Canon PIXMA MX870 Wireless Office All-in-One Printer (4206B002)

Canon PIXMA MX870 Wireless Office All-in-One Printer (4206B002) Technical Details :

• Fully integrated 35 page auto document feeder for rapid copying, scanning and faxing
• Paper saving and ecofriendly auto duplex printing
• Super G3 high speed fax with 100 coded speed dials storing up to 250 incoming pages when receiving ITU-T No. 1 chart
• Various security features including password protected PDFs

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Canon PIXMA MX870 Wireless Office All-in-One Printer (4206B002) Reviews:

Review 1 :

I’ve been reading through reviews for wireless printers, particularly on Amazon, for the last few months. In-between, I would scour the Sunday paper for any type of deal and often visit Best Buy, Office Depot and Office Max to see what they recommended. Overall, since the Canon MX870 had the best reviews, I took the leap a few days back and decided to purchase it.

Although I read that others have had some difficulty setting it up with their wireless, my overall set up took no longer than 20 minutes. The instructions were very clear–particularly for someone who is familiar with computers. The print turned out great, the sound is virtually non-existent, and although not important for some, it’s a very nice design and looks great on my desk. It has a variety of printing selections ranging from what type of paper one is using to whether it was shiny or matted.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this to anyone on the fence. When I mentioned to the salesman at Office Max (who is currently having a sale on these printers) the fact that I saw a lot of positive recommendations on Amazon, he chuckled and said most of his customers purchasing the MX870 have said the same exact thing.

Review 2 :I’ve been using laser for several years now and decided to switch to this canon for it’s all-in-one features. Who knew printing, copying, scanning could be so easy. I should have done this years ago.

I can stick an 8 page double sided pile of papers in the feeder and have it come out perfectly scanned, perfectly printed, even double sided using 2 pages per side, a big paper saving feature.

I can leave my postage label paper in the rear tray and it allows me to save settings so all postage printing automatically grabs the label paper vs the regular paper. Smooth is the only way to describe this machine.

I haven’t even started printing pictures on it yet, but I’ve certainly fallen in love with it. This is a huge time saver.

This thing does everything perfectly. I wonder if it knows how I like my eggs!

Review 3 :Great printer, excellent quality. The quality of the pictures is as good as that of a much more expensive printer. The only draw back I find is that the ink tanks are 25% smaller than previous Canon models and very expensive. The wireless option is so convenient and easy to set up.
Have to give Canon 5 stars for customer service. The same day I received the printer, right out of the box, the small door that protects the memory card slots will not stay closed. I called Canon and they replaced the printer immediately. I had a new printer within three days. Plus, I was able to keep the ink from the defective printer.

Review 4 :I purchased this printer a couple weeks ago and so far it works great. I had an HP all-in-one, but it started giving me problems, so I decided to switch to a different manufacturer. I found Canon to be rated pretty high, so I decided to give them a try. So far, I am glad I did.

Once I ordered the printer, it was on my door step in 2 days and that was with the free shipping. The printer was packed extremely well. It took longer to take all of the packing and tape off the printer than it took to set it up.

I am pleased with how easy it is to use and it prints very clear. I printed a couple of photos and they came out looking very sharp.

Most of the negative reviews mentioned the use of ink. Most ink jet printers I have ever owned used quite a bit ink, especially if you print photos, but I don’t use this every day, so I didn’t see that as a negative. Overall an excellent printer.

Review 5 :I’m very happy with this printer, but my comment is mostly about the excellent customer service I received from Canon. When I connected it, I wasn’t able to scan from any application or from using the button on the printer. Canon stuck with me for a couple of days to figure out the problem from drivers to reinstalling the software, and several other things. It turned out that the problem was my USB cable. So at their suggestion, I got a new cable and everything works great now. If you’re getting a new printer and can’t see the difference between two brands, I’d go with Canon in case you run into any problems.

Review 6 :This is my third all-in-one since the category was introduced in the 1990′s. My previous two were both HP. With the purchase of this Canon machine I was replacing an HP C6180 which was 3 years old. The HP machines I’ve had were both slow and very noisy and the scanning software was buggy. So I was generally dissatisfied with the HP equipment, but the issue that brought about the replacement was a clogged print head. After several support calls with HP, I finally got to a technician who knew enough to conclude the print head was clogged and needed replacement. When I asked for a referral to a repair facility, or the number for an HP repair depot, I was told “These machines are not designed to be repaired, they are designed to be replaced and recycled.” I asked to speak to a manager, and when he called back a day later I was told the same thing. So I called the office of the CEO of HP in California, and was referred to another organization who said the same thing. Then I called a local independent printer repair shop and was told “the print heads in the HP all-in-ones are not replaceable, and that I should consider buying a new machine. For want of a $0.10 print head, the entire device had to be scrapped. Now Eco-friendly is that ?!?!?!?

Since I was generally dissatisfied with the HP all-in-one’s I had owned I decided to temper my brand bias and research the field and make an informed decision based on other user reviews. This lead me to Epson and Canon. The newer HP equivalent replacement model I tried at an Office Depot and it was as slow and noisy as my previous two HP machines. While there, I looked at the Epson models, and while I liked their photo printing capability, I was more interested in low-duty-cycle printing and not having to scrap the machine when the ink dried out when I was traveling. The Epson machine does not have a replaceable print head, and I had read a review here on Amazon that the Canon machine did have a replaceable print head. So sight unseen, I ordered the Canon.

