Customer Reviews

Canon imageCLASS MF4690 Monochrome Laser All-in-One Printer (1827B001)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I shopped around for about 2 weeks and looked all the makes and models. I ended up purchasing the Canon 4690. The Canon 4690 is very easy to install, configure, and network. All settings can be configured via a handy web interface. The unit is very fast, quiet, and ergonomic. Warm up time is better than expected. With a small footprint, this Canon fits nicely in any home/office setting. From a hardware perspective, this unit meets and exceeds all comparable units out there on the market. Where most multifunction units have only 32 to 64 MB of RAM, it appears that this unit has 128 MB - although for some reason, you won't see this documented. I learned this from printing out my 4690's configuration page. In any event, more memory is very nice for those large print jobs. Networking and printer installation is a snap. The paper handling is convenient. Printing, copying, faxing, and scanning are ridiculously easy with the Canon 4690. Believe me; I looked at Dell, Epson, HP, Lexmark, and even other Canon models. Bottom line: The Canon 4690 offers the most technology for this price level.

I shopped for a week and looked at Brother, HP, and Samsung B/W laser multifunctional printers before picking this Canon multifunctional unit. Set up was very easy, until I got to connecting it to the network via a Cat5e cable. Canon says the unit will automatically pick up the IP address, subnet mask, and gateway address using DHCP, but a call to Canon Tech Services recommended manual entry of these values. The tech walked me through the procedure, so now all my PC's connected to my router can use the printer. I highly recommend Canon Tech Services. They have a 12-hour toll-free number and offer lifetime free telephone support.

Pluses:
1. Speedy printing
2. Backlit LCD screen
3. The MF4690 has a neat remote Web page User Interface for reviewing and changing printer/fax/copier/scanner settings.
4. Text prints are very sharp (compared with those from my HP LaserJet 1200)

Negatives:
1. Comes with "starter" toner cartridge
2. Another negative (not prominently mentioned) is that the unit will NOT support network scanning. You must be connected via USB to do scanning to e-mail and scanning to a file server. However, you CAN perform scanning to a USB thumb drive and it outputs as PDF, JPG, or BMP files.

Update: I was told by Canon Tech Services that you can connect with both USB and Network connections at the same time, thus you have the full-range of scanning options with this printer (via USB) and still get the benefits of network connections.

Update #2: After reading some of the HP printer reviews, I am glad that Canon support is USA-based, so there is no language barrier.

First of all let me say that if you're a PC user, read all the other reviews of this unit. It really is a nice unit with all the features described. The reason I'm giving it two stars is because of what I feel is Canon's intentional misleading of the public when they claim that this is Mac compatible. From the box to the manual to the website, Canon uses the Mac logo to communicate that this unit is Mac compatible. This is only PARTIALLY true. This unit works ONLY as a printer and fax with the Macs - NOT A SCANNER. No where is this ever communicated. Even the printed manual and the Advanced Manual that is provided as a PDF on an included CD make any mention of the fact that you can not use this as a scanner on a Mac. Furthermore, Canon has no plans on ever making a driver so that you can do scans on a Mac. It's not bad that the unit can't do Mac scanning but I'd rather know about that BEFORE I purchase it and set it up at home.

I've been using this in my small home office for about a month now. Performance and quality is even better than I expected from this all-in-one under $400. Prints much faster and quieter than my Pixma Inkjet. Two-sided printing feature is dynamite! Couple of mouse clicks and ZAP: a two-sided copy. So far it's been more reliable and faster than even Kinko's machines. Using USB to my laptop and CAT V to my desktop. Install took a weekend to figure out between the Canon protocol and MS networking software. Canon email Tech sppt was helpful and quick to respond on Monday, but by then I had figured most of it out by trial & error. Scanning to file on my laptop is effortless with the Toolbox software, but unfortunately won't scan from or to a networked computer (my desktop). Nothing's perfect, and I found the scanner to be two to three times slower than my stand alone Canon scanner. But it's still fast enough and the scanner is already in storage with the fax and copier. From what I can gather, all multifunctions are slower to scan than stand-alone's. If I lay a sheet of labels or other paper stock in the alternate feeder, it's automatically detected and prints on it, vs the paper tray. The Fax function has worked perfectly from day one on my dedicated line. Was worried about warm-up time, but found this not to be an issue whatsoever. With the exception of the scanner, this machine is fast in everything it does! This frees up valuable desk space (and time) although I'm still keeping the PIXMA inkjet for pictures and color jobs. Very, very happy I did my homework and chose this machine.

