I have a Canon Photo Printer which takes six CLI-8 Canon Ink Cartridges. The cost of each individual ink cartridge ranges from around $12.50-15 (on Amazon) to 18.99 in Staples. So no matter how you buy the genuine Canon Ink Cartridges keeping yourself ready to print photos is expensive.
You can get a better per cartridge of you buy them in Canon CLI-8 4-Color Multipack Ink Tanks. In that case each individual cartridge is a little less expensive. Canon package CL-8C (Cyan), CL-8M (Magenta), CL-8Y (Yellow), and CL-8BK (Black) as a pack ($40-44 on Amazon). When cartridges are sold in packs you might think those colors are used at similar rates... but that is not so.
I have kept track of the usage of the cartridges over a long period of time and would like to share these results with you.
Number of cartridges used
CL-8M Magenta = 5
CL-8Y Yellow = 8
CL-8B Black = 6
CL-8PC Photo Cyan = 6
CL-8PM Photo Magenta = 8
CL-8C Cyan = 4
My usage shows that yellow is used the most, followed closely by Photo Magenta, followed next by Black and Photo Cyan, and trailed by Cyan and Magenta. Note that I have a laser printer that I used for text otherwise the usage of the Black Cartridge would have been a lot higher.
I buy most of my color photo ink on-line from Amazon. However now that Staples began (again) accepting CL-8 cartridges for Staples Rewards in their recycling empty cartridges program, I wanted to analyze my usage to see which cartridges I should buy at Staples using my Staples Rewards.
My original thought was to buy Canon CLI-8PC Photo Cyan Ink Tank and Canon CLI-8PM Photo Magenta Ink Tank since they don't come in a pack. But given the usage chart above, it is clear that I should buy extra Yellow and Photo Magenta.
What can you say about ink? I found no problems with it... it arrived quickly, was about $30 cheaper for all 6 than buying them at the store. As long as you ready your printer manual to find out exactly what ink you need, and check the product to make sure you're buying the right thing, there shouldn't be any problems.
My Environment: 100% Windows 7 PCs, an iPad and two iPhones.
As a professional consultant within the print industry, I did a lot of research for what to put in my own home office related to print devices. I reached out to vendors, got corporate VAR pricing, but in the end, I saw that this was sold for $212.00 online with no shipping cost and jumped on it.
The device is fast, quiet and efficient. The toner won't last too long, but there are plenty of options for buying new or reman toner for the device at a fair price so I am less concerned with that as I typically do more scanning than printing.
The rating is for the device itself. The quality is excellent and the speed from energy saver is very fast (which since I pay for the power in my home, is important to me).
PROS:
Included duplex is fast and quiet(ish) and I haven't had a jam yet (and nearly all the prints were duplex)
First Page Out time is short
The wireless network was fairly easy to configure and is reliable.
Network Scanning utility is very good. I love being able to scan to my computer from the MFD without needing to do anything at the PC itself.
Good Scan, Print and Copy quality (haven't used fax...)
Its small and doesn't make strange noises when I don't expect it (some MFDs do annoying things, like calibrate, when idle).
CONS:
Does not have Airprint support. I use a small laptop as a server, so its not an issue after I installed Fingerprint (google it, its a real great solution)
Low Toner Yield (always an issue at this small device and this low a price)
Installation required disable of UAC
As good as I feel about this device, if this device was being sold for more than say $275 (shipped) I would have possibly chose a different model. The lack of Airprint is a big deal for me as my family and I use my iPad quite a bit.
TECHNICAL NOTE: The setup, once I turned off User Account Controls (which is on by default in Windows Vista and 7), worked great. That lesson, however, took over an hour to figure out. If you are going to install this device on a Windows Vista or 7 PC, turn off UAC (search for UAC in the start menu), reboot and install. You can turn UAC back on after the install completes.
This is a great printer/copier/fax machine and it's much smaller in size than the brother laser printer we used to use. So it's saving us on space and does the same exact thing the Brother did. This new machine says the toner is rated for 2100 copies. The brand new canon 128 cartridge we just bought last month is already out (a real one not the refurbished kind) and it only lasted 1675 copies! If that's the case and if each cartridge is going to be like that then I'm gonna need a new cartridge about every month for my busy small business. That's ~12 new toner cartridges a year and at $80 each and that seems like a lot of money. Everything else about this laser printer is great. I just wish the toner cartridge lasted longer.
