Canon Pixma iP4300

Canon Pixma iP4300

Pixma iP4300 Review, by Melissa Riofrio January 22, 2007

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• Latest User Reviews 4 reviews
• Reviewed by: tdigennaro

  Duration of ownership: 1 Day

  Strengths: Looks very nice.

  Weaknesses: Software Warranty was written by their lawyers. "This is a CD ROM and we do not promise anything else." Even Microsoft is better than that now.

  Overall: I expect good performance. The Warranty needs to move into the twenty-first century when buyers expect more. Canon, please listen.

• Reviewed by: Traveller55

  Duration of ownership: 7 Months

  Strengths: Great for printing CD blanks and overall very good print quality

  Weaknesses: INK - thought that by having a seperate tanks system (like Epson) would save me money but ... well see below!!

  Overall: I used the provided set of inks then purchased "compatible cartridges" (yes they ARE available - same as the iP4200!). Halfway down these and the printer is now virtually disabled due to 'no ink' warnings which can't be turned off. Looks like Canon are using a 'smart chip' which cannot be reset this forcing you to but OEM carts at vastly inflated prices?! NOWHERE on any Canon site can I find a warning that this will happen so I say - "Is it legal" that the printer is made unusable by this action? If Canon reads this would they please respond - as they haven't so far to the three messages/requests I have left on their support site?!

• Reviewed by: mdk100

  Duration of ownership: 2 Months

  Strengths: The canon ip4300 prints pretty pictures on name brand paper (kodak, hp , and Canon). It is the fastest printer I have used.

  Weaknesses: You must buy Canon's cartridges for it. There is no other cartridge for it. Ink is expensive. You must buy more expensive paper.

  Overall: I have had three Canon printers (s600, s630, and i350). These new Canon is the most expensive I have owned. The Canon s600 was very inexpensive. The ink and paper was inexpensive. I don't recommend the Canon ip4300 printer for someone looking for a bargain. I'm going back to my old printers.

• Reviewed by: PCuser

  Duration of ownership: 4 Days

  Strengths: -crisp, clean type -duplexing -quiet

  Weaknesses: -does NOT accept stock heavier than 28 lb -does NOT allow printing in B&W only -does NOT support label printing -documentation extensive, but poorly indexed

  Overall: Although I had read that set up could be confusing, I found the instructions clear and concise. The printer does a VERY good job with "straight forward" printing on "general" paper stock. I have NOT tried photo printing, though I suspect it would be very good... using specified papers. I am VERY disappointed that the printer will not print on various "specialty" papers, especially heavy card stock, address labels, etc. I am also used to being able to "control" many aspects of printing, for example being able to specify black & white ONLY, when printing web pages, drafts, etc. Also seem to be having difficulty with ?spooling. Printer seems to take forever to realize that it has printed a document or is "finished" printing. Suspect this is some sort of set-up problem. Documentation is very detailed, but poorly indexed. On-line documentation does not have "search" capability. Too bad. The printer goes back next week.

• Reviewed by: gnbrown34

  Strengths: speed,simple to operate,quality output

  Weaknesses: ink capacity

  Overall: Good printer, much better than the HP I replaced. Would recommend it highly from a price/performance standpoint. It does run out of ink fairly quickly but that can be resolved by having some backups.

• Reviewed by: adlisita

  Strengths: Low price, duplex printing, exceptional CD printing, very good documents printing, good photos quality, same cartridges used for all printing types

  Weaknesses: 2 black cartridges required

  Overall: I bought this printer because I needed a printer able to print documents, pictures and CDs/DVDs. For its $90 price and its quality it is undoubtly a great product. This printer requires 5 cartridges and first good thing is you do not need to change them for printing photos. Strange is that requires 2 black cartridges. Cartridges are around $15-20 each or $66 for 4 cartridges and $20 for the additional black cartridge.Initially printer comes with these cartridges half filled. I can't tell yet how many pictures you may print with a set in order to have an idea for the cost per picture. However, I printed 3 dozens photos 4"X6" and several documents pages and there is no sign that any of the cartridge should need be replaced somewhere in the next future. The greatest advantage is CD/DVD printing (you need CD/DVD specifying they are suitable for ink printing) and the excellent quality of the print, the good time (15 seconds) and even the easy software allowing you to design and perform the printing. Documents printing is very good and fast too and add to this duplex printing which I never seen in a budget printer. However it is true that duplex printing on an ink printer can be performed only if you have good paper not allowing you to see on one side the printed text from the other side (ink unlike toner impregnates the paper). Photos printing even if it is not exceptional it is very good and is the same quality (or even slighty better) then the quality of photos printed for instance at Costco but obviously depends on picture quality too. Darker interior photos look also great. For tests I used the cheap glossy photo paper from Costco (Kirkland) which has a price of $0.05/4x6 paper. One picture 4x6 is printed in 20-30 seconds. A real advantage is PictureBridge capability which if supported by your digital camera will allow you printing directly from your camera and works great. I am also using this printer shared within a network and I had no problems but obviously you have to install its software on all computers supposed to use it not only on the one sharing it. Using it for only 1 month I can say nothing about its reliability. If you need a budget printer to print documents, photos and CDs I surely think this is by far the best choice at this moment.

• Reviewed by: jthejs

  Strengths: Automatic duplex printing, good quality printouts, direct printing from camera with PictBridge, 2 paper trays, large paper trays

  Weaknesses: Some paper curl

  Overall: In general I am very happy with the purchase of this printer. I was attracted to this printer for its low cost but with quality printouts and automatically duplex printing. Gone are my days of flipping papers to have duplex printing.Having 2 paper trays helps if you are into photo printing and regular printing because you can have plain papers in one and photo papers in another to avoid loading and unloading paper. Large trays are advantageous with 150 sheets max in each tray.The only gripe (a minor one) I have on this printer is the paper curl when printing on a whole page - particular with lots of graphics. Other than that, it is a great printer particularly for its duplex printing capability and good prints.

• Reviewed by: chuck_2584

  Strengths: Much better lasting than my cx3810 (agh, epson leaching my wallet!) and duplexing a great waste saver!

  Weaknesses: For my uses, none!

  Overall: This printer surprised me for it's print quality. Probably because it's my first Canon? For 50 bux, I wish I had bought 2 more. I run a fair amount of prints, and this has been one of the best units on ink use I have had the pleasure to operate. Next good Canon deal, I will be watching for you!

• Reviewed by: lionfan

  Strengths: Quiet, duplex printing, good ink capacity, separate ink tanks, picbridge

  Weaknesses: None for this price range

  Overall: Other than the lack of generic replacement inks for this printer, there really are few things to complain about on this printer. The print quality is very good in both text and photo. There is a bottom paper tray that is ideal for use when you place the printer in a tight area, such as in a printer cabinet. The top paper feeder adjusts for varying sizes of media (envelopes, 5x7, etc.). All in all, a great basic printer.