Cheap Canon Printer Wireless Deals Price Drop very fast 2012

I have been looking at all-in-ones casually for the last couple of years. After considerable research, I purchased the MX870. My old printer, a HP I purchased in 2000, still works well. With that in mind, here is what I was looking for in this purchase:

- Primarily, I was looking for a good scanner that could also replace my existing printer should it fail since it is so old.
- Easy to use scanning software
- Duplex scanning was desired
- Duplex printing was desired
- Separate ink for each color
- The ability to print in B&W even if a color ink is out
- Print speeds were not a concern – this is for home use
- Print quality was not much of a concern either – I haven’t had a color cartridge for my current printer for 4 yrs
- I don’t print photos, so printing on photo paper/borderless printing/etc. are not attributes I researched (in my opinion, it is just easier and cheaper to upload them to a service and have them sent to you. In the rare instances I need pictures sooner than that, I go to CVS, which I think is still cheaper than printing from home.)

So far the MX870 has lived up to my expectations.
- Set up was very easy. I would say it took 30 minutes, including unboxing and setting up the wireless (and I was taking my time).
- Scanning has been great. It scans really well from the feeder, and there are very easy to access options for color, dpi, etc. Last night I scanned a 25 pg document, front and back, and had no issues.
- The software does not seem to be a resource hog. You can select exactly what you want to install on the CD (just drivers, scanning software, photo software, etc). I think this is great. For my laptop and desktop, I needed the scanning software, but was able to opt out of installing the photo software for now. For my netbook, I can easily just install the drivers, and none of the other software.
- The scanning software is light on resources and easy to use. You scan something in, a window pops up so you can review it, rename it, etc. Couldn’t be easier.
- Print quality is fine. I have it set to print fast duplex by default and this results in a product that works for me. In the 4 days I’ve had it, I haven’t tried to print it on normal or best quality, so I cannot speak to those results, but judging by the quality of the fast, I would assume it would work for most home users.
- Copy is easy – no complaints.
- Print speed is a little slow. As I stated above, I’ve only printed on Fast, but this printer’s fast is definitely not any faster than my old HP – even with duplex printing turned off. If speed is critical, this may not be your best bet. For most home users I would suspect it prints fast enough for general use.

I’ll quickly mentioned the competition. Based on the criteria above, I was very seriously considering three other printers:
(1) The HP 6500 wired for $150 or wireless for $200
(2) The HP 8500 Pro wired for $200 wireless for $260
(3) The Brother MFC 6490CW – $200 on sale at Office Depot, regularly $300

(1) I decided against the HP 6500 wired because for $50 more you got wireless and duplex printing/scanning. I decided against the 6500 wireless because for $200, I could get the 8500 – from HPs better printer line – which even though it was wired, had more features and a higher quality scanner.

(2) I decided against the HP 8500 despite the fact that it is: (1) recommended by CNET, (2) discounted through my employer, (3) I have enjoyed my current HP for a decade. The reason I did this was simply because there are just too many bad reviews. I know there are a lot of reviews for it – almost double the amount there are for this printer – but they seem to be too recurring: bad printer heads, failing after a couple months, bad software, driver issues with Windows 7 and XP, and the list just went on. Before buying the HP, I would read not only the reviews on Amazon, but also the reviews on CNET and [...]. After an hour of reading “stay away” and “do not buy!” I imagine you’ll be as scared as I was.

(3) I chose the Canon over the Brother because quite simply because it was cheaper on Amazon ($146) than the Brother on sale ($199, currently back to $299 it looks like) and it is much smaller. Both have great reviews all over the web, so without any reason to pick the more expensive Brother, I chose the Canon.

I hope this review helps and I’ll update this review if I encounter issues (my expectation is a printer of this cost should last at least 5 years).

— UPDATE —
2 of the 3 color inks have now run out and it still prints black/grey with no problems. A definite feature in my book.

After a few months, I am happy to report I still have no issues with this purchase. The trial black ink is just about gone (comes with a small and large black ink tank) but overall, I would say it seems to use black ink efficiently. My history/comparison with color ink is limited so it’s harder for me to say there..

Hooray, I finally got rid of my HP printer!!! This Canon printer is fast, surprisingly easy to set up (I have 2 PCs and 2 laptops printing to it wirelessly), it has great print quality for both B&W text and color images – I love it. Not only is the printer excellent, the software is also excellent – it’s simple and intuitive to use and does exactly what it’s supposed to do. This is unlike my previous HP printer software, which came with ridiculous bloatware and caused annoying condescending messages to pop up whenever I was in the middle of working. Also, the separate ink tanks I think will mean a better ink consumption (I’ve not used the printer enough to be 100% sure of this). And did I mention the printed manual is well written, easy to follow and accurate? By all means get this printer, it might be more expensive but it’s totally worth it.