The reviews are correct when they give high praise to the Canon Pixma line. I have been delighted with the performance and it’s significantly less noisy than all the others. What really has impressed me is the scanning with the automatic document feeder – it’s flawless. The HP could never scan more than 3 pages with the ADF without the software crashing or the wireless connection faltering and creating errors. With the Canon, it has worked like a dream and in less than an hour I’ve scanned in twenty years of income tax returns – something that would have taken a day to accomplish with the HP.

Setup was easy and the wireless connection worked from the first try. I’ve used the machine now to fax, scan, copy and print and I’m very satisfied. During installation I discovered that the print head is indeed separate – you have to install it as part of the ink cartridge installation, and it’s offered as a spare part that the user can easily replace. Printing is about twice the speed as the HP machine I tried in the store that’s in the same price bracket.

I have not tried using this printer for photo finishing. I have a high end Epson I use for that which handles 11×17 inch media. My guess is the Epson is better for photos because it has more ink colors and they are generally known as the photo printing leader. But the ink cartridges are more expensive to replace since there are more colors involved.

I would also comment that the software for the Canon machine comes with the device and needs installation. I’m using a Mac and support for the Epson and HP machines is part of Snow Leopard operating system. But the software installation was easy and the Apple OS discovered that there was an update for it and downloaded it and installed it automatically without a hitch. The only thing I would like to see added or improved would be an ability to fax directly from the computer (HP supports this, Epson and Canon don’t). But this is a minor issue compared with having a machine that in all daily use categories exceeded my expectations by a large margin. It’s still is astounding to me that such a useful and functional piece of equipment as this is under $200. After this experience, my brand preference for inkjet office printers/scanners is now Canon.

Review 7 :I love this multi-function printer. I have had several HP and Epson inkjets over the years, plus Ricoh and Dell color lasers and various fax machines, but never a Canon. Each printer had some sort of functional issue. So I was a little surprised when everything went so perfectly with the MX870.

I run Windows 7 64-bit; installation was smooth and I was able to install only the driver files I needed, without a bunch of extraneous software. The MX870 integrated with my other programs without a hitch — it scans right into Photoshop and Acrobat with no setup necessary. The unit feels very solid and well-made; the front door opens silently when printing commences, so it can be kept closed when not in use to keep dust out, which is a great feature. The print is nice and clear; I do use 24lb. inkjet paper rather than cheap copy paper for printing, as I like the slightly heavier weight for client correspondence, invoices, etc. (the extra couple of dollars is worth it to me). So that may have some bearing on the print quality; I haven’t done a comparison.

The MX870 also prints envelopes without bending, curling, crumpling or sealing them, which has been a problem for me previously. The envelopes feed through from the back and come out the front, so they aren’t rolled up in the process. The rear of the unit has a retractable tray for this purpose. It is close to vertical, so you don’t have to push the printer far away from the wall to use it. It also holds a stack of envelopes, so unlike my HP, I don’t have to stand there and feed it envelopes one at a time.

I don’t understand the comments about its size. It isn’t any wider than my last inkjet and it isn’t especially tall either. Plus, I was able to get rid of my old inkjet, fax machine and scanner because this Canon does everything. So I have gained a lot of valuable desktop space. The replacement ink is very reasonable as well and much cheaper than my HP. I am still using the cartridges that came with the unit.

I have nothing bad to say about the MX870. The price was more than fair; I would buy it again in a second. I have never said that about a printer before, and we’ve had many!

Review 8 :I specifically purchased this b/c of great Mac-related reviews – I have multiple Macs running osx 10.5. Not disappointed! I’ve struggled for years with Epson printers that didn’t play nicely with the Macs and in 15 minutes had the entire office printing to the Canon. Setup, maintenance and settings are all intuitive and best of all, everything just works. Right out of the box.

Another bonus: The number of features on this are amazing at the price point.

Photo quality is excellent – slightly less crisp than the Epson but then all of the other drawbacks to the Epson make this the clear winner.

A++

Review 9 :

I was in the market to replace 3 devices; a laser printer. photo printer and a scanner. I also wanted something that I could share across my home network. I’ve had the printer for 2 weeks it has met my needs. It is currently being accessed by 5 PC’s plus my IPhone using the Canon Ap. Setup was quick and simple. I had the unit hooked up and all printers connected within an hour or so. The unit is fast and prints great. I would highly recommend it.

Review 10 :Some clever design features on this excellent printer, not the least of which is the solid-in-repose top that won’t break when my cat jumps on it. Easy to set up, when I paid careful attention. Very satisfactory print quality. And the fax is so fast and easy, I actually sent my first fax three times because it went _so_ fast, I thought it hadn’t transmitted after all!

I bought the MX870 based on the reviews after spending two hours on customer service chat with HP, pleasant but not useful in fixing my second 4-in-1 to break down on only its second cartridge. Can’t believe it took so long to wean me off HP, but glad I finally smartened up.

Review 11 :I think I purchased best electric item from Amazon is this Canon printer.
I purchased Epson Workforce615 at Sam’s club few weeks ago. It was good printer in first but when I print phtos, I saw lines no matter what I change settings or papers. I used epson photo papers but it was keep failing when I printing photos.
I also noticed Workforce doesn’t print Vellum paper (see through paper, you see often for wedding invitaion and such). When you do scrapbooking we sometimes use Vellum paper for make page fancy, or save cost to buy die cut machine.
Unfortunately Workforce not feed the Vellum paper and customer support said “You can’t print Vellum paper”.

So I returned Epson printer and purchased Canon from Amazon. It was cost $20 up but it away better quality photo print, I cannot tell difference from 1hour photo(seriously!).
Using wi-fi no problem, so quick, you don’t have to wait your PC read ink level.
It’s also print Vellum paper like charm!! It’s looks very professional finish.

