Canon imageCLASS MF244dw Wireless, Multifunction, Duplex Laser Printer

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This printer, Canon imageCLASS MF244dw, DOES NOT DUPLEX COPY OR SCAN. The product description here on Amazon says "All mode duplexing right out of the box" and in the table with other models it says this all-in-one will duplex "Print, Scan, Copy", but it certainly does not. If you read the table comparison quite carefully (as I did after this realization), you can see that tucked away in the same table it says "simplex automatic document feeder". How is that "all mode duplexing"? So, straight out of the box there is no ability to make double-sided copies from double-sided papers. Theres also no feature to scan a packet of double-sided papers, which is the one feature that I wanted from this printer and was looking for based on the 2 claims for it in the product description. I tried to scan 10 double-sided papers last week. To do so with this printer, I had to scan them on the front side into 1 PDF, then scan them on the back side into another PDF, then email them from home to my work account where I can access Adobe Acrobat Pro, then open both PDFs in Acrobat, then click and drag the pages from one file into the other being careful to perfectly shuffle their placement so that they appear in the correct order, then save the combined PDF, then email it back to my personal account, then download it to my computer. Can I still return this thing? Yes, it duplex prints just fine. But if I just wanted a duplex printer I would have just purchased a printer that claimed that it only duplex prints. Sigh.

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**INTRODUCTION** I was looking for an affordable solution to my printing needs for my home office. I did some research and found the Canon imageCLASS MF244dw laser printer. This printer seemed like it would be a good fit for me and my printing needs so I went ahead and purchased it through Amazon.com and Im glad I did! This printer is wonderful! I did not need to print in color so the fact that this printer only prints in black and white is perfect for me. I also like the fact that you can get several thousand pages printed on a single toner cartridge (on average). I was finding that with my old HP all-in-one printer that used ink cartridges that I was throwing money away on ink. I would print a few pages here and there and then the cartridges would be dried out which was frustrating as it felt like I was throwing money away. If you are looking for a good economical printer, I would look no further than the Canon imageCLASS MF244dw printer right here. I did not need a fax function so this particular model seemed to be perfect for me. **SET-UP** Set up was relatively easy for me. I currently have a wireless network that I run all my devices off of. I run on the Mac OSX operating system on my MacBook Pro and my Mac Mini. I also use iOS on my mobile devices. Printing via AirPrint from my iPhone 6S Plus and iPad are really easy! I’m thrilled that I can print anywhere in my home wirelessly as it’s really convenient to not be bogged down by cables. I downloaded the drivers from the Canon USA Support site for this printer however I’m not sure that was a necessary thing to do. I believe that this particular printer could have been set up without those drivers because I think they are already built in to OSX. From opening the box to printing my first test document I was up and running in about 20 minutes with no outside help required. This time included the time to take down my old ink jet printer and clean the area I was going to install this new printer. I am not a Windows PC user so I have no experience with set up on that operating system. I turned on the Power Save option to help me save some money on my electric bill but retain the ability to quickly print as needed from either one of my computers or mobile devices. **PRINT QUALITY** Print quality is right up there for me. I was used to using ink jet style printers and coming to this laser printer was a huge step up for me in the quality department especially when printing documents containing a lot of text. Lettering prints sharp and clear even on default printer settings at least on my particular printer. **SCANNING DOCUMENTS** I’ve scanned several documents. After making a quick adjustment to the DPI settings documents seem to scan in really high quality. I currently scan documents in the 150 DPI or 300 DPI settings and I’m really impressed at the quality of the scans using these settings. I like how on my Mac I can easily save documents as a PDF and then either print copies or e-mail those documents as needed. **FINAL THOUGHTS** As I stated earlier the ink jet printer system I had was no longer something I felt good about using, in fact it seemed like a huge waste of my hard earned money. I was tired of always paying what seemed like a lot of money to me to print a handful of documents here and there and then come back and find the ink cartridges either clogged up or dried out when I needed to use them again. The nice thing about this printer is that I’m told the Canon 137 toner cartridges will never dry up like an ink jet cartridge. This is perfect for me and my printing needs. I don’t give a lot of five star ratings in my reviews however the Canon imageCLASS MF244dw laser printer is worthy of this rating in my book.

