105 of 108 people found the following review helpful:
Perfect Multi Function Printer
I just bought this printer and I LOVE it. It's the perfect all in one printer for home/ small office use. I am a student and wanted an all in one so i could print, copy and scan documents without the stress of using the school's facilities every time. This printer is exactly what I needed. The print quality is superb. Even photos printed with this printer come out looking...
30 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
Bad Experience with my First Canon Printer
I rarely review products I purchase on the Internet, but given the problems I've had from the MP490 I felt I had to share my experience. I ran across what I thought was a great deal ([...] w/ free shipping) for an all-in-one printer. I knew for that kind of cash it wouldn't be top notch, but respecting the Canon brand I went for it. From day one, this printer fed multiple...
This review is from: Canon PIXMA MP490 Inkjet Photo All-In-One Printer (3745B002) (Electronics)
I just bought this printer and I LOVE it. It's the perfect all in one printer for home/ small office use. I am a student and wanted an all in one so i could print, copy and scan documents without the stress of using the school's facilities every time. This printer is exactly what I needed. The print quality is superb. Even photos printed with this printer come out looking just as good as lab quality photos. The colours are vibrant and rich and borderless printing is excellent. Photocopying and scanning quality is really good too. However, printing speed is not the fastest but it doesn't detract from the beauty of this machine. The printer itself has a small footprint and I love the way everything folds into one compact design and eliminates dust getting trapped inside the printer. Overall, this is a great printer for the price. Note that a usb cord is not included in the package.
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This review is from: Canon PIXMA MP490 Inkjet Photo All-In-One Printer (3745B002) (Electronics)
This is the third Canon Pixma printer we have owned. The first two were blown out by power surges (we have extraordinarily unreliable and variable power in the islands).
The first Pixma printer we bought is something of a legend for it's inexpensive cartridges which could be purchased retail (OEM) for less than $10 apiece. When we bought that, we already had several other printers in the house, at least 1 unused. The issue we had with each of the others (a Dell, an HP and an Epson) was that the printer cartridges cost as much as, or more than, the printer itself. If you already have a printer, you know that the manufacturers are using the Gillette razor model; pricing the printers low, and gauging on the ink. The cost for a replacement cartridge for my HP laser was around $200, the Epson, around $100, and the Dell (which came free with the computer) cost over $100. Since this is a home printer we cared less about print quality, and more aboiut reasonable operating cost. i have not yet printed any photos and so can not comment on print quality in that regard, though Canon claims it is a high point.
I will say that the print quality on our first 2 Pixmas was somewhat less than ideal. I was able to remedy that by printing on high (photo quality). On our new printer, the MP 490, the print quality is better, BUT, unfortunately the cartridges cost more. They still cost at least 1/3 less than those for comparable printers, but are not as reasonable as on prior models. This is what took a star off in my rating.
In terms of features and ease of use:
this printer fixes an annoying issue we had with the other 2 pixmas. the cartridges are easier to change. You no longer have to hold the door up or have it hover at an awkward angle.
My kids like the digital read out, and, I will note for those new to the line; Canon printers keep track of ink use. The software logs cartridge changes and lets you know when you are running low on either (black or multi-color) ink. Often this is a bit off. that is, you can get a few more prints after it tells you it is out. This is a nice feature. I have had the experience of running out of ink while printing a 100 page document on my HP, only finding out that half the pages came up blank after the entire document ran.
On wimdows machines, set up is very easy: plug & play. It will work without loading extra printer drivers. I can not comment on this with regard to macs, since w do not have one.
You can switch to scan or print with the touch of a button. Both of these functions work flawlessly.
The other feature this machine offers over our old pixmas is a card reader. You can take a card out of your camera and print direct from the machine without going through a computer. (Most of the newer printers offer this feature, so this will set it apart in comparison to last gen. printers, rather than other brands).
It also has a very small footprint; not much larger than is required for a letter size scanner. It is not as small as a portable, but very compact for a desk top printer.
All in all it is a VERY nice printer for the money. We got it for an insanely low price during Amazon's 'black friday week" sale. Even at full retail it costs roughly the same or less than comparable printers. The primary reason we bought this was for the lower price ink cartridges. In that regard, the saving are not quite what they were on older models of the Pixma, but are still less costly than for other brands. We have owned Pixma printers for more than 10 years now and have been very happy with them overall, or I would not have purchased a third.
Update:
After 6 months of usi9ng this printer I needed to replace the ink. (note: this printer is attached to my childrens' machine and hence does not get as much use as mu own). i am now substantially less happy with the printer and probably would not buy another. If I were writing the review now, I'd give it 3 instead of 4 stars. Why?
1) Replacing the ink cost more than the printer.
2) When the black ink ran out we were unable to use the printer evewn though there was still ink in the color cartridge.
