Canon PIXMA TR4520 Wireless All in One Photo Printer, White with CanonInk 1287C001 Canon PG-243 Black Cartridge

Ive been a big fan of Canon printers for almost 20 years now, and most of them have been wonderful. This one... well, less so. Back in the long, long ago, one of Canons differentiating features was that they used separate color tanks. In fact, the only Canon printers that come to mind in recent history that dont work this way are their ultraportables, and now, this. So, you get a black cartridge and a tri-color cartridge. If you use up all of your cyan when your document prints links, for example, youre going to have to replace the color cartridge instead of just the blue one. And unlike most Canon printers with cheap single-color tanks, the tricolor tank is about 25% of this printers MSRP. (Also: at the time of this writing, Canon is selling this printer for 40% off MSRP.) Speaking of cartridges, while most Canon multifunction printers are clamshell-style (where the scanner pops up) to replace the cartridges, replacement in this model is through the front panel. Its kind of difficult to see, and inserting and removing the cartridges isnt very intuitive. The ancient LCD panel wont offer any help here, either. If you dont have the cartridge(s) in right, itll only spit out a cryptic error number for you to look up. Once you have the printer set up, it still manages to disappoint. Print output is "okay" at best. Honestly, Im surprised they called it a PIXMA, instead of giving it different branding. Its fine for small projects, but the quality isnt close to what Id use for a presentation, and youll burn through the tricolor ink so quickly, nobody who values time or money would ever use this for printing more than one or two photos a year. Connectivity is another major disappointment. Why, why, why, in 2018, does Canon refuse to acknowledge that 5GHz wireless networks exist? If you arent running dual-band, you can forget about using this printer on a wireless network. Scan quality is fine, but can anyone shopping this price point honestly say that theyve seen a bad scanner in the past decade or so? Build quality is horrendous, too. Since so many places are selling this for 40% off right now, I could say its a decent printer for that price. The kind of printer you get for your 4th grader to print out school reports, or that you get for Grandma to print out her e-mail. But for anyone else, I wouldnt recommend it.

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Update: I spoke with Canon Support who informs me that draft printing is only available for computers with Windows operating systems. [I dont know about Linux] Draft printing is not possible on Mac operating systems (which I have) Sierra, High Sierra, and Mojave. Canon says this is a Mac problem. Mac says this is a Canon problem. Also, I was told that the ink tanks that are shipped with the printer are at about half capacity which explains why the black one ran out so soon....but by this reckoning, I still will have to replace them more often than Id like. My 5 year-old Canon Pixma workhorse was showing too many signs of age. I needed a new printer and I knew I wanted a Canon. Ive had good luck with Amazon Choices in the past. The price was right so on impulse I bought this one. I should have known better. Right off the bat, there was a huge issue. My other Canon allowed for draft printing which helps to conserve ink. This printer doesn’t. Apparently Canon has re-engineered its newer models and has abandoned not only separate ink tanks for color and black but draft mode as well. This printer has standard or best modes period. That’s a huge waste of ink. As I write this, I’ve only had this printer for 11 days, printed maybe 30 pages and the black tank is already empty. Replacement cartridges are not cheap either. Another issue is the LED panel controls located at the top of the machine. The panel is so poorly lit and positioned in such an awkward location, it is invisible when seated next to it. The only way to make adjustments is to stand right over it with a flashlight. Each time you change something, the printer doesn’t. Unless you remember to switch “last used settings” to “default settings,” whatever you printed last waste even more paper and ink. My old Canon got cues from the document itself.

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need a computer guru to install on computer or cell phone

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It took only about 50 pages of printing in draft mode to empty the original ink cartridges. Hope the aftermarket cartridges will last longer. But they are only about 30% cheaper. Overall print quality is ok. Its a real noise maker/shaker if not set up in the quiet mode. But then its very slow. The installation was quite cumbersome. I used the online Canon set-up tool, that wouldnt connect the printer to the home network. Normally Im quite good with computers. After a few tries I used the built-in WPS function (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) that connected the printer to the router. The online set up tool should at least notify the user about downloading the applicable Canon drivers or the printer wouldnt work. The printer ancient LCD screen is not user friendly nad not readable without using a flashlight. I used to have Canon MX822 that worked perfectly for more than 10 years using cheap individual ink tanks. It amazes me how Canon printers got so bad in the past 5-6 years. My plan is to use my TR4520 for a year or so and then put on Craigslist for a few bucks and buy a good Brother printer with individual ink cartridges. Sorry - no more Canon printers for me in the future.

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