By: Michael Gordon

Michael Gordon — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:46:36 +0000

I have a netgear dual-network wireless router (g & n) – I have 5 laptops, some on g & some on n, and one that uses both and switches back and forth (i guess it’s moody, like that). Anyway, this Pixma works every time. Took the better part of a workday to set it up properly, but I just took the steps, one-by-one, as printed in the set-up manual. Might be fast with more dedicated focus and a less-complicated set-up. I love ADF (Auto Doc Feeder), great for scanning contracts, etc. The printer comes with software to view pdfs, and I use PDFXChange Viewer to work with/edit my PDFs (it’s free & the text editing capabilities are great – and NO watermark on FREE version! Gotta pay to delete pages, tho.) The ADF is nice in that it has a flap to cover it when not in use – good for keeping nasty dust out of the crevices of the feeder. I love the auto-duplexing and the 2-up – or more – options. Also, the economy/fast print option still has good enough quality to read. I use all these (duplex, multi-up, & draft quality) to save paper and ink when printing ‘temporary’ documents like notes, directions, etc. The door where the printed pages comes out is quite cool, as it opens AUTOMATICALLY when you send a file to print. Great for keeping a tidy desk and still being able to print from another part of the house. I wish there was a button to close it automatically, like a CD drawer, as when I close it, it catches itself a few centimeters from being closed and ’soft closes’ itself the rest of the way, like an Ikea Kitchen Cabinet. Very cool, but I worry that this mechanism will wear out with repeated manual closing. That’s just my own worry, tho. I WISH the printer could be left turned off and then automatically turned on, from a laptop, etc. when I choose to print. Otherwise, I have to leave it on, or manually push the button to turn it ON when I want to print, scan, etc. (I don’t fax, as I use an on-line pdf, etc. faxing service – – saves paper & phone bills) Also, there’s no screen saver for the display and while it does ‘black out’ every so often, I can’t seem to find the setting to make this a regular occurance. I like that it’s ENERGY STAR and Canon seems to have a lot in place as far as ECo-friendliness is concerned. There are a lot of reviews, so I’ll let others cover the quality and speed, the points I listed were ones I hadn’t seen in other reviews when I was doing my research. Works fine for me so far. I feel I got it at a really good price (thanks, Amazon!) Recently, I saw it for almost $30 less, tho, on Amazon. Price changes often, but is usually around the same. PS – It is really big, so instead of my desktop, I put it on a short rolling cart made by Curtis, called Roll n’ Rak – I bought it a long time ago, but it happened to fit PERFECTLY! Very happy with my purchase – well worth the money & time – made my ‘paper-related’ life much easier and more efficient & organized!

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By: Michael Gordon