While the ink may cost less than some it should not cost as much as the printer!
Canon has been advertising that they were the solution to overpriced ink. Instead, it seems, they've decided that this is a pretty good way to make money.
This is Way far from the perfect printer.
I'm now shopping for another OLD Canon for my kids. My old Canon is still running on $10 cartridges (less if I use generic!)
I do not want to buy ink which costs as much as a new printer every 6 months! I hope Canon hears this. they have just lost a heretofore loyal customer.
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This review is from: Canon PIXMA MP490 Inkjet Photo All-In-One Printer (3745B002) (Electronics)
I'm using the Canon MP490 at home with a Mac Book Pro Intel Core Duo OSX 10.5.8. I found the set up very straightforward and encountered no problems. As mentioned in another review, the USB cord is not included. Print quality/tone was very good for both photos and plain documents. Color ran a bit to the green end. Scanning and copying were also uncomplicated. Inserting the SD card from my digital camera into the printer immediately brought up the image on the LCD screen, ready to print. iPhoto also started up automatically on my laptop, ready to import the images from the SD card in the printer-very slick. Controls were fairly intuitive as was the menu on the compass control. Print speed was on the slow side, so if your needs require high volume printing, this is probably not the right printer for you. The included software loaded easily and works fairly well. Ink costs are high for OEM replacement cartridge. There are ink refill kits on the web for this model to reduce costs considerably-I have no experience refilling these particular cartridges, but have found it to be very economical in my other Canon and HP printers. I have had the printer for only three days so I cannot speak to its long-term dependability. My initial impression is that the MP490 is an inexpensive, very good quality printer with easy set-up and helpful software. It is ideal for low-volume home use.
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This review is from: Canon PIXMA MP490 Inkjet Photo All-In-One Printer (3745B002) (Electronics)
I bought this printer without reading a single review or even looking it up. I walked into Target and read the box and purchased it. I usually read the reviews and wait for people to explain what's wrong with something before I buy it so this was totally unlike me. I was very pleasantly surprised! I love this! I've owned a big Pixma Pro 9000 for a while now but I refused to give up my little HP all in one that I've loved for years but it crapped out and I decided to try the Canon all in one since I loved the pro9000 so much. After trying this thing out, HP lost a customer. I'd always loved their printers but the software never worked right. Not only is the Canon printer better but the software didn't jam my computer. (Yes I tried the HP software on a Dell, and HP, and an E-Machines computer, it's crap!) I did purchase a separate scanner to scan slides since I bought the printer so I gave to to my mom and am looking for just a photo printer now but I'm looking into Canon. My mom is loving this printer too, and she's not easy to please when it comes to printers. All in all, if you want an all-in-one, this one is worth a shot!!
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This review is from: Canon PIXMA MP490 Inkjet Photo All-In-One Printer (3745B002) (Electronics)
This is a perfect replacement for our small printer which wore out. Considering how many tasks it performs, the small size is surprising. We have been using it for a couple weeks and are very happy with it. We have not used the fax and probably won't.
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This review is from: Canon PIXMA MP490 Inkjet Photo All-In-One Printer (3745B002) (Electronics)
I rarely review products I purchase on the Internet, but given the problems I've had from the MP490 I felt I had to share my experience. I ran across what I thought was a great deal ([...] w/ free shipping) for an all-in-one printer. I knew for that kind of cash it wouldn't be top notch, but respecting the Canon brand I went for it. From day one, this printer fed multiple pages on nearly every print job. It would print 1/4 to 1/3 of a page, then stop and grab another sheet to print the rest of the document or photo. I tried different paper, ran the roller cleaning procedure multiple times, power cycling, etc to no avail. I didn't open the printer immediately after buying it on Amazon.com (who resells it for [...]) so by the time I realized it was defective it was past the 30-day return period for either company. So...I contacted Canon support and was advised that the only thing they could do would be to ship me a refurbished replacement (for a 30-day old printer that was barely used!). So after wasting an entire black ink cartridge (which by the way this printer DEVOURS ink compared to my two prior HP Deskjet printers) and half a ream of paper, I'm going to be stuck with a refurbished printer. Also, this printer is VERY noisy and cheaply made. Overall, I would advise going for the $80 price range in printers as a minimum...and I've had better luck with HP printers which is what I will go back to.
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This review is from: Canon PIXMA MP490 Inkjet Photo All-In-One Printer (3745B002) (Electronics)
I just recently purchased this Canon MP490 when it was on sale for 40.00. What a great deal !!!
Yes, its a little noisy but it prints fast with good color, makes clear copies, scan feature is very nice. I have not tried printing photos yet.
It does not come with the USB cable you will need to connect to your computer, but then again, I dont know of any printers that do come with the cable.