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I just set this printer up to my Mac and wanted to leave a review while the pain was still fresh... I saw some reviews that said connecting to WiFi was annoying but I thought to myself, "Im techy, surely I can figure this out," and bought it. At least 2 hours later I am finally set up! If you have a Mac, heres what you need to do if you are not going to setup using the WPS button. I have a newer TP Link router but couldnt figure out where the WPS "easy connect" button was and ended up resetting my router to factory settings and had to go through the process to update my passwords. 1. Forget the setup DVD 2. Go to Canon Support online and download both the Scanner and Printer Drivers 3. Google "Canon MF/LBP Wireless Setup Assistant 1.2.0 for Mac OS X 4. Launch the setup assistant which will show you your "Access Point" (your wireless network name) and Network Key (your password) 5. On the Canon Support online page, go from Drivers to Manuals and follow the steps on page 12 6. This did it for me. Once I figured out to download the Setup Assistant (which is NOT on the DVD) it went pretty easily 4 stars because I printed a page and the text is crisp, I wanted to go much lower but hopefully I will not have anymore wifi issues moving forward. I have previously owned Brother Laser Printers in this price point but wasnt really satisfied and wanted to try Canon. Brothers wifi setup is SO much easier but I had problems with black lines running down my scanned documents. Good Luck!

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A key feature of my latest printer purchase is to have duplex scanning capability. Most printer/All-in-one descriptions at Amazon of such feature are pretty vague. Some may specify duplex printing which is not clear if 2-sided scanning is also supported. But this model has a very clear description of such feature. In the model comparison table, it clearly specifies ‘print/copy/scan)’ duplex capabilities for all three models mf244dw/mf247dw/mf249dw. Therefore, I purchased this model. Was not able to locate such function either on Windows or iOS app. Posted the question on ‘Question/Answer’section and CanonUSA responded that duplex scanning was not supported on mf244dw. Only mf249dw has that. That means Amazon/Canon product descriptions on this and mf247dw are false. That’s cheating to customer. This is my first-time purchase of Canon printer. Quite a disappointing experience.

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Everything works great with this machine - EXCEPT: The Scanner. Its horrible. It scans way too light to be used in an office setting. Black ink barely registers. Blue ink often doesnt show up at all. If you want to manually change the setting each and every time you scan something you can work around this. But for your average person who is at the office trying to conduct business, its awful. Wish I hadnt bought. Wouldnt recommend. Canon should provide a fix for this in their software updates. If the scan worked better Id give 5 stars. I posted a photo clip of what the scan looks like. Its really not acceptable.

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This printer just updated us that it needs new toner after 900 pages. The information claims that it can print 2400 pages so this printer has a life span of 37.5% of claim. The cost for a new cartridge is $67 which is almost 1/2 the price of the printer. Although this printer initially functions, the claims of yield are totally false. Expect to buy new cartridges at ~1000 pages of text.

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Allow me to preface this by saying that setting up printers never goes well for me, even as an IT professional (with experience in everything from end-user support development and even some database administration). I originally purchased the Brother HL-L2340DW, arguably the most-purchased, most-reviewed, and highest-rated printer on Amazon. Although network setup went smoothly, nothing else did- it never registered or was recognized by Google Cloud Print or even its own drivers/network configuration software. I was skeptical of this printer, more so than others because of the relatively small number of reviews, a number of which said the installation instructions were unclear or that they had difficulty setting it up. From my perspective, the setup couldnt have been easier. Wireless (WLAN) setup: -I plugged the printer in and used manual WLAN setup to punch in my network details and configure a static address for the printer (a slight oddity here- enabling and assigning a static address does not disable DHCP IP retrieval, but it was inconsequential to the setup as it only took 2 seconds to turn off). From plug-in to successfully pinging the access point (the printer includes a built-in utility for pinging) was less than 5 minutes. Google Cloud Print setup: -As soon as the printer was on the network, every Cloud Print capable device was able to see the printer, and I was able to register it under my account and connect all other devices in less than 10 minutes. Samsung Print Service setup: -Surprisingly, the Samsung print service that comes pre-installed on many Samsung devices did not need any additional configuration to work with this printer. Windows Driver setup: -MAJOR, MAJOR KUDOS TO CANON - the Windows "full driver package" dated February 10 2017 (2/10/2017) on Canons website included NO BLOAT WHATSOEVER. I struggle to find a printer these days which doesnt try to install 8 different pieces of software for ink ads (that you have to install anyway because the "driver only" packages magically dont work...). -Canons proprietary UFR II driver does provide lightning-fast print jobs, but youd be almost equally well serviced by the PCL print driver if you need something with a bit more compatibility. -I have had success with installing the UFR II drivers on the following machines: Windows 7 Professional x64, Windows 10 Home x64, and Windows 10 Enterprise x64. Other thoughts: -For my model, the print and scan quality is fine. Its at least as good as the Brother before it, and easily better than the HP inkjet it replaced. -The LCD interface has good visibility and contrast, and it snappy and responsive. Ive heard this is not true of the upgraded touch-screen model, but I cant personally confirm this. -The plastic housing does feel a bit flimsy in some areas, but I dont intend to be hitting the thing with a hammer (well... so long as it works), so I imagine it will be fine. -This printer seems to have no trouble waking from sleep to print. Ive had numerous HP and Brother printers struggle with this, but the Canon has been extremely reliable. TL;DR: -Easy WLAN setup for devices of numerous make/model/driver/service -No driver bloat -Fast, quality printing and scanning -NO driver bloat! -Reliable wake from sleep -NO DRIVER BLOAT! NONE! This printer has been a dream to work with. Canon was the underdog between HP and Brother in the printer market, and so I didnt honestly expect much, but this printer has blown me away in initial impressions. If it lasts and Canon doesnt stray too far from what theyve done here, theyll have made a lifelong printer customer out of me.

