Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very good quality photos, paper prints plus wireless, December 14, 2005
I wanted a printer I could share wirelessly between a couple of PC's, and one that would print better quality than my current $90 all in one scanner/printer/photocopier.
Basically the IP5200R fit the bill.
The printer is a little bit larger that one would expect, but the toploading of paper gives it a good form factor.
Setting up the printer was pretty easy. I just followed the directions regarding inserting the inks and getting the wireless going.
For my PC, I just followed the prompts and plugged the printer in by USB, and soon it was configured wirelessly and I could remove the USB cord.
I had a little bit of problem getting it installed on my MAC, but the Canon tech help was good, and I found out for some reason it was my MAC wireless card acting up, then all was fine.
In terms of print quality, it does an outstanding job on normal documents on normal paper, including printing color.
For photos, I discovered I really needed to use the Canon Easy Photo Print utility to get the best quality prints. Printing from other applications didn't result in as good a quality.
The Easy Photo Print was easy to use, although another Canon software product called Easy Photo kept getting software errors trying to open a pretty normal JPEG.
That didn't bother me because Easy Photo didn't look like anything serious I'd want to use. HOwever the Easy Photo Print is a fairly nice print utility to use.
Wondering about print quality? Naturally I printed a 4x6 of a pretty tough print, high contrast, snow, color and fine detail on the IP5200R, my previous inkjet, and compared the same shot to one I printed using an INTERNET photo printing service.
Well, the IP5200R won. The INTERNET photo printing service had the worst quality, the $90 all in one looked a little better, but the IP5200R had better color, and better detail.
The speed of printing is a great feature, as I can print a 4x6 in under a minute wirelessly. Not too shabby.
Also, the Canon Photo Paper Plus printed as well as another manufacturers ultra premium paper, although the paper itself wasn't quite as heavy a wait. This is a good thing because Canon Photo Paper Plus is much cheaper.
Canon has a fairly expensive Pro paper which is probably heavier.
The Canon inks are all individual containers for each color, and look to contain a healhty amount of ink. And the replacements don't look that expensive.
All in all, I think the ink and paper costs are going to be a little lower than my previous printer.
Having said all that, why did I give this printer four stars instead of five?
Well, it's a bit of a head scratcher, but I'd say the massive size of the printer is slightly off-putting. Also, the quality of the print is better than cheaper printers, but it's not going to be a knock your socks off difference, but you will notice an improvement in quality.
Surely the difference in speed, and the wireless capability, as well as an all round printer for general document printing and a pretty nice photo printer (with top easy top mounted paper feed) gives this printer a four or a four and a half star rating.
I'd recommend the IP5200r!
|
|
|
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good printer, but bad on ink, February 11, 2006
I bought this printer to replace my 5 year old HP Photosmart 1100P printer mainly because of print cartridge costs.
Setting this printer up for wireless operaton on first computer was easy. However, when I tried to setup on my laptop for wireless printing, there were no instructions on how to do it. I had to try many options before I finally figured it out.
The documentation is not up to mark. The Windows and Mac documentation is interleaved so I had to be careful. Many features are not documented properly.
The document print quality was good but not like "laser quality text" as claimed on the Canon website. The picture print quality is just amazing. It is really lab quality as claimed on the Canon website.
Loading paper in the cassette can be challenging. During product registration, it was not clear where the serial number was. I had to send a support request to Canon to ask them where the serial number was located. The documentation only stated that serial number is "inside the printer". But inside where?
The printer is bulky and heavy. The top covers have no latches and were taped to prevent damage in transport.
Overall a good printer for me since:
a) I can print wirelessly.
b) I can print double sided text on paper up to legal size and envelopes. This forms bulk of my printing requirements.
c) Picture print quality is up to my expectation. I do not print too many pictures.
Now I have to see how cost effective this printer turns out to be.
One more observation after few months of using this printer. It takes a very long time to select paper. After I hit the print button, it seems like an eternity before this printer decides which paper to use and starts printing.
Updated review: 12/10/2006
This printer did not live up to my expectations. The ink ran out fairly quickly as compared to the HP printer. In HP printer, the ink cartridges had lasted for more than 1.5 years, in Canon, they lasted for 6 months with the same level of printing load.
I purchased remanufactured cartridges but it turned out that this printer cartridges have ink level sensors. The remanufactured cartridges do not have these sensors. To use remanufactured cartridges, I will have to disable the ink level monitoring feature. The Canon documentation does not say if this will be permanent or will the monitoring feature get re-enabled if I put in new cartridges. The new cartridges are as expensive as HP cartridges but they last half as much.
This printer has 5 cartridges. One of the selling points in any 5 cartridge prinetr is that you can get away with replacing just the cartridge which runs out. What they don't tell you is that it will be more expensive. The cartridges cost way more if bought separately than if bought in a package.
Currently, I am back to using the HP printer and this printer is just a door stop. This printer shakes the stone coffee table on which it is kept during printing.
|
|
|
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good work by Canon, October 16, 2005
This printer was purchased to replace an existing Epson USB printer. Originally I had planned to wait for an IP4200R equivalent with a 6 colour head, but seeing that the next list of printers did not offer that feature, I jumped with the IP5200R instead. Out of the box, Canon have done a fantastic job with the installation software and manual. Nothing is overly complex and I am confident a home user could configure the printer with ease No mention of TCPIP or MAC addresses - it just does what it needs to unless you tell it otherwise. Wireless, Wired and USB all seem to work fine (WinXP SP2), and the manual suggests you can use a combination of wireless and USB should you wish to. Currently I am running wirelessly but will switch back to Ethernet for the faster printing speed.
My biggest concern is the print head. Contacting Canon I found out the print head is a spare part (qy6-0061) and retails for AU$190 or 59% of the price I paid for the printer. Hopefully it won't be an issue, but time will tell. I am use to the older model Canons with the easily replaceable ink head. Perhaps this is progress?
I have the AU version which ships with the CD/DVD adapter. Uncertain if it will be useful. Weighs a tonne (surprised when I got the box), but very well built and designed. All moving parts open and close smoothly. Bundled software excels in some areas, and languishes in others - the software can not open GIF images for example.
I won't comment on the print quality as what I think quantifies as good skin tone, could be considered over saturated by others, and vice-versa. But speed and individual ink cartridges certainly meet the grade.
Overall I would give it a 4/5. Should a 6 ink photo printer come out and the software be improved then it would easily be 5/5.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
Saving...
