Canon PIXMA MX870 Wireless Office All-in-One Printer

5 comments

1. 

   R. Peter Valentine on May 10, 2010 at 3:56 pm

   If you are looking at these reviews for the MX870, you are probably wondering what I was wondering… “What is the difference between the MX870 and MX860 and possibly also how does it compare to the Epson Artisan 810?” They are all top rated by Amazon customers for inkjet all-in-one printers.

   They are all awesome! The Epson has more color cartriges, but I am not sure if that matters. I give the nod to the Epson on photo quality, but it might just be a subliminal issue of ‘more is better’. My last Epson printer was the Epson 785EPX and it printed amazing photos and graphics, and it also used 6 colors.

   Both the Canon and Epson have beautiful quick drying inks. The Canon has a special black ink that is a pigment instead of a dye, which you might like since pigments don’t run when wet, so theirs is good for flyers and such. And, by the way, if you’ve discovered that you really benefit from pigment ink, look into the Epson Workforce 610. It is fast, and all its different colored inks are pigments. Graphics and text are outstanding, but photos a little lacking.

   The Canon is a little slower to start printing, but once it gets going it is pretty fast. Both Epson and Canon models have an optional duplexer mode (prints on both sides to save paper – this feature significantly slows down print time if that is important to you) and an automatic paper feed. The paper feed on the Canon is fully integrated and two-sided, so it can copy/scan both sides of a document automatically as well. There are a few hiccups with the 860 on this that the 870 solves.

   It’s a small pain to reload the reglar A4 8 1/2 by 11 paper in both machines in their lower tray. The Epson has an additional slot on its lower tray for photo paper that some may like. The Canon has an extra paper feed at the back of the unit that is great for printing envelopes, prints, or other types of paper, so you don’t have to change your main tray. The rear feeder should accommodate heavier papers and have a less likelihood of jamming because the paper comes straight through the machine with little bending. The projecting tray on the Epson looks and feels flimsy and most people seem worried about that, but remarkably I have never heard of anyone breaking it. The Canon has a cool feature… when you send it a wireless command to print, it automatically lowers its front door for the paper to be collected on, so you can keep the unit all closed up when not in use.

   If you use OCR, and I love OCR (optical character recognition that allows you to turn your document scans into text files), you will prefer the Epson because it is integrated into their software package. Canons used to have OCR software, but have stopped in the recent year. Note: If you have Microsoft Office Student and Home version, its program ‘OneNote’ has OCR for you to use. Most people are totally unaware of it being there. By the way, OneNote is the best program on Microsoft Office. It is what keeps me from just using the free open source office software that is so amazing.

   Price-wise, the Epson is about 100 more than the Canon. Amazon has some of the best prices. The newer Canon MX870 isn’t even available in most stores yet and probably will run about 50 dollars more than the MX860 for the next six months. Apple users will like the smoother integrated software application of the MX870 that was a small problem on the MX860.

   Space-wise the Canon is bigger. Look-wise, the Epson is sharper with its shiny black finish, like a piece of fancy stereo equipment. The Canon has a neutral light beige look. Very officey with clean lines.

   They both fax if you ever need that every now and then instead of having to run to your local print shop.

   The user interface of the Canon and Epson are both easy to use in different ways. I sort of wish the Canon buttons weren’t so flush with the unit, but its not really a big deal. You will need to use the interface to copy and scan, but most print jobs you will want to do from your computer.

   The Epson has some fun graphics software extra on it. Again, mostly ‘fun’ stuff. It also prints on printable CDs and DVDs. This could be important to you. It is the best of any printer at this. I don’t need it because I print on CDs using LightScribe on my HP. I like that look better if I am going to customize the CD face.

   The Canon has some very useful proprietary software that you will love if you surf the Web and want to copy and print out multiple bits and pieces of articles with ease… even on the same sheet of paper. You can do this anyway with Windows, but Canon’s program is easier and faster.