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Only a few years ago, a device like this would have cost $600-$700. I am amazed by how much this printer outperforms a similar but less capable product I bought many years ago for $450. If you are looking for a home black and white printer that can print duplex pages (print on both sides of the paper), then look no further. This should also serve small business needs well. This printers design is intricate and complex as it does many things meticulously well. The level of detail of design in this printer is amazing. Every single inch of this printer has a specific purpose and everything has been very thoroughly thought out. This printer can print 300 or 600 dpi. It can also print single page or duplex. It copies well and it even has a separate tray to feed into the copier. It can hold at least 400 pages in the printer feed tray. It can handle WiFi and probably works with smartphones (I havent tried). It even has a relatively small form factor. Best of all, the price is a steal. The printer itself is cheap, but you can easily buy cartridges that prints 2500 pages for around $12 or so. It is hard to beat that combination. I cant recommend this printer enough for home and small business use. Pros: 1)Very well designed with careful attention to detail. Everything from paper feeder to paper handler of the exit tray has been carefully crafted. 2)Very fast single page and duplex printing. Can handle 300 or 600 dpi. 3)Paper feeder for copier that works surprisingly fast. 4)Printer paper tray can hold 400+ pages. 5)Relatively small form factor for what it can do. 6)Printing costs (cartridges) are cheaper per page than most printers. 7)Cheap and awesome. Cons: 1)Somewhat complex setup. But I am a techie so I had no issues.

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I have to admit, overall, Im very impressed with this printer. Ive used it for a few weeks to be certain of my opinion, and Ill say...its a good machine for the money. Print quality is very good, speed is quick and functions all work well. Setup was a BREEZE, which to me, is critical. I hate having to go through a tremendous amount of drama to get cheap printers functioning on a home network, wake up and print, etc. This thing worked easily. Only hiccup I had with it, was the default duplex printing (front and back). This is how Canon ships it, and this is how it defaults. You actually have to go into the advanced printer settings on your pc, and disable the duplex mode. Initially this frustrated me a bit, but a couple google searches with the model name and "duplex mode" and I came upon the solution. Printing, scanning, copying though...works like charm and well worth the money.

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We bought a laser printer to get away from the expensive inkjet issues. If we want photo prints we can always go to WalMarts. From delivery to printing the first test page was a mere 20 minutes. Theres a few things you can do in advance to make the process fast and relatively painless. First, go to Canons website and download the drivers and scan utility software. These come on the included CD, but if you dont have a CD drive youll need these. Second, take your time unpacking the printer and removing all the packing tape. Follow the quick install guide carefully. Shaking the toner cartridge is not necessary. Turn on the printer but DO NOT touch any buttons! Third, decide if youre a wireless or wired user. If wired, youll need to order a separate USB cable. Most users will have a router with a WPS button. Hold the WPS button down and follow the printer screen instructions. Only takes a minute to connect. Now you can install the drivers. Once installed the printer will spit out its first test page. Woot! Printed paper! Dont forget to install the scan utility. I printed a few PDF documents...fast, quiet, and excellent resolution. Scanning through the ADF was a breeze as well. The printer recognizes items placed in the ADF and manual feed tray instantly and adjusts accordingly. I also tried a label sheet marked for inkjet/laser printers. No problems, but I did notice the label sheet was a tad warmer than an inkjet sheet. All-in-all, an economical AIO laser printer for home and light office use. The only feature it lacks is faxing.

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