The Canon Pixma MP160 is the entry-level model of Canon's all-in-one photo printer line. At AU$89, it's a bargain for a machine that prints, scans, and copies, especially given its surprisingly good print quality. (Unfortunately, we can't say the same for its scan quality.) Befitting its budget price, the printer is missing some features, including media card slots and an LCD screen. As much as we like this printer for both quality and value, we don't recommend buying it: for a mere AU$20 more, you can upgrade to the Pixma MP180. The MP180 is basically the same printer (same speed and print quality), but it comes with both memory card slots and a two-line monochromatic LCD screen, as well as more configuration options for each task. If you want a good entry-level photo-centric all-in-one printer, skip the MP160 and buy the Canon Pixma MP180.
Design
The Canon Pixma MP160 looks a lot like Canon's other photo all-in-ones,
with its light-gray-and-black body, control panel "shelf," and rounded
edges. It's bulkier than HP's similarly priced OfficeJet 4315, but the
inclusion of a flatbed scanner limits how small the printer can be. The
Pixma MP160 stands 443mm wide, 381mm deep and 181mm tall, and weighs a
light 6.3kg.
The scanner platen is big enough to hold originals up to A4 size, and the lid's hinges rear back to accommodate thick originals, such as textbooks. A PictBridge port on the front of the printer lets you print photos directly from a PictBridge-compatible digital camera or a digital video camera, without touching your PC. But you can't preview them on the printer because it lacks an LCD screen. Also missing are media card slots, but you can get them on the MP180, which costs just AU$20 more. The MP180 also features a two-line LCD, but you can't preview pictures on it.
The MP160's paper-handling options are limited. A paper feeder with adjustable paper guides folds out from the rear of the unit and holds up to 100 sheets of plain paper. A simple tray folds out from the front of the printer and serves as the output tray. It lacks an extension flap, so legal-size pages may fall out if you're not paying attention. Within the output tray is a lever that slides from side to side to adjust the distance between the printhead and the paper. For most paper types, you'll keep the lever to the left; for envelopes and T-shirt transfers, move it to the right.
The control panel is laid out on a shelf that juts out from the front of the printer. The buttons cover just the basics: a single button that lets you tell the printer whether you're printing on letter-size plain, letter-size photo, or 4x6 photo paper; a plus button to increase the number of copies; a fit-to-page button that will automatically reduce or enlarge copies to fit the paper size; a scan initiation button; and black and colour start buttons; as well a stop/reset button.
Features
The Canon Pixma MP160 has a limited feature set that will quickly leave
you wanting more, which you can get for just AU$20 extra with the
MP180. The MP160 copy options let you fit to page and make multiple
copies in one go, though with an odd limitation: using the plus button,
you can increase the number of copies to 9. An additional press of the
plus button and the LED reads F, which apparently means 20 copies, so
you can't specify, say, 10 or 15 copies; you'll have to initiate two
copy cycles. Other common features missing from the MP160 -- scaling,
adjusting the image quality, and making borderless copies -- can be
found on the MP180.
Pressing the Scan button will launch Canon's MP Navigator utility on your PC, which lets you customise your scan job by indicating the type of document, changing the scan resolution, and designating what you want to do with the scan: save to PC, save as various file types, or attach to e-mail. You can also use the included optical character recognition software to scan documents into an editable form. The Canon Pixma MP160 uses a two-tank ink system: one black and one tricolour tank. You can use the same ink to print both photos and documents, so there's no need to swap out for different tasks.
The Pixma MP160 connects via USB only, but it does provide support for both Macs and Windows PCs. Setup is simple and straightforward, and the included documentation will walk you through both the MP160 and the MP180.
Performance
The Canon Pixma MP160 posted impressive task speeds, especially given
its low price tag. It printed text at 5.81 pages per minute (ppm),
graphics prints at 1.62ppm, and 4x6 photos at 1.36ppm. The photo speed
is especially impressive, as it's just shy of the 1.84ppm posted by the
much more expensive Canon Pixma MP830. It also held its own in scanning: 6.47ppm for black-and-white scans and 5.61ppm for colour scans.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Copy speed | |
Color scan speed | |
Grayscale scan speed | |
Photo speed | |
Text speed |
N/A
We were also pleasantly surprised by the MP160's print quality, though we can't say the same for the scan quality. Its text prints weren't perfect -- we saw some jagginess on edges -- but characters were consistently formed and text was readable down to very small point sizes. The colour graphics page was especially impressive: it showed smooth curves, excellent colour reproduction, lifelike skin tones and excellent photo elements, a grayscale devoid of colour, and clean, sharp edges. The only issue we noticed was some minor banding in colour gradients, but overall, we were very pleased with the colour graphics page. The 4x6 test photos were quite good, as well. We liked the sharp detail and the vibrant colours in the photos, including in skin tones, though we did notice some graininess. Still, the quality more than suffices for snapshots.
