Editor's note: This review of the Canon Pixma MP800 is based on the review of the MP800R. Both printers are identical, except that the MP800R offers networking capabilities.
Inkjet all-in-one printers are generally split into two categories: those made for offices and those for home hobbyists. With its slide/negative scanner and lack of fax capability, the Canon Pixma MP800 Photo all-in-one falls into the latter category. With sub par text quality and a print quality that will satisfy casual hobbyists but not discerning professionals, the Pixma MP800 is best suited for home users and amateur photography enthusiasts who want a wealth of photo manipulation features and can do without faxing. If you want an office-oriented inkjet all-in-one, the HP OfficeJet 7410 is a good bet, but keep in mind that you'll lose the negative scanner. If you like the features available on the Pixma MP800R but need networking, check out the MP800R, which offers both wired and wireless networking connectivity and costs AU$200 more.
Design
The Canon Pixma MP800 Photo all-in-one is not a small machine, so make sure you have the space for it. It stands 470mm wide, 490mm deep and 240mm tall and weighs about 12 kilograms. Its glossy black and brushed silver plastic exterior is classic Pixma design. The scanner lid lifts up smoothly and stays up until you push it down, and it detaches entirely from the printer, which is a boon when photocopying or scanning thick documents. The inside of every scanner lid has a foam-backed sheet that protects the platen and presses the scanned item against the glass. On the MP800, this piece detaches from the lid and on its reverse side, you'll find film guides used for negative and slide scanning.
Behind a door on the front is the media card reader, which accepts all major memory card formats, though you may need adaptors for some of them. A front-mounted USB port lets you attach PictBridge-enabled cameras or camera phones for PC-free printing; you can also use it to attach an optional Bluetooth adaptor, for printing from Bluetooth devices. The MP800 ships with a USB cable -- a rarity with printers.
The front of the machine folds out smoothly with the push of a button. This flap functions as the output tray, and a handy extension pulls out to keep long pages in check. For paper input, you have two options. A paper cassette slides out of the bottom and can hold up to 150 sheets of paper. Unfortunately, the largest size paper it accepts is A4; for legal-size paper, you'll have to use the rear-mounted paper support, which folds out. It extends to support longer paper, but the extension pieces tend to stick as you pull on them. An adjustable paper guide lets you corral media of different sizes.
The control panel is simple for a printer with so many functions. Dedicated buttons let you switch between tasks, and a feed switch lets you toggle between the rear feeder and the paper cassette. The one-touch photo index button initiates printing a photo index sheet from your memory card. You can navigate function-specific menus using the four-way rocker switch, the OK button, and the dedicated back button. The menus are clear and concise and displayed on the enormous 3.5-inch colour LCD. The LCD makes previewing photos a joy, and you can optimise the image by tipping the LCD forward and back. Rounding out the control panel are two start buttons (colour and black), a stop/cancel button, and a power button.
Setup is straightforward; the included setup guide walks you through the process, whether you're establishing a simple USB connection or wrestling with a complicated network connection. The installation CD also guides you through the necessary steps and security for a variety of network connection scenarios.
Features
The only feature that's missing from the Canon Pixma MP800 Photo all-in-one is fax capability, which lessens the printer's office appeal. (If you need to send faxes, check out the HP OfficeJet 7410.) The many features it does offer, however, will please home users, especially enthusiastic photo hobbyists.
As with any other printer, printing documents from a computer is a straightforward task. When printing photos, you can also print from a media card or directly from a PictBridge camera. When printing from a card or camera, you don't even need to touch your PC. You have options such as printing photos one at a time, specifying a range of photos to be printed, or even printing an index sheet of all the photos on a card. You can indicate on the index sheet which images you want printed and scan in the index sheet, and the MP800R will print just those images. And when using a memory card, you can even search by shooting date.
Copying also presents a useful range of options, including special copy (such as borderless or image repeat), shrinking or enlarging, fitting two or four pages onto a single sheet, and double-sided copying with the built-in duplexer. When scanning, you can save your scanned documents as JPEGs, TIFFs, bitmaps, or PDFs. You can scan into an application such as Photoshop or attach the file to e-mail. With the included ScanSoft OmniPage SE, you can convert the scanned document to text using optical character recognition. In addition to scanning documents, the MP800 scans up to six negatives and/or four slides at once. With slides and negatives, you can scan them to a PC or print them as photos. The negative- and slide-scanner feature gives this printer a leg up over printers such as the office-oriented HP 7410, but you don't get an automatic document feeder (to scan or copy a multipage document mostly hands-free) or fax capability.
