Home :: Computers :: Printers :: Inkjet  

Accessories
Dot Matrix
Inkjet

Laser
Photo Printers
Portable
Canon i550 Color Bubble Jet Printer

Canon i550 Color Bubble Jet Printer

List Price: $129.99
Your Price:
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 .. 3 4 5 6 >>

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Some caution warranted
Review: We've had the printer only a few days, but encountered a problem that tech support was unable to help with. When printing greeting cards using American Greetings Print! Premium, text that overlays a photo is printed with dark blocks behind each character. We've tried this same card with several other printers, and only the Canon i550 exhibits this problem.

We phoned tech support and described the problem. The issue was escalated to a tech support supervisor, who called back the next day. He said he'd contacted several engineers, and the conclusion was, Canon doesn't have any card-making software, and they *don't support* 3rd party card-making products! To us, that attitude was more disturbing than even this printer driver problem.

We've since discovered on our own that if we print the cards using a much higher resolution (uses a lot more ink), the problem disappears. We've also found that enabling "ICM" (set under manual Color Adjustment) and printing with Standard resolution is acceptable (though the problem is still visible, it isn't that bad).

Otherwise, the printer seems fine. We believe that Canon's tech support response is more worrisome than the printer driver problem, but neither stop us from giving a conditional recommendation of this model.

UPDATE: We upgraded our rating from 3 to 4 stars. After using this printer for a while now, we really love it. It works flawlessly in everything else we've tried with it, and some of the photos we've printed have been awesome. If not for the fact that other printers we had worked with AG Print Premium, this would be 5 stars, for sure.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: Great printer. Easy to use and the photo quality is wonderful! Have just bought a 2nd i550 printer as a gift!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Canon i550 Fast & Easy to use
Review: The Canon i550 printer is fast and easy to use. Using the program defaults, my photo's come out perfect every time. Low cost of replacement ink tanks is a money saver. Printing comes out equally sharp. Only downside are the flimsy paper trays.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great printer for a great price
Review: This is my second printer I've bought in ten years. My first was a Canon BJC-600. It was a great printer, even up until the day I replaced it. But it was showing its age and it was way too slow. So I set out to get another Canon product. I had my eye on the S520, but was upset to find out that it had been pulled! Why? To make room for the i550, of course.

So, two printerless weeks go by and finally the i550 hits the shelves. I run out and buy one ASAP for two reasons. First, my previous experience with Canon products, and second, I saw the S520 in action. I was very impressed with the photo quality, speed, and price. The i550 promised to be better and faster at about the same price as the S520.

To make a long story short, if you're looking for an inexpensive printer...look no further. For someone like me who doesn't really use the borderless photo printing (as amazing as it may be), this is the best one I've found for the price. Best of all, it has individual ink tanks for all the colors! I like HP printers, but I hate the wasteful and expensive 3-in-1 color cartridges that go in them.

For those who do a lot of photo printing, be advised that you'll probably want to use Canon paper. Although you can use other paper (i.e. Kodak) the ink and paper are all designed as a system. Therefore best results will be achieved with Canon paper.

PROS: Speed, individual ink-wells, high quality, easy-to-use bundled software, low cost.

CONS: Vibrates a lot when it picks up speed.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I550 works great with Mac anyway
Review: Apple used to contract with Canon to build printers for Apple. They were the best printers I've ever used, so I'm a bit partial but the I550 is a great printer. You will not regret it. I don't know about Canon support, though. Maybe someone can comment on that. Their website seems okay although they don't have a driver for OS9 or earlier on the website but it's on the CD that came with the printer. Great print quality as well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great printer
Review: I have been using my printer now for a year and I still love it. Crisp colors and easy to use and refill. Great price--I'm happy with it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I Love it
Review: Having purchased this 6 months ago for my home office based on reviews posted on Amazon, I feel compelled to add my own short report. I've used this printer for 6 months daily, and have not had a single technical problem with it. Setting itself apart from every other ink jet I've suffered through, it's quiet, fast, reliable, easy-to-use, and the paper never jams. Moreover, its 4 separate ink cartridges (one black, 3 colors) saves a bundle on replacement ink. (NB: with this printer, you can find very cheap, generic ink cartridges from several vendors onine by googling for "ink replacement Canon i550:).

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I truly hated this printer - until Cannon fixed it
Review: I have owned this printer for nearly a year, and have found that it will print for me about 30% of the time. Most frequently, the paper doesn't feed correctly, and the rest of the time the ink runs dry (even though there is a lot of ink left) and a "cleaning" and a new sheet of paper are required. Nothing would give me so much pleasure as dropping this worthless piece of junk from a very high building and watching it crash, but then instead of having print capability 30% of the time, I would have it 0% of the time, so I would be less frustrated, but overall worse off. I can't get my $$ back at this point, and so I guess I'm stuck with it.

I will say that when it does print (and the ink hasn't run dry), it is of good quality. But that is such a rare event, it is hardly worthy of note.

Three months after I wrote this review, I called Cannon for service. They referred me to a service center about 10 miles from my home. When I called as well as when I dropped the printer off, the service people were fast and knowledgeable. They replaced the print head and now I do not have to clean the head before each use. The paper feed often needs to be tinkered with, but other than that, I am now happy with this product. Cannon even mailed the printer back to me so I only had to visit the service center one time.

While I was initially very unhappy with the printer, I was very pleased with their service and the printer works much, much better.


<< 1 .. 3 4 5 6 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates