Canon iP3600 Inkjet Photo Printer 2868B002

A true delight!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I have nothing but great things to say about this printer.

I have used a wide variety of printers, especially since I work in the IT field. I have personally owned Epson printers and HP printers prior to purchasing this printer.

I really liked the last Epson I had, but it sat dormant for so long I was afraid I would spend $50 in ink only to find out that the printhead was clogged and that I would need to buy a new printer.

Before I decided to buy a new printer, my parents offered me a brand new HP Deskjet they had lying around at their house. I took it and used it with glee as at the time I was unemployed and did not want to buy a new printer if I did not need to. That printer worked OK for the basics, but the ink usage was horrendous. Compared to the Epson I had prior to the HP I felt like I was being stolen from in regards to ink costs. I make a lot of full color prints and I felt like my HP was running dry after about 20 pages. I remember having no problem getting well over a hundred with my Epson. This experience did not make me very fond of HP Inkjet printers.

So why did I go for a Canon Pixma instead of another Epson. Research. I read a whole bunch of reviews on printers and tried to make the best choice I could. Most printers have a lot of negative reviews saying their ink runs out too quick, or is too expensive, or they felt robbed by expiring ink… or whatever else. The Canon IP 3600 had very few bad reviews. I noticed some reviews about how it was difficult to setup… I am baffled as to why.

This printer was very easy to setup with a nice quick and smooth software installer. HP has got to have the worst installers. I have seriously spent like a half hour waiting for a full HP installer to finish on more than one occasion. I don’t know what it is wil HP software, but it is seriously overweight.

I have printed a bunch of pages with this new printer on both paper and cardstock. So far, the ink monitoring tool has not even dropped at all. Either it is broken or this printer is very efficient ink wise. I am sure it is the later as I have inspected the ink cartridges.

I love the rear tray and the cassette combo on this printer. It is nice to have cardstock and regular paper loaded at the same time. The software is simple to use, and has just the right amount of features and customization.

If I had to point out some weaknesses it would be tough. I would probably say refilling all of the ink cartridges at once is expensive, however the counter arguement to that is that the page yield is high. There is no scanning function, but I knew that when I bought the printer. (I just really don’t scan anything.) It isn’t the fastest printer around, but it certainly isn’t slow. No USB cable… I don’t know of any printers that do come with them. That is about it.

All in all… I really love this printer. This is by far the best inkjet printer I have ever owned, and my favorite inkjet printer by far. It is the perfect combination of price and performance. The ink cartridges that come with it are all full size cartidges (and actually truly full). That would be another complaint I have with HP. HP tends to ship with half size or “starter” cartridges. You get the real deal with this printer. Also the printhead can be replaced. I would argue the cost of the printhead would justify buying a new printer, but I suppose if you love it enough or do not want to be wasteful, you could repair it.

Canon Pixma IP3600 Photo Printer
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I LOVE this printer! It was, with the HELP of my husband, easy to set up. Had I taken the time to REALLY read the manual, I would’ve been able to set it up myself. (This isn’t my first Canon printer!) I didn’t wish to take the time — MY FAULT! (My husband is, also, impressed with this printer, and he knows LESS about computers and printers than I do!!) Also, it was inexpensive. I paid $67 minus Amazon’s FREE shipping & handling. (The IP 3500 is in the $200 range — WHAT’S with that????)

Figuring out its operation wasn’t too difficult — AGAIN, I didn’t read the manual!

The colors are sharp. Being this is my first photo printer, I’m not so certain how fast it should print, but it’s not as fast as my old Canon 2110 inkjet that I’ve replaced with this one after NINE (9) years!

I’m not real certain, either, whether I’ll be okay with all the ink I may go through quickly??? I’m used to a BIG black color tank, even though this printer’s black tank is a bit bigger than the color tanks. I do have refill kits, but I haven’t tried using them or seeing whether I MAY use them?? (ANY SUGGESTIONS about that??)

I’ve had to call Canon a few times for help figuring out separate printing programs and coordinating them with this printer. Also, I didn’t install Adobe 9 correctly (I’m computer illiterate, STILL, after 20+ years!). The staff at Canon were SO nice and helpful. If the question didn’t pertain to the printer, they suggested areas I could go to for help, such as the required Adobe/Acrobat 9. One person even consulted with a supervisor to help me out. THAT’S SERVICE!!!

