best cheap Canon printer?

[Brendan R. Wehrung]

Canon is one of the 2 favorite companies around here (along with Epson).
Over its line it seems to print well at reasonable cost, and while there
have been more panicked queries about this or that issue here most seem
satisfied.

The biggest worry I'd have about getting one was that you have the added
cost of a hard-to-find print head every 3 or 4 tank replacements (or
refills), balanced against the low cost of said tanks (instead of a
3-color + printhead cart of HP or Lexmark). Comments on this issue would
be welcome.

I just bought a Canon camera, and with it took home a brochure tellimg me
I could get a $50 rebate on selected Canon printers. It may be that this
amount is offered in many sales but I thought I'd ask what model you'd buy
if you wanted an extra printer and had a potential rebate in hand.

I'm interested in full-sheet printing, not photo size only, and I'd hope
it will handle card stock as well as 24 lb paper, like my current Lexmark
does. (For that matter, I'd like to have two paper bins like my Lexmakr
Z65, which I can swtich between with the press of a button.)

I don't plan to start using the printer for several months, not until I
buy my next computer. I'd guess there are no storage issues (unlike
Lexmark, whose carts have a shelf life before nozzles start to clog right
out of the box) becuase the print head is seperate, but if I need to wait
a year until the new Vista operating systme comes out, would Canon be
supplying drivers? Are ther any Vista Beta testers using a Canon printer
here?

All the above in mind, and with the hope that there will be some super
sales on Canon printers in three weeks (Memorial Day), what model should I
be looking at? I'm hoping for a price that isn't much more than the
rebate, making my new printer, if not free, really cheap.

Brendan

 

[Burt]

Canon is one of the 2 favorite companies around here (along with Epson).
Over its line it seems to print well at reasonable cost, and while there
have been more panicked queries about this or that issue here most seem
satisfied.

The biggest worry I'd have about getting one was that you have the added
cost of a hard-to-find print head every 3 or 4 tank replacements (or
refills), balanced against the low cost of said tanks (instead of a
3-color + printhead cart of HP or Lexmark). Comments on this issue would
be welcome.

I just bought a Canon camera, and with it took home a brochure tellimg me
I could get a $50 rebate on selected Canon printers. It may be that this
amount is offered in many sales but I thought I'd ask what model you'd buy
if you wanted an extra printer and had a potential rebate in hand.

I'm interested in full-sheet printing, not photo size only, and I'd hope
it will handle card stock as well as 24 lb paper, like my current Lexmark
does. (For that matter, I'd like to have two paper bins like my Lexmakr
Z65, which I can swtich between with the press of a button.)

I don't plan to start using the printer for several months, not until I
buy my next computer. I'd guess there are no storage issues (unlike
Lexmark, whose carts have a shelf life before nozzles start to clog right
out of the box) becuase the print head is seperate, but if I need to wait
a year until the new Vista operating systme comes out, would Canon be
supplying drivers? Are ther any Vista Beta testers using a Canon printer
here?

All the above in mind, and with the hope that there will be some super
sales on Canon printers in three weeks (Memorial Day), what model should I
be looking at? I'm hoping for a price that isn't much more than the
rebate, making my new printer, if not free, really cheap.

Brendan

I've seen the ip4200 on sale for $80 to $90 after rebates. I don't know how
this would work with your $50 rebate in hand already. This is a five cart
printer - a black pigment ink cart and black, yellow, cyan, and magenta
photo printing carts. I would stay away from the cheapest Canon printers
that have a single black cart and a single tricolor cart. The tricolor cart
has so little of each color ink in it that it empties very quickly.
Unfortunately, there are not any aftermarket carts for these printers yet as
Canon has put a computer chip on the carts of their newest printers. There
are a few vendors now with bulk refill inks. You can refill these carts but
the printer then gives you the warning that you are printing with an empty
cart and will ruin the printhead. The chip is on the cart (as per canon
advertising) to enhance the metering of ink in the cart. I think it is to
discourage refilling and aftermarket carts.

I don't know about card stock - my canon i960 prints on a fairly heavy
double sided matte paper quite well. My experience has been that you get
much more than four cart changes before the print head dies.

 

[zakezuke]

The biggest worry I'd have about getting one was that you have the added

cost of a hard-to-find print head every 3 or 4 tank replacements (or
refills), balanced against the low cost of said tanks (instead of a
3-color + printhead cart of HP or Lexmark). Comments on this issue would
be welcome.

The lifespan on the head on the i860/ip4000 was there and abouts of 10
cartridge changes... officaly they gave it in page numbers using 1,500
character pattern for text, ISO JIS-SCID No. 5 for color, both tests
give inflated page numbers.

Assuming $80 for a head... and assuming 10 cartridge changes, that's an
additional cost of $1.60/tank.

It just so happens that the duty cycle for the printhead is the same as
the printer. This is not to say the printer won't print beyond 10
cartridge changes, esp if you are a heavy color user and are taxing the
head more than the printer.

Assuming $120 for the printer... and assuming 10 cartridge changes,
that's an additional $2.40 per tank

Years ago I decided that canon wasn't a good idea because you had to
replace the head. But the truth of the matter is though it is a
limited life item, it lasts long enough by the time have to replace it,
you might as well consider a newer model. This is unless you bought
into a multi-function where the investment is $300ish

But the point is, don't worry about the head. It's value is 2/3 that
of the printer's MSRP. Ink is there and abouts of 2/3 the value of the
printer's MSRP. It's an item covered for a year under warranty.

