| Brand: | Canon | ||
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Wireless Office All-In-One Printer with 2.5 LCD & Built-in Two-sided copying and printing more info
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Canon PIXMA MX860 Wireless AllInOne Photo Printer
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Good choice for light home or SOHO use
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The Canon PIXMA MX860 Wireless All-In-One Printer already has 186 reviews at the time I am writing this, so instead of repeating an exhaustive list of features and specs of this model I will skip straight to the high and low points of the printer in the six months I have owned it:
Highlights:
Wireless connectivity – goes without saying, but it is fantastic to be able to print / scan / copy / FAX where it is convenient without regard to wiring to a nearby computer. My MX860 is located in my family room TV cabinet, while my old wired Canon inkjet and HP laser printers sit in the basement unused.
Print quality – significantly better than previous Canon inkjets I have owned. Once I got Photoshop Elements set up correctly I have been able to print very good 4×6 and 8×10 prints. Text output using inkjet paper is also quite good.
Ink usage – in my experience Canons tend to sip ink a bit slower than other brands, and so far I am satisfied with the ink usage of this unit. Being able to replace individual color tanks is also a plus.
Lowlights:
Wireless setup – this is one printer where the manual is absolutely required to complete the wireless setup; the procedure is totally non-intuitive and confusing. Why not just allow the user to input the SSID and key?
Size – the MX860 is a beast, at least in a home or SOHO environment. I wish that Canon would spend some engineering talent in reducing the footprint of this unit.
Ink tanks – I’m disappointed that from the older generation of printers (such as my MP530) to the MX860 the color ink tanks were reduced from 11ml to 9ml. Those printing large volumes of text or photos may want to do further study of total printing costs and see how Canon compares to other brands.
Overall I find the Canon MX860 is a fine printer for light home / SOHO use, once you get the darned thing set up.
Canon Pixma Mx860 Printer and ink cartridges
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I on own of those printers. It’s of great quality. The ink has to be changed every few weeks (every 3 weeks). It’s excellent and a lot better than HP. You can even do double sided (called recto verso – in European) printouts. It’s all in one. The Fax is not installed yet. Planning on setting up the fax. The printer, the scanner, and the copier work fine. It’s a lot faster than HP and less paper jams. What else can I say about it.
Great Canon Printer for the Mac
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I had a Pixma MP780 and after a few years the printhead started to clog. Repeated cleanings did not help matters any, despite internet encouragement. Then the printhead clogged around 90%. A new printhead was somewhere around $80, and a new Canon multifunction was only $150, so I figured I would move up.
The MX860 was easy to set up and works perfectly. It is easy to scan to pdf, copy and print. I have used many printers over the years and Canon for my money has been the best brand. I am Mac-only so a large part of my loyalty stems from the performance of the Mac drivers and the ability to unclog the printhead. These were the Achilles’ heel for my several former HP printers and an Epson. The photo quality of the MX860 is great and although I guess it would be nice to have the 6-tank photo inks that Canon has in other printers, they didn’t has this available as a multifunction printer (I need it to be a fax as well).
The Mac-centric people at Canon do an excellent job with the help guide, troubleshooting and especially having the printer deliver nearly full functionality for the Mac. I have never had the driver problems I had with other brands, and that means I’ll keep coming back to Canon (I also have an MP 160 that is a great printer/copier, if you don’t need the fax).
Just a good solid MFP. It seems that I see printers that look very cheap and they are cheap, and I hate having to throw them away within a few months when they are still 99% good. Of course I could have salvaged the MP780 for a few more years but I wanted to print double-sided and the old MP780 couldn’t do that as it was.
Great all around printer, fax, copier – easy to set up and use.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I’ve only had this a few weeks, but am very satisfied with it so far. It was easy to set up and works on my wireless network at home, accessible by 3 different PCs. Very helpful to be able to feed in a set of double-sided pages and fax them, or copy them. Nice to have 2 paper sources (rear feeder and bottom tray). Auto duplex is also super convenient.