The Canon MP800 uses five ink cartridges: a dye-based black, a pigment-based black, and separate cyan, magenta, and yellow tanks. The upside to this is that you can replace each colour separately as it runs out, instead of ditching a partially full tank because just one colour runs dry. And you won't have to switch out tanks to print photos, either. When you open the body of the printer to access the ink tanks, each tank has a light that indicates whether it needs to be changed. Also, a graphical representation of the ink tanks on the LCD keeps you updated as to the relative amount left in each tank. The tanks are simple to switch out, and the print head is labelled so that you know which tank goes where. (The lights flash if you insert them incorrectly.) Canon ships the unit with full tanks.
Performance
The Canon Pixma MP800's speeds were quite impressive, especially when compared to an office all-in-one. It produced text at 7.97 pages per minute (ppm), scanned greyscale photos at 11.88ppm, scanned colour photos at 10.75ppm, and printed 4x6 photos at 1.84ppm. The MP800R's scores are nearly identical to those of the MP830 but blew away those of the two HPs, including the office-oriented 7410.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Text speed |
N/A
We had high hopes for the MP800's print quality, but it didn't quite live up to expectations. Since it's a photo-oriented printer, we weren't totally surprised by the sub par text quality. At first glance, it looked fine, but closer examination revealed jagginess everywhere. As the text point size decreased, the letters began to look slightly fuzzy, even on coated inkjet paper. The blotchiness was evident on the colour graphics print, too. The colours in the image portion of the colour graphics page were off: flesh tones were overly red, and the greyscale portion was overly blue. The colour graphics were a bit grainy and not as saturated as we like, though the printer handled the colour gradients and greyscales nicely. We were satisfied with the 4x6 photo prints, as they showed good flesh tones, sharp detail, and only the slightest compression in the dark end of the greyscale. We liked the colour scan, with its good detail and colour representation. The greyscale scan was also good, though it also showed slight compression in the dark end of the greyscale, resulting in some detail loss in shadow areas.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Text on inkjet paper |
Canon provides a one-year warranty for the Pixma MP800 all-in-one printer, which is standard. You can purchase an extended service plan for AU$149, which will cover your printer for three years. You can e-mail tech support via an online form, though the form encourages you to try the step-by-step troubleshooting tool first. Canon says you should get a response to your e-mail within 24 hours. Other online support options include FAQs, downloadable drivers and software, and downloadable manuals. Additionally, the user guide on the CD covers all the features and gives instruction in exhaustive detail, as do the hard-copy installation guide and the user guide.
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walmslan
21/11/2008, 10:34 PM
rating
1/10
Canon MP600. What started off as a very nice unit, with great functionality soon descended into a nightmare! This is now a very large paperwork on my desk that will soon be joining today's left over dinner in the recycle bin. DO NOT BUY A CANON PRINTER. They need to learn a lesson that shoddy manufacturing has no place in today's society.
Pros: Errr....when it worked, the prints were great.
Errr....when it worked, the scanning was good.
Erro...when it work, the copier was ok too.
Cons: Error prone catridges, u150, u071, y043 to name but a few errors I have been getting with this product. What makes it worse is that the unit will not function at all with these errors, even though they relate to just printing.
Hence 'multi-functional'....my arse!
A complete and utter waste of money
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robonorm
17/11/2008, 02:39 PM
rating
5/10
I bought the Pixma 800 for its ability to copy 35mm slides, and the CD and DVD printing feature. I was dissapointed to find that you can only print DVDs from existing ones by copy only. You cannot compose a label and print to the DVD. You still have to make a paper label and stick it on.
Pros: Great glossy photo prints.
Cons: Cannot print a label on to a printable DVD or CD from the computer. Can only copy one disc onto another.
True colour quality not good on plain paper.
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yort74
07/11/2008, 05:53 PM
rating
1/10
I have found the MP 800 to be unreliable, particularly the ink cartridges. On one occasion, the unit seized-up, supposedly because there were empty ink cartridges in the machine, even though all the cartridges were full. Canon customer service did not suggest that the cartridges might be faulty and repeatedly suggested I run printhead cleansing- wasting more ink in the process. Eventually, after much driving and inconvenience, a Canon approved repairer established that there was nothing wrong with the printhead and the problem was that 3 out of the 5 ink cartridges were faulty. Later on the same thing happened with another cartridge. When I sent it interstate to the Canon (including a description of the above experience) their response was to simply replace the cartridge. My inconvenience was irrelevant to them,as was confirmed after I wrote a subsequent letter expressing dissatisfaction. This printer is designed so that it ceases to function if a cartridge is empty (or doesn't work) - why can't the user be able to use the scanner whilst the printer is indisposed? The combination of poor product performance and customer service has led me to cease buying Canon products in future.
