Proof that Comet and student budgets don't mix well! (Canon S 520)

Member Name: lemonadepoet

Product:	Canon S 520
Date:	16/11/03 (250 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: very high quality output with exceptionally sharp text, excellent bundled software, quiet

Disadvantages: Not exactly what I walked into the shop to buy!

It was an innocent enough visit to my local Comet alright. I strode into the door with an air of resolution to my step, directly to the printer area of the store. I was determined alright: I was going to buy a BUDGET printer to replace my ageing HP DeskJet - my reason had told me earlier that I couldn't afford a more expensive one on my tight student budget. With this, I glanced casually over the budget HP's and Epson's (being a devout HP and Epson fan at this point) and hesitated for just one second. This one second was all it took for the enemy to sweep in, guns blazing, in an attempt to shoot me down...

"Can I help you, sir?" uttered the young lady as she approached with a trace of mockery in her voice.

"I, uh, am looking for a printer" I stammered back and then kicked myself violently as I realised that through some trick of the mind I had forgotten to include the word 'budget' in my sentence.

I later learned that I was talking to a student reading printing science at Cambridge. Well, actually not, but that could just have easily been the case - what followed was a 30 minute conversation (a monologue, actually) on the subject of which printer would be best for me - or the financial status of the Comet group (I forget which). I watched in horror as the prices of each printer she introduced me to climbed; as she appeared to appraise each model with increasing intensity and vigour. Each time I attempted to interrupt her soliloquy I could only bar her apparent enthusiasm for the subject with monosyllables - it was poetry to my ears. I learnt more about inkjet printers in those 30 minutes than prior to that day. Ever. My worries for the mental stability of this particular sales assistant was superseded by the realisation that I left the store in a state where I could talk with some degree of fluency about printers now and thus I am eternally grateful - what a subject for the next dinner party I attend
!

So what did this rather attractive employee do, other than act as the spawn of Satan, managing to destroy my assertiveness so effectively and cause me to leave the store with a printer costing almost double what I had wanted to pay? What follows is a transcript of our conversation (greatly simplified for your sanity as well as mine!)

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PENNILESS STUDENT (ME): "I was thinking of a budget HP" [pointing in the vague direction of some cheap HP printers] "or this Epson" [pointing at an Epson C60 R.R.P. £100]

ATTRACTIVE COMET EMPLOYEE: "Mmmm...well, they're not really in the same league. I wouldn't recommend either."

PENNILESS STUDENT: "Really?"

ATTRACTIVE COMET EMPLOYEE: "The sheet feeding mechanism of the HP - where the paper takes a U-turn - can save space but also means thicker media cannot be used. Also, their printers are the only ones not to use the same kind of pigmented ink which is common in commercial printing so often prints will fade after a year or so. What kind of printing are you going to use your new printer for?"

PENNILESS STUDENT: "Only the best qua...I mean, uh, text and diagrams, with occasional photos."

ATTRACTIVE COMET EMPLOYEE: "I would recommend a Canon. Probably this Canon S520 which is definitely the best printer model we have in the shop in my opinion" [pointing at the price - £179.99!!!]

PENNILESS STUDENT: "But I'm on a tight budg"...

ATTRACTIVE COMET EMPLOYEE: (Interrupting) "You'll be able to save a lot of money on cartridges once you've purchased it since Canon are the only company to offer separate ink tanks for each colour as standard with all their printers meaning that when one colour runs out it's not necessary to replace the entire cartridge. Epson offer seperate ink tanks with some of their models, but this limi
ts you to a 'specialist niche' of sorts within their range. With Canon each cartridge costs around £10 each. I'm sure that within a couple of months you will have paid as much as you will now on the printer on cartridges if you chose a HP because HP cartridges are very expensive."

PENNILESS STUDENT: "but"...

ATTRACTIVE COMET EMPLOYEE: "The cartridges are not only cheaper since you only need to buy the colour you've run out of but also because the actual nozzle used to transfer the ink to the page is not part of the cartridge. When you buy a replacement cartridge for a HP you are effectively buying a new nozzle as well - even if you don't actually need one - which can be expensive. Epson's don't have nozzles on their cartridges, but because of the nozzle design they have to be cleaned every time the printer is turned on which is noisy and often inconvenient."

