Customer Reviews

Canon PIXMA MX700 Office All-On-One Inkjet Printer

5 star:		(89)
4 star:		(47)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

I bought this to replace my HP Photosmart 2710 that died after 2 years. I had spent 400 bucks on the old HP and for only 200 this thing blows it out of the water. A few specifics:

SCAN: The scan quality is noticably better than the HP and I also like the software a lot more. Note that I am using this machine on a mac so I can't speak to what the PC experience is like.

FAX: The fax is much smarter. I used to have to unplug the HP so it wouldn't answer the phone when I didn't want it to. The Canon can simply be told that phone should take priority and it won't pick up... at least not before my answering machiine does on ring number 4. This is nice because it means I don't have to mess with phone cords when I want to send a fax.

PRINT: Works great. Set up three different computers to access on my network, although it did take me a minute to realize I had to use the "Canon IJ Network" option in the drop down for my computer to see the printer. If I had bothered to read the instructions it probably would have been quicker. ;)

COPY: Also seems to work great. Similar to the HP here although the quality of the print seems a little better.

I'll try to come back and add more detail after more use, but since there weren't any reviews yet I thought I'd add one now.

I got this to replace a HP unit that had constant problems. At first I was in love with the MX700. Excellent print quality, fast scanning, network compatible, etc. However, today I needed to do a large copying and scanning job and love turned to frustration. At first the copies were coming out at about 12-15 seconds per page. But after about 30 or so pages it slowed down to about a minute per page making copies. Then I needed to do a large scan job of about 100 pages. Similar experience. Pretty quick on first 30 or so pages then slowed down to 70 seconds per page while scanning black and white text at 300dpi. Display frequently says "Scanner warming up..." Come on now, I am in Southern California and not Siberia. It is 82 degrees right now in my home office! Unless I got a defective unit I plan to return this printer. I will call Canon when they open to see if the slow down and frequent "Warming up" messages is "normal" or a defect. If this is normal, I would not recommend this printer/scanner unless you only do small print and scan jobs with it. Based on the review from another unhappy user, it appears that it slows to a crawl when the memory is filled up. Too bad as other than for that this would be a great unit. I got impatient waiting for it to copy a larger document and turned the unit off and then back on. After doing that it was fast again making the copies until several pages later when again it when into slow mode. I'd like to go to bed now but it is going to take about 40 more minutes for it to scan the last 40 pages! Arrrgggg!

Update: 10/2008 - After a year with this printer I really don't like it. My 2 star rating stands. The printer uses a lot more ink than it appears it should. While my Macs printed fine right away over the network, the mediocre Canon software was never able to get my PC or PC laptop to print over the network. Today I spent 90+ minutes manually messing with my PC to finally get it to print over my my network. 30 years of PC experience came in handy but this is something the Canon installation software should have done automatically. Also with my Macs I get inconsistent connectivity to scan. I can always print over the network but it is hit and miss for the scanner to work over the network. I also had to disconnect my fax line from the MX700 as it will at random take over the phone line when you are in the middle of a conversation. Despite setting the fax function to manual mode, it has a bug that makes the MX700 listen in on all calls and take over a call if it thinks it hears a fax tone. VERY ANNOYING! Although I was not a fan of the HP unit this Canon replaced, I may go back to HP after my experience with this MX700. Oh, and as far as that pesky "Scanner warming up" message when the unit slows to a crawl, well the Canon tech person said that it literally means that the unit is warming up as in getting too hot. So it slows down to allow it to cool off. Seems like Canon really went low budget on this unit...

Update: 05/2009
I have been wishing this unit would die to replace it with something else. The print quality started to get poor the last couple months. I figured it was the print head. I print quite a bit. At about $100 it was not worth replacing the head. But I found one on sale for $50 and replaced the head and now the print quality is good again.

INK TANK TIP TO SAVE YOU CASH : I discovered that there is often still quite a bit of printing capacity left when you get the out of ink warning. When the unit stops working you can force it to continue to print. Simple hold down the Stop/Rest button until the out of ink message goes away and it starts to print. By doing this you can even refill the Canon cartridges. Simply use a syringe to drip ink on the fabric/sponge opening of the cartridge. Don't over fill it! Let it sit a couple minutes and put it back in the printer. If the out of ink message appears, hold down the Stop/Reset button to clear the message. You can now print until the tank runs out of ink. NOTE: You can damage a print head by running it dry. I recommend that every so many days/weeks you put several more drops of ink in the cartridge so it never runs out of ink. Now you can spend pennies refilling instead of bucks replacing the ink tanks.

Update 03/2010
Replaced it with a Brother color laser unit DCP-9040CN. The Brother printer is at least 5 times faster printing when there are images on the pages. Overall at least twice as fast as the ink jet. Cost was under $300 for the DCP-9040CN. Will never go back to ink jet.

