The PIXMA MP495 is a fine printer with all-in-one features and WiFi capabilities. The driver and software installation, however, did not go so smoothly (Windows 7 x64). I can't imagine a layman going through the difficulty I went through getting WiFi working with this printer. But once it's configured, it works quite well.
Document Printing:
Funny enough, this is probably the least interesting part of the all-in-one. There's not much that can be said in this category. The MP495 is a very competent document printer with all the features you'd find in any inkjet printer. Paper loads from the back, so it's a bit more intuitive which side of the paper will be printed on, but it also means you need more space heightwise.
Photo Printing:
As a photo printer, the MP495 is both fast and high quality. I found that the supplied 'Photo Paper Plus Glossy II' sample paper outperformed some HP photo paper I had. And the MP495 outperformed another HP photosmart 385 printer I have in both speed and quality. So I am quite pleased with the performance here as I find this to be one of the major draws of this device. Canon claims about 86 photos from one Color ink cartridge. I have not owned the printer long enough to verify the accuracy of their claim.
Scanning:
I don't scan very often, but it's a very useful feature to have when you need it. In a scanner I look for speed, image quality and usable software. I'm quite pleased with the MP495's scanner capabilities. My test involved a sheet from a notepad that had a light gray watermark-like background. The scanner picked it up no problem. From initialization to scan completion took approx. 20 seconds, which I find adequate. There's a scan button on the printer, but pressing it doesn't do anything if the printer is hooked up via WiFi.
WiFi:
One of the main draws of this printer is its wifi capabilities. But since the printer has no controls on the device itself for configuring the connection to your likely secured WiFi access point, it must be configured through software installed on one of the computers on the network. Configuring the WiFi was a bit tricky. After repeated failed attempts, I figured out that the trick is to plug the USB cable (which they call a WiFi configuration cable) in at precicely the right point during setup -- during the detection phase. Plugging it in too soon seems to cause it to fail -- and I waited the first few times too. Regardless, this will no doubt be a hurdle for novices trying to configure this printer. I suggest having a competent computer person around while configuring the WiFi connection on this printer. With that being said, not having to have the printer close enough to my computer for the USB cable to reach is fantastic.
Software:
The software is not very impressive but adequate. There's a utility for managing your scans and OCR text conversion and all that good stuff. Canon boasts an automatic scanning feature that automatically detects the type of document being scanned. I tested it out and it seems to work well as far as being convenient. The software however lacks ability to open the file location in Explorer or even open the file using the default application. So that's quite annoying.
Included with the software is "MyPrinter" utility that allows you to connect to the printer and configure various options. It seems like nothing more than a shortcut to the printer properties utility included with windows. There's no options for configuring the WiFi connection in this utility. You must use the Setup program to do that -- something I find rather annoying since this is something you should easily be able to access without having to pop in the driver disc or dig up the setup utility.
If you decide to go with the Easy install instead of the custom install, the setup utility will dump some annoying shortcut toolbar application called Menu something or other. I removed it right quick.
There's also something Canon calls "Web Print Ex" which allows you to change the layout of web pages to print them out better. I didn't test this software out.
Cost:
At around , half the cost of this printer is in the ink. On Amazon, the ink for this printer seems to run around for Black and for Color. Canon reveals the following for ink life:
Black Ink Tank Life Black: 220 pages (PG-510), 401 pages (optional PG-512)¹
Black: 2955 photos* (PG-510), 7275 photos* (optional PG-512)²
* Estimated supplemental yield
Colour Ink Tank Life Colour: 244 pages (CL-511), 349 pages (optional CL-513)¹
Colour: 83 photos (CL-511), 122 photos (optional CL-513)²
Note that I found this info on Canon's European site. The actual cartridge models are PG-210 and CL-211.
So even with those numbers, which are probably the upper bound, you're looking at around 19 cents per photo plus cost of paper. While the photo quality is excellent, I've ordered prints online for around 5 cents per photo. So the ink here is certainly expensive.
Conclusion:
Pros
- Wifi
- Quiet and fast scanner
- High quality and fast printing
- Reasonable purchase price
Cons
- Expensive ink
- Clunky software
- Lack of LCD for independent configuration
Rating the device itself on its merits alone, I give it 4 stars. Whether that ink cost is a major deterrent to you is really up to you.