   Both Canon and Epson have ink cartridges that are separate from the print head, so it is easier to find third-party ink and save money. Third party ink is better than what it used to be, but the OEM (original equipment manufacture) cartridges are truer and faster drying for important projects and to bring out the full glory of these machines.

   I chose the Canon MX870, but all the printers I mentioned here are rated tops at their price-point. I hope I covered a few of the more notable differences to help you narrow in on your search.

2. 

   siafu on May 10, 2010 at 5:55 pm

   Hooray, I finally got rid of my HP printer!!! This Canon printer is fast, surprisingly easy to set up (I have 2 PCs and 2 laptops printing to it wirelessly), it has great print quality for both B&W text and color images – I love it. Not only is the printer excellent, the software is also excellent – it’s simple and intuitive to use and does exactly what it’s supposed to do. This is unlike my previous HP printer software, which came with ridiculous bloatware and caused annoying condescending messages to pop up whenever I was in the middle of working. Also, the separate ink tanks I think will mean a better ink consumption (I’ve not used the printer enough to be 100% sure of this). And did I mention the printed manual is well written, easy to follow and accurate? By all means get this printer, it might be more expensive but it’s totally worth it.

3. 

   L. Kenner on May 10, 2010 at 8:19 pm

   Canon PIXMA MX870 Wireless Office All-in-One Printer (4206B002)

   I set up my new Canon Pixma MX870 last night. Took me 30 minutes to setup the printer and install on both my iMac and MacBook. Both Mac’s run Mac OS X 10.4.11. I did have a hard time selecting a brand. I normally buy only HP printers but after my last AIO deskjet 6200 decided to breakdown again and the wireless deskjet 6800 worked only 1/2 the time I wanted to try a Canon or Epson. I will admit, I haven’t owned a Canon printer since my old bubblejet from 1994. But it lasted until new OS’s would no longer support it. I decided to buy the MX870 instead of the MX860 since I have read on several different sites that the 870 solves plenty of issues plagued by Mac users and has a better print speed. I also read that the MX860 was slow to start. Well, my MX870 was pretty quick starting up and gives a quality print. The wireless is awesome. Much easier to install than my last HP. I haven’t tried printing any photos just yet. I am happy to see that there are 5 separate print cartridges. This printer is a great value for the money. I will say that if printing high quality photos and CD/DVDs is important to you, you should go for the Epson Artisan 810 instead. However, if you want a quality AIO without breaking the bank, choose the Canon Pixma MX870.

4. 

   S. Lee on May 10, 2010 at 9:29 pm

   Just got this printer from Amazon yesterday. Took me about 15 minutes to set up wirelessly (This is including unboxing, downloading drivers and softwares from [...] and installing it to my computer). I did not bother with the CD in the box (I just downloaded drivers and softwares from their website).

   I have a macbook pro with snow leopard and it does work flawlessly! I have printed and scanned (duplex scanning!!!) and it works great! I also printed a photo from iPhone 3G wirelessly. I wish it could print a document (such as word or PDF) from iPhone (I have not played around with it much, but I don’t think there is a canon iphone app that can do this).

   Con: you can not print black and white, just gray scale. Black and white printing uses more ink. However, it is faster to print b & w rather than gray scale. I don’t really plan on using this as my main printer. Just occasional photo printing (I mainly bought this for network scanning with ADF and duplex scanning).

   I will have to play around with my windows 7 laptop in a couple week.

5. 

   iMarc on May 10, 2010 at 11:19 pm

   Overall, this is an excellent multifunction printer. The other reviews are accurate. It prints, scans and copies well.

   BUT… It does NOT provide direct FAX capability under Mac OS X. To send a FAX using a Mac is a two-step process: one must print the document (wasting ink and paper) and then send the FAX. (Direct FAX does work under Windows.)

   Adding insult to injury, Canon does not indicate this missing functionality in any of their pre-sales information. That is misleading and wrong. It is dishonest of Canon not to make this point clear. I would not have bought the MX870 if I had known about this. And I cannot recommend Canon since they were not up front about this missing feature.