I'd finally had it with my 4-year-old Canon Multifunction (C555). The fax worked fine but the printer was unreliable, torpid and, because the cartridges kept drying up, frightfully expensive. Despite my wife's warning (she's been having trouble with HP-OSX compatibility issues), I opted for this HP 4215.
When it arrived, I was immediately cheered by a box that was less than half the size of the Canon's. Upon opening it, I was further encouraged by a handy yet complete printed manual. (The Canon's was all online, and the printed-out materials seemed like a life-time of reading.) In 10 minutes I was ready to go--cartridges installed, program installed on my Powerbook, telephone line, USB cable, power cord all hooked up. The unit seemed too light and compact, the set-up too easy and automatic, but I went to a Word document, clicked and waited. Not for long, because the printer not only handled the document in record time but presented me with copy that was sharper than any I'd ever seen.
Next I went on the internet, found a richly textured, page-sized color photo and clicked "print." Same result. The machine speedily delivered a bright yet detailed and subtle color print that was an improvement on the original, even with the cheap copy paper I was using.
My plan was to keep my workhorse Epson for the bulk of my printing and use the HP for faxing, copying, and scanning (all of which it does both better and more efficiently than my old Canon). But the HP is simply too good to be anything less than a starting player. I can't remember ever being more impressed with a device, especially one this complicated, and happier about a computer or office-related purchase.
In spite of my singular success with this particular model, I've learned not to make blanket judgements about a brand or manufacturer based on one particular experience, especially in this field of competitive, rapidly changing technology. My wife just gave up on her HP printer and exchanged it for a Canon.
My husband bought me this All-In-One for Mother's Day of 2005. He knew how much I wanted an All-In-One but did not want to lay out too much money. I own a rental company and work from home, so I thought this would make my life a lot easier, well I was wrong! This printer worked great for one whole month. Then the problems started.
1) The ink cartridges are way too small for something that is supposed to scan, copy and print.
2) Printing envelopes is almost impossible. Stamps.com could not format to print postage on my printer.
3) You cannot send more than a 2 or 3 page fax unless you want to feed it one page at a time. This was fun in my last real estate transaction. Most of the time I have to fax three pages, hang up, fax three more, and so on...
4) It CONSTANTLY says that "The cradle cannot move" It suggest you open it and free the jam. Problem is there is no jam. All you have to do is press ok, and it keeps going. This may seem like NO BIG DEAL, but for the last 6 months is has done it on every SINGLE page I printed, or fax I received! Every single one. NO JAM you just have to press OK and it takes FOREVER to print one page, with this problem. About 2 pages a minute! AWFUL!
5) When it pulls in paper it sounds terrible. It makes almost a screaming sound. Sounds like it is going to break any day now!
It is small, and if it weren't for the screaming paper feeding problem, and the constant pressing of the OK button, it would be a great addition for someone who receives or send 1 or 2 page faxes. Otherwise, save your money and buy a nicer model.
HP ink cartridges are notoriously overpriced. I have the photosmart plus. It's a good machine but drinks more ink than a drunken sailor drinks. The cost to keep replacing the ink makes this machine not worth it! The only way to stay out of the poor house with HP printers is to buy aftermarket ink to refill your cartridges. HP protects against this (because they dishonestly make their cartridges run down so fast) by not allowing the computer chip to be reset (can someone out there make a device to do this please). So, you can use aftermarket ink to fill your cartridge but you won't get a read-out on how much ink is left...this is really annoying.
This will likely be my last HP printer...I'm sick of paying them so much for their ink when other companies are so much cheaper and offer the same or better quality products...
This ink is fine. I am sticking to the manufacturer's ink since I have had problems using non-proprietary ink with printers in the past. I just wish it was less expensive. I have switched my printer setting to the economy mode which helps the cartridge last longer. If I want better quality printing I switch it to a different setting and then put it back on the economy setting.
Needed a printer for my notebook PC while on vacation. This was just what I needed. With USB was an easy setup, no special drivers required, just "plug-n-play". Slow printing, but good quality. Small footprint, easy to carry. Even fits in my notebook case.
This printer is great! It came with 110 and 220 cords and is very small. I am in the army and do not have a lot of space where I am so I couldn't have ordered a better printer!