Pros: Scanner
Cons: The cartridges are expensive, run out quickly and are unreliable
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guest1
05/10/2008, 03:05 AM
rating
1/10
This printer has a major design flaw. It will tell you the ink cartridge is empty or there are two of the same cartridge in place, etc. Do a search, these problems are all over the net now. Canon customer support's answer and this only if the product is still in warranty, is to send you a single replacement ink cartridge. BIG DEAL! That does not fix the problem! I would recommend NOT buying the product until Canon comes up with a fix.
Pros: when it works it works well...but it will quit working after a few months.
Cons: It quits working properly and Canon will NOT fix it!
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cshinn
23/06/2008, 07:35 PM
rating
6/10
Same problem as was posted on 13/05/2008. I get a "U071 error - More than yellow ink tank installed. I have removed and replaced the tank but same thing. Sometimes if I remove and reinstall the cartidge, it will work for a few prints but eventually goes back to the error and me to scratch my head and go through the reinstall process again. Very disappointing, especially since it's otherwise and excellent product.
Pros: Produces excellent scans & prints, including photos.
Cons: Has bugs - won't scan if ink cartidges are empty or in error.
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guest
13/05/2008, 09:10 AM
rating
3/10
When it works it was fine, but now I get an insistent "U071 More than one ink tank of the following color is installed. Bk" I have removed and replaced the tank and have been able to print. But no longer and all other functions stop because of this error. I am not alone in this either. There are a few postings in fixya.com. Very disappointing.
Pros: easy install, great scans
Cons: all functions quit on a printer error.
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Mr. Tech
06/01/2007, 11:57 AM
rating
8/10
this printer is amazing, i have had mine for 6 months and i just love it. the print resolution is spectacular and with the right paper can give you near lab quality prints. The features like the infrared and card reader is a must have these days. there are no complaints about the speed of the printer and its ability to be swiched to silent mode at night. the screen is clear and a great size, also the menus are easy to use. it is not only functional it is also great value and stylish
Pros: -print resolution - one of the best
-features
-all round great multifunction ideal for people who like to print images
Cons: -cant be networked
-USB connection cable (to computer) is not included
-uses ink quite quickly (if you print lots of images
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fairlane351
17/11/2006, 05:48 PM
rating
9/10
I too have the MP800 - Love it - especially when it comes to converting 35mm slides - becoming an expert now
Pros: scanning 35mm slides - negitaves - dvd printing
Cons: do not like the idea when cartridges become empty - scanner WILL NOT WORK, you get an error
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glen
19/09/2006, 10:40 AM
rating
10/10
great scanner/printer for student work
I have had my MP800 for a number of months now. I am writing a PhD and have several hundred magazines and more books from which I quote. The detailed scanner function allows me to make digital backups of my magazine archive for my dissertation and also for my blog. This is the primary reason why I bought it. It saves me a huge amount of time. I have used other scanners for this function before, and they are not as good (ie scanner quality is crap, software is 'stupid', etc).
I also did a lot of research on printing costs, colour and b/w. From memory the MP 800 came out near the top.
Only used the photo printing capacity a few times (mainly for images sent to not-internet relatives), they came out alright. I am no expert but I couldn't tell the diffrence between the printed photos and so-called professional photos.
The sleek black/grey design goes well with the rest of my set up (w/s lcd monitor, wireless k/b & mouse, etc).
One slightly annoying thing I have noticed is that it remins in standby-mode or something when the computer is switched off. This is the first printer I have owned that does this.
Pros: The superb scanning ability works with the bundled image-to-text software to read the text of magazines and books. This is why I bought it.
The relatively small size (compared to separate peripherals) suits my one-bedder flat/office where I spend 8 hours a day working.
Cons: Text printing is not so good. I had a cheap laser before the MP800, and it was far faster/better.
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shanghai01
10/09/2006, 07:06 PM
rating
9/10
easytoinstall.so far so good
i bought one earlier on this afternoon. I installed it in less than half an hour. Very easy to install just follow the instructions given to you.
I did some test scans and some printing and so far so good.
Only thing to warn others about is that the printer doesn't come with its own individual usb cable so it cant be connected to a computer until u purchase or find a usb cable lying around.
For most of you, replacing an older printer, unless it uses a parallel cable, you should be able to just continue using it on the mp800, otherwise buy one for about 19.95 AU.
oh and by the way. i bought my mp800 at JB HI-FI for $298 AU
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