Canon i960 Photo Printer

Rating:
Summary: Everything I was looking for in a PHOTO PRINTER
Review: I had bought this printer back in January of '04. It has been nothing shy of excellent ever since. I did a lot of research before purchasing a home Photo Printer and have been nothing but ahppy with my choice. First off let me say i have only used canon inks and paper with this machine for 4x6 and 8x10 prints. They have all come out wonderfully, people have complained about the lack of an LCD, if your serious about your pictures, you probably don't want to use an LCD and want to use a program to touch your pictures up before you print them so that not an issue for most people looking at this canon, so not to worry.
Setup was easy, the printer has a small footprint and fits everywhere. The loading of the print head is easy enougha as are the inks, evn a child could do it. The very first picture i printed out had some banding, but no other picture has ever had a problem, so i attribute that to the inks having to get through the system?!
I printed about 40 4x6's the other night and it took roughly 45 minutes, thats with me having to reload the special 4x6 paper clip that limits you to 20 pages in there at a time. Thats pretty impressive and each and every picture comes out looking perfect with canon's proprietary photo print software. Using Photoshop is just as easy and the pictures come out no less marvelous as well. I have not used this printer for text yet, and its job is photo only at my house, we use the laserjet for day to day text/web printing. The only down side is no USB cable, make sure to get a USB 2 cable from amazon because its like 4 times the price in the local brick and mortars.
So if your serious about your pictures but less than a full blown amateur photographer this is perfect photo printer for you.

Rating:
Summary: THE COLOR REPRODUCTION IS JUST TERRIBLE
Review: HI, -- I GAVE THIS PHOTO PRINTER 2 STARS , RATHER THAN 1 STAR, BECAUSE, IT IS FAST, HOWEVER, IT IS USELESS TO ME, RIGHT NOW, -- I OWN A $900.00 CANON DIGITAL SLR CAMERA ( WHICH IS GREAT ) - BUT, I AM SO DISSAPOINTED IN THIS PRINTER, -- IT IS PRINTING PHOTOS THAT ARE WAY TO BRIGHT, AND THE HUE IS TO YELLOWISH GREEN, VERY NOTICEABLE WITH PHOTOS OF PEOPLE, -- WHAT REALLY BOTHERS ME IS THAT, I CAN PRINT THE EXACT SAME PHOTO, UNEDITED, WITH MY HEWLETT PACKARD 4 IN 1 5510 OFFICEJET, AND THE COLOR COMES OUT GREAT, JUST LIKE THE ORIGINAL PHOTO -- I DID READ VERY GOOD REVIEWS ON THIS PRINTER, -- AND I AM SENDING SOME PHOTOS IN TO THE CANON COMPANY, FOR THE ENGINEERS TO REVIEW -
( HAS ANYONE EXPERIENCED THIS PROBLEM ? ) - WILLIS KUHNS

Rating:
Summary: Using Kodak With Canon & Dropping HP
Review: I bought the i960 right before the Canon Pixmas came out. If I had waited I may have bought the Pixma ip6000D...or I may not have. This printer has been tested and reviewed, and the consensus seems to be that it is one of the absolute best for printing 8x10s. And that is what I mostly print.

I had been printing my photos on an HP All-In-One printer that I had bought for scanning. It is not a photo printer, but it produced beautiful 8x10s. But a plastic piece came off one day, and it was downhill from there. The printer started making lines in the photos, and I decided it was time to get a dedicated photo printer. I was also thinking of getting one that had individual ink tanks, because I prints lots of nature shots, which means all the green causes a premature death to the $35 HP Tri-Color cartridge. And it's a waste of both money and material to have to toss out an ink cartridge that is not totally empty.

Yet, I still seriously considered getting the HP 7960, because I have always liked HP products. But then I read more than one review stating their 7960 made pizza cutter lines in the photos. HP knew about it, knew it was not serviceable, and yet expected the consumer to compensate for this designer flaw by using the most expensive HP photo paper, where the lines would be not so noticeable! I e-mailed HP and asked them why a consumer like me should even consider buying a new HP printer that made lines in the photos, when I was getting rid of a "broken" one that did the same thing. Their reply? Their reply was not EVERY HP7960 made lines in the photos! Wonderful! Maybe I'd be one of the lucky ones who got a "good" one! In my opinion, that is absolutely outrageous. HP lost a sell for sure there, and I'll probably never seriously consider buying an HP photo printer ever again.