I really love this printer, now I know why people said “Canon printer is the best”.
If you looking for all in one printer, this won’t regret you.

I’m so happy for my new Canon printer! No tax, Free shipping, thanks for listing such a great product Amazon.

Review 12 :

I rarely rate anything at 5 stars but the MX870 is just too good a value. If I can find any negative it’s that it’s a bit slow, but for my use that’s not a problem at all. For the price, quality and features you can’t do any better and I don’t mind waiting a few more seconds to get a good quality printout. Scan and copy quality is excellent and while it may not match more expensive photo printers for hi-res photos it’s more than adequate for what I need. Took a bit more time to set up than I thought it would, but follow the instructions and you’ll be fine. Excellent documentation and software. I’m no computer tech so most folks could probably do it much faster than I could. The wireless setup works wonderfully. The printer found my LinkSys wireless router in seconds. The first time I had my laptop and desktop search for the printer it wasn’t found and I figured I’d have to call tech support, but just tried again and it popped right up. And call me simple to please, but I really like that I can keep the front feed door closed and when I print something from another room it pops open to catch the paper. One of those silly little details that makes a lot of sense. Nice to know that I can leave it closed to keep the dust out but don’t have to get up and open the door and check everything out every time I print. Haven’t used it enough to know what ink usage is but I like the 5-cartridge system as I don’t have to replace an entire cartridge when one color runs out. I’ve printed photos and docs on both standard and photo paper and I’m very happy with the quality. Automatic document feeder works smoothly, two sided printing available with copies, scans or printing from PC, easy settings from a PC or the front panel, software lets you scan a multi-page document and create a PDF and create 2 to 1 side docs or 1 to 2 side docs from a PC or the front panel on the printer. Easy to read LCD display and buttons. I have no reservations about recommending this printer as a great all-around machine. And it’s a nice clean looking machine as well, although it is heavy and large. Then again for me it does the work of three devices, printer, fax and scanner, so the footprint is actually a space saver. Amazon got it here earlier than expected and even delivered it on a Saturday with no shipping charge or tax that I would have paid at the local BestBuy store. Of course now I notice it’s on sale for $10 less on Amazon so maybe I should have waited a week, but that always happens to me and I still can’t complain. For the price and features you can’t lose. Sorry if I wrote a novel but I’m really happy with this purchase. It’s a great value.

Review 13 :

I bought this to replace my HP all in one wireless printer which I was having many issues with and had to return. This Canon printer works great as well as looks great, its a bit slower than the HP but the quality is 100% better. It is very easy to set-up and operate and has some cool features my old HP did not.

I like the fact that everything is self contained into a little square that is the machine, the paper is kept in a drawer that slides into the bottom of the machine. The catch tray folds into the machine and opens when you print. Its a square grey machine nice and neat with nothing hanging out, no paper trays, no catch trays at first glance one would not know it was actually a printer.

I also like the fact that the inks are contained separately by color and can be purchased separately as needed, there are also two black cartridges, one to work with the colors and one for non color text. This is what offers a much better color print quality than the single color cartridges. Every day you use the printer it will self clean itself to ensure a quality print. The only maintenance required is to replace an ink when it tells you to.

It is a great machine and I highly recommend it over any HP model. I have had no issues with mine and I am highly satisfied with it.

Review 14 :

This is my first “All In One” printer that can scan, fax, copy, and print. I don’t use the fax that much, but I do use the other functions often in my home. Anyway, I ordered this printer on Feb 28 and it came in on March 2. I was quite surprise on how big this printer is. Its almost 2 feet wide and just over a foot long. First thing I had to do, remove all the orange tape and wrap on the printer. There’s a whole bunch of orange tape and there’s more inside the printer. The instructions are pretty much straight forward and very thorough. I had to install this part to hold the ink cartridges. After that, I had to install 5 ink cartridges. To me, taking off the plastic orange safety cap off the ink cartridges was frustrating. You have to carefully twist the cap and don’t apply too much pressure on the cartridge. You will know if you have successfully installed the ink cartridge because each cartridge has a built-in red light. When you see the red light, you have installed the ink cartridge correctly. After that, I put paper in it. Then I had to add a network key because I’m using the wireless function. After the printer is all ready to go, I had to install the software. Installing the software took about 20 minutes.

Anyway, I started using some of the functions. I made a copy, sent a fax to myself, scan some pictures, and printed some stuff. So far no problems. The default print settings is set to print on one side of the sheet of paper. If you want to print on both sides, you have to go to print properties and select “duplex printing” What happens is that it will print on side of the paper and then paper will rewind back into the printer to print on the other side.

Scan images are not that great, even if I set at highest resolution of 600 dpi. The images look a bit blurry.

The best part of all this is that I can access the printer wirelessly from multiple computers! You don’t need a USB cable connected to one machine if you have a wireless router.

Review 15 :

Instead of repeating what many other long reviews have already said, let me just point out a few things:

1) The MX model name stands for Multi-function with faX. This is also known as a 4-in-1 printer, as it prints, scans, copies, and faxes. The fax part works both incoming and outgoing.

2) Photo print quality is simply excellent, as with all Canon inkjet printers. I had an HP that cost almost as much and it not only lacked many of the MX870′s functions but printed photos rather poorly. That’s what made me come back to Canon.

3) Text print quality is very good. I use my cheap (under 70 bucks) Brother laser monochrome for text printing.

4) Canon is the company that started using individual inkjet tanks which is convenient and may save money. I say “may” because inkjet cartrdiges are cheap nowadays so having individual tanks is no longer a big cost advantage as it used to be. Still, the convenience is worth something.