Average Rating:
Brand: Canon
Model: 4499B026
Product Description:
Wireless, Compact and Stylish Photo All-In-One
Features:
- All new Full HD Movie Print software turns your favorite HD movie clips captured
- "Auto Photo Fix II" automatically adjusts and corrects your photos
- Collect, combine and edit multiple web pages to print your own layout using "Easy-WebPrint EX"
- The Chromalife 100+ system gives you beautiful and long lasting photos
- Features pigment black ink for crisp, sharp text
Available at Amazon
List Price: USD 79.99
Lowest New Price: USD 77.23
Customer Reviews
Pixma MP495
Excellent Scanner. Highly detailed photo printing. Good supporting software. Ink is not cheap, but what inkjet ink isn't. I'm not sure if the cartridges can be refilled and you will have to stay posted for this one. Newer Canon cartridges also have a shelf life where the cartridge will not work after a certain date even if full so beware. The bundled software can be intrusive on your other software e.g. browsers so I suggest using the custom installation process. The printer works well with other programs e.g. printshop. In fact you can get by just installing the drivers. The best part of this printer is that it integrates well with your wireless network and does not require a cable to print. Overall I am highly satisfied with the product and strongly recommend it.
It Prints, Color Scans, Works With My iPod And HTC Hero, And The Power Cord Is Its Only Wire; We LOVE This Thing!
My last year of college (Harvard '97) I was working at Inside Sales for the university IT department. Our most expensive personal printer at that time cost ,000; printed at 600 dpi; and it did nothing but print in black. A really good printer like you would have in an office cost much more and printed at maybe 1200 dpi.
Thirteen years later we have the Canon PIXMA MP495. It's cost at the time of this review; does full-size printing at 9600 dpi; in color; and scans beautifully as well. All this would seem unremarkable (except the price) if it weren't for the comparison.
Even just a few years ago if you wanted a decent photo-only printer it would cost you about 0, only perform drugstore snapshop size prints, and be tiny. It wouldn't print regular size paper, much less scan.
PRINTS FROM ALL YOUR WIRELESS DEVICES: Oh, but it gets sweeter. My first try printing on this was using my iPod. The second print was on my HTC Android phone, and the third I finally used my Sony VAIO. All worked on the first attempt, though note that on the iPod and Droid phone I had to download additional software into each device--which was free in both cases after searching simply for "Canon" in the App Store and Droid Market respectively. The iPod and Droid printing ability may seem like a novelty, but consider the fact that you can print e-mails, photos, Microsoft Office Suite documents, and PDFs from these devices now--wirelessly (no additional hardware required).
BEST PURCHASE FOR YOUR FAVORITE STUDENT: Now speaking as someone who had to write several essays a week and didn't have his own printer, I have to say it would be criminal to not give your college bound (or even high school bound) student a printer/scanner which is this good and this cheap. Especially if your son or daughter is working their own way through school as I did, the least you could do is buy them this increadibly inexpensive, best bang for your buck printer/scanner, so that they don't have to pay for each damn page at the university computer center or local shop.
Add that this printer also just plain looks great. It's the Corvette Stingray of design. It's downright sexy.
You can afford this, and it will be a tremendous help.
SCANS AND COPIES BEAUTIFULLY TOO: Again, back to 1997, I did have a document scanner of my very own right at the very end. It was about the size of a toilet paper tube and cost me a small gangster roll (used) if I remember correctly. It performed low quality scans which were just short of useless.
The scanner on the PIXMA MP495 is a wonderful function all by itself. Without it, this printer would still be an outrageously good deal, and scanner without the printing would also be an outrageously good deal.
As someone who has mounds of old photographs in his closet, I can't help but appreciate the ability to save them all digitally and toss all that paper. No more worrying about maintaining the quality of the negatives either, because once the photos are scanned I can print them again as many times as I like--if not just keep them digitally.
BOTTOM LINE:
We live in a miraculous time. When I was a little kid, we didn't even have answering machines. Now we all have devices in our pockets which easily outstrip the computing power used to run World War II and the Apollo space program--combined! We have supercomputers in every home. But we still need good old fashioned output in the form of ink on paper, and to store and distribute images on some kind of media. Until recent years this level of ability to print and store media and information was strictly the realm of professionals, and now you can get it for from a website.
We live in a miraculous time. People today have the resources and abilities of the top academics and government agencies of the past, and what this along with better energy efficiency (the printer is also an Energy Star product by the way) is going to mean for the future of humanity is that innovation is going to only be limited by our inventiveness and imagination.
We live in a miraculous time, where you can give your children or yourself these amazing capabilities for cheap.
A reasonable inkjet for the money
I've only used this thing for a few days; Amazon probably won't send me any more free stuff unless I review what I already have, so, here's my review thus far:
The good:
1) This printer comes with a USB cable. I hate printers that don't come with a USB cable. Sure, this one is supposed to allow wireless printing; does anyone bother attempting to set this up? Seems like a pain in the neck to me. My time is worth money.
