Canon Pixma MP530

Canon Pixma MP530

Pixma MP530 Review, by Paul Jasper June 21, 2007

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• Latest User Reviews 4 reviews
• Reviewed by: countdr

  Duration of ownership: 10 Months

  Strengths: good text print quality

  Weaknesses: Ink consumption,ink cartridges overpriced, uses color ink to produce black text!?

  Overall: Compare to my previous HP the ink comsumption is very high even in 'fast' mode. I mainly use printing function, so my evaluation is for that function. Too high cost for text print.

• Reviewed by: ivan2

  Duration of ownership: 11 Months

  Strengths: good software, features

  Weaknesses: Terrible mechanics. Software written to drain the ink cartidges. The Canon website says that you can configure the printer to only use black in but that is not true. IT ALWAYS USES THE COLOR INK IN SOME WAY. If you never print anything at all, all your ink cartrdges will run out in about 5 months. I have tried never printing in color or grayscale and still my color cartridges get used up.

  Overall: TERRIBLE> There is an inherrant problem with the print head cleaner design to where it starts making a grinding noise. I took the printer to an authorized repair station under warranty at one month old and they showed me a long shelf with Pixma 530 printers with the same problem. The store said that even some of the replacement parts sent to them by Canon still were defective and that they had a lot of angry customers. Anyway the store repaired my printer for the same problem of grinding and it again failed twice after a couple of months of low usage. I then spoke with Canon again, who played "dumb" regarding the ginding noise but they replaced my machine twice after the call, each one failing in about 2 months or so. So now I am at 11 months of ownership under warranty and Canon replaced my machine again. The only problem is that each replacement machine is only warranteed for the remainder of the original one year and then they are off the hook and you are stuck with a grinding machine again. It was nice that Canon kept replacing the defective machine without a problem but why could they just not produce a non-defective one after 5/5 machines? In the last call to them in 11/07 Canon finally admitted that "very rarely" do these machines have the grinding problem. I told them it was not rare and they can look all over the internet to see the complaints. The gentleman said he doesnt scan the internet? Yeh, right. I.B.

• Reviewed by: uccello

  Duration of ownership: 6 Months

  Strengths: easy to set up, reliable, great print quality, relatively inexpensive

  Weaknesses: no audible warning for fax stored in memory

  Overall: I bought this unit primarily to replace a fax machine, but with the intention to use it with a wireless print server. It has functioned quite well, although I have not used the scan function, since that won't work with the wireless connection. So far it has been quite reliable and produces very good text and graphics output. I have not used it much to print photos. I like the separate ink tanks for CMYK, but it seems to go through ink fairly quickly. One minor annoyance is that it will not print a fax if any of the tanks (not just the black text tank) are low. It stores the fax in memory, but there is no audible warning of this -- only a little light on the console.

• Reviewed by: advoc8

  Duration of ownership: 4 Months

  Strengths: Good price, great quality in multi-function action - especially copies and photo printing. Since I’m more serious about photography, I consider the lack of media card slots and photo viewer LCD an actual plus (see my evaluation). This is the ideal printer for many of us who might otherwise be scared away by those absent items

  Weaknesses: It doesn’t cook, wash the dishes or walk the dog... But it almost walks on water.

  Overall: I really like my Canon Pixma MP530 more the longer I own it. It gives me excellent all-around results, including great copies and excellent photo printing! A big plus (for me) is that it's very easy to refill the inks (it has clear cartridges), and if you follow easy directions on the internet regarding the cartridge chips - how to easily and quickly partially-disable the printer from reading the ink cartridge chips. The Canon MP530 inks are very good, and so are their photo papers, but they can be matched and value-shopped. I’m now easily printing great 4x6 photos on quality glossy paper (sometimes Canon Glossy if it's on a great sale) for as little as 6 or 7 cents each - photo paper plus ink. I’ve seen papers and refill inks from very poor to great (same with refill instructions) - don’t take a companies simple word for it. I almost gave up on finding a multi-function printer under $400 that would do an excellent job in each function, especially copies and photos. Some professionals rated the MP530 tops in all functions but dinged it for not being photo-centric, or slammed or held it back for not having media card slots or a photo viewer LCD. Other photo-serious Canon Pixma MP530 owners, and myself, don’t need and wouldn’t use those two things since best quality photos are done from your computer. Think about it..., those gadgets are for quick-shooting from the hip: lower quality results more likely. It seems that every all-in-one printer has at least one Achilles Heel. This printer has the least, at least for me. The MP530 has the most quality, convenience, versatility and bang for the buck in it’s price range.