The MP160's Achilles' heel is scanning -- specifically, colour reproduction. The colour scan was sharp, but the colours were so dark and murky as to be wrong. A magenta gradient turned out purple, and a cyan gradient inexplicably ended up aqua. The grayscale scan didn't fair much better: again, it handled patterns well enough, but both ends of the grayscale were compressed, the dark end in particular, so that details were lost in the shadows.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Color scan | |
Grayscale scan | |
Photo | |
Graphics on inkjet paper | |
Text on inkjet paper |
Canon provides a one-year limited warranty for the Pixma MP160 that you can extend to three years for AU$99. You can also get tech support via e-mail, and Canon says it will respond within 24 hours. Canon's web site has FAQs, a troubleshooting tool, downloadable drivers and software, and PDFs of product and software manuals.
grrrr
24/05/2008, 11:56 PM
rating
1/10
If I knew what I was in for with this PIXMA MP160 I would never have bought it. The paper goes down 1 inch and stops, E3 warning code flashes, (paper jam) press <|> to clear it, paper feeds right through the printer, result no paper jam.
Looking on the net I can find heeps of people with the same paper feed jam faults, onlt thing is, there is NO PAPER JAMMUP. this is a known fault.
DO NOT BUY THE CANON MP160 PRINTER
It will break down, one person fed 2 sheets through it before it stopped working. It costs more than a new printer to repair. DO Not buy this canon printer.
DO NOT BUY THIS CANON PRINTER
Pros: Excellent when it was working
Cons: COMPLETELY UNRELIABLE
LACK of reliable printer help for E3 when there is no jam up.
Printer inks costs far too much
HIGHWAY ROBBERY
The government should take a look at printer inks and JAIL the gready money hungry people who ripp you off.
1 liter of petrol costs $1.34c a liter
2 litres of milk cost $2.15
40 ml of iBLACK INK costs $21.00
There is NO comparrism
Call in th CCC
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ncava
20/12/2007, 03:34 PM
rating
2/10
I decided to buy another printer because the cartridge is just to expensive. Now i cannot use the scanner because my cartridge is no longer recognized. Canon replied when i asked for support saying that i cannot use the scanner without the cartridge.
Pros: multi functionality
Cons: needs ink cartridge to get the scanner to work
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larva
19/11/2007, 03:10 AM
rating
5/10
simply to use
good for starters
not compatible scan soft for vista
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amit singh
09/11/2007, 08:05 PM
rating
9/10
its a godd printer with good qualty printing
Pros: easy to use and really it helps man..
Cons: if quality is goood nothing matters yaar..
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earth
25/10/2007, 01:17 PM
rating
6/10
the printer's good for starters
Pros: nice print-outs
Cons: its not printing anymore!!!!
what should i do? the ink just doesn't seem to go down even though its full
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rav
12/10/2007, 04:40 PM
rating
3/10
No better than a hundred other printers
Lasted 8 months, waiting to see what canon does.
Inks are crippling expensive.
Had a bad run with Canon printers lately, its time to changes
Pros: None
Cons: Didn't last, Ink too dear
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sdiaz100
07/10/2007, 07:05 AM
rating
5/10
It really pisses me off, because I bought brand new ink cartridges 40 (Black) & 41 (color). I bought the black ink at Walmart for $18.99 and then the next day I was at Fry's and I bought the color cartridge for $24.99. I installed the new ink cartridges at the same time and the printer just continues to flash E then it flashes 5. If I try to print it says that it doesn't recognize the ink cartridges. They are the correct cartridges for my computerI have already check that several times. I already through away the packaging for the cartridges so I can't take them back and I can't afford to buy new cartridges. So I am screwed, because no matter what I do it wont stop flashing and since it is flashing it won't let me print.
Pros: When it works it does print quality prints.
Cons: There is no way to over ride the alarm that is flashing or to just disable that feature and try and print anyways. It won't allow me to print even though I have the correct cartridges in the printer and they are brand new.
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Needanewprinter
10/09/2007, 03:49 PM
rating
2/10
This printer is not particularly reliable. Lasted less than one year and could not get anyone to touch it under the warranty terms.
Pros: Thaought the price but not so.
Fits in the trash bin fine.
Cons: Build quality and Support.
Poor Scan quality.
Ink price and useage are both high.
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eric
11/07/2007, 04:14 AM
rating
9/10
price-quality is very good. Use Canon paper for photolab quality prints. Scanning is also very fast and good quality
Pros: very fast
good price/quality
easy to use
Cons: expensive ink
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annonymous
04/06/2007, 10:29 AM
rating
2/10
the bloody thing is more expensive to refill the cartridges than to buy the product,,its crap
Pros: great machine while the ink jet lasts..
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