2) This printer prints quickly, without too much noise and fuss, and the color print quality is high. I don't print photographs, though it does have the capability and came with some photo stock. I don't really care about this feature, and wouldn't know what to compare it to if I did.
3) The black ink cartridge is refillable.
4) The scan and copy qualities are excellent: much better than my old inkjet scanner.
5) There is a useful "copy" button which does the copy in B/W, and another one for color copies. This is a very useful feature.
The bad:
1) This printer is too large. I had a color inkjet with scanner on my desk already (an HP PSC 1400). This one is about time and a half larger, and has no extra capabilities. Sure, it works a little faster/better than my HP, but it's also much bigger, which is quite annoying, as I live in a small space.
2) While I haven't printed enough to run out of ink yet, I will relatively quickly. Not only is the inkjet cartridge too small (as are all of them, of course), they have the nerve to sell you one which they filled up to the brim with ink ... for a lot more money. I know these guys have a "razor blade" business model with these things, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
The ugly:
1) Why did they put the power cable and the USB port on opposite sides of the machine? This is just retarded, and makes for snaking cables all over the place. Everyone else puts them on the same side, where they belong. it's not like they didn't have plenty of room to put them wherever they liked.
2) The software is the usual thing for a low end printer: low end. It does work without a hitch on OS-X though. Missing things: knowing what the ink level is looking at the driver state in "System preferences."
Otherwise, let's face it; these things are more or less commodities these days. Buy the cheap inkjet with the refillable cartridges; that's about the only way to distinguish between them. I'll add more comments later if I notice something under sustained use, but I'd say, over all, this is a pretty typical color inkjet printer.
You know what I'd really like? A BW inkjet printer, with an explicitly refillable cartridge. I don't give a damn about color prints, and most other people don't either. This printer should have the capability: it can do this with its copying functionality. If it can be configured to work this way with the print capabilities, I don't know how to do it.
Canon Pixma MP497
I just bought the newest incarnation of the MP495 series Canon Pixma printer - the MP497.
Pros:
1. Wireless N support and ease of pairing using WPS (Wifi Protected Set-up)
2. Windows 7 & Mac Snow Leopard 10.6 ready
3. WPA/WPA2 support
4. Quite affordable. About US on Amazon and S9 in Singapore.
5. Print, Scan, Copy in 1 small package
6. Some direct printing support for Iphone.
Cons:
1. No doublesided printing. (If you need this, go for the slightly more expensive MP568)
2. No LCD screen to show you printer messages. The MP497 works by showing error codes which is more inconvenient.
For printer installation on the Mac, the best 'quick start guide' is from a dude Otto Olah who wrote a good review for the Canon Pixma MP568. I followed these steps for my wife's macbook pro and it worked like a charm:
To be able to print wirelessly, you have to have the latest drivers.To install them, forget about the CD in the box (it has OS X 10.5 compatible drivers only), and the 13 page "Getting Started" guide to install stuff you don't need. Just download the latest drivers from the Canon USA website. Go to Canon USA :: Downloads :: Consumer Products :: Multifunction :: Photo All-In-One Inkjet Printers :: PIXMA MP560, grab and install these files:
- MP560 series CUPS Printer Driver Ver. 10.26.1.0 (Mac OS X 10.5/10.6)
- MP560 series Scanner Driver Ver. 15.4.1 (Mac OS X 10.3/10.4/10.5/10.6)
- ICA Driver (Mac OS X 10.6)
(the version numbers might change when updates are coming out)
Once the printer drivers are installed on your Mac and it's connected to the same WiFi network as the printer, just go to System Preferences / Print & Fax / + (add printer) and wait a few seconds. You will see a "Canon MP560 Series Bonjour Scanner" and a "Canon MP560 Series_NNNNNN0000000 canonijnetworkr" printer listed, you can add them and you are ready to print and scan! When adding, you can edit the name to make it look a little bit nicer. If you prefer, you can connect the printer via an USB cable and the printer will be automatically installed.
.....
Update 2: For occasional single page scanning jobs Snow Leopard's built-in Image Capture is sufficient. If you want to catalog your scans, convert them to multi-page PDF's, use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to create editable text files from of your scans, you should download and install Canon's "MP Navigator EX 3.0". The name is not very catchy, but he interface is nice, the functions are not too hard to learn, and the program does well what it's supposed to do. It's a decent scanning utility, go for it if you don't mind the 80 MB installation footprint.