• Reviewed by: advoc8

  Strengths: Great photos, easy copying and easy to refill

  Weaknesses: I haven't found any in nearly two years

  Overall: I really like my Canon Pixma MP530 multifunction printer. It is very easy to use and very easy to refill the cartridges with good quality refill ink - Calidad is good quality, easy to refill and has good chip over-ride instructions. Another good thing about refilling Canon cartridges is that they are individual cartridges for each color and they are clear so you can see just what you are doing - easy, easy, easy, but can get messy if you aren't using some common sense. It prints great looking photos, which are cheap using good quality inks and also buying your papers on the best sales at Staples (use good quality photo paper or your prints will fade quickly - equaly important are good quality inks). If you are really into long lasting photo printing you may want to get an Epson though, since they use pigmented inks which help prints hold up even longer - the problem though is that pigment inks clog easier and if you don't print regularly you may end up hating your otherwise great, but clogged, printer.

• Reviewed by:

  Strengths: Perfect for home or small office.

  Weaknesses: None

  Overall: After researching several all-in-one printers, I decided to purchase the MP530, based on specifications, size and appearance. It's ideal for a home office and the scanning and print quality are excellent.

• Reviewed by:

  Strengths: Canon quality

  Weaknesses: Ink 3 times price of older models.

  Overall: I hope printer manufacturers stop the wholesale ripoff of consumers with thier new chipped ink cartridges. You could buy aftermarket ink for the Pixma series for as low as 2.99a cartridge. Now you have to mess with removing chips and putting them on replacement cartridges if you want to afford ink.

• Reviewed by: windskisong

  Strengths: pretty good picture printing, very good simplex (non-duplex) text printing, fast

  Weaknesses: uses color ink to produce black text with duplexing option, when duplexing black text quality looks vastly inferior, does not work with any color cartridge removed, uses chipped ink cartridges

  Overall: This printer is getting rave reviews from both PC Magazine and PC World. That said, there's a big problem with this printer that neither review mentions: namely, duplex black text printing from ALL applications produces inferior results than when duplexing is off--and uses colour ink to produce black text when printing in duplex mode. Consequently, until this issue is addressed, the MP530 is difficult for me to recommend. Why? According to Canon technical support, the design flaw is by choice. But more on that later. If I don't duplex print on fast mode, the text looks very good (the problem is duplex text printing). The print quality when duplex text printing looks dotty and washed out. If you turn duplexing off, the text print quality is vastly superior. The difference on fast mode when not duplex printing is quite astounding. Simply using duplex printing makes the text quality significantly worse on fast mode. One might be inclined to believe bad quality from fast mode text printing isn't a big deal (except that the MP530 is quite capable of producing very good text quality even at fast mode--except when duplexing), but this problem also extends to standard printing when duplexing is enabled. That said, in standard mode the problem isn't as pronounced. Basically the MP530 is using the colour inks to produce black text instead of the pigment black ink when printing text in duplex mode. I find this to be extremely bothersome. The problem exists when duplexing text in other printing quality modes, but it's most apparent or obvious when duplexing text on fast mode. You won't find this issue listed in professional reviews from PCMagazine or PC World, simply because the reviewers probably didn't bother to check. For whatever reason, missing this issue is pretty sloppy. If you want good text quality when duplex printing, it's best not to use this printer at all: you're using color ink instead of the black pigment ink--and the text looks vastly inferior as a result. This is from Canon technical support: "The unit was designed to print using "composite black" when duplexing. Composite black is created by using color inks. Unfortunately, we do not have answers as to why Canon USA made this decisions, these decisions are determined by the developers at Canon INC." Absolutely brutal. Composite black text print is vastly inferior to the text print produced when using the black ink cartridge. Canon technical support is basically telling me that duplex black text printing on the MP830 is horrible by design. Oh, plus you have the added bonus of wasting color ink when printing inferior black text while duplexing. Inexcusable Upon inquiring further, this is the reason Canon technical support gives for using color ink to produce black text while duplex printing: "Composite black is least likely to show through the other side of the document, which may occur when using black ink and printing on both sides of the paper. " Then why can I print text on one side, flip the page over manually, print text on the other side, and not experience any issue with ink showing through to the other side? The text quality looks vastly superior when I do this instead of duplexing (I do not experience any issues). It shouldn't be that difficult to allow a printer driver option to use the pigmented black ink with a longer drying time (because I've also been told by Canon pigmented black ink may smear when duplex priting) if that's what the customer would prefer, instead of inflicting poor text quality produced by color inks when duplex black text printing. This issue is very easily reproduced: Print text in fast mode with duplexing on. Then print text in fast mode with duplexing off. Night and day It's not just fast mode that's affected either; it's all print quality modes when duplex printing is enabled. More importantly, all customers have the added bonus (in addition to poor black text quality while duplexing) of wasting color ink when printing black text with the duplex printing option enabled. Canon's response to this is that pigmented black ink will smear, bleed, or show through to the other side when duplex printing. Contrary to Canon's claim, I am not experiencing any issues when printing black text in standard mode on one side of cheap Britex Premier Multiusage paper (20 lb 92 bright . . . I paid less than a dollar for 500 sheets on sale), flipping the page over manually, and printing the other side again on standard. Regardless of whether I've tested using tons of different papers (and I admit I haven't), again, it shouldn't be that difficult to allow a printer driver option to use the pigmented black ink with a longer drying time if that's what the customer would prefer, instead of inflicting poor text quality produced by composite black (created by using color inks) when duplexing black text.Thanks to webslingerac for his review of the MP830. Same issue