5) You can do double-sided scanning, copying and printing. Both source and output can be double-sided.

6) Initial setup took me 10 minutes mainly because it was a pain to remove all the orange protective tape as well as install the print head, which comes sealed in a separate package and not pre-installed. Installing the first ink tank was a little scary but after that it was a breeze to install the other ink tanks.

7) Software installation, on Vista and XP, took about 15 minutes for the Easy Install option. I connected this to one laptop using USB and the other laptops (XP and Vista) via wi-fi.

TIP: if you have a Vista or Win7 PC, use that PC to set up the initial wireless function on the MX870. Vista and Win7 have this awesome Windows Connect Now feature which makes wireless setup of the MX870 a complete breeze, no matter how your wi-fi network is configured.

You only need to set up the wireless function on the MX870 once. You do need to install the printer driver and turn on wireless printer connection on each PC, but the software installer takes care of that.

8) Canon’s software suite is just great, making scanning and printing very easy to carry out. This is something that really distinguishes Canon multi-functions from other brands.

9) I did a lot of research before settling on this Canon and I’ve been very happy with all aspects of it.

Review 16 :

All right, perhaps this is not the world’s greatest, but it is close to perfection! This met all my needs for printing, scanning and copying like no other printer ever did, all for $129 at Costco. Here are the details that I was impressed by:

1. Scan to PDF or JPG – this is essential nowadays, with so many requests for scanned copies of important documents in PDF format, as well as photos in JPG format.

2. Continuous Form Feed – this works excellently, enabling one to copy or scan a whole set of sheets at the touch of a button.

3. Ease of use – almost everything that needs to be done is intuitive, and there’s not a single thing that appears complicated.

The setup took some time, but that was it – everything else is an A++!

Review 17 :

A very nice All-In-One unit. In my first week with this printer: I faxed a few documents, scanned a few pictures, scanned a 30 page document into a pdf file, copied a 1-sided -> 2-sided document, copied a 2-sided -> 2-sided document, and printed 4×6 and 8×10 photos.

Initial setup was pretty easy. The most difficult part was installing the inks because the cartridge carrier is toward the back of the printer and the lid only opens to about 40 degrees. You need a lot of light to see what you are doing. Once you figure it out, though, snapping in the ink cart is very easy.

My printer is set up for wireless, so Wi-Fi configuration was next. This was also very easy, just picking your network and (in my case) entering your WEP key. The last part was to set up my computer (WinXP) to talk to the printer. Again, very easy because the setup is all driven from a CD program, auto-detecting the printer and installing the drivers. Rinse and repeat the CD for additional computers.

Scanning documents and photos was easiest through the Canon application that gets installed during setup. The app guides you through the various options of scanning single sheets, using the document feeder in single-sided or double-sided mode, and destination file. I scanned photos, single-sided docs, and 2-sided docs with no problems.

Copying documents was even easier, as that can all be done from the printer front panel. Using the panel, I was able to copy a 1-sided document into a 2-sided copy by changing the Standard Copy print options. I was also able to copy a 2-sided doc into a 2-sided copy by changing the Copy Menu from Standard Copy to Two-Sided Copy. It was a little confusing at first, but I got the hang of it.

On my first few dozen document pages, I had an intermittent black smear at the bottom of the pages. That eventually went away and I have not seen it since. I’m not sure if it was because my paper was slightly wrinkled or if the ink had smeared during installation, but it’s gone now.

For printing photos, I again used the installed app. It allows very basic photo editing and positioning functions, but nothing fancy. You’ll want to use your own application for photo editing, if you are so inclined. You definitely want to change the settings for highest photo quality, as the default settings can produce artifacts.

I’ve never owned a fax machine, but I’ve used them many times before. The fax operations seem pretty standard, although they have a nice option to share the phone line by assuming that all calls are voice calls until it hears the fax protocol. This avoids having to switch any settings to allow faxes to come through. I received one fax and it worked just fine. Maybe this line sharing is a standard feature in all fax machines these days, but it was new to me.

Print speed is a little on the slow side, but tolerable. Also, I wish that the paper tray had a higher capacity, but again tolerable. As with many inkjet printers, printing a single-sided document will result in the pages in reverse order in the output tray (but using the Auto-Document Feeder, the original is still in correct order). Interestingly, printing/copying with 2-sided output will result in the document in correct order because each sheet of paper has been flipped over. Regarding the Auto-Document Feeder: make sure that your document is lined up precisely within the page guides, as the feeder can pull in the sheets slightly crooked if you are not careful.

I bought this printer at full price and thought it was a steal. At its current price, it’s pretty awesome.

Review 18 :

(note: I copied this review (my review) from when i reviewed it on canon’s actual site. No point in making a new review, just don’t want someone to think i’m a marketer or canon employee if they see this elsewhere)

This is my first and only All in one photo ink jet printer so its hard for me to compare to anything else. However, regardless whether or not I have something to compare it to, I can say that I am more than happy with my product.

I’ve had it for only a few days now, but i’ve already put it through you know what trying to test out numerous features and settings as well as using different products (trying different photo papers, etc.). So far, I can not find even one complaint. It prints brilliant photos ( I have noticed, photo paper brand makes a very noticeable difference as well), performs excellent scans and copying / faxing functions as well as it could.

I love the design of the mx870. When your not using it, everything closes up making a nice neat little package, unlike some other models where trays are popping out left and right. I also LOVE the “gun metal” color. It looks very sleek.

The wireless connectivity is just awesome and setting up the wireless connection was EXTREMELY SIMPLE. Took less than 5 minutes.