Set up was very easy, took about 20 minutes. And you could probably skip all that set up and just install the drivers if you wanted. But I wanted to check out the bells and whistles that comes with complete set up.
I was deciding between this and the HP F4480, but the sale price on the Canon sold me. Its also a very nice looking printer and easy to use. Overall I am very pleased with my new printer and feel confident recommending it to others.
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This review is from: Canon PIXMA MP490 Inkjet Photo All-In-One Printer (3745B002) (Electronics)
I bought this printer on Dec. 24th thru Amazon via [...] the actual seller. The list price was $[...] + CA tax ($3.50) so I jumped on it after already returning an Epson Stylus NX415 back to my local Staples (their sale price of $69.99) the day before because it just wouldn't print in color for whatever reason but otherwise every other function worked great. And this was after researching many printer brands and models and reading reviews etc...for days. I could careless about having the fax and wireless aspect so this Canon MP490 seemed that it should do the job for me similar to the Epson printer I returned. Note, I already had the USB cable from my old tired Epson printer that was hard to get ink cartridges because of its old model age.
Anyway, after putting this Canon printer in the cart I later checked out the [...] website out of curiosity and they were temporarily out of stock. Jeez, now what are my options and how long to get this all-in-one-printer if it is not in stock? Also I noticed that Office Depot had it down from $49.99 to $39.99 the day after Xmas for that week until the end of the year. So I e-mailed Amazon with my question and they got back almost immediately telling me they would on pass my e-mail to [...]. I did this on Dec. 26th and the next day [...] responded back and said they would check out the warehouse availability and get back to me. That same day [...] e-mailed me again and said I would get a $10.00 refund because they pride themselves in customer satisfaction hence the refund. Then on the morning of Monday Dec. 28th another e-mailed arrived from both Amazon and Buy saying the printer would ship that day and [...] would respond with another e-mail when it actually was shipped via FedEx. So far this all sounds great but thinking it would probably be delivered in the 3-5 days standard shipping and wondering would it still be the same price or what?
I went and had a Tuesday Dec. 27th morning surf session and when I got home around noon the printer was at my door step to my shock. Set it up in an hour or so and put it thru all the scan, print and copy tests and it works great. I haven't tried a photo yet but I have a feeling that will work out fine too. So basically I got the printer for $33.49 with the $10 refund. Yes it is a little noisy and takes a bit to warm up, but then it spits out copies in my opinion pretty fast. The scan works really good and as good as the $200 scanner only we have at my work. A photo has yet been tried but should take longer I am sure. I only need the scan, print and copy modes for pdfs, word.docs, internet printouts and AutoCAD printouts. Also I think esthetically this printer is very nice looking and doesn't seem to flimsy like some.
I know this is all a bit long winded but the moral of the story is I am always somewhat skeptical and cynical on how the system works but have to say both Amazon.com and [...] came thru with flying colors. Especially [...'. Since I had spent so much time researching and got a lemon Epson I was thinking this ain't going all that well with the time and hassle dealing with electronics which can be a black hole sometimes.
Now I hope I haven't jinxed myself by writing this review and the damn thing craps out on me in the next week or so. But at $33.49.....well Merry Christmas! I feel like I was "Born Under A Good Sign" on this deal and bottom line I was just inquiring about availability and questioning my options. Another note to all the people complaining about ink cartridge prices, all of these printers ink cost are high regardless of printer but some are a bit more reasonable.
Regardless of the great price I got I really think I made the correct decision buying this particular Canon printer for my home needs. Also I have noticed the price on this Canon model after the holidays has really gone back up close to its original retail of $99.99 at most outlets. In closing, yes I am a happy "surfer" and hope this thing works out in the long run. :-))
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This review is from: Canon PIXMA MP490 Inkjet Photo All-In-One Printer (3745B002) (Electronics)
I just set this up today, and it's working fine so far. The print quality is decent, and I can't complain about the speed. I wouldn't want to print documents that are hundreds of pages long with it, but for small documents it doesn't take long. However, keep in mind that although this product comes with a power cord, it does NOT come with a cord to connect to your computer. If you want to connect to your computer, you will have to provide a USB A to B cable. Also, the product page has an image caption that advertises wireless printing, but I don't see any wireless capability.
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This review is from: Canon PIXMA MP490 Inkjet Photo All-In-One Printer (3745B002) (Electronics)
After my old Canon printer ran out of ink, I realized it was one of those moments where the price of new ink for an old printer cost almost as much as a new printer. After looking around on Amazon, I decided to settle for the MP490, as I don't print very often and just needed something for occasional one-offs.
I was pleased with my purchase, as it exhibited standard Canon quality, and the All-in-One functionality was a nice bonus for the price. The ink seems to drain a tad quickly, but luckily I don't print very often. It's not the fastest, or the highest quality, but it gets the job done and it's cost-effective.
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