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Canon MultiPass MP730 Multifunction

Canon MultiPass MP730 Multifunction

List Price: $249.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: No 'Block fax' Feature
Review: Printer cartridge life is an important expense to consider in purchasing a multifunction device like the MP730. Junk faxes are a nuisance, and one great feature is the ability to block incoming faxes.
BUT THE MP730 DOES NOT HAVE THAT FEATURE! I was used to that feature with HP. I bought the MP730 based on user reviews, but I never saw a comment about this. It is too late for me, but it is not too late for you!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good quality but eats print cartridges for breakfast!
Review: Prior to buying this Canon printer, I was an HP ink jet user (owned three HPs over the last 10 years). When my HP T45 prematurely and irritatingly died, I decided to find a better alternative. My research brought me to this printer. I've had the Canon Multifunction for about two months and I've been pleased for the most part. It does have outstanding features and great quality. However, I've already gone through two black print cartridges and one set of color cartridges! This was at the same time I used up two reams of paper, which is about average for me. Just this morning, I got another pop-up message saying the black print cartridge needs to be replaced again. However, I've learned that this message can be disregarded for up to two weeks (maybe longer for people who don't print a lot) with no discernable difference in print quality. This premature "warning" is an irritating feature b/c it continues to pop up every time you hit "print." I've also noticed recently that some of the font letters are being printed slightly askew. I need to read the manual to discover how to adjust this intermittent problem. Although the printer is vastly superior to the HP, it is not quite as intuitive. For example, it is not obvious how to "cancel" an action that the printer/fax places into memory. HP has a big "cancel" button on it, but the Canon doesn't. So if I accidentally enter the wrong fax number and hit fax, it is not obvious how to make it stop dialing. Turning the printer off and back on doesn't clear the memory. Unplugging it is the only way I've figured out how to clear the memory. For the most part, I'm not an instruction or manual reader, so this may not be a problem for other users who actually read instructions before using the equipment. I read manuals on an "as needed" basis only. However, it appears this printer is not designed for that type of user. Don't get me wrong, I really do like this printer. The flatbed scanner/copier is worth the price of admission.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: It's great until you experience problems
Review: Purchased this unit March 2004. Unit was defective out of the box and was promptly replaced by Canon's Instant Exchange Program. Worked fine until June 1 and was told that I would get a replacement "print head" despite the fact that I've pointed out that I wanted a replacement unit since this is available as an option. The part is on it's way and should be arriving here on June 7. As promised by one of Canon's Tech Support supervisor, if this doesn't work they will be shipping me another unit. I know Canon makes great products and the reviews here made me decide to purchase this MF. It's a great product when it works. But my experience going through 2 defective units makes me wonder about the workmanship of this product. BTW Canon Support is one of the best in the industry. This is the only reason why I would end up keeping the product rather than donating it to charity.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: AMAZING ALL IN ONE
Review: This could very well be my printer of choice for the next five years. I use it to do everything from faxing papers to work all the way to scanning, copying and especially printing photos. I have to say that everything works great. A few features that I want to tell you about in particular are printing photos and using the ADF (automatic document feeder). The MP730 prints such great photos, that my friends cant tell that they were printed. I was astounded by the exceptional quality and the speed that they print in (about 30-45 seconds for the first print, and about 15-20 for each one after that). The ADF is really handy when you want to scan up to 35 pages to copy or scan. The software is great because it compiles all the pages into one simple, universal PDF file so you can do your business and send an email attachment all in one shot. I was concerned when people were talking about little things here and there that might be just a little bit off. I did not notice any of that happening. If I knew the quality of the printer before I got it, I would be willing to spend $100 more than I spent on it ($220).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Don't worry about using XP even if you're a beginner
Review: This is a really wonderful printer: it holds a LOT of paper, prints laser-quality text, scans easily into existing programs (you press one button) and does a great job of faxing (what I bought it for). Installing the software is a snap, even if you are computer-challenged. No glicks with XP. It really was simple and the instructions are written as though they have thought of every screwy thing you could do to mess things up. As was mentioned in other reviews, the quality of the unit is impressive. The auto-feed works flawlessly, saving a lot of work. I ordered if from Amazon and got it two days later and had it fully functional in 15 minutes after I got it out of the box. It is really that well designed and the instructions are excellent (which is very rare in itself!). You can't go wrong with this unit.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Machine--Problem with Volume Scanning
Review: This is a wonderful, amazing machine, except for one thing. We use it in our business and scan about 10 pages a day. The scanning and copying "window" is protected by a small piece of thin, soft, clear plastic. Every document from the ADF passes over this thing. It scratches and scuffs easily, and then you start seeing lines on your scans or copies. We have to replace the plastic piece about once every month. I recently called Canon and ordered 10 of them at $2.60 apiece. This is a design flaw.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Unbelievable value
Review: This is my second Canon color inkjet. The first is just a printer, but based on my positive experience wiht that, I was confident in buying a Canon this time around as well. That confidence was reinforced with the MP730.

