Canon Pixma MX850 Office All-In-One Inkjet Printer (2436B002)

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Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 20 x 19 x 10.2 inches ; 41.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 42 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0012S75NE
• Item model number: 2436B002
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (210 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank

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  Electronics > Computers & Accessories > Printers > All-In-Ones

• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 22, 2008

Product Description

From the Manufacturer
This is an All-In-One powerhouse. Thanks to its patented print head technology and 5-color ink system, you'll create spectacular photos with 9600 x 2400 color dpi resolution, and fast: A photo lab quality 4 x 6 inch borderless print takes only about 21 seconds. Copies will be remarkably true to the originals, and when scanning photos you'll produce impressive 4800-dpi results, with vibrant 48-bit color depth. The built-in Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) holds up to 35 originals and enables automatic duplexing, so you don’t have to wait, then manually turn over your 2-sided original. This versatile machine is networkable via an Ethernet connection, and offers an optional BU-30 Bluetooth interface, so you can print wirelessly from a PC or PDA.You can also print photos right from memory cards—selecting and enhancing images on the high-resolution 2.5 inch color TFT display—or directly from a digital camera.

The Canon Pixma MX850 All-In-One Printer: 9600 x 2400 dpi prints for spectacular detail and clarity. Print directly from compatible memory cards The Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) holds up to 35 originals.

Ultimate Office-All-In-One Printer with Fax, Auto Duplex Print, Copy and Scan. View larger

Spectacular Resolution
This powerful Office All-In-One delivers a resolution of up to 9600 x 2400 color dpi, for spectacular detail and clarity. Its 4,608 - nozzle print head ejects precise, consistent droplets as small as 1 picoliter, for smoother, virtually grain-free images.

Exceptional Print Speed
Ready for blazing speed to go along with exceptional quality? You'll be able to produce a beautiful 4 x 6 inch borderless print in approx. 21 seconds.

Five High-Performance Ink Tanks
The 5-color ink system consists of four dye-based inks plus a pigment-based black ink, producing exceptional photos and crisp, laser-quality text. You replace only the color that runs out, rather than a multi-color tank containing unused ink. Result? You can reduce your printing costs.

Built-In Duplex Printing
Print 2-sided documents or photos, without having to manually flip the pages over, by using either the auto sheet feeder or the paper cassette - saving you time and paper.

Auto Image Fix
The built-in Auto Image Fix feature helps you produce amazing results on all your photos. First, it categorizes your images into one of five types - Portrait, Scenery, Night Scenery, Snapshot with Scenery, and Snapshot with Night Scenery - then applies optimal image correction accordingly. For example, it will automatically brighten faces that are backlit and under-exposed, and correct color cast to help ensure more accurate skin tones.

Auto Image Fix ensures a good print every time.

Network Connectivity
Network Connectivity An Ethernet interface lets you connect to a home or office network, with connected computers sharing the use of this versatile machine.

Fast Faxes and Expanded Memory
This super-efficient Office All-In-One can achieve Super G3 fax speed (33.6 Kbps) in color and B&W. Its expanded memory can store up to 100 of your speed-dial codes, and up to 250 incoming fax pages - especially convenient when receiving long faxes, or if you run out of paper.

High-Quality Scanning and Copying
When scanning or copying photos or graphics, you can produce faithful 4800 x 9600 dpi images, with vibrant 48-bit color depth and more than 281 trillion possible colors.

Print from Memory Cards/Cameras
Want to print photos directly from a compatible memory card without using your computer? Just insert the card into the built in slot, select images on the TFT display, and print! You can also print photos directly from your digital camera, DV camcorder, camera phone, or from wireless Bluetooth6-enabled devices using our optional BU-30 unit.

Product Description
This is an All-In-One powerhouse. Thanks to its patented print head technology and 5-color ink system, you¿ll create spectacular photos with 9600 x 2400 color dpi resolution1, and it¿s fast: A photo lab quality 4" x 6" borderless print takes only about 21 seconds2. Copies will be remarkably true to the originals, and when scanning photos you¿ll produce impressive 4800-dpi results, with vibrant 48-bit color depth. The built-in Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) holds up to 35 originals and enables automatic duplexing, so you don¿t have to manually turn over your 2-sided original. This versatile machine is networkable via an Ethernet connection, and offers an optional BU-30 Bluetooth interface3, so you can print wirelessly from a PC or PDA. You can also print photos right from memory cards4 ¿ selecting and enhancing images on the high-resolution 2.5" color TFT display ¿ or directly from a digital camera.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

572 of 585 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good, but the older Canon MP830 may be superior, March 17, 2008

By	ffass "ffass" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

My brief observations seem to indicate that the MX850 really doesn't improve upon the MP830 in some important areas.