Another important note is that so far, the ink really seems to last. I’ve already printed NUMEROUS photos, all at max quality (most ink used), including many 8.5 x 11″ photos (which use a lot of ink due to sheer size), and the ink levels still say they are full!!!! Maybe too good to be true, hope its not a faulty ink level indicator lol (I doubt it).

Quality seems great. They made it very functional. When you open the printer to access the print head and ink etc, a handy little kickstand pops out and keeps it open for you to free up your hands. There are handy little red lights that light up when you install ink correctly. I guess I do have one complaint in this area though (if I HAD to nitpick); when your done placing something to scan and you go to close the bed, at first glance there seem to be some nifty “gas shocks”(?) that gently let the bed fall back down. This is a great and convenient idea, HOWEVER, not implemented entirely well because they work great right up until the last inch or so of closing at which point they “give out” and the bed slams shut. It’s possible mine could just be defective. Either way, its really a small complaint because I just gently assist the closing with my hands anyway, no big deal.

The on screen display is well suited, and easy to use. As gimmicky as it sounds, I even like the blue light up WIFI logo when you’re wirelessly connected, just sort of looks cool.

Finally, the included software is really good considering its simplicity. I have photoshop CS4 extended which will obviously blow any other photo tools out of the water. HOWEVER, i still constantly find myself using the included software instead! This is because it has really SIMPLE/QUICK but at the same time EFFECTIVE tools such as face smoothing. Just click a button, and the program automatically finds faces and helps smooth out wrinkles, or other imperfections. It’s quite a noticeable improvement, sort of how Nancy Pelosi was airbrushed for that magazine cover and she looked 20 years younger. It may sound cheesy, but once you use it and see how simple it is, I can’t imagine printing photos without it.

Now this isn’t a complaint, just something I can hope for in the future. Having a wireless printer is handy, but it would be even more AMAZING if Canon could come up with a way to make the fax wireless. I don’t see how this could be hard. Maybe wirelessly send the fax to the computer and have the computer dial out using the internet? Another option would be, considering most people have digital phone service nowadays through their modem, the printer could again wirelessly send the fax to the router which is already connected to the modem containing the phone line for digital phone service. With today’s technology, having the fax be wireless as well should be AN EASY problem to solve. This would make their printer TRULY WIRELESS and would be a class leader (though, I must say I would buy a whole new printer just to have such a feature, which is bad for my bank account).

Sorry for the wall of text, just trying to be as descriptive as possible and cover all angles for any people considering this printer.

One final note. Before I settled on this printer, I must have researched and compared other all in ones for 3 days or more. In the end all that research pointed to this printer, and now that I have received it and tested it, I can confirm it. Other potential printers included “somethingpro 8500″ (not allowed to say actual name, but you get the idea). That thing is more than 2.5 times more expensive and lacks many of the mx870′s features. Point is, not only is this printer great, its VERY WELL PRICED. I would have paid twice as much as or more after testing this thing out. Can’t believe I picked this thing up for only (not allowed to say here, but i assure you its a really great price when compared to similar products) with free shipping (shop around and you’ll find it, substantially lower than MSRP).

If you need an all in one, BUY THIS CANON. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT. YOU WILL WONDER HOW YOU EVER GOT BY WITHOUT THIS THING, AND WITH ALL THE MONEY YOU SAVE OVER ITS COMPETITION YOU CAN BUY ENOUGH INK TO LAST YOU THE REST OF THE YEAR!!!!

(as overly positive as this review seems, I PROMISE YOU I am NOT working for canon. I normally don’t even review items, but when I’m this pleased I want to spread the word. ENJOY!)

PROTIP: From my experience so far, get the printworks gloss photo paper over HP’s 5 star version. Its cheaper, and identical images come out noticeably better on printworks. Can’t speak for other finishes i.e. matte or semi-gloss, but the gloss is much better. I also have not tried canons line of products, but intend to next.

Review 19 :

I needed to replace my aging HP-85 multifunction printer. My initial thought was to buy another HP and had looked closely at the Officejet 6500; however, the larger number of out-of-box failures that users were reporting put me off. The features and reviews of the MX870 were impressive, so I decided to switch to the Canon. After three weeks with the product, I can say that I continue to be impressed. Setup was straight-forward. I use it both via a USB cable (when my notebook is docked) and wirelessly. I have multiple computers, some running Windows 7 and others Mac Snow Leopard. All my computers print and scan wirelessly to it without a hitch. I was impressed that I was able to install it without the CD, over WiFi, on Windows 7 machines by simply selecting “Add Device” in the control panel — whatever drivers it needed it found itself over the Internet.

I like the extra rear paper source for feeding heavy material straight through the printer. With the HP-85, heavy material was a recipe for paper jams. The automatic document feeder has worked flawlessly thus far. I’m amazed at how quickly the scanner works even in high precision — typically only a few seconds per page. The print quality is excellent, and the printer itself is gorgeous. It is silent when not printing and reasonably quiet when printing. I cannot comment on how long the ink lasts (I’ll admit that the ink tanks look a little small). I would have liked a bigger paper tray as this one holds only a quarter of a ream.

Review 20 :

I have been looking at all-in-ones casually for the last couple of years. After considerable research, I purchased the MX870. My old printer, a HP I purchased in 2000, still works well. With that in mind, here is what I was looking for in this purchase:

- Primarily, I was looking for a good scanner that could also replace my existing printer should it fail since it is so old.
- Easy to use scanning software
- Duplex scanning was desired
- Duplex printing was desired
- Separate ink for each color
- The ability to print in B&W even if a color ink is out
- Print speeds were not a concern – this is for home use
- Print quality was not much of a concern either – I haven’t had a color cartridge for my current printer for 4 yrs
- I don’t print photos, so printing on photo paper/border-less printing/etc. are not attributes I researched (in my opinion, it is just easier and cheaper to upload them to a service and have them sent to you. In the rare instances I need pictures sooner than that, I go to CVS, which I think is still cheaper than printing from home.)