Thus, I went with Canon. I had my reservations, though. The main one being the repeated advice in reviews that only Canon paper should be used with Canon copiers like this one. I had lots of Kodak Ultima, and I did not want to switch. The Kodak paper is slightly heavier than the Canon, and is cheaper than the Canon Photo Paper Pro. I discovered the Canon paper only advice is totally unfounded. I tested it by making many, many 8x10 copies of one photo, using Kodak Ultima and Canon Photo Paper Pro, as well as both Kodak EasyShare software and Canon Easy-Photo Print software. In my tests, the absolute best print in the tests were made on Kodak Ultima and using Kodak EasyShare software! I took the photos to work, and once again the Kodak prints were picked out as the best. No one involved in these tests was a professional photographer, mind you. But I doubt most professionals even buy printers under $200. :) If you have Kodak EasyShare software, just make sure you have the latest drivers and settings for the Canon i960, that has at least 5 paper choices, as well as the "One Touch" option. If your settings don't show this, you need to go to Kodak.com and get the new settings. Also, anyone who wants to use Kodak Ultima paper can download the EasyShare software for free from that site. It has drivers and settings for lots and lots of printers.

Next, I tested 4x6s. This printer comes with a really nifty Photo Paper Tray for Canon 4x6 paper. The Kodak 4x6 won't work with this tray, because it's slightly larger than the Canon paper. But you can still make 4x6s with Kodak Ultima by not using the tray. You also must use the Canon Easy-Photo Print software, because for some odd reason Kodak does not offer the choice of making a 4x6 on a 4x6 sheet of paper for this printer! You can put a 4x6 on a 5x7 sheet or an 8x10 sheet, but not on a 4x6 sheet. Very strange! Thus, I did a test with one photo printing it on Canon Photo Paper Pro using Canon software, on Kodak Ultima using the Photo Paper Pro setting, on Kodak paper using the Photo Paper Plus Glossy setting, and one on Kodak paper using just the Glossy Paper setting. Of the 4 prints, the Kodak one using the Glossy Paper setting was the best; the Kodak one using the Photo Paper Plus Glossy was a close second; the Canon one was third, because the photo subject's face was over-exposed, when that was not the case with the Kodak prints; and the Kodak print using the Photo Paper Pro setting was HORRID! Do not use the Photo Paper Pro setting with Kodak paper!

My other reservations that proved unfounded: 1) You have to install the print head, which HP users don't have to do. The print head turned out to be one big piece of plastic that I doubt any sober person could install incorrectly; it takes like 3 seconds to install it. Installing the ink cartridges was just as easy--just don't squeeze the sides after you take off the orange plastic piece. And talking about ink--I have made at least 25 8x10s, at least 10 4x6s, and at least 10 text pages...and the only ink tanks that have moved even a fraction of an inch down is the Photo Magenta and the Photo Cyan...they are about 2/3 of the way empty...which I don't consider bad for all those prints. And they only cost $11 a piece. That's much easier to work in a tight budget than two cartridges that cost $25 and $35 a piece, as my HP ones did. 2) There is an ink waste tank in Canon printers that need to be serviced by Canon if they get full. That's where ink goes after you clean your ink heads, when you need to do so. Who knows if the tank will fill up during your ownership of the printer? I'm not going to worry about it. 3) Canon prints don't last as long as HP and Epson...this apparently is "proven" that Canon prints made with Canon ink on Canon photo paper should last like 25 years before fading, compared to at least 75 years for HP and Epson. The only thing is the various companies question the testing methods used in all these tests. I personally am not going to worry about this sort of thing, because I put all my photos on CDs, and can make additional prints in the future, if I need to. But each person must decide for themselves if this is a major issue or not. 4) It takes the prints a long time to dry. Mine dry as fast as the HP ones, if not faster. And there actually is a photo drying option, where you can choose if you want your prints to dry fast or slow. The default setting is fast.

This printer reminds me a lot of my Kodak DX6490 camera...you can do all sorts of creative things with it, or you don't have to! It's your choice. You can use the more difficult pop-up box to choose printer settings, or just use the Easy-Photo Print software. The Easy-Photo Print is as easy as they come. Your entire picture library is there, including anything you may have just downloaded, and you just pick the picture, pick the paper format, and pick what type of paper you are using. The selection of print sizes and such is terrific. Unlike the EasyShare software...and I'm still using the EasyShare 3 because the 4 is proving impossible to download!:(...with the Canon software, you can put one borderless 5x7 on an 8x10 sheet at the top or bottom, and then use the arrows to turn it around, so you can use it as a greeting card.

