Customer Reviews

Canon i320 Color Bubble Jet Printer

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Installation:
Installation was a snap. Remove the unit from the box and the packaging tape that protects the unit's vital parts. Install the two inkjet cartridges provided, then install the power cord. Power up the unit and install the driver provided on a cd. The whole operation took around 5-10 minutes. REMEMBER that you will need to purchase a USB cable if you don't have one already. Next, I aligned the printer heads, which was fairly easy to do with the provided illustrations. Now, you're ready to print.

Performance:
The unit is no speed demon , however it's quick enough to get the job done and looks good doing it. It's amazing how good this printer is for such a low price. My first printer was a laser unit, because I couldn't stand the print quality of inkjets. The text print quality and image print quality really demonstrates how much better inkjets are today. The print quality is just as good or even better than my 600 dpi laser printer.

Pros:
Cheap price

Looks nice sitting on the desk
Good print quality
Compact size

Cons:
No USB cable provided
Not super fast

Conclusion:
Great inkjet printer for those on a really tight budget

I upgraded from my Lexmark Z42 printer to this Canon i320 and from my quick tests it is great! It has a small footprint which is excellent for desks and space in general (Z42 was about 50% larger at least). It has some newer technology like borderless printing and "microfine droplet technology (which may just be a marketing hype)".

One of the major reasons I bought this printer is because of ink cartridges. It is easy to find Canon replacement cartridges for reasonable amounts (well under [money amount]) which is a huge benefit in cost savings over my Lexmark that had [money amount]+ cartridges.

Overall, a great value for such a low price. And, with the lower inkjet cartridges, cost per page will be lower. Quality of printing is the best I've had in budget printers to date.

INSTALLATION
DO NOT INSTALL BEFORE YOU READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.
DO NOT CONNECT BEFORE YOU INSTALL THE SOFTWARE.

DESIGN
The best I've seen. Small footprint. Depending where it's used, it can be set up as is. Just lift the paper holder and it's set.

TECHNICAL achievements
The best user solution. Canon PACKS the PRINT HEAD and print cartridges separately. For a knowledgeable user this is a wonderful way of getting the proper maintenance to be done AT HOME, outside a repair shop. Head replacement is a snap. If everything else works fine this gives the printer a long life.

The FIRST TIME on a bubble-jet I saw that the driver has the option of SETTING the printer to deliver A PREDETERMINED QUANTITY OF INK. You can set this up in the properties window. It is extremely important when printing web pages, simple graphics and many other home needs of color on standard paper, that the printed paper BE NOT SOAKED IN INK. A matter of esthetics and color saving. All you have to do is set the time you wait the ink to dry at a HIGH or LOW value. Factory default is NORMAL. High tech color laser printers have this set automatically according to the type of used media. It's nice to see it done for an ink-jet.

PRINT QUALITY - EXCELLENT (laser quality) on 24 lb paper weight, very good on standard paper. A home winner, prints border-less art work, too.

OPERATING SYSTEMS - ALL WINDOWS starting with '98, LINUX and MAC.
For Linux use TurboPrint at http://www.turboprint.de/english.html
For FREE use, printing MUST BE set at 62 colors and 300/300 res. or purchase the license for full support.

PRINT SPEED - without a USB 2.0 connection the speed is a max. of 3-5 web pages per minute at the default setting of 600/600 dpi. The speed doubles or triples at 300/300 dpi with USB 2.0, but quality goes down. (REMEMBER ! - THIS IS A RULE FOR ALL PRINTERS) I suggest the printer be kept at default.

WORK LOAD - excellent for any home that DOES NOT involve any kind of business activities.

NOISE - LIKE all other ink-jets, YES it is a noisy printer, when it's at the START of a print job. I find it NORMAL. The noise is due to it's built design. Like a boom-box. Sounds get easily amplified. Hey, you do not buy this printer for a bedroom location, unless you place it under your pillow ?!?

PRO - If you are in the market for a home printing solution and you know what your real needs are, this can be a printer you will fall in love with.

CON - Priced at the ONE color cartridge level, with FREE shipping, I will ridicule myself if I say any bad things about this lovely CANON i320, which is a FULL FEATURED PRINTER.

this printer is a very good value for money....infact the package includes ink cartridges as well which some printers dont offer along with the printer..... but make sure the USB cable is not included for which you have to spend few bucks.....overall good quality ,home-use printer at a very affordable price........