So far the MX870 has lived up to my expectations.
- Set up was very easy. I would say it took 30 minutes, including unboxing and setting up the wireless (and I was taking my time).
- Scanning has been great. It scans really well from the feeder, and there are very easy to access options for color, dpi, etc. Last night I scanned a 25 pg document, front and back, and had no issues.
- The software does not seem to be a resource hog. You can select exactly what you want to install on the CD (just drivers, scanning software, photo software, etc). I think this is great. For my laptop and desktop, I needed the scanning software, but was able to opt out of installing the photo software for now. For my netbook, I can easily just install the drivers, and none of the other software.
- The scanning software is light on resources and easy to use. You scan something in, a window pops up so you can review it, rename it, etc. Couldn’t be easier.
- Print quality is fine. I have it set to print fast duplex by default and this results in a product that works for me. In the 4 days I’ve had it, I haven’t tried to print it on normal or best quality, so I cannot speak to those results, but judging by the quality of the fast, I would assume it would work for most home users.
- Copy is easy – no complaints.
- Print speed is a little slow. As I stated above, I’ve only printed on Fast, but this printer’s fast is definitely not any faster than my old HP – even with duplex printing turned off. If speed is critical, this may not be your best bet. For most home users I would suspect it prints fast enough for general use.

I’ll quickly mentioned the competition. Based on the criteria above, I was very seriously considering three other printers:
(1) The HP 6500 wired for $150 or wireless for $200
(2) The HP 8500 Pro wired for $200 wireless for $260
(3) The Brother MFC 6490CW – $200 on sale at Office Depot, regularly $300

(1) I decided against the HP 6500 wired because for $50 more you got wireless and duplex printing/scanning. I decided against the 6500 wireless because for $200, I could get the 8500 – from HPs better printer line – which even though it was wired, had more features and a higher quality scanner.

(2) I decided against the HP 8500 despite the fact that it is: (1) recommended by CNET, (2) discounted through my employer, (3) I have enjoyed my current HP for a decade. The reason I did this was simply because there are just too many bad reviews. I know there are a lot of reviews for it – almost double the amount there are for this printer – but they seem to be too recurring: bad printer heads, failing after a couple months, bad software, driver issues with Windows 7 and XP, and the list just went on. Before buying the HP, I would read not only the reviews on Amazon, but also the reviews on CNET and [...]. After an hour of reading “stay away” and “do not buy!” I imagine you’ll be as scared as I was.

(3) I chose the Canon over the Brother because quite simply because it was cheaper on Amazon ($146) than the Brother on sale ($199, currently back to $299 it looks like) and it is much smaller. Both have great reviews all over the web, so without any reason to pick the more expensive Brother, I chose the Canon.

I hope this review helps and I’ll update this review if I encounter issues (my expectation is a printer of this cost should last at least 5 years).

— UPDATE —
2 of the 3 color inks have now run out and it still prints black/Grey with no problems. A definite feature in my book.

After a few months, I am happy to report I still have no issues with this purchase. The trial black ink is just about gone (comes with a small and large black ink tank) but overall, I would say it seems to use black ink efficiently. My history/comparison with color ink is limited so it’s harder for me to say there.

Review 21 :

I set up my new Canon Pixma MX870 last night. Took me 30 minutes to setup the printer and install on both my iMac and MacBook. Both Mac’s run Mac OS X 10.4.11. I did have a hard time selecting a brand. I normally buy only HP printers but after my last AIO deskjet 6200 decided to breakdown again and the wireless deskjet 6800 worked only 1/2 the time I wanted to try a Canon or Epson. I will admit, I haven’t owned a Canon printer since my old bubblejet from 1994. But it lasted until new OS’s would no longer support it. I decided to buy the MX870 instead of the MX860 since I have read on several different sites that the 870 solves plenty of issues plagued by Mac users and has a better print speed. I also read that the MX860 was slow to start. Well, my MX870 was pretty quick starting up and gives a quality print. The wireless is awesome. Much easier to install than my last HP. I haven’t tried printing any photos just yet. I am happy to see that there are 5 separate print cartridges. This printer is a great value for the money. I will say that if printing high quality photos and CD/DVDs is important to you, you should go for the Epson Artisan 810 instead. However, if you want a quality AIO without breaking the bank, choose the Canon Pixma MX870.

Review 22 :

After having many HP and Epson printers over the past 20 years or so, this is my first experience with a Canon and I am very glad to report that this is one great all-in-one machine. My old HP all-in-one was good, but this one seems to be so much better. And, the fact that it’s wireless makes it just about perfect for my personal and home office uses. I took my time setting up this machine, following each instruction carefully and had absolutely zero problems. The individual ink tanks were a “snap” to install and the whole printer looks as if it should cost much more than the price I paid.

I have two laptops “hooked” to this printer through the wireless connection and they both worked perfectly the first time I tried to print something. I have also used the copy and scan functions and have sent a fax. I have not had occasion to receive a fax yet, but I’m confident there will be no problem when and if I do.

I like this new Canon so well that I donated my old HP all-in-one and gave my other HP printer to a family member. The Canon PIXMA MX870 Wireless Office All-in-One Printer is a large, well-made, easy to use, very affordable unit that I hope to enjoy for years to come.

By the way, I ordered this printer from Amazon on a Thursday using the free “super saver” shipping. Two days later, at 10:00 on Saturday morning, the deliveryman was ringing my doorbell. Now That’s service!