As far as ink use, only time will tell. But I’ve bought replacement cartridges for other printers on eBay, non-OEM, never had problem, and bought a couple of sets for this printer already (haven’t had to use them yet).
Bottom line, based on a few weeks of use, highly recommended.
Wireless Setup Nightmare
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I have invested about 10 hours and $30 to get the wireless function setup. My Belkin wireless router was purchased in 2006 and I could not get the access point setup. Since this is the first time I’ve had a wireless printer, I didn’t understand the instructions about access point, push button method, or PIN code. The instructions assume that you know what these mean. I didn’t realize that my router was older and perhaps not setup for this and I basically killed my internet connection entirely trying to establish an access point by confusing the whole system. I ended up having to purchase a new wireless router (since I could no longer get my old one to work after messing with it so long). The new router explained what an access point was (that you shouldn’t do it unless you are an advanced user- which apparently I am not). It also explained push button method and PIN method. I wish that Canon would have been more explicit about this so that I could have identified earlier that my older router may not have been setup to use this wireless printer.
I am also dissatisfied that there is not an option to use the black cartridge only. They have a “print in gray scale” preference, but it appears to have colored speckles in the gray printing. I don’t look forward to having to purchase colored cartridges when I rarely use colored ink.
In general I think of myself and my husband as fairly competent at getting around computers, but the instructions were a mess for me and my situation.
So far we are not off to a great start.
big printer!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This all-in-one is amazing. It does everything. It can be a bit complicated, though. The menu’s are quite different than other printers I’ve dealt with in the past. Set up took a bit of time due to the complicated book that comes with it (It reminds me of the choose your own adventure books!). It is a very large printer. Much larger that I had expected. It really needs its own stand! even with its size, its still the best printer around. It beats the heck out of those giant BizHubs that you see in most offices.
JUNK
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I have owned 3 Canon printers and scanners previously and was very pleased with them – good quality, not bad operating costs, easy to use. Therefore I chose to buy an MX860. It was supposed to be better.
However, the machine is built poorly. It handles like junk. The scanner is complicated to operate. The printer “hangs up” frequently. I am very unhappy with it.
To date I have not used the FAX facility and therefore cannot comment.
Snow Leopard 10.6 Users Be Prepared!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Alright Mac Users,
I traded up my all-in-one printer from the antiquated Epson Stylus PHOTO RX620 which I never got to work quite right… blame me not the printer. I’m not the most technical guy on the planet. May I just say, there is no comparison between the two. The MX860 produces stunning scans, crisp photos, and sharp text… once I got the thing installed, that is.
Going back to “I’m NOT a technical guy.” The included instructions are clear and very precise. Tiger and Leopard users will probably find the installation quick and relatively painless. Snow Leopard users will be prompted to download the updated drivers and software.. which is totally acceptable and only a provided click away. That said, there are NINE separate downloads and installations to perform. Still not the end of the world but I was going from a pretty basic device to this and had no idea what to expect… nor did I know what the heck I was installing or why. I had to stumble my way through the best I could. No “Easy Install” option for me. The wireless network installation isn’t as straight forward as it needs to be. It took me about 2 hours messing with the IJ Network Tool before I gave up and let Snow Leopard find and configure the thing.
No doubt, Canon will be updating their install disc for Snow Leopard and I’m pretty confident the more tech-savy will have little problem in the meantime. Those of us who require a “it just works” solution will find things a bit more challenging. *laugh* Hang in there, though. This thing is AWESOME and well worth a little hair pulling during the installation. I’m extremely satisfied with my purchase!
Great printer for the money
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a replacement printer for my old HP color inkjet and I couldn’t be happier with it so far. Caveat: I am using it for copies and printing only. No fax.
At any rate, this is a great printer. The instructions were clear and the setup was done in, say, under 15 minutes using the WCN feature which worked flawless.
