Conclusions

For years now, I've been a fan of Canon's Powershot series cameras and after being fed up with the high cost of printing with HP, I decided to give a Canon printer a try.  After all, their product line is nothing short of impressive.  I'm honestly glad I did.  This is truly a impressive printer that has certainly exceeded my expectations.  It has a lot to offer, despite its very modest price tag. 

Please take my advice and don't be lured into an inkjet simply for its print quality, price or exclusive feature.  Take the recurring costs of operation into account as well.  While this printer does not quite match the print quality of some of the HP printers I've used, you can't help but appreciate the fact that you won't have to replace those cartridges as quickly, nor pay a major premium for them as well.  In fact, if you purchase online, you can get each cartridge for as low as $6. 

Its dual paper feed capability is by far, the most useful feature this printer offers. For example, I load the bottom tray with plain white inkjet paper for webpage prints and use the top loading tray for non letter sized DVD inserts, labels and photo paper.  No more having to take out the paper to load stock that is not letter sized.  You can seriously take advantage of its dual print feed.  Another feature that worked well was duplex printing.  This is excellent for those multi-page web prints.  It automatically feeds the paper back in and prints on the other side.  In our tests, we printed webpages that were 4-6 pages long and experienced absolutely no issues.  Its print features are simply unmatched.  The toolbar will allow you make quick prints and pages do print out at full width, a problem a majority of other printers are plagued with. 

Photo printing was quite good but not the best I've seen.  While it unfortunately lacks an LCD display, the PictBridge port allows a seamless connection for quick and quality prints from a supported digital camera.  The test pictures showed a bit too much detail and most were a bit grainy when compared to the prints of other quality printers.

Print Yield

After printing numerous case inserts, labels and photos, the ink cartridges were still fairly close to their full capacity.  Considering I don't personally rely on the sensors and/or software, I took out the cartridges to confirm.  The clear print cartridges are great and give you a true indication as to when the time comes to really head out to the store for new ones. 

The Canon IP4000 can be found for as little as $110.  So before you head out and spend up to $65 dollars on new print cartridges, consider a whole new printer and keep the IP4000 on your short list.  Its dual paper feed capability, low-cost 5 ink tank design, duplex printing and excellent web print features earns our highest recommendation and "Extreme Excellence Award". 

More information on the Canon IP4000 can be found on Canon's Website.

 

Pros	Cons
Dual Paper Path Duplex printing PictBridge Port Excellent Software Quality 2 picoliter printing Low cost 5 ink tank system High print yield Replaceable Print Head Very inexpensive	No built-in LCD Large footprint Occasional grainy photo prints

Have questions or comments?  Visit our forums to discuss the review and for my personal thoughts on all other inkjet printers on the market.  This is a good read, especially for those currently looking for a new inkjet.