Electronics : Canon Pixma iP 4500 Premium Photo Printer

Rating: - Canon's best kept secret ?
I purchased this to replace my (at just 3 years old !) ageing Epson R300 which had leaked ink all over its' insides causing a short circuit which stopped it working, despite having only ever used genuine Epson cartridges, all Epson could offer was to repair it at £70 plus postage !

After studying lots of reviews it was clear that the iP4500 featured here represented just about the best value for money for this type of printer (and from Amazon it cost less than repairing the R300) coupled with one of the highest resolutions of 9600 x 2400.

I am not going to knock the R300 as it had always produced excellent results but the Canon offers the same CD printing facility which works first time every time - Epson users will understand ! - and similar individual ink tanks together with automatic duplex (double sided) printing, automatic booklet printing and a generally quieter and much faster output.
The extra resolution means you get laser quality text on plain paper - this is no doubt helped by a large jet black pigment ink cartridge, photos are very good on plain paper and simply stunning when printed on photo paper, I feel that there is less pixel bleeding than on the Epson.

It is well documented elsewhere that Epson's slurp ink like it is going out of fashion but, after 4 months I have just replaced my first cartridge (I would have replaced at least one complete set on the R300 by now), of the other 3, one is approaching replacement, the others are at about 50%, if you shop around (ebay USA) you can get genuine Canon ink for nearly the same price as compatible ink here in the UK.....so why use compatible ???

There is a very useful "sleep mode" that turns the printer off after a user selectable delay (it will turn itself on without user intervention when required) but, unlike the Epson, it does NOT do a head clean every time it turns on, in fact it very rarely does a head clean hence the lack of wasted ink.

Like other reviewers I have to point out that it does take a large chunk of desk space, it is a bit wider than the R300 but the main cause is the under belly paper tray, however this does mean the paper is kept totally flat and they thoughtfully provided a lid to keep the dust out....talking of dust it seems a shame that the finish is glossy black - it does look very smart.......WHEN IT IS CLEAN !!!

The rear (top) feed slot can be selected via a push button or in software so you can for example top feed envelopes and cassette feed paper BUT YOU CANNOT DO BOTH IN THE SAME DOCUMENT (i.e. you can't print an envelope from the top and then print the letter from the tray), this is really my only complaint for the whole printer, I did mention it to Canon but they weren't at all interested.

Another useful feature is the "quiet mode" printing which slows things down a bit but prevents virtually all of the clunking noise (which is commendably low anyway) - useful if you don't want to disturb the Mrs.!!!....

I just had a thought....... haven't we come a long way since the first dot matrix impact printers .......

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Rating: - Luvly design, good print quality, good price.
This review is written after one week's use.

Background: I bought this printer to print high-quality A4 photos.
For the last 4 years my desktop and photo printer has been an EPSON C46 which still prints OK but the quality of text and particularly photos has begun to deteriorate.

When looking for a replacement printer, I considered:
- Photo print quality
- Price of ink cartridges
- Dimensions
- Design
- Paper feed mechanism
- Price
- Performance: Not really bothered about speed

Here's what I've found after a week's use:

-Photo quality: Beautiful colour, a bit disappointed in sharpness-no better than EPSON. Note: I use a 12Mpixel camera. Tip: I used Morrison's Professional Photo Glossy Inkjet Paper (£6 per 20 sheets) *and* Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy II (£11 per 20 sheets inc postage). Result: Morrisons paper is better and a lot cheaper.

-Thirst: After printing about 30 A4 photos, the ink status indicator shows the colour ink tanks are just under half full, the black ink tanks still show full.
This is much more economic than the EPSON.

-Dimensions: Quite a chunky beast, but fits perfectly in my desk pedestal, helps to measure first!

-Design: Gorgeous and stylish looking-if you like shiny black and silver. It's well put together also. One small fault-the front flap clicks shut via 2 sprung plastic ball bearings. After only a few days of use, the flap will only stay shut with a piece of Blutak. Minor point but surprising.

-Paper feed mechanism: Traditional feed tray at the back, but what I love is the front-loading cassette which takes about 100 sheets. It means no more groping at the back of the printer to stuff paper in -just pull the cassette out of the front (or leave it in), load it, and stick it back in. 2 other advantages of the cassette are that the top of the printer can be closed permanently keeping out dust, and allowing me to stick my spare paper on top of the printer right where I need it. I haven't tried loading photo paper into the cassette, maybe you have to use the rear tray? Not a big issue. I haven't yet found a way to reverse page printing order -Easy with the EPSON.

-Price: Amazon price at least £15 cheaper than the usual high street big stores.

-Performance: Fast! compared to what I'm used to, both for photos in high quality mode, and much faster for text. Text quality in standard mode on bog standard inkjet paper is very very good (almost equal to EPSON in high quality mode) and very fast compared to the EPSON. I think high quality mode would be easily good enough for formal document printing.

-Other: Setup: straightforward-the quick start quide worked perfectly. (The reviewer's not a rooky tho'!).

Conclusion:
Immediate reaction was to send it back but its grown on me. It's printed some beautiful photos, and text printing is very quick and high quality even on cheap paper, looks economic too. Easy to use. Good price. Nice design.

I'm gonna keep it!

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Rating: - Excellent printer - shame about the tiny ink tanks
Produces excellent photos and documents, but does use a fair amount of ink (like most photo printers) so the small size of the colour ink tanks is a bit of a shame as, if you print more than the average, you have to change inks quite a lot. But the inks - genuine articles, not 'compatibles' or cheap copies - aren't THAT expensive. If you just want fairly low volume personal use, I haven't come across a better printer. (I have 7 printers for various purposes, but this is the one I use for printing the best of my photos for framing or giving to friends and family).
It's been around a long time, but seems to have retained its position at the top of the reviews. No doubt it will go end of life soon - I hope Canon replace it with something just as good.

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Rating: - Great for printing Agile story cards
I did a fair bit of research and read a few articles around story card printing and can confirm that this printer is great for Story card printing.
Now that I have moved onto another team, I am now ordering my second one!

Nice colours - even in draft mode, fast, good paper/card handling, including a cassette, understands 6" x 4" / A6 - what more do you need!

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Rating: - Canon weary
Like many others I LOVE the print quality of this printer, as I did my IP8500 when it was working. However, I finally had to give up on the 8500 after endless printing problems and a new printhead (mega money) and no joy from Canon 'Help'. I bought this a few months ago and initially it was great. The INcompatible ink issue is a pain, but copable with once you get used to it. But as soon I had a problem with the yellow not printing properly the whole thing went crazy. After cleaning the printhead, it will now only print with magenta and black and no amount of cleaning will sort it out. Canon back-up is non-existent, in real terms, just a convoluted route to no-one and a direction to a repair centre. Amazon won't get involved outside their 30 day limit. I will no doubt have to send this printer off and wait. Not really good enough for a new product that doesn't work. I use canon products extensively for my business, including several cameras and other format printers. I simply cannot afford the time to spend sorting out printer problems(yet again). I have contemplated buying another make, but when they work, Canon printers really do cut the mustard on print quality. Good when it works, difficult to sort out when it doesn't.