Customer Reviews

Canon iP4600 Inkjet Photo Printer (2909B002)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

Having sworn off HP and Epson printers years ago because of problems with reliability and service, I decided to give Canon a chance. Based on the mostly stellar reviews of the iP4500, I decided to purchase the slightly cheaper successor model, the iP4600. I was particularly interested in the duplexing option for printing out longer documents, and the high-quality photo output.

The directions for setup were easy, although the entire process took close to 20 minutes, with all the packaging and cartridges, etc.

I've used the printer now for nearly two weeks now, and here are my initial impressions:

- Photo quality is excellent! I haven't had an inkjet printer in several years, but this thing blows away anything I've had before. If you don't look too closely, the prints on photo paper could fool me into thinking they came from the store, rather than my own printer. I also tried some off-brand photo paper, which seems to use a different printing preset than the Canon paper, but quality was comparable once I figured this out. Borderless printing seems to work as advertised, although I personally prefer a bit of a border.

- Speed is okay. I've only printed photos on the included 4x6in photo paper, but it takes less than half a minute per picture, which seems fast. Single-sided printing speed is acceptable -- about 15-20 seconds per side of text.

- Duplexing is slow -- the printer lets the front of the page dry before moving on to the back, and this takes an additional 5-10 seconds per sheet. This nearly doubles the printing time. [As noted in the comments, you can apparently adjust the drying time to reduce this wait.]

- Text quality is reasonably good, nowhere near laser-quality, but eminently readable.

While the printer has a relatively large footprint, it is nice that I can load paper into the cassette below the printer (which extends slightly from the front of the printer) or the rear tray, which I prefer for my desk setup.

All in all, I think everything I saw in the reviews of the iP4500 applies here. I am quite satisfied with the printer so far.

I just replaced my 1999 vintage hp 970 Cse inkjet with duplex accessary with this new Canon ip4600 that automatically prints on both sides of the page , and couldn't be happier. I have grown to appreciate the Canon product line of cameras and now their printers. It is about twice as fast as the old hp 970, but the colors not quite as vibrant until you print out a glossy photo, and again I was impressed with the speed for a 4"x6" glossy print that looks like it was developed at Ritz Camera. The print was done in like 15 seconds!

I use this printer in my office for a lot of color graphs and two sided reports and reprints. The foot print is about right and looks great on my countertop return. I'll let you know if I can get 7 years out of this one like I did with the old hp. Also Amazon got this to me within 24 hours delivery with no hassles. Good choice and good service.

First the good points of the IP4600; The photo print quality is excellent. The setup is easy. I am pleased with the operation of the printer. On the down-side; The IP4600 DOES NOT print CDs/DVDs even though several retailers (including Amazon) states that it does. Canon Tech Support seemed very surprised that the feature was given in their specifications. I have a problem with some incompatability between the Canon On-Screen Manual software and software installed on my computer. The manual would open once after a boot then fail on subsequent tries. Tech Support has no software fix, but are mailing a hard copy. ON the first print job after power-on the printer goes through several seconds of clicks and hums before it will feed paper and print.

Canon have outdone themselves in diservice to their customers here. I have been a loyal fan for some years but after my i860 died I replaced it with the ip4600. I have only had it a couple of weeks and the ink has almost run out. The ink tanks are sooooo small.

I have printed 1 A4 photo and 2 postcards. The color tanks are 60% empty. I am an occasional user turning the machine on and off when I need a print, mostly for text. All the noises that it makes on startup I can only presume are cleaning routines for the print heads. So even if you don't print much you will be replacing the ink soon. As the ink replacements are half the cost of the printer I have no doubt that this model will be stoking the landfills in abundance.

Good print quality.

MEAN, shame on Canon.

Easy setup and good quality printer. Only compaint I have is Canon is selling these printers at a good price but has pretty much gone off the
deep end on ink cartridge prices. The new cartridges are smaller than
previous models and at this time there are no compatable cartridges available for this printer. $65 for a set of cartridges is ridiculous!
Should have bought a previos model with old style cartidges.

I must say it has been a long time since I had to buy a printer cause my last one was 7 years old. I hated having to get a new one but I had fried the printer head on my last one and it cost more to get a new head than a new printer. I am prone to Canon products cause it is the brand I use most (at home and at work) and I have never had any problems.

This is not coming from any high tech type person. I am just your everyday type user that uses my computer for digital photos. I even have a Canon camera. This printer is so much better than my last one (from 2002) and you can easily see how much the technology has come even on a basic, inexpensive model like this one.