PENNILESS STUDENT: "Yes, but the printer itself is still to expens"...

ATTRACTIVE COMET EMPLOYEE: "Look, believe me, you'll be thankful for the separate ink cartridges if you purchase this Canon. I'm a student who owns a HP and often I have to go for weeks without printing when my cartridges run out because I can't afford new ones!" (Sad puppy-dog look)

PENNILESS STUDENT: "That?s exactly what I mean about tight student budgets. I can't afford that pri"...

ATTRACTIVE COMET EMPLOYEE: "Also, with a Canon, print quality for diagrams and text can also be better because of their MicroFine Droplet Technology. With the Epson's and HP's the nozzle is designed in such a way that ink is 'splattered' on the page. Canon have overcome this by designing their unique star-shaped nozzles with heating mechanisms far closer to the paper - providing a far more accurate and finer drops of ink to be deposited. This gives consistently well defined images and almos
t laser sharp text - it also saves ink because the printer only needs to take one pass compared to the two or three passes that a HP or Epson would need to achieve the same effect."

PENNILESS STUDENT: "Come to think of it, I am familiar with that 'fuzzy' effect"...

ATTRACTIVE COMET EMPLOYEE: [A smile crossing her face] "Good. You've hit the nail on the head!"

PENNILESS STUDENT: "So how about this cheaper Canon model?"

ATTRACTIVE COMET EMPLOYEE: "The Canon S520 gives a far faster print rate of 14ppm in mono and 9ppm in colour"

PENNILESS STUDENT: [succumbing to his urges to get the best model as opposed to the cheapest one] "OK. I'm sold."

ATTRACTIVE COMET EMPLOYEE: [Look of victory in her eyes] "Great!"

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OK. So having spent far too much money on the printer I expected a lot from it. And I got a lot. Other than the fantastic details mentioned above (which seem all the more important when I've got someone who seems to know what they're talking about explain it all to me - I know it's all a con really!) there are also many other notable features. The supplied software is useful - but only if you're intending to use official Canon media - and a highlight is the Status Monitor that appears every time a document is sent to print which gives useful information such as the level of ink left in each ink tank in a non-intrusive manner so that when the novelty value eventually wears off you can continue to work without any annoying status dialogs popping up out of nowhere. The print quality is consistently excellent - with laser sharp text and great photo's (although some may argue that Epson has a better reputation when it comes to this - I can only speak from experience and my photo printouts, esp. on plain paper, are, in my opinion, better defined with more accurate skin tones th
an those of my friend who recently bought a new Epson of around the same price-range!) It also boasts very quiet operation (and the sounds it does make are of the nice, whirring, content variety which makes you smile as opposed to the clunky scraping and screeching Epson's tend to make!) When my friend at Comet informed me of the printing speed in figures it didn't mean much to me but having now tested out my shiny new printer I can also comment that it seems to print incredibly fast, churning out pages at a rate faster than tree's can be cut down in the Amazon to replace the paper I'm sure! There are some nice touches as well, such as the Vivid Photo plug-in which automatically optimises a photo print-out so the colours are more vibrant and lifelike. Although I've yet to try it out, I'm sure it works a dream if my other experiences with this printer are anything to go by. An easy-to-use Print Advisor can also optimise the setup of the printer to most efficiently print the type of document you're sending to it.

The printer is compatible with all versions of Windows (95/98/ME/NT 4/2000/XP) and the Mac OS. The XP drivers are certainly a bonus for those who have had the heartbreak of incompatible hardware under the new Microsoft OS (see my Windows XP op). The manual supplied with the printer is both informative and concise with separate instructions for both Windows and Mac users which are clear and helpful.

While I'm now officially broke I'm confident that my investment is worth it (I love it when I feel I've got the best - a cheap printer would have been so much more boring!) The Canon S520 certainly has looks with its pastel blue exterior and navy facia - but I may have to take up a career in busking in the streets of London, or perhaps write more Ciao reviews to stay afloat. Nevertheless, I have to say - it's never been so much fun being conned by a scheming, good-for-nothing, money-grabbing, exploiting,
...... attractive, well-versed, cute, well humoured (forget the last four, actually) Comet employee ;)

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