I've owned the Canon MP830 for almost a year and and I just bought the Canon MX850 for a friend, so this is a direct user comparison. The 830 has been 100% reliable, producing excellent scans, prints, copies, and faxes. The MX850 is shorter in height, but otherwise just as bulky and heavy as the 830. Canon seems to be using a less robust scanner in the 850 than in the older MP830. Scans on the 830 are consistently over 4 times as fast: a 300 dpi 8.5x11" import scan into Photoshop CS3 took about 7 seconds with the 830 and about 33 seconds with the 850. The 830 wins in the noise category as well: it's roughly 60% quieter than the 850 when scanning. The 850 produces an annoying high pitched tone while the 830 has more of a low "murmer" sound. The 850, to be fair, will not be considered to be overly loud for most environments. With scanning, the color reproduction seems fairly close between the two machines, though I'm getting more color accuracy from the 830. Copies on the 830 produced more accurate colors, too: a copy of a TIME magazine cover on a matt photo paper (with settings set to "Matt Photo Paper" and "High") yielded extremely accurate reproductions of the original, while the the 850 veered too far toward the yellow end of the spectrum. Both produced excellent detail, though. Scans of dot-screen images were well rendered with the 830, while the 850 exhibited substantial moire effects.

Not sure about energy consumption comparisons though the 850's scanner seems to be using a more compact, (newer technology?) low lumens light-producing element than the very bright 830, so it probably uses less power.

Both machines will not disappoint, but with the advantage of my brief side-by-side comparison I'd recommend that you save $40 bucks and get the MP830. They both use the same ink cartridges. One last observation: the 850's LCD screen has a much higher pixel count, but that's only one small improvement amid the 830's superior traits.

3/18/2008 - Update: I've learned that the MX850 is using "contact image sensor" technology (CIS) where as the MP830 is using the more common "charged-coupled devices" (CCD) technology. For those with an interest in the tech aspects I've included some info I found online:

"Most of large format scanners in use today use CCD (charge-coupled devices) as the primary data capture element in their construction. Recently this position has started to be challenged by the lower cost CIS (contact image sensor) technologies, which have come mainly from the small flatbed scanner market. The traditional CCD or camera scanner is able to produce a very high number of colours from the scanned original and copes with folded documents reasonably well. These scanners tend to be preferred where the image to be scanned is either photographic or has extensive use of tones and shading. CIS scanners have the advantage in providing all the optics in a space of 20 mm or so, which in the CCD scanner equivalent would occupy more like 600 mm. The secondary advantage is that CIS scanners have no need for magnification, lenses or a rigid frame - a major saving in construction costs and weight. However, CIS scanners do not do so well when scanning very pale colours or photographs."

104 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great product from Canon !!!, March 9, 2008

By	Tim (CT) - See all my reviews

This printer is an upgrade to my Canon Pixma iP6000. The iP6000 is excellent for printing photos as well as all daily stuff. I was concerned that a multi-function printer would not print photo's as well. I was wrong!!!

This multi-function printer is as good, maybe even a little better at photos than the iP6000 was. I have only had it a couple of days, so I have not tried everything out yet. Regular print quality is excellent. Copying is great. Scanning should come out just as good as copying, but I've yet to try it. Photo printing is excellent.

If your looking at this just remember to consider its size. I don't think it's really any bigger than most other all-in-ones but it is bigger than my last printer.

I went with the MX850 for 2 reasons. (1) Networking capability and (2) Canon technology. I am very pleased with my decision!!
The set-up went without any problems at all. The first computer I hooked it up to is a desktop running XP home via USB. Installed perfectly.
Next was a laptop running Vista via network. NOTE: As instructed by the instructions you must attach the USB cable to the FIRST computer that is being installed on the network before you connect it via the network. After it is completely installed you no longer need that USB connection. It will connect via the network. Yes, my laptop is connected wirelessly. It works great!!! For any additional computers on the network all you have to do is install the software and connect it via the network. NO USB required for all additional network computers. The installation software is very easy to understand. There are only 3 install options. (1) Install to computer via dedicated USB connection. (2) Install FIRST computer on a network (must use USB this ONE time only). (3) Install additional computers on network. Thats it...

As I said it's only been a couple of days so I have yet to try everything out, but so far NO disappointments. It seems to be a very well built simple to use machine. Software seems to be running fine on XP and Vista. Not sure where the pricing will go on this unit but, Amazon dropped their price $45 only a couple days after I ordered it. I was happy at full retail, but at $235 you can't go wrong !!!

