Canon i960: Is Third Time a Charm?

Author's Rating:

Pros: The best photo printer I've used or seen in action.

Cons: Although they don't say so, it's still an ink jet.

The Bottom Line: 
Highly recommended for the fantastic prints it's produced so far.

Author's Review
The Canon i960 is my third ink jet printer. After the first two I was ready to go back to an IBM Selectamatic (or whatever those typewriters were called). The first ink jet, a flimsy Canon freebie that came with my new Win98 based computer, lasted a day or two beyond the warranty. It was replaced by an Epson that produced spectacular results until, once again, a heartbeat after the warranty expired. The Epson proved to be the most frustrating because customer services insisted that it would once again function in all its glory if I would only clean, clean, clean, the ink jets. All that accomplished was to use a lot of Epson ink, which wasn't cheap.

So what am doing with another ink jet? My son heard that I was using my old 1991 Panasonic Dot Matrix printer (still cranking our manuscripts on a second computer) and presented the Canon i960 as a birthday present.

So I can say, without fear of contradiction, that my experience with ink jet printers is vast.

Now that I've dispensed with the caveats, let's look at the i960, which, at 16 months, has already outlasted the previous two ink jet printers.

In three words, it is marvelous.

The 4X6 prints I've turned out with this machine are better than any professional photos I've ever purchased, including those I used to illustrate travel articles. The high quality must certainly be due in a major part to the six cartridges, two of which are photo-specific (photo cyan & photo magenta).

The first time I received the dreaded "low ink level" warning I was filled with trepidation. Allow me to explain that my problems with my last ink jet printer began after $65 worth of cartridge replacements.

So far, no such problems with the i960. Changing cartridges is quick and simple. The hard part is extracting the cartridge from its packaging.

I purchase my Canon cartridges from Comp USA or online at various outlets, all at the same, relatively low price. (At least it seems low after forking out $65 for four cartridges that never printed a page of anything.)

Important Note: Do not replace a cartridge simply because you receive an "Ink low" warning. That's just a reminder to order a replacement. The "out of ink" warning, which tells you to replace the cartridge, may not appear for weeks after the "low" warning. I do a substantial amount of printing and feel the "low" warning comes entirely too early. I don't think it's good to have cartridges laying around for months in our dry climate. If you run out of ink during a printing job, you can still replace the cartridge and it will pick up where you left off. I've never run out during a photo print so I can't vouch for the same happening.

Two gimmicks came with my i960. One, the 4X6 photo paper tray, has saved a fortune in photo paper and has consistently produced quality photographs. After loading the photo tray with 4X6 photo paper (provided), remove the paper from the paper tray, slip the photo tray into its slot, and turn a knob. It's that easy to load.

I've never used the second gimmick, a USB port for attaching your digital camera directly to the printer. I like to look at, study, and edit my photos before printing, so it is much easier to drag & drop them into a "My Pictures" folder for access from the computer itself.

I should probably mention that when I recently organized, I had over 10,000 JPEG files.

Although I have five or six different photo software programs loaded, I use Epson's Film Factory for editing and printing. It consistently produces the best results. I find some of the others unnecessarily cumbersome, but need each of them for a certain function that another may be missing.

My i960 came equipped with everything needed to get it up and running, including a USB cable.

A year after hooking up the i960, my computer went south. Having weathered this terror before, I anticipated weeks of struggle to get the stuff transferred to the new computer. I'm happy to say that the printer was the most cooperative of all. In fact, it's obviously more at home with XP than it ever was with 98.

A couple of minor points.

One: After being turned off, why does it take so long to start printing? It reminds me of one of those old rubber band airplane models you used to wind and wind before letting it go.

Two: This applies to almost all of the hardware I've purchased lately. Why have they gone to icons and words that are the same color as the hardware casing?

I read somewhere that someday everything will be constructed using ink-jet technology. You want a new Lexus, you dial it in and punch a button. Presto, a new Lexus. Sound fantastic? Not so many years ago, I would not have believed a printer could possess the capabilities that are routine for the i960.

It's only a matter of time...

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