We ordered this cartridge a few months before needing it. Once we did we found out that the toner would not function properly. Due to the length of time it took for us to use it we could not return it through Amazon which was reasonable. I contacted Great Toners and received an RMA number and shipping address for returning the item. One month after sending the item via USPS we received it back saying the address was not correct and that the forwarding address had expired. At this point it is not pursuing any further as we are now out the price of the toner and shipping.
I bought this product because of low pricing. It arrived in time. The packaging was excellent. Installing this cartridge was very easy. The brightness of the black imprint is very good. I have seen some problems however. When a stack of several pages printed, some ink shows on the page above. Also I noticed occasional smudging, making it less sharp. I hope these issues will go away after few days.
This printer installed easily and functions nicely in every way. My only complaint is that the ink cartridges, while very inexpensive, contain very little ink. If you're doing occasional printing, scanning or copying this is a great printer. If you expect to print more than 1000 pages per month, be prepared to change the cartridge as often as your undies.
Did I mention that its a fine printer?
My old printer was on its last leg so I had been on the hunt for a replacement for about a month. I use mine for a home based business so I didn't want to spend a ton of money nor did I want to end up with a piece of junk either. You all know the saying "you get what you pay for", well that does not ring true with this printer. I only paid $89.99, which is really cheap for an all-in-one unit, and I would have gladly paid more had I known how wonderful it was going to be! Installation was a breeze, however I did make a slight error during the print alignment part of the installation process but was able to log on to the HP website and chat live with a customer service rep who helped me fix the mistake in no time at all. I love the size of this machine, it isn't bulky at all, and fits perfectly on the shelf under my desk. I like the fact that I can hook my digital camera right into the printer which makes it easy to print my photos in a hurry. I am impressed with the quality of the pictures, they are beautiful; the colors are so crisp and clear, it's like I had them developed at a photo-center. Even better is the fact that the print cartridges are under $20 a piece, not the case with my old printer, they were over $25 a piece, ouch! As for longevity, so far I haven't had any problems; there hasn't been any paper jams, nor any software malfunctions that other reviewers have reported with the older version of this printer. Bottom line is if you are looking for a printer for personal use or for a home based business like myself then this printer is exactly what you are looking for. You just can't beat its quality for such a small price tag!
good and cheap, 2 things I love together ( another is chocolate and peanut butter). be warned though, this ink is getting old so it may not be perfect everytime.
This was a great purchase. The ink was shipped and delivered when promised. The packaging was good. I am very happy with this purchase.
I have spent a month trying to find a set of ear buds for my iphone and this is the set. They fit great in the ear, they have great full range sound, and they have volume controls. Those were my three requirements and this is the only set that fit the build. Plenty of bass for the bass lover, again they sound awesome for the price. I had bought several more expensive sets that would not stay in the ear or just had mids and highs with no bass these have it all. The controls work perfect, works on both iphone 4 and 4s. I would strongly suggest this to anyone looking for great ear buds for a affordable price.
Over the years, I've probably gone through 4-5 different sets of in ear earphones looking for the right ones for working out + the in-line iPhone remote on the cord. They either fell apart, weren't long enough, didn't actually stay in the ear, didn't have a good sound, etc. I debated getting the Bose set for 2-3 the price, but I couldn't be happier with this set. THIS HAS IT ALL.
Thank you Skullcandy.
Recently bought a Blueparrott 250XT and was worried about the battery, as others have had problems with that. I charged mine up the full time (and more) as they say in the instructions. I initially had problems, but they were my fault. I didnt read the instructions completely and when the light flashed red, I thought it was a battery problem. As it turns out, it indicated that it had disconnected from my cellphone's bluetooth system. I reconnected and it worked really well. My cell has disconnected a few times, but lately, it works well, I'm at a loss when I dont have it on. The noise cancelling works really well. The amplication on the earphone is great and compensates for my age-related hearing loss. A really great unit, feels good wearing it, not sure I'd wear it in the food store, but is it any worse than any of the earpiece units you see being used now? If I lost it would I buy another one? Yes...100% yes.
One of those great ideas that works for certain situations (i.e. Smaller head, different phone?)
With my iphone 4, this headset fades in and out and is about 1/2 as loud as my Plantronics 925 on the outgoing volume. The fading is very noticeable on for the listener and verified by apple iphone tech support. Her comment was that I sounded great on the phone and on the 925.