Unfortunately, Canon tried to get too smart and hurt the product offering substanially in this case. They were afraid of hurting the MP830's sales so they removed lots of good features from this product. The MX700 cannot print double-sided unless you manually flip pages...my $60 Canon printer can do this, but not this one. Also, they striped the memory down so much that it can't actually use the full 30 page capacity of the Automatic Document feeder. Put in 15 pages and the memory is full...and the scanning slows down to 1 page per minute...which is very very slow.

Overall, I do not recommend this machine. Buy the old Canon MP830 or go with the new HP's. I've used both and feel they are a lot better values.

A real bargain. Basic copy and printing works great with my Apple PowerBooks and the newly released OS 10.5.

One of the major reasons I bought this model is it can be networked via Ethernet. The directions were very good - if you read through them - and don't try to jump ahead like I do. If you follow all the steps you'll be up and running in no time.

You'll need a A>B USB cord (not included) to get the thing set up EVEN if you plan to only use the Ethernet connection. Once you've got it on your network you can unplug the USB cord and put it away.

Other points for Mac users as of 11/8/07:

1. In order to support color management in Mac OS X v.10.5, an upgraded version of Easy-PhotoPrint will be available. The current version of Easy-PhotoPrint EX does support Mac OS X v.10.5.

2. MP Navigator / MP Navigator EX are not compatible with Mac OS X v.10.5. Please check our Download Library for updated utilities/software. For now, please scan using ImageCapture or other TWAIN compatible application.

Picture print quality is very, very good. But, suggest you use Canon paper for the best results. I use their Photo Paper Plus Glossy 4" x 6".

The MX700 has no fax receive setting for "do not pickup". It instead has a "telephone priorty" for use on a line shared with normal voice use. Unfortunately this setting is unreliable and frequently the MX700 picks up the line either immeadiately, or after a minute or so into your call, or even if you change extensions which makes a little noise on the line. It then starts the fax tone in your ear. You can't turn it off because it thinks it's in the middle of getting a fax. Canon Tech support is no help. I've just had to unplug the phone line. The color printing and copying is not very good either with unsaturated color and non uniform color across the page. If I can find a way to dump my MX700, I'll go back to HP.

Pro:
- prints nicely, works as a copier
- can fax documents from the printer
- can scan documents into a LAN connected computer

Con:
- can't send a document from the computer to the fax
- can't see fax history or incoming faxes on the computer
My old HP could do that..

I wanted to replace a 4 yr old HP PSC2510 that produces nice text documents but mediocre graphics and photos. From reading the description of the MX700, I thought it would be at least as good if not better in terms of text quality and faster. Instead, the text quality is poorer and it is generally less capable. There were a few deal breakers for me. First, there is no duplex printing option. I have a really inexpensive Canon photo printer that produces beautiful text and photos that includes duplex; it didn't even occur to me that it would be left out. Second, the text quality isn't that good. It is okay but not really the high quality that I expected and most of my printing is text. Third, I use a Mac and several capabilities of this printer, most importantly faxing, can't be done from my computer. So, even though my old HP is pretty slow, it outdoes the MX700 in several areas (including networking options). I am sending the MX700 back and hanging onto my HP for a while.

I've had a number of printers over the years from a variety of manufacturers (Epson, Lexmark, and HP) with the exception of Canon, so I didn't truly known what to expect until I set it up. I should mention that before purchasing this model, I did my homework and checked out a lot of review sites to come up with a few recommendations. It should be noted that Canon, in general, and the MX700 specifically, continually stood out with terrific reviews.

The Canon MX700 is a more-than-adequate printer for small, yet important jobs. It is reliable and economical, but probably would not work as well for a home office. Ink cartridges (as of this review date) are under $20 and seem to have a good lifespan. I recently printed about 200 pictures on one set of cartridges (3 individual color cartridges, by the way) and was pleased with the vivid color and fast-drying. (Far superior to my old Epson.)

I have not done a lot of scanning, although the feature runs quickly and efficiently. The copying and basic printing features are also consistent and solid. This printer is not going to set any speed records, but it's quality of work is impressive (if that's what you're looking for).

Over the years, I've come to realize that printers are similar to automobile preferences. Everyone knows what "they" like, and aren't sure why the other guy likes a different brand or model. However, if you're in the market for a economical, solid, mid-priced "all-in-one" printer, you can do far worse that the Canon MX700. It will handle all of the basic home printing tasks with ease. My suggestion is to take it for a "test drive" at a computer or business center and judge for yourself. I think you'll be happy with the results.

I had a Dell 966 all in one, and could never get it to work right. I sold the 966 on ebay and got this MX700. Its network ready, so if you have a wireless router, this now becomes a wireless printer.
Software set up was a no-brainer (I use Windows xp on all my computers).
Now my wife can sit in the living room, and can print to the printer in the office.
Dont spend your money on a wireless printer, when you can get this one, and hook it up to your wireless router for a lot less.

If you purchase this printer, do not purchase the Canon CLI-8 4-Color Multipack Ink Tanks recommended by amazon. The black ink does not work. You need PGI-5 for black, not CLI-8.