Canon MX850
Arrival
After my refund arrived I purchased the MX850. When the printer arrived my first impression was it came well packaged. I checked the contents and all the components were included. Second impression was this printer has some very nice design lines -- attractive, pleasant sliver black coloring and the peripherals slide back into the printer so if it has to be moved no hanging parts are exposed for potential breakage. Two manual are provided, one for the printer itself and a separate manual for networking.
Set up
The instructions were quite easy to follow. The ink tanks, paper output tray and power cord have to be removed from inside printer along with removing all the wrapping and padding. The telephone line has to be connected to the fax connection on the back of the printer.
After these initial procedures are done the printer is turned on to establish date and time and to align the printer head. The serial number is behind the printer head and should be written down before installing the head and cartridges. Two pieces of special paper are provided to align the head. Installing the cartridges is not difficult and each slot for the cartridges is clearly marked and if installed correctly a red light will be illuminated which is a nice feature. The alignment will take 10 to 12 minutes. Good time for a cup of coffee. My alignment went without any error messages.
Networking
I use MAC address for my security. The MAC address is not located on the printer. Pressing the Menu button produces several options and under the Maintenance option is where the MAC address is located. I entered the MAX address into my router and turned off my firewall and placed the installation CD into my drive.
I run Microsoft VISTA Home Premium on my computers and the typical User Account Window appears and the after clicking the option Continue, the set up process begins. After the initial installation a Setup Screen Appears. Three options are provided USB only Networked and Additional Devices to be connect to the network.
The printer has to be connected initially to the computer using a USB cable. Once the computer recognizes the printer, a Check Wire LAN Connection dialog box appears. Now is the time to connect the Ethernet cable to the port on the printer and then to one port on the router.
Once the computer recognizes the printer and is installed on the LAN, a SET UP Completion window appears with instructions to remove the USB cable and click finish. Then a SET Up complete screen appears.
The installation CD now has to be placed into each additional computer and then the same process occurs except when the Setup Screen appears click on Additional Devices or option three. The setup will proceed and the printer will be found and accessible via a wireless connection.
The installation on my network went without any errors. A test page from each networked computer was initiated and each produced a printed test page.
Features
The printer has several features that are very convenient. Duplexing or two-sided printing is automatic. The paper does not have to be manually flipped. There are two printing trays one for paper most commonly used, for example letter paper and a second for less frequently used, for example photo paper. The trays can be switched so that printer will print from either tray. No need for unloading and reloading different size paper.
Scanning can be sent to any computer on the network. Finally, the buttons and markings are easily readable.
While I initially did not like the five ink cartridges for this printer upon further inspection it became obvious that only those cartridges that are low need to be purchased.
This printer has other features commonly found on other AIO printers including direct picture printing from memory, a pic bridge slot, scanning, document copying , envelop and label printing, and faxing.
Print Quality
I tried printing a photograph using the memory slot of the printer with a Memory Stick and the photograph was of exceptional quality. I thought the scanning quality and print quality were very good. Upon printing the initial page does take some time to initialize then the rest of the print job finishes quickly.
I would have liked to see a screen appear providing the print status 10, 50, 100 complete at print submission. Currently only the printer icon appears in the task bar.
Conclusion
This is a very well thought out design for the printer and supporting documentation and software. It does weigh 41 lbs and is larger than my other AIO printers however, these are minor points.
Recommendation
If you are in need of a AIO printer capable of heavy use with multiple computers the MX850 would be a good choice.
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