Canon PIXMA MX870 Wireless Office All-in-One Printer (4206B002)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Wireless All-in-One Home Office Printer with 2.5-Inch LCD and Auto Duplex ADF.

The PIXMA MX870 Wireless Home Office All-In-One lets you print from any room in your home and boasts incredible 9600 x 2400 maximum color dpi with tiny 1pl ink droplets and a 5 individual ink tank system. A built-in, fully integrated 35-sheet Auto Document Feeder means fast copying or scanning of your originals so you can tend to other tasks while the printer is at work. Its built-in Auto Duplex Printing prints 2-sided documents without having to manually flip the pages and can reduce your paper consumption by 50%. Combine both of those and you can automatically copy two sided documents without having to flip any paper manually at all. Additionally, various security features like password protected PDF’s let you feel safe about creating and distributing your most confidential files.

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Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 17.2 x 8.9 inches ; 31 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 35 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0032AN4M6
• Item model number: 4206B002
  

Price : $119.65
You Save : $80.34 (40%)

Technical Details

• Fully integrated 35 page auto document feeder for rapid copying, scanning and faxing
• Paper saving and ecofriendly auto duplex printing
• Super G3 high speed fax with 100 coded speed dials storing up to 250 incoming pages when receiving ITU-T No. 1 chart
• Various security features including password protected PDFs
• Multifunction Devices: Printer, Scanner, Copier, Fax

Costumer Reviews

If you are looking at these reviews for the MX870, you are probably wondering what I was wondering... "What is the difference between the MX870 and MX860 and possibly also how does it compare to the Epson Artisan 810?" They are all top rated by Amazon customers for inkjet all-in-one printers.

They are all awesome! The Epson has more color cartriges, but I am not sure if that matters. I give the nod to the Epson on photo quality, but it might just be a subliminal issue of 'more is better'. My last Epson printer was the Epson 785EPX and it printed amazing photos and graphics, and it also used 6 colors.

Both the Canon and Epson have beautiful quick drying inks. The Canon has a special black ink that is a pigment instead of a dye, which you might like since pigments don't run when wet, so theirs is good for flyers and such. And, by the way, if you've discovered that you really benefit from pigment ink, look into the Epson Workforce 610. It is fast, and all its different colored inks are pigments. Graphics and text are outstanding, but photos a little lacking.

The Canon is a little slower to start printing, but once it gets going it is pretty fast. Both Epson and Canon models have an optional duplexer mode (prints on both sides to save paper - this feature significantly slows down print time if that is important to you) and an automatic paper feed. The paper feed on the Canon is fully integrated and two-sided, so it can copy/scan both sides of a document automatically as well. There are a few hiccups with the 860 on this that the 870 solves.

It's a small pain to reload the reglar A4 8 1/2 by 11 paper in both machines in their lower tray. The Epson has an additional slot on its lower tray for photo paper that some may like. The Canon has an extra paper feed at the back of the unit that is great for printing envelopes, prints, or other types of paper, so you don't have to change your main tray. The rear feeder should accommodate heavier papers and have a less likelihood of jamming because the paper comes straight through the machine with little bending. The projecting tray on the Epson looks and feels flimsy and most people seem worried about that, but remarkably I have never heard of anyone breaking it. The Canon has a cool feature... when you send it a wireless command to print, it automatically lowers its front door for the paper to be collected on, so you can keep the unit all closed up when not in use.

If you use OCR, and I love OCR (optical character recognition that allows you to turn your document scans into text files), you will prefer the Epson because it is integrated into their software package. Canons used to have OCR software, but have stopped in the recent year. Note: If you have Microsoft Office Student and Home version, its program 'OneNote' has OCR for you to use. Most people are totally unaware of it being there. By the way, OneNote is the best program on Microsoft Office. It is what keeps me from just using the free open source office software that is so amazing.

Price-wise, the Epson is about 100 more than the Canon. Amazon has some of the best prices. The newer Canon MX870 isn't even available in most stores yet and probably will run about 50 dollars more than the MX860 for the next six months. Apple users will like the smoother integrated software application of the MX870 that was a small problem on the MX860.

Space-wise the Canon is bigger. Look-wise, the Epson is sharper with its shiny black finish, like a piece of fancy stereo equipment. The Canon has a neutral light beige look. Very officey with clean lines.

They both fax if you ever need that every now and then instead of having to run to your local print shop.

The user interface of the Canon and Epson are both easy to use in different ways. I sort of wish the Canon buttons weren't so flush with the unit, but its not really a big deal. You will need to use the interface to copy and scan, but most print jobs you will want to do from your computer.

The Epson has some fun graphics software extra on it. Again, mostly 'fun' stuff. It also prints on printable CDs and DVDs. This could be important to you. It is the best of any printer at this. I don't need it because I print on CDs using LightScribe on my HP. I like that look better if I am going to customize the CD face.