I've always loved their ink dispensing technology. It usues just the right amount of ink to get that job done and it's usually less than other printers. Believe me, I print alot of pictures. I do calendars, invitations, albums (4x6) and greeting cards. I've gone from using 4 ink cartridges to 5 with this printer but that is not a problem. It has four inks for photos and one for text. When one color runs out, I just replace that cartridge.

The photo paper enters from a rear tray and it is easy to print photos using the program on the CD that comes with the printer. It also has a tray in the front for regular paper. The coolest thing is that the way it does duplexing. It can print on both sides of the paper and I don't have to do anything to the sheet on the first pass. It sucks the paper back in itself and prints on the other side.

I know that there are printers out there that can do alot more but I haven't owned any. You'll have to excuse me if I get so excited with what this printer is capable of. It's like a smart printer. It even tells you when you've forgotten to open it so the paper can come out the front. I keep it closed to keep dust out and it looks very nice on it's little stand. May be big to some but not to me.

It has turned out to be a wise investment. High quality, low price. I hope it will last as longer or longer than my last Canon printer. If nothing else, you may need to buy a new one just to keep up with the new technology. I highly recommend it.

Overall, high quality printer. date of this review Nov 26, 2008

Major issue - goes through ink rather quickly. I previously used an Epson R200 with good results, but costly on ink. I was hoping for the Canon quality, which I got, and more efficient use of ink. Since this is a new product, came out in Sept, I could not find any definitive data on ink use. I have no real data to say it going through it quickly than my previous experience with Epson. The cartridges seem to have less ink than the Epson 200 by visual inspection. I had trouble finding cartridges at first and had to buy from Canon which charged way too much on shipping. I have found them at Office Depot now. Got there in the last 3 weeks. Set of cartridges is $47 - much cheaper than the Epson ($57 at Sam's Club). Also, has 2 black cartridges (one for text one for photo) one is larger than the other.

The pros - has various levels for print - High, Standard, Fast, and Custom. It also has a Grayscale setting. It also has a duplex setting for copying both sides. For larger print jos, probably more time efficient to do one side and then reveserse for the other. But it works well.

Picture quality for Photos - excellent. I basically use it for 4x6's for non profit work and for a newsletter

Software - excellent - a whole bundle of software that I have not even begun to use yet. Lots of options for various uses, calendars, albums, etc. Has varous optimizes for photo quality, etc. Impressive.

I am still learning the various uses for this printer. I believe I will grow to like it more as I experiement with it on its capabliities.

As seen from above, ink is the issue as is with all deskjet printers. Cost was about $95 from Amazon. Dennis C

If you want a printer that produces high quality photos, including black and white photos, then this is the printer to get. It's user friendly to install and to use. It prints photos fast (less than 20 seconds), but it take a shorter time (average of 10 seconds) preparing to print the photo. It does make mechanical sounds and noises while it's preparing to print. That surprised me the first couple of prints, but any concern faded away when I got a quality print. I suggest using the Canon photo paper. I tried other photo paper, but was disappointed with the results. Oh yes, the iP4600 is not an ink hog. This was a nice surprise. For the cost, you can't beat the quality of the iP4600.

I bought this printer to assist with my scrapbooking. I have printed a few hundred 8x10 sheets since purchasing this printer a year ago. I have spent well over $300.00 in ink cartridges. I am behind on scrapbooking projects because I have to talk myself into buying more ink so I can print the pages I create. This has never been much of a problem for me with past printers. The cost is truly outrageous!

The only positive thing about the ink is that it is separated out into separate color cartridges that you replace instead of having to replace an entire cartridge when one color runs out. A nice bonus if you do a lot of printing.

I have an old Canon that would've cost more to replace the printhead than to buy a new printer so I chose the latter. I wish I would've spent the money on a new printhead. The cartridges I had from my old printer would not fit into this one and they were a lot less expensive. It seems that every time I have switched Canon printers, I lose a lot of money in unusable ink cartridges. Also, they don't fill them up as much as they used to in the older models. I go through a lot more ink in a shorter amount of time. Very frustrating!

The print quality is very nice but not worth the price that goes into them. I would look at other manufacturers that care a little more about their consumers and not charge so much for the ink. I would research other printer manufacturer's products before I'd ever consider buying another Canon printer.

I print a lot of 8.5 x 11 photos and have been very happy with the ip4600. Photo quality is excellent. I replaced an old ip3000 and see better detail and color with the ip4600. Speed is pretty good. The replacement ink cartridges are a bit expensive though.