The one thing I do recommend is to use Canon photo paper when printing photos. I found that I got the best results this way. That was on the iP6000, but I'm sure the MX850 will be the same way.

Good luck with your purchase. Hope this helps a little.

EDIT:
It has been a few more days since original install.

During set-up on another computer on the network it would not install. I called tech support for help. The problem was my computer NOT the printer. Tech support was great!!!!!! They walked me through step by step checking everything till we found the problem. Canon has their support in the US and they have a dedicated department for networking. It was actually a pleasure calling them for help. Usually I hate to call for support. You never know where the call is being routed. Very nice to know you can get quick easy help if needed.
Also since I got a chance to play a little more with the printer I discovered how quick it is. I was happy with the iP6000 print speed, but the MX850 makes me realize how slow it was. I didn't time it, but it printed a 4x6 photo very quickly!! Another nice feature is the door where the paper comes out will open automatically when you print.

So far no regrets!!! Don't be afraid to call tech support if needed. They are great!

78 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good multi-function printer that leaves a few things to be desired, April 20, 2008

By	TD - See all my reviews

We ordered this printer last Saturday nite and amazon had it delivered on Tuesday afternoon with free super-saver delivery. Thank you amazon.

We are upgrading to this multi-function from a LexMark X6170, which served us quite well for 4 years. The Canon PIXMA MX850 is much heavier than the LexMark. If you've back problems, it might be worth asking the delivery guy to put it near to where you want it.

Although the packaging for the printer is quite simple, there are way too many plastic tapes to be removed. This is probably because there are many moving parts and sub-parts for this printer. Luckily Canon has included a simple instruction sheet for assmebling the printer and it does help if you follow it right.

NOTE: The packaging does not include a USB cable. We used the one from our old printer. The reason Canon does not include a USB cable is because this is a fully networked printer; that means all its functionalities can work over Ethernet. However, you do need the USB cable for initial setup.

Network setup is a 2 step process. For the first PC, you need to have a USB cable connection and then you can connect via Ethernet. Subsequent PC's don't need USB for network configuration. My printer and first PC are connected to a Netgear Wireless Ethernet bridge, which also connects to my WiFi LAN. My second PC is a laptop is which connected to my WiFi LAN. Canon has included a separate Users guide for network setup which really helps.

Print quality is quite good though not the same as a laser printer. Given that this printer supports dual side printing, using a good quality inkjet printing paper such as a 24lb, 115brightness will be worth it. There are 2 sources of paper feeds, a rear tray and a cassette. Both trays support all the same paper sizes, except for business cards which are available only on the rear tray. You can use either trays by pressing the "switch feed" button on the printer control panel or from their print software running on the PC. The print speed for one-sided printing is very fast, for both black and white as well as color printing. However, two-sided printing is quite slow. There is a noticeable pause between printing the two sides, and one would almost be tempted to pull the printout out of the output tray after printing one side.

As a photo printer, I think the quality is acceptable. I'vent used it for any scenic/outdoor photo's. But it is ok for identity-card/passport photo's, which you need in a jiffy and don't consume too much ink. For other photo's, you are better off using Costco or Walgreens anyways.

The MX850 supports dual sided scanning over the network. The Automatic Document Feeder(ADF) is supposed to hold 30-35 sheets, though it looks quite slim. The scan quality is good though not exceptional. Again dual sided scanning is much slower than single sided scanning, but with ADF you can move on to other tasks, while the MX850 goes about scanning. For multiple photo's on the flatbed, it will create separate jpeg files. However, if you scan two set of documents with a time lag in between, they will be scanned to the same pdf. However, their print software does allow you to delete individual pages from the pdf, which is useful if not all pages in your original document set are two-sided. You can also re-arrange the pages if they are not in the order you want them to be in, using the Canon software.

The copying is the same as scanning followed by printing; so there is not much to write about it. I'vent tried FAXing yet.

On the whole, I'm very satisfied with the printer although it has just been a few days of usage. The printer has good features and their software is feature rich too. My only peeves about the MX850 are that it does not support Linux. Also, it has these ghostly/spooky movements and noises that it will do, probably because the print-head is being reset, even if it is sitting idle for some time. It also seems to vibrate noticeably while printing; though not so much as to topple a cup of coffee. A stable printer stand/table would be much recommended. Since the printer seems to be from the same family as MP830, I also expect to be quite generous in consuming ink.

All said and done, I would recommend this printer to anyone who is not a heavy user of print functionality. It will get small jobs done to more than your satisfaction.