Review 23 :

I’ve been using this printer for a couple of months now, and I have to say I’m VERY impressed so far.

I have a small home business, typing long, narrative medical reports for one client, and marketing letters for another. In the past I’ve been pretty much a die-hard HP fan, and over the many years of doing this, have gone through quite a few printers, from ink jet to color laser. I’ve spent anywhere from $100 to $500 on printers. The Canon MX870 is by far the best yet. (Incidentally, the $500 printer was an HP Color Laser which normally sells for around $700, but was on special at the time I purchased it. With its replacement cartridges running over $100 apiece, it was the least economical printer I’ve owned, although I loved the color laser features.)

I’ve used laser printers primarily for printing the long medical reports, which are printed on 100% cotton bond paper. Most ink jet printers don’t do well with cotton bond because the ink tends to bleed into the fibers a little and the result is a bit fuzzy.

A couple of months ago my ink jet (HP) printer quit working. It was a few years old, and I’d updated to a Windows 7 computer, so a new printer was necessary. I checked ratings, and the Canon seemed a popular model and was compatible with Windows 7. I bought it, set it up (it took mere minutes) and got right to work.

Then my big, beautiful two-year-old HP laser just quit on me. I had a long medical report that had to be printed, so I stuck the bond paper into the Canon and hoped for the best. I was amazed to see CRISP, PERFECT pages! I unplugged the HP color laser, rolled it across the room, and have been using the Canon exclusively ever since.

This machine has separate ink cartridges for each color, and the ink is very reasonably priced. I use it for copying, faxing, scanning and printing, and every function works quickly and smoothly. The machine is easy to set up and easy to use, and that’s why the Canon MX870 gets my FIVE STAR RATING.

Dianne L.
Monterey, California

Review 24 :

This is my first Canon printer after having been an Epson and HP consumer for many years. I bought the MX870 mainly for its wireless networking capability and built-in fax. Trying to send or receive a fax in the past on my PC with a fax modem and Windows software was always a chore and many times it just didn’t work. After having read hundreds of positive reviews from satisfied owners of the MX870 I decided to buy it.

I’ve been using it for several weeks now and am delighted with everything about it. Setting up the wireless took me longer than expected but it was mostly my fault as I have just about every security option enabled on my router and I was making things harder on myself. My wife can now print wirelessly from her notebook downstairs or even from the back yard. We have Vista 64 Home Premium on it. My desktop PC is connected to the Canon locally via a USB cable running on Windows XP.

The automatic two-sided printing is a nice feature as is the auto document feeder (ADF). I’ve successfully tested the fax and it is such a breeze compared to the way I had to do it before.

Some reviewers complained about the high cost of replacement ink cartridges. I found a reliable source that I’ve used in the past for my Epson in a Google search. Replacements are less than $5 per cartridge when you buy a complete set and other buyers claim they are completely compatible with the Canon.

I am one very happy Canon MX870 owner.

Review 25 :

I will start off by stating that I rarely ever rate any items. Most products that I purchase online are from Amazon due to their selection, competitive pricing & free shipping.

I was looking for an excellent quality wireless printer that has & does everything (excellent copy, scanning & photo quality, fax feature, ease of wireless setup, etc.). The Canon PIXMA MX870 has it all.

I read several professional & user reviews at various websites regarding some of the top All-in-One printers (CNET, PC Magazine, PC World, Amazon & more). Overall, most of the reviews rated this machine as very good to excellent. Based on all the sites, the Canon was always one of the highest rated. Although there were other similar top All-in-One printers, the Canon seemed to be one of the better printers in overall quality, including photo quality. Most of the other similar printers seemed to be rated excellent in print quality but lacking in photo quality or vice versa. Some also did not have the fax feature, but this printer includes it. Some also had complaints about ease of wireless setup, but most indicated this printer was easy to setup.

The price of the Canon was also a very good price compared to the similar but higher priced HP & Epson brands. It appears & feels like a well built machine. I actually own a top rated HP photo printer (which is ok but not great) & an Epson laser printer & a separate Epson scanner (both of which are excellent), but none of these 3 printers that I still own & use are wireless. I wanted to have an All-in-One wireless printer in a centralized area of my home to be accessed by 2 laptops used by my wife & I for convenience sake. This printer was fairly easy to setup as long as you carefully follow the included setup instructions. The wireless setup part of it could not have been any easier….it quickly found my wireless router, I entered my WEP encryption password & the printer was ready to go wirelessly. You also have the option to plug a computer directly into the printer using the appropriate connecting wire.

I only started using this printer during the past 3 or 4 weeks. I have used it to make some copies, print some regular black & white documents, a couple of color documents & photos and scanned a few documents that easily & quickly went right to my laptop. It all has been working flawlessly so far and doing it all wirelessly is great. The print quality is excellent with the text being nice & crisp and looking professional (very close to laser quality). I also received some faxes with no issues (you have 4 choices on how to setup the machine to receive faxes with or without also hooking up a phone to it), but you do need to use a regular telephone wire between the printer & a telephone wall jack (you are unable to fax wirelessly since that technological capability does not exist).

My only complaint is that the amount of time to print each page is not quick, but I already knew that by reading all the different reviews. However, that is not a deal breaker for me since my wife & I are just using this printer for mostly light home use.

Overall, although based on my limited use so far, I highly recommend this printer if you are planning to use it for light to average home use (not for heavier business use). This printer is a high quality machine, has excellent print quality, has most of the features you will ever need, wireless works flawlessly, is fairly easy to setup & use and is at a very good price. And, as usual, Amazon delivered it to me quickly with free shipping. I am very satisfied with this purchase.

