Canon PIXMA MP830 All-In-One Printer (30 PPM, 9600x2400 DPI, Color, PC/Mac)

Reviewed by: campbell927

Duration of ownership: 2 Years

Strengths: It's an all-in-one

Weaknesses: Very slow Expensive to use Fax inflexibility

Overall Evaluation: I bought this machine nearly 2 years ago based on the strength of professional reviewers. They loved it. I'm not feeling the love. The main thing I dislike about it is the high cost of ink cartridges. There are 5 separate cartridges (2 black ones!) and if just one is empty you can't print anything until it's replaced. The cartridges cost about $15-19 each and can't be refilled. I also don't seem to get many pages from each cartridge, even when printing in draft mode. Another fault is that you must choose the draft mode each time - there is no way to change the draft mode to the default. The scanner software isn't intuitive and often fails when I use it. I tried unsuccessfully to set up the fax mode myself but had to resort to calling tech support because the instructions made no sense. I'll say the tech support person was knowledgeable and was able to walk me through it quite easily. I suspect it is because they get multiple calls daily and know the instructions by heart. And when I had to replace a phone, apparently I lost all the fax memory because it reverted to the initial problem - that is not going directly to the fax even though I was paying for a 2nd ring tone. It's also important to know that you can't send faxes directly to your computer with this unit. They must be printed out, using even more ink. Finally, I find the machine to be very slow, especially when using it from sleep mode. I'm now researching a replacement because I simply can't afford the ink cartridges. I hope I can sell it for a few bucks on craigslist, but I'll certainly not consider another Canon printer, regardless of what the pros say.