13 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
Sorry Canon, But I'd Rather Throw The IP1500 Into A Cannon Than Use It
Date of Review: Jun 5, 2006
The Bottom Line: There are better printers in the same or lower price range.
When I bought my T3882 at Office Depot, it came with a bundled Canon IP1500. At the time, I still had and still have a working HP PSC1315 all-in-one. It's a decent printer but I thought that it did the weirdest stuff like not cancelling print jobs and re-installing drivers for no reason. I kept the Canon IP1500 printer in storage for about a year now. As much as I like my PSC1315--I hate the weird things it does. I was wondering if it would be better to use the printer seperately and he copier/scanner so it wouldn't be such a pain. It sounds like a good idea but I was heavily dissappointed with the Pixma IP1500. It's much easier to use than the PSC1315 and it prints faster but its print quality is terrible and its construction is very questionable.
The IP1500 is made by Canon and is part of the Pixma series. It's not very feature loaded, if you're looking for copies and scans then you might wanna go above the $100 mark. The only thing going for it is that it's pretty slim and stylish with a black/silver finish. It's one of Canon's lowest priced Pixma at only $50 and using it I can see why. It says it has Canon FINE technology--no clue what that means--I think they're talking about the style--it really does look nice [jk I know what it really means but I won't mention what it means because if that really IS the meaning it's a lie]. ONe last thing that's going for it is that it has the maximum dpi that only expensive printers have [or that's what I know]. It's pretty easy to use, just install the software and you're ready to print.
Setup
Setup was something that was a breeze for this printer. It simply just came with a setup CD you put in your computer. Just make sure the connected printer is shut off before you install the drivers and software. I'm sure if George Washington woke up from his grave he could figure the installation out. You just press "installation" and it just works in just under about five minutes. I looked and everything was installed--the drivers, the software, and even the web page toolbar to print webpages with one click.
Software
The software for the IP1500 is pretty heavy, but somehow doesn't use a whole lot on my hard drive. The IP1500 comes with something called Easy Photo Print. It doesn't use up a ton of memory or space on your hard drive. From it you can change basic statistics with pictures, but I can do this with any free program I can find on CNET or HP's Image Zone. Software installation is with the drivers so you don't have to figure out how to disect the CD to find the download.
Print Quality
Canon's Pixma IP1500 is equipped with their fine technology. Sorry, I've gotten better prints with my barely working eight year old Canon BJC2010 without Fine technology than what spits out of this thing. I would say that the ink was in storage and got dried up but not only was it packaged but it had a little orange holder to keep the ink in. The bright colors looked muddy and dark. The dark colors looked very washed-out and faded and the black wasn't even showing a true 'black' color. The mid-tone colors looked muddy nad had little white dots--if they were streaks I would've aligned the catridges but no--they were white dots. The pictures I printed weren't sharp, and it honestly looked like I was printing with 16 colors! I even tried turning the qualtiy from normal to fine and still only got a slight improvement of these problems. Overall, I wasn't that impressed with their so-called fine technology.
NOISY
Now, this might be rude to include since my PSC1315 is also loud, but this thing is even louder--honestly how hard did they try to make the loudest printer in the world? Well, at least you know when your prints are done, but I've seen big laser-jet copiers print quieter than this thing.
Speed
This might be the last thing it has going for it. The speed of it is really fast at 18ppm mono/13ppm color. Of course it'll take slower if you use the fine technology [which does near nothing] but I still found it to be faster than both the PSC1315 and the BJC2010.
Paper Feed
This is another thing I hate about this printer. Firstly, paper jams with this thing is the biggest ordeal. Sometimes it'll feed correctly with one time, sometimes it'll take you tons of changing around to actually get it to work. Also, since there's no paper feed out tray, the papers you printed out will fall all over the floor--very annoying.
Durability
I've been using this printer for a very short time and overall I found it to be a problem. The eight year old Canon was extremely strudy--the print head access was fold down but held on perfectly and the slider was strongly held on. On this printer, whenever you open the print head access it feels and sounds like it's going to snap in half! The slider also seems like a weak spot for this printer. Also when I leaned on it to move it, it sounded liek the printer as a whole was going to crash on me. I definitely question the construction on this printer--it also seems to have more problems than any other Canon printer. And it seems the IP1600 has the same construction problems. So much for the long run.
Warranty
Canon offers a one year warranty on the printer-parts and labor. I guess that solves the construction quality for someone who just bought it. But I honestly don't think it'll last long after the warranty. The printer just doesn't seem to be of good quality at all.
Compatability
The IP1500 is compatable with all Windows and Mac systems. You also have to buy a USB cable becuase printer companies across the world decided to save the extra $1 and not include USB cables with their products. It comes with ink so you don't need to buy any--and it's not the economy size so you'll have enough left for about 500 pages.
Ink Cost
Here's one last thing Canon wins as a whole. Black...$7. Color...$11. That may seem like a lot now but HP is $20 for black and $25 for color and Epson and Lexmark are even worse.
The Bottom Line
It seems like people enjoy the IP1500 but I'm still ont really impressed with it. It wasn't really worth $50. While it's easy to use, has fast print speed, and inexpensive ink, the print quality is below average, the feed is terrible, and its construction is really questionable and I don't think it'll even last long enough to make it worth the purchase. Overall, move on to your next choice, the IP1500 won't please you with any *fine* images.
