Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

UPDATE: I've been through two of these in 4 years. Each only lasted just under two years before failing. I do not recommend the printer as it's just not reliable long term. Both failures had the same issues: printing is no longer clear - it's jagged (you can tell it prints horizontally and it's not matching up it's alignment from line to line. So within a letter or image you'll see part of it slightly offset leading to jagged printing). Printing is not complete - you'll be missing parts of what should be printed. So it looks more like it was stamped and some ink was missed. One or more of the colors will stop working - even if full. even if replaced. I have tried cleaning EVERYTHING (spent a lot of time on youtube and can pretty much clean every part of this printer) and IF it works, the fix is only temporary before it fails again. Printer tells me its' in use by another system when it's not - I have to turn the printer off then on to get it to work. **************** I always buy the all-in-ones that are able to automatically print duplex and that include a fax since I still need to fax upon occasion. In the past I've had HP, but haven't had great experiences with their printers lately (the last one I had starting failing one month after the 1 year warranty expired. HP said "tough luck" essentially, even though I read that my issues were VERY common with their products. They had no sense of ownership...). So I moved on to Canon. This model, while shorter than my past printers, has a bigger footprint. My husbands exact remark when I unpacked it was "So I see you decided to go with the small model." Yes, he's a bit sarcastic :) . What is great about it so far (I haven't played with all the features yet; I'll update as I do that): 1. Unpacking it is relatively easy. It's bulky and a bit heavy, but Canon put it in a bag. So you can lift up the handles and it pulls the printer right out of the box. This is the first time I've seen this. It was so much easier than my printers in the past where I had to smash my hands down in the box, try to get a grip, and then try to coax the printer out of the box. 2. It was very easy to install. The install takes about 14 minutes, but the install program warns you of this. And since all you have to do is wait it's very easy. 3. It has a user guide that comes with the printer. Now don't get too excited - it's not printed. BUT it is added to your system upon installation and the sw that is installed on your system also has links to it online. This is the first time I've actually found it easy to get a user guide since they stopped providing the printed copy in the box. I may actually like it better than the printed copy since it's just a click away. And I'm a person who uses the guide since I like to use advanced features 4. It is bluetooth capable. I find this is the easiest way to print pictures from my phone (even my 6 year old can do it) so this is a plus. Do I wish the bluetooth was built in? Yes. But since I had an extra adapter laying around this wasn't an issue. I plugged in the adapter and it instantly was ready. So easy. 5. It is wi-fi ready and the wi-fi works. This was the first thing to go on my last printer, so working wi-fi makes me happy. We'll see how long it lasts, but I haven't heard of major issues with the Canons so I'm not worried. 6. It is cloud ready. I set it up to connect to Google Cloud Print. And I put that app on my tablets. So now I can easily print from my samsung tablet. The setup was easy to do - I followed the steps in the user guide. 7. The tray that catches the paper can fold up to stay out of the way when you aren't printing. I like this because I've got pets and I hate the thought of fur getting into my printer. And, the best part (and my favorite gee-whiz feature hands down) is that it automatically opens when you send a print job. I l-o-v-e that. It's the little things in life, right? :) What I'm not so crazy about: The menus and lack of touch screen. Maybe it's because I'm changing brands, but the menus are not as intuitive as I'd like. I find myself referencing the guide more than I'd like to so I can find what I need in the menus. And since it's not touch screen you've got to navigate using a keypad off to the side. I find that cumbersome. But I'm sure I'll get used to both these things as time goes on. Oh, and I wish someone would invent a black printer that didn't show every dust particle. Ooh, a stainless steel printer would be nice; it would then match my kitchen appliances and look quite snazzy in my office. So far I've set up multiple computers, printed wirelessly, printed via cloud, printed via bluetooth, printed pictures and set up my fax preferences. I haven't scanned or faxed yet, but all the printing has been good quality. It's a bit quieter than my HPs which is nice. And the starter ink that was included seems to be going a long way. When I get a chance I'll put it through the paces (I WILL try every feature in the guide. I'm just one of those people) and I'll update my review. In the meantime, I definitely recommend the printer for ease of setup and solid performance.