I’VE NEVER BEEN DISAPPOINTED WITH A CANON PRODUCT OR STAFF PERSON in the 20+ years I’ve purchased Canon printers. I’ve had an HP (I returned it dissatisfied.), as well as an EPSON (I returned it for the same reason.)

Awesome Little Photo Printer
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Well worth every cent you pay. By far the most bang for the buck. Easy to use and set up. Will not take up alot of space and it looks good to. It won’t let you down!

Canon ip3600 printer
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Another lemon for me. After dumping my Lexmark X7170 and Kodak ESP5 printers for various problems, I decided to try Canon b/c of the great reputation Canon has. Big mistake. First, unpacking is a bear. The instructions are broken up into 1 main manual, and multiple smaller quick-start type of instructions. These quick-start things are everywhere. Just when you think you are done, you find another taped into the most obscure places. Also, Canon puts orange tape strips on them, so that you shred the instructions taking the tape off. The good things are, that b/c this is only a printer, and not a scanner/copier/fax, it’s small and lightweight. It’s also less complicated to use. Once you install the software, it leads you thru the process of printing a picture in clear, concise step by step instructions. Select print, and it brings up your picture folder, than guides you thru selecting picture size, fixing problems, selecting borders, etc. Very intuitive, especially for the novice. I like that it has 2 paper trays, so you don’t have to keep swapping photo and type paper. Other good things are the 5 separate ink tanks. Now, when one ink tank dries up, you only need to replace one, not the entire thing. This makes printing cheaper. There are also 2 black ink tanks, which is good b/c it’s the most commonly used. This goes along w/Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow. Unfortunately, the tanks are chipped, which means you can’t use any sort of generic tank, only Canon. The printer ships w/some 4×6 photo paper, and that’s it. You will need a USB cable b/c it’s not included. The cheap price also means no lcd screen, so it’s tougher to set-up, and diagnose etc. There are 2 buttons on the front, a power button, and another button that I have no idea what it does. Nowhere in the manual or anywhere else, is this explained. Pushing it does seemingly nothing. What it does do, is indicate why this printer gets 1 star. It was doa. I got the software loaded, the printer set-up, and everything else done. After doing this, the button started flashing orange. I assumed(correctly) that it was an error button. But, w/no lcd screen to tell me what’s wrong, I had to look up in the manual. The manual tells you to count the flashes, and that’s your error message. This isn’t available w/the included software as far as I could see, so don’t lose the manual! Anyway, I counted 12 flashes. Problem, no listing of 12 flashes in the manual! It jumped from 9 to 13. I had to try and print a picture, so that it would tell me what was wrong. When I did, it gave me the error message of 6a80(google it, it seems to be common for Canon printers). It suggested I turn off, and restart the printer. If that doesn’t work, consult the (useless) manual. After I googled the code, I discovered it was from 12 flashes(again, not in the manual, and it points to a defective print-head. I noticed the print head was not returning to it’s position in the printer. Nothing I tried worked, the head just stayed in the center, and refused to return to the right. There is no quick fix to this from what I could find online. Since I am not about to buy a new printhead for a brand new printer, I will be returning this asap. Now I have to figure out another printer brand I haven’t tried yet.

Canon iP3600 photo printer
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Does the job, but a bit slow though speed, or lack thereof, is probably related to it’s photo capabilities. Quality of print good. Overall, I’m pretty much satisfied.

Excellent Purchase
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This is a very economical printer. It prints awesome pictures and is also great for everyday use. It’s nice that there are five individual ink cartridges so that you only have to replace the color that runs out. I love this printer!

Great printer
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this printer for my husband and ended up giving it to my daughter for Mother’s Day and ordering another one for my husband. My daughter loves this printer. The photos it prints are just as good as the professional ones made at a store. Colors very vibrant and the printing program on the CD makes it very easy to make photos just the way you want.

The best part is the ink dispensing technology. My daughter is taking an internet college course and has found that this printer can print alot more pages than the printer she owned previously. It come with 4 cartridges for printing photos and one for just text. On her other printer, once one color was gone, she had to replace the whole cartridge, eventhough there was still ink left in it. On this one just replace the color you ran out of.