Talking about greeting cards, I would highly recommend the Canon Matte 8x10 for that. It is super cheap, and super great, as long as you print on the right side! The back side has no printing on it, so you can use card software to put a message on that side. Canon has a website www.photoprintplanet.com with all sorts of photo projects, like greeting cards and envelopes and such. Of course, if you like glossy best, just use glossy photo paper, and insert a bond sheet with the message with double sided tape. You can buy greeting card envelopes from Office Depot or Staples, or you can make really colorful ones at Photo Print Planet.

Other nice things about this printer: 1) It's big and heavy as photo printers go; a sign of quality in my opinion 2) It has loads of great software that was really fast and simple to install, including "photo stitch", where you "stitch" various photos together to create a panoramic one 3) It has a roller cleaner! This is what you need to use, if like me, you accidently tell the printer it's making a print on a larger sheet of paper than what's actually in the printer. When you do this, ink gets on the rollers, which shows up on the back of future prints as black lines. The roller cleaner directions are in the "Quick Start Guide" and it works like a charm!

Like my camera, I really can't say enough nice things about this printer. It's a great printer for either a beginner or someone with lots of printing skills and experience.

Rating:
Summary: Very satisfactory for photos, less so for text
Review: I'm a complete neophyte when it comes to printers. Well, that's not actually true. I've had a trusty HP LaserJet IIP since 1989 and have had absolutely no complaints about it. But it finally died, after fifteen years, and I figured it didn't owe me anything after that length of time. Further, my wife had been after me to get something that would print photos--grandkids, don't you know!--and in color. After some research I settled on the Canon i960. I was happy when it arrived, only to find--stupid me--that I didn't have an available USB port. No problem, I installed a four port USB hub and proceeded. Installation was a breeze. It's clearly well-designed for Plug-and-Play intallation; the process is entirely seamless. I've now printed text--which is just the slightest bit less distinct than my old laser printer was, but since I'm not printing much text these days, it's no big deal--and the photo printing, using Canon's Photo Paper Pro that is included and the EasyPrint software, also included, is a complete pussycat. Easy 4x6 or larger fabulous prints--borderless if you want them, or not. Actually my only problem now will be deciding how many pictures to print from each batch I take (or receive digitally from our kids via the Internet). Hoo boy! Who'da thunk an old guy like me could get excited about a hunk of plastic and metal?

My main point here is that this is a great little printer--at a great little price--for a photo- and printer-neophyte. If I can do it, you can, too.

Scott Morrison

Rating:
Summary: i960 fully meets my expectations
Review: Since my 4 year old HP 932c died, I was on the market for a new photo printer. I did a lot of reading and research, both online and going thru magazines. I considered Canon IP4000, IP5000, i560, i860, i960, Epson R200, R300, HP7960, HP 7660. As you can see, I went thru many printers as printing high quality photos is very important to me.

My top criteria are: cost of operation, print longevity, print quality. Unfortunately, no printers are perfect. They all fall short on at least one area. I even tried to print some photos on an Epson R300 as someone in the office happen to have one on his desk, the print from R300 is not bad but it is a little bit of fuzzy if you look closely...

My concern for Canon is the print tend to fade quicker if Canon's paper is used (go figure) as all Canon papers are nanoporous. They don't make swellabel paper which is more immune to fading. After I found out there are reasonably priced swellable paper that works well with Canon, the choice is obvious - Canon.

I've been very happy with my decision, the print is sharp, color is accurate, speed is fast, everything I expect it to be and it fully meets my expectations.

Another thing I have to say is the service I got from Amazon is superb, this is not the first time I do business with them but this time, their service simply stunned me - I placed my order on Wednesday and by Friday, the printer showed up, and this is with their free shipping option, I didn't pay a penny for shipping. No I don't work for Amazon, just an extremely impressed customer.

Rating:
Summary: Lousy paper feed mechanism
Review: I bought a Canon i960 in June '04 and by September '04 it was jamming every other paper when printing a document. This printer does an excellent job with photo's but don't buy it to print documents. So what I'll end up with is a used (factory reconditioned) printer from Canon for the price of a new one. I'm glad I didn't throw away my 7 year old HP 722C.