Comments on: Canon PIXMA MX860 Wireless AllInOne office Printer

By: Robert Salita

Robert Salita — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 09:24:41 +0000

Mixed Feelings
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
Hardware is excellent once setup correctly — exactly what I expect from Canon. Wireless has been functioning flawlessly. That’s usually the Achilles heel of wireless printers. However, documentation is carelessly done. It’s like a restaurant that serves ugly plates. A sure sign of trouble in the kitchen. The documentation and website support are so lacking that it makes me think that Canon is in a downward spiral. The documentation is a patchwork of cut and pastes from previous generations, often nonsensical. Looks like there’s real trouble at Canon’s printer division. The lack of good documentation will make some non-vanilla installs into a marathon.

By: Jonathan Locke

Jonathan Locke — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 03:41:29 +0000

overall very good
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
everything seems excellent except these two things:

1. i have no idea why i can't do wireless scanning. i had to go to office max and buy a thumb drive just to transfer photos. very annoying considering i was rushed at the time and i have an exceptionally fast wireless network at home.

2. it's a bit bizarre today to have cd-rom based setup. this was a hassle for me in particular because i have a macbook air (no cd rom)

other than that, it's been excellent and i would buy it again and recommend it to anyone.

By: James L. Thompson

James L. Thompson — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 19:06:44 +0000

great buy for the dough layed out.
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
i found this printer to be very easy to set up. i was worried a little about that, because i had to send an hp back because of set up issues, and had heard these could be very tricky,but found it rather easy”even for a halfway computer illiterate”, like myself. i would recommend it for a great buy, as far as my personal knowledge takes me.we’ll see how it performs in the “long run”.

By: Shu

Shu — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 15:53:37 +0000

A great printer for small businesses
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I received my MX860 on Friday (12/18/09) and have enjoyed the experience since the box opening. The size and sturdiness of the machine shows that it means business. It's not too bulky and provides great features needed in most typical businesses, today. I haven't set up the machine to work wirelessly yet, but the direct connect via USB works great for now. I tested one photo print and the quality was comparable to any good photo printer. I like the Automatic Document feeder, bottom paper tray for plain paper (not just a slot found on most printers), the rear paper tray (for plain or photo paper), the integrated fax ability, wireless functionality, and quick and easy access to functions on the face of the machine. I must say that the documentation can be kind of tricky if you're not used to reading/following equipment specs/instructions. They do a good job at trying to keep things simply, but sometimes it gets confusing wen they have you skip to different parts of the manual to continue installation.

I've heard some people have any issues setting up the wireless feature, and my only word of advice is to READ the instructions first, even if you're somewhat savvy to this type of stuff. If you have items such as MAC address filtering on your router, you'd want to print the LAN settings from the printer first to retrieve the printer's MAC address to add to your router's "allowed list".

I sent a fax today (12/21) and everything worked fine. Most of the out-of-box settings are set appropriately. The flow of the printing makes you feel like you have a more advanced machine, and for $129 (sale price), you can't beat this deal. I'm not sure if the headaches will come once I have to start buying ink cartridges (lol), but for now I'm loving this printer. Great care went into packaging, and I'm convinced this is a good machine...UNLIKE THE two HP printers that failed (stopped working) for NO reason. After the second experience I decided to look for a different brand and this printer was among the ones in just about every top 5 or 10 list.

All in all, I'm happy for now.

By: Deborah S. Linville

Deborah S. Linville — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 01:44:14 +0000

I would purchase again!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I purchased this printer for home use, with our laptops. I had a friend set up the printer and wireless functions, so I believe they are fairly easy to follow, and took minimal time.

I have only scanned a few items, and I was not that happy with the clarity, however, I am used to scanning on my $50000 printer at work!

The printing has been clear and quality.

I have not used the fax at all, so I am not familiar with it's functions.

The key pad and functions are easy to use, and I am very happy with the overall purchase.

