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Canon i960 Photo Printer

Canon i960 Photo Printer

List Price: $169.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Photos that make you go WOW!!!
Review: Prints BEAUTIFUL photos reliably every time. The software works excellent for me. Like the photo editing/printing software better than what came with my camera. Don't even have to change printer settings every time you change from printing photos to plain paper and vice versa. Photo printing software lets you choose the proper settings (and remembers them) while resuming to your default settings when you're done printing photos. Photo quality far betters my Hewlett Packard 952C on any paper. STUNNING on Canon Pro Photo Paper. (the best paper I've ever used) Results look VERY VERY close to 35mm photos developed at a GOOD processing lab. Borderless 4X6 photos look great and can be made on any 4X6 photo paper. (even cut your own) No "punch-out" 4X6 paper necessary.

Pictures from a camera of reasonable quality (I use a Fuji A310) require absolutely no tweaking at all. Being used to older cameras and printers, I tried optimizing my photos at first and actually did more harm than good. Colors, contrast and white balance are fantastic. No adjustments necessary. Quiet and fast.

Might not be the best only printer for someone who does alot of text printing for business or school. The black ink seems more the type best suited for photos. (not as glossy or thick?) Black ink tank is only 15 ml. (small) Refill is around $11.00 though, so it's no more costly per ml than ink for other printers. Actually, the individual ink tanks hold much more colored ink than most other printer cartridges (around four times as much at less than twice the cost) so it seems the overall ink cost should be pretty reasonable. The Canon i860 is pretty much the same printer except it has separate black inks for text and photos, but only 3 colors as opposed to 5 in the i960. Might be a better choice for someone who desires better text and a better "all around" printer. (...) I'm betting that it still prints photos very sharp and grain free. The difference in color accuracy is probably not THAT much. I might have bought the i860 instead, but couldn't figure out what the difference was until after I bought the i960. Was looking for excellent photo quality and was afraid to go with the cheaper printer.

I couldn't be happier with this printer for my purposes. (photos, printing web pages, fun projects, and an occasional business letter or scan + copy) Text isn't REALLY weak, but worth mentioning for the hardcore business user or student who wants the BEST looking text.

Helpful hints: Use the fully manual print head alignment for the best quality. Been getting AWESOME results on Ilford Galerie Smooth Gloss Photo Paper Lite using the "Glossy Photo Paper Plus" setting. This paper seems very similar to the Cannon Pro paper and can be bought for half the price.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Pretty good overall, but a few problems
Review: Let's start with the strengths:

1) Good price
2) Ink cartridges don't expire before all the ink is used
3) Ink is cheap and 50+ 4x6" prints haven't made a dent in the ink levels.
4) Quality is excellent on high-res digital pictures
5) Whisper quiet. I still check to make sure it's working when I send a picture to it. It's THAT quiet.

Other weaknesses pointed out by other people that aren't that big of a deal (to me at least):

1) Hard to set up? Not really. Just follow the directions.
2) The 4x6" paper tray is flimsy? Yes, but functional and handy. But, be careful putting your $.20 a sheet photo paper in this tray, however, because the little indent for your thumb (to raise the cover on this attachment) will leave marks on the top sheet of your photo paper which will be evident in your printed photos. Put another piece of paper or something between that indention and your paper when you are inserting the stack of 4x6" paper.
3) Graphics on plain paper/B&W text printing slow and not very good? It seemed to take about 20 seconds per page of either text of full color graphics. Not great (and there are better inkjets out there for this), but a perfect compliment to a laser printer. The quality isn't the best I've seen but honestly, it looks fine. At least there are no stray printing marks (from guide rollers or whatnot). Bottom line: Get this printer primarily to print good 4x6" photos, and if you need to do other things, it can, but it's not the best.

Now for my gripes:
1) 36 seconds for a 4x6" photo? Mine all take twice that long, exactly (72 seconds). I am using USB 1.0 - anyone know if that is causing the difference? Anyone getting 36 second prints with USB 1.0 - if so, how?
2) You better only be printing high resolution images. A majority of my images from my digital camera are 640 x 480 (taken years ago, small to save memory). I tried some 640x480 prints from the included software, and they were horrid. It was doing some sort of strange interpolated smearing between blocks of pixels. When I was able to print the same picture from MS Word, the quality improved substantially. When I view the 640x480 images in any other software application, they look fine. The Canon included software at least shows you how it's going to screw up your picture before you print it. I don't know how I'm going to print 1000+ pictures that are this way. One at a time from Word or Powerpoint, I guess.