I had called BP tech support and he did say they having some issues with the iphone 4 so there was nothing he could do about it. He was a bit condescending and tried to tell me it was because of the type of bluetooth in the iphone. I checked it and sure looks to me to be the identical 2.1 version.
As it is now, I have people asking me if I am there (can't hear me), say my voice fluctuates in volume, is of poor quality.
The incoming volume is so loud I had to turn down to almost minimum. That is fine with me, however, the phones volume controls do nothing to adjust ether volume. The incoming has to be done on the headset and the outgoing sound is not adjustable in the headset or the phone.
The voice command works great as do the redial although none of the button functions are similar to my other headsets, it is just a learning curve thing and some dropped calls to get it down.
The battery seems excellent and I have not run it out yet. 15 hours may be possible! Seems to charge fast as well.
The fit is not that great for my 7-5/8 hat size. I cannot get the mike in front of my mouth and the over the head strap will not extend as far as I would like it to.
Remember that the mike is directional and if you take the foam off you can see one side has "talk" moulded into it and that is the side to have facing your mouth. It is a little louder with the foam off.
This is a large, heavy headset. Be forewarned. I am used to over the head style so it is not as much of an issue for me as it might be for someone coming from an "in you ear" style. Also, in the heat, my ear sweats under the cushion. I leave it off my head above 80F.
In short, I would call the manufacture and check for phone compatibility first, then make sure you buy through a company with a liberal return policy such as Amazon proper so you don't get stuck with a headset that not satisfy the basic needs of a bluetooth headset.
If you have an iphone 4, I would look elsewhere for a BT solution that actually works.
To the BlueParrot, please make the boom and headband longer and list phone compatibility in an obvious place on the website.
I have had several Dell printers over the years and this one tops them all. It is relatively small for a printer with full duplex and legal paper capability. I couldn't believe how easily I was able to install this printer on my network; both wired and wireless through a router. The CD stepped through the installation effortlessly. The print is crisp and the colors are bright and true. I couldn't be happier. I would definitely recommend this printer to my friends
My wife and I bought this Dell 2150cdn duplex color laser printer to replace a Dell 3100cn color laser printer (with a duplex attachment we had to purchase separately). The Dell 3100cn was a fine printer until it ran out of black toner. I bought a replacement toner directly from Dell but I could not get it to snap in place inside the 3100cn. I spent 4 hours on the phone with Dell support to no avail. I was not soured on Dell though, I was pleased with their customer service, who spent all that time with me at no cost to me even though my 3100cn printer was out of warranty. I decided to buy a new printer and I went with Dell again.
I am pleased to report that Dell completely redesigned the toners and how they snap in place inside the 2150cdn. I have not run out of toner yet, but I am confident that installing a replacement will be easy.
This printer is quiet, a lot smaller than the 3100cn, and the duplex feature is built-in. This was my first time buying a Dell product not from Dell directly, but the product is still backed by Dell's warranty.
A few months after the Dell 2150cdn purchase, my wife and I bought our first Apple computers -- MacBook Pro laptops -- and this printer supports both Windows and Mac computers concurrently. There are protocols that are specific to Mac vs. Windows, but luckily we were not forced to pick one or the other. I did not have to do anything with the printer to allow the Mac to print to it. I just needed to install the printer on my wife's and my MacBooks running the Lion OS (but we needed the DVD that came with the printer in order to install the printer on our Macs -- apparently, Apple does not support plug-and-play of non-Apple products!).
My only complaints are that I am stuck with a cryptic host name I cannot change and the Tool Box software tool that got installed on the PC is buggy and cannot communicate with the printer. Fortunately, I can jettison the Tool Box and just use the web interface.
Review updated on October 13, 2009 to reflect firmware changes and add information on ink consumption -
The Canon MX-860 is an all-in-one printer designed for home or small business. The printing is fast, sharp and clear. The auto-document feeder scans both sides of the page, a tremendous time saver when you work with two-sided originals. Couple that with duplex-printing and it's trivial to reproduce two-sided forms and documents. The network connectivity also works well...in the six months I've had the printer, it's operated flawlessly in a mixed Mac/Windows environment on both wireless and wired networks.