Review 26 :I replaced my HP AIO printer twice – which I bought directly from HP. The first one broke after 3 months and CS didn’t believe me. Finally they sent me another one and 11 months to the date, it broke at the same place. So I luckily picked up my first cannon at a big warehouse and figured it was worth the price of just its ink. It comes with FULL cartridges, not temporary ones like HP.

I love the fact that it scans and prints both sides without having to reset the paper and memorize which way you have to reload the paper to print on the back. The color on photo paper is amazing! I enlarged an 8×10 and no one could believe I printed it out at home (including me!)

So now we are needing a 2nd printer for our high schooler, so i thought why not buy the same printer so we just have to remember 1 ink number. By the way, the ink lasts forever! The ink cartridges actually flash inside the lid when you need to change them as well as a display on the screen.

The WIFI is so easy to set up and it never jams – as the hp would have memory full all the time.

If I had one complaint, the display and the wifi “on” signal are really bright. So if you keep the printer in your bedroom, you may have to shut it down at night.

The only thing i ever have problems with is actually controlling the scanner. I can never remember whether it makes more sense to run it off the computer or use the buttons on the printer. It makes a difference on how multi-page documents are saved in pdf form (i think?)

Great printer…never seen the price so low!

Review 27 :I needed a printer to replace a Lexmark all-in-one and an HP Deskjet. The problems I wanted to resolve were high (and frequent) costs of ink for the Lexmark (and it gripes when using OEM cartridges) and constant paper jams on the Deskjet. So it’s time for a new all-in-one to replace both.

This is my first time setting up and using a wireless printer, and I was surprised a how easy it was. The instructions were super — easy to follow and accurate. It was a bit tricky putting in the ink cartridges, but the instructions were good — I was just afraid to break something when I had to put pressure in opening the cartridges.

The printer connected to our WEP-encoded wireless LAN with no problems and I’ve been impressed with the speed and quietness of printing. Duplexing color pages takes a LOT longer, but it auto-duplexes with no problem and it’s worth it to me to let IT handle both sides instead of manually flipping paper. Haven’t tried it on photos yet, but that’ll be next.

It took a little research to find out how to print from my iphone, but the user guide came to the rescue and I easily found the iphone Canon Easy PhotoPrint app. The app isn’t as intuitive to use as I’d like, but after a little fiddling, I printed a camera photo.

Overall, the printer is larger than I expected (I should have looked at the dimensions) and heavier. BUT, it’s also far more solid and quiet than I expected and it has the feel of a well-built system. Thanks Canon. Looks like this printer is a winner.

Review 28 :

Pros:
Fast set up- probably 15-20 minutes from out of the box to test printing. Easy to install the print-head, the ink cartridges and necessary software.
Sleek, refined design. Definitely a lot more visually appealing than my old HP printer
Good quality printing
Fairly fast at copies- definitely not as fast as the big, office ones but more than adequate for my needs.
I can print from my laptop in another room via wireless connection! I know other printers have it, but it’s still pretty nifty to me.

Cons:
unusually heavy for a printer of its size

Overall:
I am extremely pleased with this printer for the price i purchased it (~160 when factoring in state tax). The only future concern i have for it is i’m not sure how fast the ink cartridges last, especially since there’s five of them and that’s where printer companies make their profit. Will update later on issues of cartridge longevity.

Review 29 :

I will have to agree with the review by “It’s Just Me!”… I am very tech savy, and build computers. I researched this printer for about a month, on the internet and in my local Office store. I have always been an Epson man, because of the ink, but have gotten too expensive. I wanted a printer with a fax, because I send faxes a couple of times a month. I watched the price for several weeks, and $129 with no tax and no shipping, is a steal….So I purchased the MX870 and it came in three days.. I opened the box and looked at the printer guide for several minutes, and followed directions, and I was installed, on my home wireless network (I prefer wired), and my computer all in about twenty minutes. Installation couldn’t be easier. I have a Linksys E2000, and a super pc with Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. I love the LCD screen on the printer, and the many options that it has. I can see where it might be over-whelming to some, but just take your time AND read the instructions. You can download the instructions and read them before you order, and get familiar with the printer setup. I love this printer, and will be using Sophia Global ink cartridges after the initial ink runs out, (already ordered them). I have four other printers plus the MX870 at the moment. A Samsung Laser, 2 Epson Inkjets, and a Canon Pixmx i3000. As I said, i love this printer. Take a second look. Good luck…

Review 30 :

I bought this printer for the price but I also was looking for a three – in – one. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that I needed a land line connection for the fax and since we recently disconnected our phone, I couldn’t use this feature. We have four cell phones, which is plenty as far as phones go, but you cannot use one to connect the fax to.
I like that you load the paper like a xerox, in a little tray which takes approximately 50 sheets of paper, so when you print or copy, you don’t have to worry about putting the paper in manually(I had to do that with my old printer and sometimes the paper wouldn’t go in exactly straight and the copy would be crooked, agh!).
The thing I like most about it is that it’s wireless and that I can print from my laptop no matter where I am in my house. Given that sometimes there are three of us simultaneously working on a laptop/pc and need to print, this is a great feature!
I am happy with it as well as with the picture printing quality though I use my perfect Epson Picture Mate for that.
The only thing I found strange was that the instructions said that it needs to be plugged into an outlet all by itself, definitely not in a power strip. As I, and I imagine, most people, keep all their electronic gadgets in one room – computer, fax, xerox, printer, cameras, etc. it was difficult. But, I’d definitely make this purchase again.

BUY NOW