. The mp130 has a tiny footprint for a multifunction printer, and weighs 14 pounds.

Some features that all of Canon's current MFPs share:

*Copying: Each of these models has a copy function, and all have the same resolution (600x600 black, 1200x1200 color).
*USB 2.0 connection
*Pictbridge direct photo printing support
*All 5 models are great looking and will complement almost any decor.

My recommendations:

If you want a great price on an excellent printer and don't need a fax: MP130

If price is an issue but you still need a fax: MP390

If you can afford an MP700 series and don't need a fax, card slots, or the MP760's photo features: MP750

If you need its exclusive photo features (but no fax or auto sheet feeder): MP760

If you can afford an MP700 series and need a fax (but no card slots and none of the MP760s photo features): MP780

This is my 3rd purchase of a all in one, I started with a Lexmark terrible quality paid 90.00 for it at walmart, i returned and purchased a hp all in one paid 100.00 after several compatibility issues with the hp and my emachines computer I returned it as well. After alot of research in asking for advice i was told a cannon is the best way to go. I was going to purchase this straight from amazon, when i saw that there was a private seller offering one for half the price i was leary but knew that it was a great deal, i paid less than 60.00 for this printer and would rate it as being worth more than 150-175 GREAT PICTURES! Printed a 5x7 from a snap shot taken with my Kodak 6.1 mp digital and this picture is Fabulous! You can not go wrong with the value and QUALITY of this printer! The ink cartridges are even less expensive than that of the HP or Lexmark!

I'm not going to bore you with all the technical details of this printer. You can get that information anywhere.
The main reason I bought this printer was so I could use generic cartridges and save money. I am on a fixed income and I do mystery shopping and have to print out a lot of forms so being able to buy 30 cartridges for the price of 1 Lexmark or HP cartridge was really appealing.
The print quality of this printer is awesome. Photos look like photos. Text is clear and crisp. The speed is acceptable but it can be a little noisy when it feeds the paper. Copies and scans are quick and easy with this all-in-one.

One of the extras that is really neat is popping your cameras memory card in the printer and printing out an index sheet. The index sheep will have little boxes (similar to test sheets where you blacken in the circle) you check by each photo. You can select quantities of each photo you wish to print. THEN, you scan the index sheet and the computer carries out your checked instructions and prints your pictures! I doubt I will use this a lot but it is pretty cool.
I have been buying color printers for many years and have paid over $800 in the old days for a decent printer. This unit, at less than $100, is amazing.
When buying any printer, be sure to check the price of the ink cartridges. Is that $30 Lexmark a bargain when you have to pay $30 to $40 for each cartridge? I recently bought 15 color and 15 black cartridges for this Canon for less than $45 shipped.
I'm sure there are better printers out there, but when you weigh all the factors, this is a quality machine at a great price!

I bought this primarily to replace a scanner, to use as a copier and to save my professional photo printers from the day to day printing that doesn't need its quality. Imagine my surprise at the quality and choices available with the MP130! Even the draft text printing is acceptable for a lot of uses (and for copying) and it's blazingly fast (even for copying). If you increase the quality of copies, it takes longer because it scans better but that's both understandable and perfectly acceptable. The big surprise was the photo quality this critter delivers. It rivals the S900 for quality on similar photo paper. I plan to use it for photo proofs some of the time; the color cartridge is all-in-one so individual colors aren't replaceable (as with my pro printers) but then again, the color cartridge isn't much more than each color of the other machines! It also prints letterhead (I use color for my logo) and excellent text at high quality and on good paper.

I tried recommending this to a friend but warned her it was a discontinued model. Sadly, in the day between the time I got mine and when she tried to order, they were indeed gone at the lowest price. We did find her one for a bit more (on a certain well-known auction websitesite) and, honestly, I'd pay quite a bit more for the MP130, knowing what I know now.

I recommend OEM Canon inks which are readily available on Amazon.com. If you order enough to qualify for the free shipping, the price comes in lower than any other location I've found.

Bottom line is that I recommend this maching highly. Sadly, I don't think all the glowing reviews will help a bit because the machine isn't much available now. But there is always the aforementioned auction site. ;) Seriously, it would be truly a service if Amazon.com could find some of these and once again offer them.

This product has delivered everything it promised. It was simple to set up, and has performed flawlessly under the moderate to heavy demands we've been putting on it for the past month. Neither the copy nor print quality are top grade, but for an 'all in one' product at this price point, it's a lot better than you might expect. We're currently on our third black ink cartridge, and haven't had any problems with black or color prints. The cartridges are small and do need replacing relatively frequently, but at $3-$4 for generics, this isn't a big deal at all.

I read lots of reviews before I bought it.

[...]
"Prints great, scans are weak." I've had no problems whatsoever with scans on this unit. It's as good as any other mid/low priced scanner.

Someone else mentions Canon inks are cheaper because they put the print head in the printer, not on each new cartridge. Well, that sucks when your $40 printer needs a new $50 print head twice a year, like my last Canon. As another reviewer mentioned, print a little (color) every few days to keep the nozzles from drying and clogging.

This thing prints very well, color and black docs. It's quick, it's quiet. It scans easily, with good results. It works great as a a black or color copier, with or without a computer. (Display is dim, you need good light to read it.) Never plugged the picture cartridge in and printed directly, but you can do that, with no computer.

Having the multiple memory slot right on the front is very handy. Rather than using their own cords, I just pop out the SD and CF memory cards from our two cameras, and slip them in the printer. Drag 'em right into the computer, or open directly in Photoshop, and the card's back in the camera in two minutes. Also handy to grab and display pictures from cameras of visiting friends.

[...]

This printer was the replacement for an Epson all-in-one. This little unit does the job better, faster and easier than the previous printers I've had at less than half the price.

I had a dell all-in-one that I liked okay, but I hated waiting for ink cartridges. I decided to go with a mainstream printer that I could run to the local store and by refills. I researched printers and for my use, this one seemed to be able to fill my need. This printer is very nice. Ink is inexpensive and the quality is nice. One of the only things keeping this from being a 5 was the fact that it pulls the paper in crooked and so things I print always seem to be lopsided.

After my Epson died, I was truly confused about my next purchase.After some careful research and consulting PC magazine, I was very happy with my choice. The setup was easy and so far no problems. This was money well spent and this printer is highly recommended.

Bought this "All-in-One" printer because I wanted to save on desktop space in our new, rather small, condo. So I was surprised when it arrived to see how big it is. The overall dimensions are about 17" wide x 15" deep, and it is approx 7.5" tall.

That said, it does do it's appointed tasks well. Installation is simple. It copies easily in color or b+w. It scans well using the included programs. In fact, this printer comes with a new version of one of my favorite photoshop type programs: PhotoStudio by Arcsoft. I had a Canon i560 printer prior to this one, and have been consistently impressed with the Canon photo printing capabilities (having been an HP fanatic for years before that). This printer also allows you to print directly from memory cards, but I have never used this function.

The reason I subtracted one star in rating this product is that I assumed and "All-in-One" printer scanner would also include direct fax capability, which this does not. Obviously this is not a huge problem, as you can simply scan the image into PhotoStudio, then "print" it as a fax, but it was disappointing that direct fax was not included.

Overall, I would recommend this unit for those wishing to save desktop space by having a scanner/copier/printer all in one unit.