In a nutshell, the positives are:

- Surprisingly quick printing for an injet, even in color. Faster than the laser from just a few years ago that it replaces

- Excellent print quality -- tested it with color photos at full size and it's outstanding

- Very slick design... small footprint on the desk and looks good too.

- Both a flatbed AND fed copier -- this is very cool. I prefer to use the feeder most of the time (which is what my old multifunction had), but sometimes, if I'm copying a book or something, I wish I had a flatbed. This does both, again in a very compact size.

- Great Canon software and utilities for printing and other tasks

- Individually replaceable ink cartridges (saves money).

Just an outstanding unit -- I would have expected it to cost 2-3x it's price point.

The only downside, and this is a downside of inkjets generally, not the Canon specifically, is that ink is expensive and runs out faster than you think. Over the course of a couple years owning it, the cost of ink will likely outpace the cost of the printer itself.

But if you're deciding among multifunction units and among inkjets, this is a very good pick.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not a single copy works
Review: We bought this Multipass730 and set it up today. After working with Canon Tech Support for a long time, not a single drop of ink is appearing on the test pages. We have now been told to take it to a service center Monday thru Friday. Today is Friday at 5pm, so we can't use the printer this entire weekend. What a loser we have purchased!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I'M A HAPPY CAMPER!!
Review: Well, folks...like many of you have stated, I am also a "weirdo" about doing thorough searches for the best prices and equipment. And like one of the other reviewers stated, "The Canon MP 730 was voted the top multi-function printer in PC world". The latter was one of the reasons for my purchase, as well as the overwhelmingly great reviews of this product on MANY websites. (PC World, E-Pinions, Pricegrabber, etc...).

Well, let's talk about the printer.

Looks:

First-off, it's a pretty cool color. All my PC equipment is either black, or black & gray (22" Viewsonic monitor, Logitech Elite keyboard, PC tower, Cisco SOHO 91 firewall, Logitech MX700 wireless mouse), so it fits-in very nicely with my other things. As for the styling...well...it's a super-slick looking beast!! It's a little big, but, "HEY"...what do you expect? It's able to do a variety of different functions, which includes having an "auto document feeder" on top, a scanner with a lift-up lid, and a nice-sized tray that can hold up to 150 sheets of plain paper. (And the tray even has a clear cover to enclose/protect the sheets of paper). Pretty cool! And with all those functions, you'd expect it to have a little size. If it DIDN'T - and it had all the above functions - it would be pretty flimsy and cheaply built.

Stability:

I have to say I was pretty impressed. It's a solid little beast. According to the manual, it weighs-in at a hefty 24 pounds. And I have to say, that if it was not as heavy, then it would be "rockin-and-a-rattlin" when it printed and scanned. But since it has some nice mass, it does none of the latter. Actually, I was initially kind of worried about this, as I had read a comment on it's shaking. But I'm convinced that the writer must have placed it on a flimsy table in order for them to comment on it shaking. As far as I'm concerned, it DOES NOT rattle at all, and it's very solid.

Print quality:

I believe the print quality on the MP730 is awesome!! I had this baby up and running in about 20 minutes (drivers loaded, and everything) - and was printing photo-quality pictures with ease! I had a few extra sheets of glossy Kodak photo paper on hand - and I was REALLY impressed. It is such an improvement over my funky Epson Stylus printer. No comparison!! As a matter of fact, everyone said to get either an HP printer (known for their exceptional printer motors), or an upper-level Canon printer. (Which is equal to the HP motors, but with MUCH BETTER print quality). So I jumped on the Canon MP 730. Even when printing a color photo onto PLAIN PAPER, it was exceptional!! It looked soooooo good. The only thing which was kind of sloppy, was a facimile (fax message) I received. It was really blurry around the edges of the letters. But I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with my printer, as it probably came from the SENDING fax machine. (As a matter of fact, I'm about 99.9% sure about that).

Faxing:

I think this baby also excels in the faxing department. You can design your own "Fax Transmittal Form" (using MS Word, or MS Excel), and send a facimile using your PC after you fill out the form. How's that for "super-cool-neato-stuff"?? You can even customize it to auto-receive faxes, print logs of faxes, or even decide how many times you would like to try resending a facimile if it doesn't go through the first time. (Even the time it will wait before each retry).

Closing notes:

And very lastly, get the USB2 printer cable before purchasing the printer. (The printer DOES NOT come with the needed USB2 cable). Otherwise you'll have to wait the unbearable 1.5 hours to run and get one from the store before you can use your new toy. And DON'T go to Circuit City, Best Buys, or any store to get this cable. (Unless you can find one at a decent price). Circuit City charged me $24.00 for this USB2 cable....which I later found on E-Bay for .99 cents. (Ninty-nine cents, plus $3.00 for shipping = $4.00 shipped to your door). Of course I took advantage or their "return policy" and got my money back for their over-charged USB2 cable.

Overall, Amazon.com had the cheapest price on this printer ($255.00 shipped to my door), and I received it in two or three days. Which in my book equals a "VERY SATISFIED CUSTOMER"!!

I hope this helped someone.

In Christ: Raymond


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