Customer Reviews

Canon S500 Color Bubble Jet Printer

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I happened to run across a Canon salesman in the store, when I bought this. I was looking at the S630 model, and he explained that this one (S500) just came out. The only difference between the S500 and other models of the S series is the speed. I found the speed more than adequate, and the picture quality matches that of the more expensive ones. I recommend this product to anyone that is looking for a printer with high resolution, but does not want to spend a lot of money.

First let me say that I am absolutely amazed and delighted by this printer! I have had Epson printers for a number of years now, and swore by them (though lately I have been swearing at them). After upgrading to a Windows XP system, I found that many of my Epson peripherals simply no longer had drivers that allowed them to operate. This was true of BOTH of my Epson printers, a stylus 740 and an old workhorse 900. I was rather upset with Epson that they really had no intention of doing anything about XP drivers, and I had to be content with the bundled XP driver that handles (poorly) the 740, OR download the Windows 2000 driver that they say "Probably works with Windows XP"...It doesn't - so don't do it!- in fact it had my printer substituting green for yellow, and unable to delete documents that would then spool for an eternity.

I read the reviews for the canon printers and liked what I read, but I really have to say, that the following points make this printer ideal for photo printing and documents:

1) Ease of use: It came with an XP driver! (Hello Epson!) and was installed and running in less than five minutes including alignment of the print head!

2) It has multiple "Ink tanks" that allow you to replace only the one you need. With my Epsons, I would print half a dozen large pictures for family members and I needed a new cartridge, primarily due to the fact that the magenta ink was out. Now, I can simply buy a cheap magenta cartridge!

3) Speed. Simply put this baby is fast! I test ran a 5x7 photo on high quality (In fairness to my old Epson I ran both of the prints at about 1240 x 780 or whatever the specific number is, though the Canon S500 does 2400 x 1200). The results knocked me out...First, the Epson took almost six minutes while the canon took less than a minute. More importantly, the image from the canon LOOKED BETTER! The tones were more natural, and the quality seemed more like a photo, even under a loupe. Next I did the same test but used cheap Jet Print photo paper. The canon STILL printed a fantastic picture, (in fact it looked as good as the one on Epson Glossy) while the Epson printed a horrible discolored wreck.

So, No more Epson for me. I am sick and tired of waiting for the drivers for my high end scanner and printers that may or may not ever come out; I am sick and tired of having to buy "genuine Epson paper" or be stuck with awful images, and I am REALLY tired of spending so much money for a single color cartridge. I don't intend to buy another printer or scanner from Epson again.

Do yourself a favor and get this printer if you want really nice images and text, easy installation, and a lot less of an outlay for inks and paper.

And once more for those who scan reviews briefly -YES this printer is FULLY windows XP supported and comes with the Driver CD Rom

Absolutely stunning photo quality printer. Not the fastest in the world, but it's fast enough for home use. Easy setup for Win ME and others including XP. Was up and running within 30 min. Test prints with included 4x6 Canon Photo Paper Pro blew me away. This baby cost half as much as my old BJC-600 did 7 years ago. This now replaces that dinosaur, which works great to this day! Canon makes quality items that will last for a long time. What are you waiting for, buy this printer now. You will be glad you did.

High quality prints and fast but the best thing as per review I read in PCworld it had the lowest cost per page for prints. All inks are seperate cartridges so just be cause you run out of magenta you do not have to replace yellow and cyan.

I just bought this printer for my daughter to take the place of a printer that was included in a new computer pkg. While most printers have now become quite inexpensive, they have very high operating costs (think of it as a "free" cell phone with a very high per minute rate). Anyway, this Canon S500 is quite efficient with the ink, and uses individual tanks for black and colors, so only what's been used has to be replaced. The speed is awesome (12 ppm B&W, 3/4 of that in color) at this price, and the mechanism is extremely quiet. What a perfect combination for the dorm! Lastly, the freebie I've disconnected was USB only, whereas this one offers a choice of USB or parallel connectivity. Not long ago, this printer would have cost 10 times as much!

I received my Canon S500 only a few days ago and I love it. It is so much faster than my old printer and the color is wonderful. I printed some photos that looked nearly as good as the originals. I am so glad I chose this printer. For the money, I think it is better than most in its price range.

My husband bought me this printer. I wanted the S600,but you were out of stock. After reading your reviews I decided to go with the S500. I am really satisfied. Great print quality and I love the individual ink tanks. Being an art teacher I am very particular about color quality..It's PURR-FECT and it has so much more ink. My old Canon printer had the colors in one. I didn't want an HP because of the all in one colors and the bottom loader. I really prefer the top load printer. This runs rings around my old Canon printer. Noise level isn't bad at all while printing. I have printed really....PURR-FECT pictures on regluar printing quality using card stock paper. When you put them in a frame they look like regular pictures. I am very HAPPY with the picture quality.
You'll Love it.... BUY ONE TODAY =^..^=

The Canon S500 is extremely fast. About 4.9x faster than my Lexmark Z11. This is due mainly to the fact that it's print head can contain both color and black ink at the simultaneously. This means that it can simply use black ink for black instead of making black out of the other colors. It also saves a lot of annoying cartridge switching and money, since you don't need to replace three colors when only one is low. This is a very good printer. It looks kinda cool too.

S500 is a great printer, even greater than the 30 dollar rebate I received from Canon/
Its very quick, even at its highest resolution, makes beautiful digital photos , magnificent with Glossy Photo Paper, and really excellent on a good grade of plain paper.
The setup and instructions, wonderful, I was up and going very fast, the indiviual ink tanks, makes things alot more affordable and the tanks as they are, last quite a while.
Its quiet, looks great and does its job very well, you could spend more money, but, I dont thing you could do any better.
My only negative on this machine, when the paper gets low, it gets balky feeding paper, easily remedied by putting in more paper and increasing the weight on the feed, that fixes it just fine, not a big deal, may Canon Should have mentioned it or maybe its some quirk in just mine, no matter, it still is terrifac, you can also adjust the paper thickness too.
Its tough to beat the printer, in price, quality or performance.

If you are going to use the Canon S500 for a variety of color tasks, this is for you. I use it primarily for making my own CD labels, jewel case booklet and tray inserts. The color and the detail are excellent and my labels are almost as good as the original commercial labels. Of course, I am making only single copies for my own use but it's fun making them attractive. Printer is highly recommended.