Let's look at the MX-860 on a piece-by-piece basis ...
Printing
The Canon MX-860 uses a set of five ink cartridges for printing. Two of the cartridges are black, with the other three being the typical Magenta/Cyan/Yellow set. The printed output is easily sharp enough to be used for business letters; it almost rivals laser printers in quality. To save paper, the printer has built-in duplexing. I haven't measured it, but single-sided printing speed is quite good...I suspect that the 38 pound weight of the printer is due to some good size motors pulling the paper and moving the printhead around. Printing in duplex mode is quite a bit slower. To avoid smearing, the printer waits for the first-side to dry before printing the second side.
Photographs have good tonal gradation and overall appearance, however they don't equal those from a high-end printer that's specifically designed to print photographs. The difference, though, is slight and everybody has liked the prints that I've made. The printer has the usual slots on the front to allow you to insert your camera's memory cards.
Scanning
Whoopee! Duplex scanning! Have you ever tried to scan a stack of two sided pages? And get them merged into one file in the right order? I tried. Once. Then I went out and paid $400 for a dedicated scanner (the Fujitsu ScanSnap S510). With duplex scanning capability on the MX-860, I wouldn't have needed to do that. You put the papers in the feeder, tell the printer that it's a two-sided original and push the button.
Faxing
Outgoing faxing works fine. The faxes seem to get there. Originally, the designers of the fax system missed an extremely important feature...you couldn't specify the number of rings before the fax machine answered. Without that ability, it was almost impossible for the machine to peacefully co-exist with your phone service in a single line household. This problem was fixed by a firmware update and current purchasers can set the number of rings before pick-up. Unfortunately, Canon hasn't posted the new firmware, so owners of older machines are stuck...be careful if you buy one used. +1 brownie point for recognizing and fixing the problem. -2 for not making it available... :(
Networking and Setup
I had no problems getting both the wireless and wired network up and running. The setup is simple and straight forward. You'll need a USB cable to get the wireless network configured. It may be possible to wirelessly configure the wireless network, but there are certain insanities that even I won't try. You can only use one network - wired or wireless - at once. As I mentioned in the intro, it comes with both Macintosh and Windows software. Getting it to work on my additional networked computers was as simple as inserting the DVD and running the install program.
Ink Consumption
Some printer politely sip ink, but this isn't one of them. It's not quite as bad as beer consumption at a frat party, but in the last 2500 pages, I've gone through six black and two full sets of color cartridges. That works out to slightly over 10.5 cents per page at Amazon's current (11/11/09) prices for OEM ink cartridges...fine for normal use, but not great if you're going to use the printer heavily. Your ink consumption will vary, depending on the mix of photos, graphics and text that you print.
Packaging
You know that ubiquitous orange tape that printer manufactures use to hold everything together? It's there in spades. I wish I owned that franchise. Otherwise, it looks like the printer should ship well. It's well isolated with plenty of molded styrofoam.
In summary, this is my fourth Canon printer and probably the twentieth printer that I've owned. Outside of the faxing issue, it works great. The duplex scanning and printing are valued additions and real time savers...I would have given it a solid five stars if it wasn't for the faxing problem. I haven't used the printer enough to get a sense of long-term reliability; after a couple of thousand sheets of paper, it's been jam free and solid.
The Canon PIXMA MX860 is the iPhone of All-In-One Printers - it is feature packed, easy to use, and exceeds expectations at every turn.
SUMMARY
Excellent quality, clear menus/instructions/software, Wireless setup, printing, and scanning on OS X is flawless. ADF and Duplexer in a high quality wireless printer from Canon is a steal at $199.
PROS
Build quality, setup instructions, feature set is huge, price tag isn't
CONS
Weight, could be quieter, internal paper tray doesn't handle photo media, no wireless faxing
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The build quality is striking. It is very well packed and instructions are the best I have seen of any consumer electronics product including previous Canon products. There is a "kickstand" for keeping the printer open while inserting the 5 ink tanks and closing it reveals that it has a gentle piston like a luxury car's hood. Other details include a mechanism on the output try that automatically opens when printing to keep papers from spewing onto the floor. There is definitely some weight to this device and it is much larger than a printer you might get free with a PC purchase. Still I said to myself as I unpacked "was this really just $199?" as I had been looking at more expensive models and was concerned the quality would suffer to provide the MX860's price point.