The print quality for text is decent, speed is excellent, the price for ink is unbeatable. But surely it's not a photo printer(don't expect for this price). The bad thing is it's very noisy, I set it to quiet mode but it's still loud, it periodically screams no matter you print or not, and shakes the table. I wonder why Cannon put that much power for a small printer?
My old printer was a Lexmark Z25, it's an ink hog and catridge is 3 times more than the Cannon. So I can live with all the noise.

Canon has really made a name for itself in the last five years, with its low-cost, well-designed, high quality home computer products. This printer is no exception.

As is noted in many other reviews, you'll need to buy a USB cable to connect this printer to your computer. Make sure you get the A/B type, with the long flat connector on one end, and the square-ish connector on the other.

Once you get the printer connected, Canon's made setup easy; USB installation is made easy with the included software and drivers. All you'll need to do is click "Yes" and "OK" a few times, and you're done.

The print quality is above average, and astonishingly good for this price. If you're trying to find a printer for high-end reproductions of digital photos, you may want to look elsewhere. But the resolution, clarity, and color reproduction of the i320 is better than average, and more than adequate for most personal/home needs.

One of the best parts of this printer for me is that Canon has made the ink cartridges inexpensive to replace. A replacement black cartridge costs under $10, and the color cartridge is under $20--much cheaper than many other manufacturers. It was less expensive to purchase this printer than to replace the ink cartridges on my old printer. Additionally, the ink lasts for a long time before it needs to be replaced, making printing economical.

Overall, this printer is one of the best purchases I've made for my computer. Low price, easy setup, and good print quality make it a perfect choice for the home.

It has been a week since I bought this little printer. After already going through 100 pages, I'm ready to give a review. First I want to thank the reviewers at Amazon for telling me that there is NO USB cord included in this purchase.

Since I am a graduate student in science/engineering, my printouts are sometimes color graphs but mostly text. In that respect, this printer suits me well. I do not need photo-quality capability and the price fits my student budget. I also see that the refills are cheap for black ink, which is nice. Setup has been easy and the noise isn't much of an issue. The printer makes some noise before, during, and after the print job, but I don't hear the printer cranking all of a sudden at night (and I leave it on). So the noise is loud, but short.

Quality wise, the black could be a little sharper and darker, but overall acceptable for the price. Color is fairly consistent and accurate (purple is purple and not blue). For fun, I downloaded a high quality scan and printed it out in photo-quality mode with the free glossy papers included with the printer. The result is surprisingly good when looking from a distance, but at closer inspection one can see some roughness and pixelation. Not too bad for a cheap printer. Speed-wise, I clocked 7 ppm on text. For some reason, the printer can have problems printing (Latex) dvi pages loaded with mathematical equations.

Lastly, one neat feature that I haven't seen before is the duplex mode, which means I can print pages on both sides of the paper. Of course it's not completely automated, but it only requires you to flip the pages once. It will help me save papers on printing 200-page thesis. In summary, I haven't had any problems with this printer yet. No crash, no paper jams or feeding problems. Print quality is acceptable and the price is affordable. What more can you expect at this price?

Nice printer for the price! A little frustrating setting it up though, just make sure to remove ALL package tapes and the little styrofoam pieces inside the printer. I almost threw this thing out my window after it wouldn't accept paper because of a broken piece of styrofoam I later found inside. Cheapest ink replacements if you buy generic, only a couple of bucks each on e-bay.

I saw this printer advertised online .... I decided to take a chance, figuring i couldn't really be disappointed with a printer that was this cheap. To my surprise, the text looks great and the picture quality, while maybe not good enough for professionals or perfectionists, looks very good. Especially when you consider they came out of a machine cheaper than many color cartridges. If the rebates are still available and you want a printer that can print out decent pictures without breaking your budget, then this is the machine for you. For people seeking a machine that can pump out hundreds of photo-lab quality pictures in seconds, you shouldn't even be looking at printers this cheap. A great buy, though a USB cable would have been nice.

Bought this printer from Amazon and have yet to be disappointed! Setup was simple under WinXP Pro. I used the i320 to printer reports and charts and graphs with lots of colors, and the prints turned out nicely. Text was sharp and easy on the eyes. Color graphs were rich on heavy duty paper, decent on regular paper.

The 4x6 borderless printing also stunned me. I didn't think I could get such nice photos from a sub-$50 printer. The quality is comparable to Canon's S330 and other $100-range printers. Colors are bright and vibrant, pixels can be seen only at very close ranges. I'll certainly be printing all my photos on this from now on!

Price vs. Performance earns 5 stars!