Since then I am a happily using the printer on my home network from XP and Vista machines, printing both in b/w and color, and doing the occasional copy. Duplex mode works great, saving me lots of paper and overall I can say great value for the money so far. So far I did not have to replace the ink so cost/ease is an unknown at this point. Initial installation of the cartridges was super easy, though.
Tickled pink with my new printer!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a terrific printer. I am just barely literate when it comes to computers and yet I was able to get it set up and running without frustration. I think the duplex printing is one of the nicest features; no more having to reinsert the printed page to print page 2 on the back. The print quality is more than satisfactory on everything I’ve tried (have not yet printed many photos on photo paper, so no comment there). I love being able to make copies from open books or other irregular-shaped items without having to feed them through – just lay it on the glass, close the lid and push the copy button. You can even copy 2-sided pages onto 2-sided pages without having to flip the pages over. Love it.
Great Machine!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This product does it all and is a must for any home office. Copies, scans, faxes….all with professional quality. It’s great to have and easy to use.
Canon makes junk printers. Any other brand would be better.
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
I have officially sworn off Canon printers.
Buyer beware, Canon creates printers that function for a little while, then start giving error messages.
With this printer, AND with the Pixma MP500, Canon uses a little technique where if the ink cartridges aren’t working, aren’t recognized, or are empty, you can’t do ANYTHING–not even the features that do NOT require ink, such as scanning or faxing. The buttons on the printer won’t work. You can’t access the menu, you can’t reset. NOTHING. It is ridiculous.
I had to come and write this after a frustrating morning of trying to scan something, but the printer won’t recognize a black ink tank that is full, and that means the printer will not work at all.
I think it’s time to take my printer to a field and re-enact the scene from Office Space.
Great network printer – just don’t try to set it up with Vista
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Setting up the 860 on a wireless network:
I do not have a wireless network that supports WPS. I had to use the WCN (Windows Connect Now) configuration method. I first started trying to configure WCN with Vista but very quickly got stuck and the configuration that vista created about the wireless network was incorrect. The printer would not work on the network.
The setup problem was a Windows Vista problem and not that of the printer; however I do think that Canon could have put a simple network configuration tool on the screen to attach the printer to the wireless network. Once WCN was used from a Windows XP system, the configuration worked and the printer attached to the network after a power cycle. No issues.
After installing the printer drivers for: Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Ubuntu 9.04 and 9.10 the printer works perfectly over the network. I am shocked at how well the driver setup and printing was in Linux.
It functions, but does most stuff half-assed
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
I got this multifunction printer from [...] because of a warranty exchange with my old one.
1. It takes different, smaller (but priced the same) ink cartridges from Canon, so you can’t use your old ones.
2. The print quality is fine if you’re only printing mapquest directions. But when I printed my resume, on the same paper as I used with my old printer, the text is all a lot fuzzier. It’s not impossible to read by any means, but it’s definitely not sharp either.
3. The scanner seemed to do a decent job, until I looked a little closer – there’s abbout 5 random white and black spot in glossy pictures I scanned in. And the damn thing keeps cutting off the sides or bottom (depends on the scan) of the picture I’m trying to scan in. It’s not that hard to not cut off part of the picture (peoples feet keep getting cut off)! It’s really not. But this scanner keeps doing it anyways.
4. The printer seems to take a minute or two to start up before you can print anything.
I’m just saying – it’s a pretty mediocre printer/scanner.
Not good if you are in a hurry…
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
The printer is fine = nothing to rave about other than the duplex printing. The scanning is a bit dicey – a bit difficult to figure out how to retrieve the saved pdf file – also what it says as scan options are not what you normally refer to – for example the choices are platen or adf simplex/duplex…
Also if you put on fax receive setting with telephone priority it is supposed to turn on the fax if a fax machine tone is heard…well that doesn’t work. Also if you are printing or receiving a fax it will take 40 – 50 seconds for it to produce the document.
A really big miss is that there is no way to program the fax to be received into your computer’s memory. So if the fax malfunctions, you miss the fax if you have no memory card inserted.
It is not bad machine, but the slowness of the printing is my biggest issue.