PHYSICAL SETUP
Okay, I was flat out scared to insert the print head and break the caps off the five delicate ink tanks to insert them, but I think the instructions were just trying to make a point. In any case, do prepare your setup with lots of light as the print head insertion process is both dark and covered in warning stickers. I had no problems however because the on-screen instructions were clear (both visually and intellectually) and after printing a three step printhead alignment, output quality was definitely promising. I went with the wireless setup so I left the included USB cable (thanks Canon!) and phone lines (don't intend to fax) in the bag. The built in paper tray (letter size only) hides away neatly under the printer and there is a second input on the back of the unit for other media, plain paper, envelopes, or photo paper (hey a free 4x6 sample pack is included, cool!)
NETWORK SETUP
I installed the OS X drivers on a MacBook and it was very easy. Note that there are different instructions for 10.4 and 10.5 which are the only two versions supported as of Feb 2009 (Vista, XP, and 2000 are also supported, though it is unclear if 64-bit drivers are provided for those OSes). Software is as straight forward as the printed instructions. I did not install Canon's included photo software as I am expecting iPhoto to handle those tasks.I put the printer in Wireless LAN setup mode. A couple items to note though: Canon does proide for totally wireless setup though Wi-Fi Protected Setup though I went with the more straight forward USB connection to get the printer setup on the wireless network (turns out that included USB cable was helpful). The second item to note is that the software required a reboot which I am not accustom to with OS X software but none the less went along with. It was very cool to see the results of a two minute Wi-Fi quality test that shows the signal strength from base station to printer. (I was in the green zone from about 50 - 60 feet from the base station through two walls.)
PRINTING
Printing is so subjective I'm not going to try to quantify it. I'll say that it looks very crisp to me - not laser printer crisp, but every bit as sharp as I expected. Have not printed photos yet. The printing is about moderate in speed and as loud as my $300 HP All-in-One from 2004 but lower in tone so not as annoying.
SCANNING
Wireless scanning was what I was very interested in and the MX860 did not disappoint. Can scan from the glass, or the Auto-Document Feeder (ADF) and even do front and back duplex scans from the ADF. The awesome on-screen menu system is intuitive and allows you to choose your target wireless device to scan to. Scanning was faster and quieter than I expected and the resolution is truly excellent for an All-in-One. This is not a dedicated scanner and it won't scan a legal document, but when you want to quickly front and back scan those rebate forms before you send them in, this will be a good friend to have. I also look forward to batch scanning old printed photos for import into iPhoto.
OTHER FEATURES
I haven't had time to test printing from a memory card, duplex or ADF copy/print/scanning, faxing or receiving a fax, or Bluetooth (didn't purchase the optional module for $30). But what I was keenly impressed with is the crisp, intuitive menus. Very easy to navigate and follow. Things are where you think they will be. I wanted to turn down the volume of the keypad confirmation beeps and pleasantly had a whole menu of selection to do so for various volumes including off, as well as different settings for key press or alarms. The attention to detail and user experience really shows.
I hope this review was helpful and you enjoy your new Canon PIXMA MX860.
This paper works very well for my photo printing needs. I've used it with my Canon PIXMA MX860 Wireless All-In-One Photo Printer, and I'm very happy with it. It's not quite as glossy as the Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II 8.5in x 11, but it works quite well for what I need.
One thing I really appreciate about this paper is that while one side is glossy, the other is basically like card stock, so you can write notes on the back of photos, or you can fold your photos to use them as cards. This is good quality paper, for a very good price. I'm very happy with this style paper, and bought it in this, the 8.5 x 11, and in the 4 x 6 sizes. As far as I'm concerned this is all I think I'll ever need. It covers all of my home photo printing needs.
I have a Canon printer so I try to stick with Canon paper. My photos come out great on this paper and the color lasts and lasts.
I am quite pleased with these little 'phones. I was given an iPod and since the included buds were just abysmal and since I travel a lot....well, it was a prudent purchase :-)
I have three sets of Noise Cancelling headphones (the others are sennheiser and panasonic) and these little MDRNC11's have a very similar ability to dim ambient noise in a MUCH smaller package - perfect for my dawn and midnight runs and they are great on the airplane, the bus and the office.
