Pixma iP4200 Review

Author's Rating:

Pros: Flawless printing, Individual cartridges, very good prints, Hong Kong version prints DVD surfaces.

Cons: Software hung while loading in XP, Installed a banner on my browser

The Bottom Line: 
Very good photo printer. I bought it for its DVD printing capabilities. Check to see if that feature is included before buying. I highly recommend it for that.

Author's Review
This Review is for the Canon Pixma iP4200

Printer was purchased in June 2006 in HONG KONG. It is now December 2006.
I have only used original Canon ink cartridges. They cost about 12 USD each over here.

The printer does a nice job printing photos and recently beat my wife’s 4 year old high resolution photo printer out of a job because the quality of this printer was so much better. I have printed over 156 boarderless 8-1/2 X 11" prints, a dozen or so 4x6" prints, and 200 DVD surfaces so far. I can print about 40 matte boarderless prints on a set of color cartridges (and I estimate about 250 DVD surfaces on a set of color cartridges). The printer has two printer trays so I load the internal one with 4x6 photo paper, while I have regular paper in the upper stand up tray, but I bought this printer because of its ability to print on the surface of DVD’s. HOWEVER, I understand that this feature is NOT available in the U.S. and if not, I gotta ask why not. I have printed 200 DVD surfaces with this printer and it has worked flawlessly. The software allows you to put a jpg photo into the background, adjust the inner and outer size of the print circle area, and put as many text boxes as you desire on your printable surface DVD’s. I like to combine photos in Photoshop first, then print the compilation on the DVD surface along with all the additional titles and text I desire.
I would like to put several lines of test into a single text box and have it follow the curve of the DVD, but the software will only line up the left or right edges at best. It will also center the text. To follow the DVD edge, you have to make individual text boxes and move them around. Still, the final product is very nice but it takes a little more work. VERIFY IF THIS DVD PRINTING FEATURE IS AVAILABLE PRINTER BEFORE YOU BUY IN THE STATES.

Things I like about the printer
I have changed 9 individual cartridges in all the printing done so far. The software warns you that ink is running low, then 4-8 sheets later it declares itself empty after finishing a sheet of printing. It does not run out of ink in the middle of a page.

It will not print if the output tray is closed. Nice feature. My last printer would jam the paper against the closed tray.

Photo prints are very good, but even on glossy paper, you can tell a difference between these and professional prints if you get up close.

Things I do not like about the printer/software
The software did not load properly under XP. It hung up and I had to turn off and on the printer to continue. It loaded fine under 2K.
The software installed a banner on my explorer browser. I do not appreciate software doing that. It took me a couple minutes, but I managed to get rid of the banner.

All in all, I like the printer, and if it will print DVD surfaces in the states, I would highly recommend it for that, but my research last spring showed me that I could not order the 120 volt version from the states. I had to buy the 240 volt version here in Hong Kong.


UPDATE 11 Jan 2008
Printer is still working flawlessly!
I have printed about 400 DVD surfaces,
400 4x6 photo prints
300 full page boarderless prints

UPDATE 28 Aug 2008
Printer is still working flawlessly. I am amazed
Have now printed about 600 DVD's
Just bought a bunch of ink cartridges and am bring the printer back to the states. With an addapter it will work on 110 volt.