This device is excellent value. It is compact and full-featured. Networking and duplex printing are standard and it's easy to set up using a web interface. I've been using it with a household full of Macs and it works just fine, although the printer driver seems rather slow to start up and it has some strange UI issues (e.g. the standard Mac print dialogue offers duplex options on its 'layout' page but Canon ignore these and provide their own duplex options hidden under 'finishing' instead.) The print throughput is high once it is rolling and the quality is good, though not stellar.

While Canon don't provide any desktop scanning software for the Mac the device can send scanned images to an email address or a networked file system, both of which work well. Having entered my email address into a speed-dial I can put a stack of papers in the sheet-feed and have it arrive as a scanned multi-page PDF in my inbox in three button presses! Note that while the printer works double-sided the scanner does not.

While it's missing some features that I would like, and the Mac print drivers are somewhat sluggish and idiosyncratic, it's hard to argue when the street price is under $350.

Pros:
- Small size
- Fast printer
- Ability to scan to network drives, email, and directly to a USB drive plugged into the front of the unit.
- Duplexed printing

Cons:
- Cannot scan direct to PC over network. However since you can scan directly to a PDF saved automatically to a shared network folder, this wasn't a big deal to me. You lose the ability to do WIA/Import functionality though.
- Cannot print over network to the multipurpose tray. This is a big loser for me. Best workaround is to print to the preview mode, run up to printer, stick envelope in, then continue the print. A hassle.

Overall this is a great printer for the price. However these two weaknesses make for some difficulties in use.

This printer was purhased to fit a need in our small home office for a new printer+. So far this printer has stood up to its reputation and been a great addition. It was purchased to replace a DELL AIO 966 that was so awkward to work with that it didn't even last a month.

This device is BY FAR the best I've worked with at this price range with this quality of features / implementation. Things that top the list - setup / access, it actually works as a standard network printer without unnecessary software. Its fast, it warms up fast, it prints fast, it gets back into energy save fast. Its solid, the construction overall is really good, however there are a few parts that you will want to be more gentle with - paper tray, extenders, scan feed tray.

Everything worked exactly as documented. This i have to stress because good documentation seems to becomming a lost art, however Canon delivers. I would like to see a few extra features added in later via firmware upgrades but no show stoppers.

If your looking for a good printer that works as listed, does what its supposed to and has solid documentation if you want to do more. BUY THIS ONE.

As a consultant required to recommend, install and maintain printers on regular basis I have abandoned the HP products and now use Canon and Lexmark's mostly with a few Epson's by customer request. The MF4690 is a quality unit, with full featured software and intuitive user interface. I am 95% satisfied and only complaint lack of equal features for Mac users, but what else is new. This unit was for my wife using a PC laptop and thus was not an issue in this purchase.

It has all the important features (duplex printing and networking)
that I wanted in a laser MF for under $400.
Copying, sending/receiving fax, scanning, and printing worked fine on
Windows XP and Vista. Networked printing and faxing worked fine too
on Windows, just plug the printer to a hub/switch then configure the
network driver. Scanning can't be networked.
It has power saver mode and printer toner saver too and it's fast and
quiet for me.
The only cons is that I wish that it has Linux printer driver

This printer is pretty good general AIO. There are a few quirks that I encountered during my use that are probably specific to my printer/myself. The scanner is moderate resolution, so photos tended have some banding. Adequate for computer use, but not great for re-printing. The device has VERY limited capability for heavier than normal paper, and there is minimal/no option for custom paper sizes or envelopes. Because of its size, the cartridges are smaller and you will need to replace them more frequently than a normal size printer. I was never able to get the email feature to work, as I suspect I didn't have a server. As for networking, once connected to a wireless router and the drivers installed on each wireless computer, everything worked well. I had to power cycle the printer once a month, probably due to my router. But, in the end, I would buy this printer again, if I needed everything in a small package.