• Reviewed by: qrx22

  Strengths: Suprisingly useful and intuitive software, duplex scanning (via software), fast print & scan, separate ink tanks for colors, paper tray, nice sleek appearance

  Weaknesses: Very heavy, bulky, no built-in networking, start-up takes awhile & makes a loud beep

  Overall: SOFTWARE: I love the software. Generally I hate installing more than the bare minimum to get a machine going, but this is one exception. The MP Navigator is intuitive, simple, and guides me through every scanning session like a breeze. Every time before I scan, I open up the MP Navigator window, select the most appropriate setting (magazine, photos, OCR text, etc), and do my scanning. Each page from that scanning session shows up as a thumbnail, which you can double click to do simple manipulations like rotate or crop. After you're done, you can save as image files, convert to PDF (either multipage, or separate PDF files), or export to the bundled OmniPage Pro software for text editing. The software is an even bigger bonus when it comes to ADF scanning. Animated illustrations show you which direction to put the stack of paper. If you have double-sided documents, you can scan one side of the stack, then turn the stack over and feed the other side in, and the software will automatically sort the pages in the correct order using the duplex scanning option. When you're done, the handy thumbnails let you check that the pages are in the correct order before saving, converting, or exporting. PRINTING: Prints are decent for an inkjet. Having separate ink cartridges for each color is a bonus since you only have to replace the color that you run out of. Prints fast on normal mode, pretty good on best quality, and lightening fast on draft mode. It has a slide-out paper tray in the bottom, as well as a paper feeder in the back. COPYING: Lets you enlarge/reduce without having to turn on your computer. SCANNING: This unit, like pretty much all multifunction machines currently on the market, uses a CIS scanning element, meaning you'll get inferior scans if you don't press your document firmly against the glass. I sure miss the days of CCD scanners, which gave crystal clear scans even with textured paper, and still picked up text from books that you can't quite crack open wide enough to lay flat on the scanner. With that said, the scan quality is still very good for a CIS, and much better than the HPs that I had before. LAST WORDS: This machine is bulky and heavy, and it doesn't have built-in networking. Those were the main reasons I took away 1 star. Despite that, I would still highly recommend this unit. Scanning is far superior to the HPs I used previously, even taking into account a dedicated heavy duty professional ADF scanner from HP. What really puts this unit ahead of the competition though, is the software. Whereas HP's bloated software was unhelpful, slow, and occasionally glitchy, Canon's software made my work efficient and easy. To think, I almost didn't want to install the software in the first place!