3) The included software didn't even sort my files by name, and certainly had no option to sort by size or creation date. I think the software was designed to be extremely simple (and it is), however it doesn't have much function other than sending what you have to the printer. My images are all labelled with a standard digital camera format like "DSC001234", and the program would never sort them all. Maybe because I had over 1000 in one directory; who knows.

I don't think any printer out there is perfect. This one is very good; it amazing to see what looks like a photolab print come out of it. Honestly. Get the 120 pack of Canon 4x6" Phot Paper Plus Glossy if you can find it; it's the best deal. I tried printing with the included sample of Canon Premium paper; no difference.

It is nice to see a printer that doesn't tell you an ink cartridge is dead (and requires replacement) simply because it passed some arbitrary date. HP does this (they also sell their ink carts for $35 a pop) and I've heard other brands do too. This would be like your car's engine shutting off automatically when you passed the 3,000 mile mark since your last oil change. HP is never getting my business again due to this practice.

Enjoy this printer, just make sure you set your camera on "high res" from now on.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: No more trips to costco to print!
Review: This printer is incredible!! I have to agree with most of the other reviews; the photos do look like they came from a lab. They look even better when you print them in vivid mode. At first I was a little hesitant to buy this printer because I get my prints done at costco for only 20 cents each; and they look fantastic. Each sheet of photo paper costs about the same amount, but I dont' have to deal with driving to a crowded costco in Los Angeles. No more waiting in line to use a kiosk or picking up my photos the next day. Now I can print incredible photos at home without spending time driving. Another feature that noboday has mentioned is that with the included software you have the option of printing dates on your photos! This is a feature that I love and one that Costco does not provide. So that is another advantage to print at home. The only negative thing I have to say about this printer is that it does not come with a USB cable. So make sure to buy one before you leave the store of purchase. Other than that this printer gives you beautiful prints in under 40 seconds. Get one now while cannon is offering a $30 dollar reabate! Total cost of $169 at Best Buy!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best Photo Printer I've ever seen or used on any platform!
Review: I recently purchased this printer to replace my aging HP Photosmart p1000. That was a nice printer in its day, but the i960 blows it away.

However, my search for the i960 took very long. Why? Because many of the publications that reivew peripherals do a thorough job of reviewing the features and performance (even subjective as it must be with a photo printer), but almost all of them - even the Mac publications - hardly mention the driver quality (which makes or breaks any computer add-on device). If they do, they largely mention the Windows driver performance or software bundle.

Well, I want to tell all the OS X users out there that this printer rocks in OS X 10.3.4 / Panter. The software bundle is complete, functional, and best of all, the driver for basic operation and control of quality, borderless printing, etc. all work and work well.

Many manufacturers do a poor job in this area - either drivers overall, or they provide only minimal, or a poor effort in supporting OS X. Canon has made a convert of me.

I really love the 4x6 printing cartridge, the speed, the quiet... I can't say enough about this product.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Poor Printer Head / Ink Cartridge Design
Review: I am very disappointed in the Cannon i960 printer. The printer head is very poorly designed. I had great difficulty getting the print head and ink cartridges to work. I had to reseat the printer head 5 times before it would work. I had to reseat the magenta ink cartridge 5 times before it would work. It took 4 hours of reading the manual to diagnose all the errors I was getting and running tests to get this printer where it would print a color picture. Our last printer was an HP 895cse. The HP was easy to set up and ran great for 3 years. I wish we had bought another HP. I am very disappointed in the quality of this printer.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Direct, simple & complete.
Review: After delivery, I checked out the directions printed on the sides of the box before opening it. My first opioion was that this was going to be a quick and easy assembly and application software uploaded to Zigzag, the name I've given to my computer. I unloaded the printer, power cable, the ink jet cartridges, & 4X6 photo paper insert. Then I unwrapped all shipping tape stripping from the products, placed the printer on its stand...please excuse my long windedness...attached the power cord, placed the ink cartridges in their appropriate spots, placed the 4X6 paper tray, expanded the the paper outputs trays, pluged in MY OWN USB cable...since one didn't come with the purchase.

There it was, ready to go. My second opinion was that all was easy. I uploaded the software following instructions. All was easy like drinking fine wine.

My first photo print was two 2X3 photos on one sheet of 4X6 glossy paper supplied with the Canon i906. The detailed printing application was a breeze, the color and detail quality were excellent, as good/better than photo lab processing. I'm a Happy Photographer & Happy Photo Printer thanks to my new CANON i960. Enjoy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Incredible customer service! Nice printer, too.
Review: I purchased this printer about two months ago--love it. It prints gorgeous photos that are difficult to tell from lab prints. But for me, the big deal is Canon's service.