After a great deal of futzing with the included (and VERY comfortable) silicone ear moulds the sound is now fantastic on my iPod. I am still listenint to MP3's (or MP4's) so the sound is not audiophile quality but I am quite happy with what I hear.
In other reviews some of the folks has mentioned the bass-heavy nature of these drivers - yes, they are a tad bass heavy, but on the iPod the "acoustic" setting rounds them out very well.
The vast majoriety of music I listen to is classical and jazz. The opening track of "Jazz at the Pawnshop" is littered with lovely ambient noises that come through very well. As this is a pretty standard track for demoing audiophile sound systems, I would say that for $100 I got a heck of a bang for my buck :-)
Again, MP3's (even the ones from apple.com) still sound like MP3's, but these little buds reproduce the music with elan. If you need a personal Oasis in your daily life I can think of many worse purchases in the headphone market.
FInal tip, shop around :-)
-J
Surprisingly these earbuds work quite well. Now that the price in reduced to under $100 they are a much better deal. Don't expect pure silence. However do expect to be able to listen to your content at half the volume you are used to using.
Most of the noise reduction is passive, simply the rubber fittings on the ear buds make a seal with your ear hence blocking out a lot of sound. It is crucial that you try the different sizes to find one that gives you the best results. The active (electronic) noise cancelling works well on the low rumble on airplanes, the sound of a car heater or the sound of an air conditioner. Other than that the active noise cancelling does not do too much.
The sound quality is good provided the earbuds fit you properly.
One issue is that the sound the chord makes vibrations that travel up the chord and since you have a tight seal between the buds and your ear you will hear a lot of that. so dont use these for jogging. then again the bose quiet comfort 2 had a similar problem although nto as bad.
If you happen to travel by BART on the S.F. Peninsula then these earbuds are definately effective. You will still hear the 'sounds of hell" screeching (again dont expect magic) but it is very much subdued and you will be able to listen to your iPod at half volume.
Another point you can not compare noise cancelling headphones with regular headphones. that's an apple vs orange type comparison. For $100 you can get much better sounding headphones but they will not be noise cancelling. I would say just for sound quality alone a $40 pair of non-noise cancelling ear buds would sound about as good. so ya you do pay for the noise cancelling features.
If you do not need the noise cancelling functionality then I would say do not get these, because dollar for dollar regular earbuds will sound better and be more comfortable.
You know things have moved on in the world when your printer does GigE and IPv6! (mine is using both) Card worked out of the box, though I don't run DHCP for IPv6 so had to hand-tweak that. Only downside of this card is it's a bit pricey - you can buy networked laser printers for less these days.
Of all the HP Jetdirect 635N Internal Print Servers I have ever ordered, this one is the best. It came nestled in the box like a baby condor under it's mother's wing. The instructions were clear and the device slid into the bay like pudding through a straw. The blinking lights reminded me of Christmas's past; family, friends, and drunk uncle chet. Never trust Uncle Chet when he wants to show you something. Prints sent through this print server come out like 3 day old tacos chased with Mexico City tap water. HP should win the Nobel Prize for making a device that makes an otherwise useful device even more usefuller.
I am a nice guy. I have patience. Customer service is inherently frustrating, I'm okay with that. Things take time. Things break. I'm okay with that too. But this is OFF THE !$% SCALES OF BEING OKAY.
1. My printer broke. Wouldn't scan or copy, just print.
2. I call customer service. I describe the problem. They said they'd send a replacement part and a guy would come fix it. Weird, for a $300 printer, but whatever.
3. The printer guy comes. Says they sent the wrong part. Reorders the part.
4. Two weeks go by. I call Samsung. The part is on INDEFINITE BACKORDER. I was not told. I talk to "Executive Customer Service", they say that they can just send another part that works just as well. WHY DIDN'T THEY JUST SEND THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE?
5. The printer guy comes back. Installs the part, it doesn't work. He says that he charges $400/hour. That means Samsung has already paid for two replacement parts + shipping and about $1200 in repairs to NOT fix my broken $300 printer. Genius. He marks it "unrepairable". I call Samsung, they say they're going to call me when his report goes through their system.