All the above in mind, and with the hope that there will be some super
sales on Canon printers in three weeks (Memorial Day), what model should I
be looking at? I'm hoping for a price that isn't much more than the
rebate, making my new printer, if not free, really cheap.

Well you have the ip4200 which is your base consumer level option. It
floats at between $80 and $100, presently $78 on buy.com, $82 on
newegg.com, anything under $80 is a buy me now price, both prices
listed including shipping.

You have the ip5200 which is basicly the same thing but with a larger
head. It floats at $120 to $150 ish. Anything under $120 is a buy me
now price. Expect speed, longer head life, and a tad more weight.
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/canon_ip5200.html

The higher end models like the ip6600D are purely photo printers and
dont' offer the pigment black the i860 does... and text quality isn't
quite as good. The lower end models offer head on the cartridge which
really increases you cost per page. So while you "could" get a referb
ip1600 for $30.00 it'll really get you in the end in terms of ink cost.

I'm interested in full-sheet printing, not photo size only, and I'd hope
it will handle card stock as well as 24 lb paper, like my current Lexmark
does. (For that matter, I'd like to have two paper bins like my Lexmakr
Z65, which I can swtich between with the press of a button.)

Most of canon's models offer dual trays, with the exception of subbase
consumer models like the ip1600. I forget the exact weight of kirkland
photo paper, but it's pretty heavy stuff and I have no problems on my
ip5200.

I'm hoping for a price that isn't much more than the rebate, making my new printer, if
not free, really cheap.

Depends on what you call cheap. $80 is cheap in my book for a printer.

I need to wait a year until the new Vista operating systme comes out, would Canon be
supplying drivers?

Who knows... they have xp64 drivers which they kinda dragged their feet
about and infact announced that they wouldn't release xp64 drivers
because it's for "professionals". Odd ducks. I don't have vista so I
can't say.

 

[Taliesyn]

I've seen the ip4200 on sale for $80 to $90 after rebates. I don't know how
this would work with your $50 rebate in hand already. This is a five cart
printer - a black pigment ink cart and black, yellow, cyan, and magenta
photo printing carts. I would stay away from the cheapest Canon printers
that have a single black cart and a single tricolor cart. The tricolor cart
has so little of each color ink in it that it empties very quickly.
Unfortunately, there are not any aftermarket carts for these printers yet as
Canon has put a computer chip on the carts of their newest printers. There
are a few vendors now with bulk refill inks. You can refill these carts but
the printer then gives you the warning that you are printing with an empty
cart and will ruin the printhead. The chip is on the cart (as per canon
advertising) to enhance the metering of ink in the cart. I think it is to
discourage refilling and aftermarket carts.

Love to try one of these new printers . . . but I still have three that
fully work and little printload to help kill them off (gee, I hope
they're not listening as they don't take too kindly to rumors of
assisted suicide . I obviously will miss out this current model. At
this rate I'll probably even miss out on the NEXT one too.

-Taliesyn

 

[measekite]

Canon is one of the 2 favorite companies around here (along with Epson).
Over its line it seems to print well at reasonable cost, and while there
have been more panicked queries about this or that issue here most seem
satisfied.

The biggest worry I'd have about getting one was that you have the added
cost of a hard-to-find print head every 3 or 4 tank replacements (or
refills),

of course generic ink will clog. some of the posters here claim to get
more than 3 tank replacements before it clogs but i believe that yours
clogs in about 3 tank replacements. that seems better than many others
so do not feel bad.

balanced against the low cost of said tanks (instead of a
3-color + printhead cart of HP or Lexmark). Comments on this issue would
be welcome.

I just bought a Canon camera, and with it took home a brochure tellimg me
I could get a $50 rebate on selected Canon printers. It may be that this
amount is offered in many sales but I thought I'd ask what model you'd buy
if you wanted an extra printer and had a potential rebate in hand.

I'm interested in full-sheet printing, not photo size only, and I'd hope
it will handle card stock as well as 24 lb paper, like my current Lexmark
does. (For that matter, I'd like to have two paper bins like my Lexmakr
Z65, which I can swtich between with the press of a button.)

I don't plan to start using the printer for several months, not until I
buy my next computer. I'd guess there are no storage issues (unlike
Lexmark, whose carts have a shelf life before nozzles start to clog right
out of the box) becuase the print head is seperate, but if I need to wait
a year until the new Vista operating systme comes out, would Canon be
supplying drivers? Are ther any Vista Beta testers using a Canon printer
here?

All the above in mind, and with the hope that there will be some super
sales on Canon printers in three weeks (Memorial Day),

the ip4200 goes on sale frequently at about $80.00 and the ip5200 just
went off sale at about $107.00 after a $20.00 rebate.

what model should I
be looking at?

both of the above models will produce about the same quality but the
ip5200 is subtantially faster on photos. it is worth it if you value
speed and worth waiting for a sale on that. be sure to use canon ink.

 

[Gary Tait]

of course generic ink will clog.

Nobody said generic ink. Could have meand formulated ink.

some of the posters here claim to get
more than 3 tank replacements before it clogs but i believe that yours
clogs in about 3 tank replacements. that seems better than many others
so do not feel bad.

Some have reported at least 10 refills of formulated aftermarket ink with
no clogs.

 

[measekite]

@newssvr27.news.prodigy.net:




Nobody said generic ink. Could have meand formulated ink.

all their is is canon,. hp, epson and generic.

Some have reported at least 10 refills of formulated aftermarket ink with
no clogs.

and i have a bridge in brooklyn to sell