The Canon has some very useful proprietary software that you will love if you surf the Web and want to copy and print out multiple bits and pieces of articles with ease... even on the same sheet of paper. You can do this anyway with Windows, but Canon's program is easier and faster.

Both Canon and Epson have ink cartridges that are separate from the print head, so it is easier to find third-party ink and save money. Third party ink is better than what it used to be, but the OEM (original equipment manufacture) cartridges are truer and faster drying for important projects and to bring out the full glory of these machines.

I chose the Canon MX870, but all the printers I mentioned here are rated tops at their price-point. I hope I covered a few of the more notable differences to help you narrow in on your search.

I have been looking at all-in-ones casually for the last couple of years. After considerable research, I purchased the MX870. My old printer, a HP I purchased in 2000, still works well. With that in mind, here is what I was looking for in this purchase:

- Primarily, I was looking for a good scanner that could also replace my existing printer should it fail since it is so old.

- Easy to use scanning software

- Duplex scanning was desired

- Duplex printing was desired

- Separate ink for each color

- The ability to print in B;W even if a color ink is out

- Print speeds were not a concern - this is for home use

- Print quality was not much of a concern either - I haven't had a color cartridge for my current printer for 4 yrs

- I don't print photos, so printing on photo paper/borderless printing/etc. are not attributes I researched (in my opinion, it is just easier and cheaper to upload them to a service and have them sent to you. In the rare instances I need pictures sooner than that, I go to CVS, which I think is still cheaper than printing from home.)

So far the MX870 has lived up to my expectations.

- Set up was very easy. I would say it took 30 minutes, including unboxing and setting up the wireless (and I was taking my time).

- Scanning has been great. It scans really well from the feeder, and there are very easy to access options for color, dpi, etc. Last night I scanned a 25 pg document, front and back, and had no issues.

- The software does not seem to be a resource hog. You can select exactly what you want to install on the CD (just drivers, scanning software, photo software, etc). I think this is great. For my laptop and desktop, I needed the scanning software, but was able to opt out of installing the photo software for now. For my netbook, I can easily just install the drivers, and none of the other software.

- The scanning software is light on resources and easy to use. You scan something in, a window pops up so you can review it, rename it, etc. Couldn't be easier.

- Print quality is fine. I have it set to print fast duplex by default and this results in a product that works for me. In the 4 days I've had it, I haven't tried to print it on normal or best quality, so I cannot speak to those results, but judging by the quality of the fast, I would assume it would work for most home users.

- Copy is easy - no complaints.

- Print speed is a little slow. As I stated above, I've only printed on Fast, but this printer's fast is definitely not any faster than my old HP - even with duplex printing turned off. If speed is critical, this may not be your best bet. For most home users I would suspect it prints fast enough for general use.

I'll quickly mentioned the competition. Based on the criteria above, I was very seriously considering three other printers:

(1) The HP 6500 wired for $150 or wireless for $200

(2) The HP 8500 Pro wired for $200 wireless for $260

(3) The Brother MFC 6490CW - $200 on sale at Office Depot, regularly $300

(1) I decided against the HP 6500 wired because for $50 more you got wireless and duplex printing/scanning. I decided against the 6500 wireless because for $200, I could get the 8500 - from HPs better printer line - which even though it was wired, had more features and a higher quality scanner.

(2) I decided against the HP 8500 despite the fact that it is: (1) recommended by CNET, (2) discounted through my employer, (3) I have enjoyed my current HP for a decade. The reason I did this was simply because there are just too many bad reviews. I know there are a lot of reviews for it - almost double the amount there are for this printer - but they seem to be too recurring: bad printer heads, failing after a couple months, bad software, driver issues with Windows 7 and XP, and the list just went on. Before buying the HP, I would read not only the reviews on Amazon, but also the reviews on CNET and [...]. After an hour of reading "stay away" and "do not buy!" I imagine you'll be as scared as I was.

(3) I chose the Canon over the Brother because quite simply because it was cheaper on Amazon ($146) than the Brother on sale ($199, currently back to $299 it looks like) and it is much smaller. Both have great reviews all over the web, so without any reason to pick the more expensive Brother, I chose the Canon.

I hope this review helps and I'll update this review if I encounter issues (my expectation is a printer of this cost should last at least 5 years).

--- UPDATE ---

2 of the 3 color inks have now run out and it still prints black/grey with no problems. A definite feature in my book.

After a few months, I am happy to report I still have no issues with this purchase. The trial black ink is just about gone (comes with a small and large black ink tank) but overall, I would say it seems to use black ink efficiently. My history/comparison with color ink is limited so it's harder for me to say there.