I was printing a document last week when the printer made an incredibly bad-sounding noise and died instantly. I ran some diagnostics on it and was advised to call Canon. I called, went through only two layers of voice-mail selections, and was instantly connected with a knowledgeable rep who confirmed that the printer was indeed DOA. He then informed me that we would receive a replacement via UPS within two business days, and the package would include a postage paid label for shipping the dead one back to Canon. Sure enough, the replacement showed up in two days with the return label. Then--the truly amazing part--Canon called a week later to make sure that we had received the replacement and return label, and wanted to make sure that everything was fine with the new printer!!! This seems incomprehensible in these days of almost universally bad customer service.

I'm giving the printer four stars, since I would have preferred to have my original one last much longer. Without question, the service is five stars.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Printer, Great service!
Review: This is my second Canon printer. I purchased the i550 for my daughter who was attending college and experienced no problems and excellent printing quality. So I figured if this printer could handle the rigors of college life it should be more than enough for me. So I purchsed the i960 because of it's extra capabilities, pict bridge connection for my Canon A80 powershot digital camera, etc. I also like the economics of the separate color cartridges. Replace only the colors that are low on ink, not the entire cartridge like other printers.

Great photo printer, great color reproduction, vibrant and clear. Text is more than adequate. I had some problems printing photos approx. 6 months down the road. Photos printed with a bias of green hue. Contacted Canon online support, (toll free phone support is also available 24-7) and received excellent and expeditious service. I received a new printer head component shipped by UPS 2nd day air at no charge. Replacing the printer head was a no-brainer, simple instructions included. No double talk or excuses, just great service.

I highly recommend Canon products because they stand behind everything they sell, 100%

You will be hard pressed to find another quality printer at this price with this support structure.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Amazing photo quality on Canon paper only
Review: Photos printed on Canon paper look like they were developed professionally. They are the best I've ever seen from a photo paper. Photos printed on any other brand of photo paper look pretty shabby, even after fiddling with the printer settings.
Printing text is very, very slow on "normal" mode and printing envelopes frequently jams the printer.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You can't go wrong
Review: I have owned just about every brand of printer since 1985 starting with a Star nine pin tractor feed. In color inkjet printers, I have had HP (two), Lexmark (five), Epson (two), and Canon (three). The best photo printer prior to my buying the Canon i960 was an Epson 820. I prefer Canon inkjet printers overall because of their quality, ease of use, speed, economy of use (you can't beat individual ink tanks that can be refilled), and long service life. I currently have a Canon i850 for general purpose use. After almost three years of daily use (a wife in college and a son in high school plus my usage) the i850 has performed flawlessly. I have refilled the ink tanks innumerable times with good quality bulk ink. This alone has paid for the printer many times over.

Thus, when my Epson 820 failed to print the yellow color (the fourth 820 in less than two years) and Mr. Epson refused to replace the printer again, I decided to look for another photo printer. The Epson 820 while producing excellent photos, was a "dog' in terms of quality. In less than six months the printhead went bad on the first 820. Since it was under warranty, Epson replaced it. The repacement lasted less than five months. It would not print yellow in spite of every "fix" tried by me and Epson's technicians. A third printer was sent. After six months the yellow color refused to print. A call to Epson resulted in my being told that the printer was out of warranty. My repeated complaints to Epson resulted in a fourth printer being sent. You gussed it, six months later it refused to print yellow. A call to Epson resulted in a flat refusal to replace the fourth printer. So much for customer satisfaction. A one year warranty that is only good for the original printer. This turns out to be a six month warranty. So, my quest for a new photo printer began.

By this time, the Canon Pixma series had been introduced. While sorely tempted to go with the newest technology, research showed that the Canon i960 was the best choice for me. I wanted a dedicated printer for photos only. Since my Canon i850 produces fast, high quality text print outs, the i960 became the choice to replace Mr. Epson's flawed 820. I couldn't have made a better selection! The i960 is everything the reviews have said. When I compared the i960 photos to the Epson 820 photos, the Canon came out ahead. I use Canon, Epson, Kodak, and HP photo paper. There is little difference in the finished product. The Canon paper has a slight, barely perceptible advantage in bright lighting. The i960 produces excellent text output but at a slower rate than the i850. This i960 printer can't be beat in its class, no exceptions! You can't go wrong with this printer!


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