The Canon Pixma iP1800 is an entry-level, photo-oriented, single-function printer, and is the successor to the Pixma iP1700. For AU$70, you get a basic inkjet printer capable of printing decent-quality documents and photos. Though it lacks photo-oriented features such as media card readers and a PictBridge port (not surprising, considering the price), it does come with a comprehensive and easy-to-use software bundle that can help you create photo projects. We like this printer for home users with basic needs and a tight budget. We also like its print quality better than that of its low-cost competition, including the Lexmark Z845. Compared to the iP1700, the iP1800 offers a more complete software package and slightly faster photo prints, though the print quality is comparable.
Design
The Canon Pixma iP1800 is a model of simplicity. Its all-black body measures 44.2cm wide, 15.2cm tall, and 23.6cm deep, and weighs a feather-light 3.3 kilograms. A simple paper support flap opens up from the top, and it features adjustable paper guides. Unfortunately, there is no output tray; printed pages are simply ejected from the front of the printer, so be sure to set the printer far back enough on your desk or table so that the pages don't go tumbling to the ground. This omission is puzzling, as a simple flap with a paper stop seems easy enough to add on. (Its predecessor, the Pixma iP1700 also lacked an output tray.) For example, on the Lexmark Z845, the output tray telescopes out from the body of the printer. Under the Canon Pixma iP1800 paper eject slot is a switch that you can adjust for the type of media you're using -- keep it to the right for envelopes and t-shirt transfers, and to the left for all other types of media.
There's no control panel to speak of, just two buttons on top: power and paper feed. Despite the fact that this is a photo printer, it lacks media card slots and a PictBridge port, though this isn't surprising, considering the printer's low price.
The Pixma iP1800 uses a two-tank ink system: one black tank and one tricolour tank (cyan, yellow, magenta). Changing the tanks is an easy task: when you open the body of the printer, the print head slides into view. Simply pop out the depleted tanks and pop in fresh ones. Canon offers both regular- and high-capacity replacement tanks. The lack of optional six-colour printing and the printer's low purchase price mark this as a photo printer for casual snapshooters.
Features
The feature set for the iP1800 is very limited, due to the fact that it's a single-function printer. It's compatible with Windows Vista, Windows XP/2000, and Mac OS X v.10.2.8 to 10.4.x. It does come with two software suites: Easy-PhotoPrint and Easy-LayoutPrint (downloadable from Canon.com.au.
Easy-LayoutPrint provides step-by-step assistance in creating a number of photo-heavy projects, including albums, calendars, stickers, and regular layout prints. The program walks you through the steps, starting with choosing a project, deciding on layout, picking images, editing images and text, and changing print settings. It's a breeze to use and offers a variety of preset layouts and backgrounds. While it does offer a large selection of layouts, it doesn't allow you to manipulate and customise the layouts. For example, all of the inside pages in an album must use the same layout. To work around that, you could create multiple "albums" and collect all the prints into one album, but allowing users to edit layouts is a more user-friendly route.
Easy-PhotoPrint provides a tabbed interface for viewing all of the photos on your PC and printing them. With one button click, you can select all the photos in a folder and print. Or you can manually designate how many copies you want of each photo and make corrections or enhancements before printing. The corrections/enhancements tab allows you to make changes automatically or manually. If you choose the automatic red-eye correction, for example, the program will determine where red-eye occurs and correct it. If you'd rather do it manually, you can use your cursor to highlight the red-eye areas and apply the correction. Under enhancement, you can apply digital face smoothing and blemish remover tools. Both seem to generally blur the area you select, to provide an overall softer look. One feature we found really useful in the Easy-PhotoPrint software was the ability to compare the original photo to the corrected or enhanced photo side-by-side. Once you've saved your edits, you can choose the paper and a layout for your photo prints.
Performance
The Canon iP1800 performed as expected, considering its price. It printed text at a rate of 5.82 pages per minute, slightly slower than the Lexmark Z845's 6.85ppm. It was speedier than Lexmark at printing 4x6 photos, though: 0.72ppm vs. 0.48ppm from Lexmark.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Photo Speed | |
Text Speed |
As far as print quality, the Pixma iP1800 did an okay job. Text prints on inkjet paper were quite good for a AU$70 inkjet printer: the text was well-formed, though the characters' edges weren't as clean and sharp as we'd like. Colour text looked good, too, with smoothly blended colours. The colour graphics print showed some of the same problems with text, though the photo elements showed great detail and sharpness. Colour blocks were smooth, though we'd like to see a bit more saturation. In the 4x6 photo prints, we saw some graininess, especially in flesh tones. Photo details were sharp enough, but the colours were on the cool side. We'd like to see more warmth and brightness. Overall, the print quality should suffice for basic snapshooters and printing Web pages. Anyone looking for high-quality photo prints will need to spend more for a better printer. Overall, we liked the photo quality better than the Lexmark Z845 and found it be on par with that of the older Pixma iP1700.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Graphics on Inkjet Paper | |
Text on Inkjet Paper |
Canon backs the Pixma iP1800 with a short, 90-day warranty. This is a far cry from Canon's usual one-year warranty and a big disappointment, though Canon emphasises that its research shows few issues with its entry-level printers. You can fill out a Web support form to send e-mail to a tech. Canon's site offers a searchable knowledgebase, FAQs, downloadable manuals and software/drivers, as well as information on supplies.
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