My husband is moving his computer into another room and has not hooked this printer up yet or used it. If he wants he can send in a review later but I’m sure he will be very happy with it.

I know it must be a good printer cause my daughter has thanked me several times for getting this printer for her. Can’t beat the high quality for such a low price. I highly recommend it.

God’s gift to my iMac (and wallet)
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’m a young photographer/graphic artist and up to this point I was getting by without a printer. Just didn’t want to do my own printing and deal with hidden cost of ink and paper. After a while the thought of the convenience made me cave in. After giving it some consideration I couldn’t decide between the ip4600 and the ip3600. It turned out the biggest difference was printing speed, and that wan’t worth and extra $40 because everything else about this printer is solid quality.

The GOOD:

1. I love the separated color cartridges! No more need to swap out a whole cartridge just because I ran our of red.

2.Looks nice. (in my opinion) So I sit in no mood to try and stash the ugly thing out of sight. Oh yea, the prints.

3. FANTASTIC color reproduction and resolution after calibration (see the BAD) I’m in no time sensitive printing contest so I’m quite happy with the printing speed.

4.Set up on OS X Leopard was a breeze.

The BAD:

Unfortunately there were 2 things I didn’t like right out of the box about this bad-boy, but no biggie.

1.NO USB CABLE. When I unpacked the printer, my daschund stole my yellow ink and sneaked out with it to munch on the securing tab. Well I found him later and was barely able to fix cartrige to make it work. Then I went back to finish setting up the printer. Upon realizing I didn’t have a cable I started looking around the house like crazy thinking I had misplaced it, or my dog hid it. Turns out one was not supplied. I had to made a run to walmart for one. Not cool Canon.

2. Color Matching. Note: this may not bother or even be noticed by most of you but I’ve been called out by friends to have a obsessive compulsive pixel disorder. So after my first print I scrutinized the colors compared to my screen. Especially that of neutral gray. It was a smidgen too blue (Again, hardly noticeable). A few minute adjustments in the OSX Color Sync utility took care of that.

So what say I? Get one!! Hell Get 5 and build a fort! They’re SO cheap and the quality is superb. I got mine for $47 new and it makes me laugh at the $300 beast I had 5 years ago.

Great buy for the money
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
This printer is good. A little noisy though and takes a while to get ready to print. You have to reload the printer before it is completely out of paper and someitmes the sensor thinks there is none there when there really is.

photo printer
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
It is a good photo printer. I do recomend getting the extra cable thou I had to go out and get one the next day.

Didn’t work
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
We were disappointed that the printer wouldn’t paper feed. (This happened on a newer version Canon I had.) I bought this for my 91 year old computer savy mother. Big disappointment! I paid someone to install it for her, but the printer didn’t work. Buying this as a gift makes returns a nightmare. We’re wondering how we get the return label printed out and the box back to Amazon. I like Canon’s so I’m ordering another one to replace this one. BUT, if this was turns out bogus that’s it for me with Canons.

Problems?
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I read all the reviews on this printer and decided it would be a good choice for me. I ordered it new from the Amazon supplier on 6/9. It was shipped 6/11 and just arrived tonight, 6/17. It seems like a long time to me but maybe that’s cuz i was waiting for it.

BUT, I haven’t even opened it yet and am having doubts. I have a MacBook with Leopard and saw that someone posted that it was a breeze setting it up with OS X. The one i received only has a cd up to OS 9 so i went to the Canon site to see about downloading the OS X version. There are is WARNING about incompatibility with OS X. (Product Advisories: Reports of Smoke from Inkjet Printers Service Notice: ZoomAlbum Software Incompatibility Using Mac OS X ([...])

UPDATE: 9-17-09

I did contact Canon and got some info which helped me feel okay about the printer. However, i don’t like it anymore than i did, maybe less, and would undoubtedly lower my rating if i could. It is noisy and definitely seems complex to deal with. I might be adversely influenced by the fact that i loved my first Pixma. However, this seems to me to be sensitive and have problems easily, even if i’ve just loaded new paper. I wouldn’t buy it again although i would try a higher quality Pixma i think.