Flexible networkable photo inkjet printer (Canon Pixma iP5200R)

Member Name: rlcross

Product:	Canon Pixma iP5200R
Date:	08/12/06 (320 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: very flexible, good design, quiet, relatively quick, good quality

Disadvantages: duplexer slows down print speed, poor output on non-Canon media

I bought this printer to replace my older Epson 880, that was getting too expensive to run (£40 in ink every eight months) and having quality problems. A colleague at work had a Canon printer and he was very impressed with the quality.

After some debate, (I really quite like the Epson gear), I decide to "defect" to Canon, and pay the little extra to get the in-built networking of this printer, (I've got a couple of PC's in the house, so this makes sense). The separate ink tanks, which were also cheaper than the 880's was also a big factor. And the icing on the cake was the automatic duplexing - save on paper.

This printer can use either normal (wired) Ethernet, wireless Ethernet, or a direct connection over USB. Since this is a modern photo printer, you wouldn't expect to see the old parallel port. I chose to use the wireless option.

Canon supply some software which you can use to configure the printer for wireless, although to do this you have to connect the printer to a PC via USB - fair enough. Installation went relatively smoothly, the only problems being down to my wierd US Robotic networking gear not being cooperative. But that was soon sorted, and it was a piece of cake to get the other PC's in the house speaking to the new printer via the ether! This pleased my wife, who was concerned about having more cables all over the house.

This printer is quite quiet in use, and it surprises me that there's a "quiet" mode on the driver which slows down the printer, (which I've never needed to use). If you're not using the duplexer, it's also quite quick. It also folds up nicely which means that, although it's larger than the Epson it replaces, it doesn't dominate the room that it's in or desk it's on.

Text output, on cheap "Inkjet" paper I got from Staples is pretty acceptable, with a little crinkling on charts and other areas of large colour. The duplexer slows down the print speed noticably, because it pauses between sides to allow the newly printed side to dry.

But I also got this printer to do photographs! First impressions were not good - output on Kodak and Epson (I had some left I wanted to use up) premium papers was very poor. The Kodak paper in particular was smudging badly. I switched to some Canon paper I bought and all was well - the images I got were very good, indistinguishable from "real" photographs unless you took a magnifying glass to them. They were so good that I ended up using my printer to do the photos for the family's passport applications/renewals. The borderless prints, in A4 size, are impressive.

The other media that this printer takes is printable CDs/DVDs. You need to use a special application that Canon supplies, (the software bundle with the printer is quite good), along with a special tray. The software isn't bad, although it's a pain that you can only insert the tray when IT tells you, and not before, (smacked wrists if you do!) - and it has to go in a special slot. Quality is very reasonable, barely perceptible (on good media) as home printed rather than something out of a professional CD printer.

I now use my printer for a mix of office type work and photos - probably a 80:20 split and I'm now on my second complete set of ink cartridges. The ability to replace ONLY the colour that's out is a positive boon, and the printer driver is very good at warning you well in advance that you're getting low. The ink replacement process is itself pretty straightforward as long as you use some common sense and don't rush it, (takes about 2-3 mins per cartridge). The other nice feature for my work split is that I can put the non-photo paper in a 100 sheet cassette that fits under the printer, and select either photo or non-photo paper from my desk.

Would I recommend it? Probably yes, and I've had no cause to reconsider my buying decision.

Summary: Worth the price of about £120 if you need the flexibility.

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