By: Adam Fishburn

Adam Fishburn — Sun, 30 May 2010 21:13:56 +0000

Would Give it a 2nd Chance
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I had to return this to Amazon after 2 weeks because the print head went bad. Presumptuous of me to diagnose the malady, but something went bad.
I will probably buy another one--and from Amazon again because they gave me zero grief on the return and authorized my credit card refund only 5 days after I shipped the thing back. And also because you can't find a printer that somebody doesn't hate.

Wireless network setup on Windows XP was easy. I followed the wireless network directions even though I found them slightly counter-intuitive.

Loved the duplex scan to pdf from the ADF. The kids bring home all manner of leaflets that I can never keep track of. I started a routine of scan and shred each day. I still had the info but not the paper.

Print quality was ok but not laser. Copy quality same.

I was happy with the thing until after 2 weeks all text came out misaligned.

A cycle of print head realignment, nozzle cleaning, and DEEP nozzle cleaning begun. Repeat until ink tanks empty, but all to no avail.

I sent it back, but I miss it.

By: RS

RS — Tue, 25 May 2010 16:53:43 +0000

Perfect for my home office in fuction and design
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought this all-in-one printer to replace 2 not-so-great machines. My old HP all-in-one was cheap and crunched documents through the paper feed. My other color laser (printer only) was good, except the 4 ink cartridges cost $50 each. This Cannon does it all quietly and it looks great. Love all the features and it’s easy to use. Set up instructions takes you baby step at a time. Plus, it’s wireless and I don’t have to plug it into my lap top. My only problems is what to do with my old equipment!

By: J. Stchur

J. Stchur — Mon, 10 May 2010 18:21:46 +0000

Excellent home/small business printer
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I carefully researched and read hundreds of reviews on various printers. I finally settled on this all-in-one printer from Cannon. I had narrowed my choice between this printer and a Kodak printer. The Kodak printer offered cheap ink, but I found ink cartridges on e-bay. The total cost for the ink is about $24. The Kodak ink was around $20. I decided to go with the Cannon. I have had no problems so far. It has been a great printer. I followed the wireless hook-up directions from another reviewer on Amazon and it was extremely easy. I have two laptops, windows Vista, and a desk top computer, Windows XP, in the house. All work flawlessly with the printer. If any problems should develop in the future, I’ll update this review.

By: P. Price

P. Price — Sat, 08 May 2010 04:32:46 +0000

Not worth tha money
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
Ok first printer we got the LCD screen did not work. Called canon to see if the printer could be reset. After waiting a long time the person we got told us it could not be fixed and we would have to send it in and they would send us a refurbished unit and we would have to pay shipping. I told him it was brand new and I did not want a refurbished unit. Too bad he told me.

After this I called Amazon. They immediately told me they would send me out a new unit if I wanted at no cost to me and they would send it 2nd day shipping. I decided to go ahead and try it one more time. Got it in 2 days and printed out returned shipping to Amazon for the old one. It did not cost me anything to mail it back.

The new unit works but I do not like it. I have always had a HP and the only reason I tried this unit was because the ink was about half the price of HP ink. This printer is huge, way too big. The bottom tray for the paper will not slide back in so you have to lift the printer up to get the paper tray in. I thought I would put some little rubber feet on it to raise up the printer a little bit and now the paper try falls down when you pull it out. So this solution did not work. I am now using the back paper try and you have to pull the printer out which takes up more room to use it. The printer works ok, but I am not happy with this canon and the only reason I am keeping it is that I do a lot of printing and I am hoping to save some money on ink. But this printer does take up a lot of space on my desk that I do not have to spare. This will be the only time I buy a printer that is not a Hewlett-Packard, in 20 years they have never let me down once.

By: Michael C. Brown

Michael C. Brown — Fri, 07 May 2010 20:23:17 +0000

Great Machine
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve had it for a little over a month and I think it great. The wireless printing is the best. Great value for the money!!!