6. A week later. They never called me, so I call Samsung. They say they'll finally send me a new printer. GREAT FINALLY!
7. ...wait. They're not sending me a new printer. They're sending me a new unit, but I have to keep the toner, the accessories, and I have to pull out the "imaging unit" and put it in a box because if I expose it to light, the whole thing is destroyed and my printer is worthless. No matter that I don't know what the part looks like, I should be able to pull it out in the dark and put it in the conveniently sized light-proof box I don't have. Great. I ask for an email instruction or checklist so I can make sure to take out all the right parts. The Samsung tech support guy says "we don't have email." Really? Great move. A tech support department without email. Perfect.
8. Nope...not over yet. They aren't sending ME the printer. It's getting sent to my local UPS store. I now have to hope I pull out all the right parts to my broken printer in the dark, put them in a box so the "imaging unit" doesn't break, go to the UPS store, pick up the new one, and hope that I can put it all back together at my house and that I haven't left a part in the old printer because I'm supposed to take out the parts that were on a list that they wouldn't give me.
9. I call the UPS store that Samsung tells me about. They have no idea what I'm talking about and have never had a Samsung printer sent to them, ever.
[...] YOU SAMSUNG
Your crappy Epson printer breaks, they send you a new one for free, you don't even have to send the old one back. THAT'S customer service. I will never buy another Samsung product, just to not have to deal with this moronic process again.
I purchased this printer in the UK (since I live there). It is excellent. While in the USA, I purchased black toner cartridges for this printer. Be advised that ONLY toners purchased in the Euro States will work in the Euro (UK)machines. This is due to a security chip in the toner cartridge. Thus USA cartridges will only work in USA machines. Anyone want to buy 2 new (never used) black USA toner Cartridges-good price!
I looked and researched wireless printers and was going crazy. This one had all postive reviews so I decided to order it. I wanted an all in one printer/scanner/copy/ fax and wireless. At 149.00 dollars sale price I decided to go for it.
It came in a huge box and I thought what the heck did I order and when I took it out of the box it was bigger than my other all in one, but the double sided printing attachment adds some bulk (I have not tried this feature). It is noisier than my HP 4280 all in one, but that is not a big deal.
Set up was fairly easy, I just followed the instruction set up page. The software took a long time to install. I am familiar with printer set ups and installing software so no problem there just time consuming. It came with everything I needed including the USB cord (usually not included). The fax was easy to set up and send (I have not received a fax yet)It has speed dial too. The wireless works perfectly from my laptop. I'm familiar with HP software so the program is easy to use for scanning and it's easy to do copies too.
I am unfamiliar with printheads that you have to install yourself and I do not know if they have to be replaced periodically or not. The ink comes with a pop off top that was kind of scary but you just pop it off. Cartridges are very easy to install. It seems to have to go through a lot to get going including noise.
It took me over an hour but I wasn't in a big hurry.
The only problem I have encountered is with my new HP pavilion laptop 64bit running Vista. My desk top is a dell running XP, and I didn't have any software problems. The software installed on my laptop with no problems except it gives an error message when I shut down my laptop. My HP 4120 did the same thing, HP has not been able to give me a fix. It's a 64 bit problem.
I'm pretty impressed with all the features and I have printed out some 4 by 6 photos and had no problem using photo paper or 4 by 6 paper. The paper tray holds tons of paper which is nice when using wireless, in case I forget to check before printing.
I only gave it 4 stars because of the Vista 64 bit software glitch.
I am an intermediate to advanced computer user.
Yes, the print quality is beautiful, but I'm not as overjoyed as the previous reviewers.
The printer driver alone is 245 MB. That's almost as big as my entire MS Office suite! WHY? With few of its optional programs included (an additional 100 MB or so), it took a good 20 minutes to copy and install the software from the disk onto my desktop computer and complete the initial setup.
I had expected that once the machine was installed on my wireless network using my desktop, that our laptops on the network could simply detect it and add it with the Windows Add Printer function, if all they wanted was print capability--maybe by grabbing a small driver off the internet or from the machine itself. But oh, no. This thing has to be installed from the disk for each machine, and took 20 minutes each to install on our XP laptops, and almost 30 minutes on our VISTA machine. The useless completion bar sat at 94% for most of that time.
As I said in the header, the machine itself is noisy. A few seconds after each print job completes, it starts back up and clunks and whirs for 15-20 seconds, apparently chewing its way through some kind of self-adjustment/maintenance. I fear that this is not the sound of long term durability. I'm glad I bought the two year warranty.
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