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Overall Rating
1 Star Review
Reviewed by: countdr
Updated:07-06-08
Duration of ownership:10 Months
Strengths: good text print quality
Weaknesses: Ink consumption,ink cartridges overpriced, uses color ink to produce black text!?
Overall Evaluation: 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.
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Overall Rating
4 Star Review
Reviewed by:
Updated:02-26-08
Duration of ownership:
Strengths: Perfect for home or small office.
Weaknesses: None
Overall Evaluation: 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.
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Overall Rating
3 Star Review
Reviewed by:
Updated:09-06-07
Duration of ownership:1 Years
Strengths: Canon quality
Weaknesses: Ink 3 times price of older models.
Overall Evaluation: 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.
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Overall Rating
2 Star Review
Reviewed by: windskisong
Updated:06-26-07
Duration of ownership:3 Months
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 Evaluation: 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
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Overall Rating
4 Star Review
Reviewed by: qrx22
Updated:05-05-07
Duration of ownership:2 Months
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 Evaluation: 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!
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Overall Rating
4 Star Review
Reviewed by: yakwoofoo
Updated:03-22-07
Duration of ownership:60 Days
Strengths: Fast, versatile, and prints double sided borderless pages with ease.
Weaknesses: Ink can be expensive. Also, you REALLY need to have the instruction manual around to understand how this thing works or what it is trying to tell you.
Overall Evaluation: Wish I could get a color laser printer that would do all of this for the same price, but very satisfied overall. Also wish that I could do wide format printing. (Ledger and A3 size printing.)
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Overall Rating
4 Star Review
Reviewed by: Mike FL BR
Updated:03-08-07
Duration of ownership:4 Days
Strengths: - Very impressed with photo printing quality.- Autofeeder for scanning works great.- Scans and Copies at a very good quality- Double side printing (very useful feature for my needs)
Weaknesses: - It is HUGE.- No network connetion.- A bit noisy at times- Takes a little while to get it started.- Cartridges are really pricy- No autofeeder for pictures- It is HUGE- It is HUGE
Overall Evaluation: This is a GREAT printer for the price you're paying for, but I am having a little trouble adjusting with its enormous size. With that being said, at least for me, a network connection would be very useful, so I could have the printer somewhere else, because it pretty much occupies around 35% of my desk space. A 20ft ethernet cable is A LOT CHEAPER than a 20ft USB right? It would be great if it was wireless! But yeah it is not going to happen, at least not in this price range. The quality of the prints will definitely justify its size though. I was extremely impressed with the photo printing quality. The printer came with 10 glossy papers, and software. The photo printing software was very easy to use. Some cool neat features like remove red eye, sharpen and bright images are in a matter of a couple of clicks. I can't wait to test it with Super Glossy Paper. Another feature that id like to point it out is that you can scan more pictures at a time, so you don't have to scan pictures one by one. An autofeeder function for pictures would make life 10 times easier though. Haven't tested the fax yet, but if it delivers what was promised, i wont have any issues with it. 3 Seconds for a page to be faxed is pretty nice compared to 30 seconds per page at my office. Overall I'm happy about the purchase, just trying to figure out where would be a good place to have it at my house.
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Overall Rating
4 Star Review
Reviewed by: jstoddard7
Updated:01-09-07
Duration of ownership:5 Days
Strengths: Easy to set up, assemble.
Weaknesses: cyan ink cartrige was broken--had to order and wait for new cartridge
Overall Evaluation: Prints well. All features tested except fax--so far so good. Had to wait for Canon support to ship cyan ink cartridge--did ship for free--arrived in two days.
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Overall Rating
4 Star Review
Reviewed by: ayeschow
Updated:12-25-06
Duration of ownership:
Strengths: multi-function capability, extremely high image quality
Weaknesses: expensive replacement cartridges, huge size
Overall Evaluation: I am very happy with the PIXMA 530. Though I have not used the fax capabilities, the copying, scanning, and printing functions have more than exceeded my expectations. This is a high quality machine for a relatively low price. It's the price of the replacement cartridges that will be more expensive in the long run.
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Overall Rating
5 Star Review
Reviewed by: gyourek
Updated:12-12-06
Duration of ownership:6 Days
Strengths: fast printing, high resolution scanning/copying, automatic document feeder, good print quality, fax machine
Weaknesses: a bit noisy, 2 black ink cartridges(?)
Overall Evaluation: With all of the features included, it would be difficult to find another printer with this price. The automatic document feeder is handy if your copying or scanning multiple pages. It's also good for lazy people like me who just don't like to pick anything up when I want to copy/scan something. The print quality is quite good. However, for some reason, it has two black cartridges, one is a pigment black cartridge. I haven't done a lot of research yet as to why this is, but I'm guessing the quality is better this way. But the first thing I see when I see extra cartridges is extra cost when replacing the cartridges. It also seems to do some exercising after printing something with whirs and clunks coming from the inside. Not a big problem, and again, I'm guessing this helps quality somehow. In conclusion, if you are on a budget and want an all-in-one, the PIXMA MP530 is a good choice.
