Canon PIXMA™ MP780 All-In-One InkJet Printer

This review comes to you from a former Canon MP730 owner (which I reviewed over 2 years ago).

This machine was purchased to replace my MP730 - as it turns out for no real reason. (See the update to the MP730 review for details). We run a small business from home and a multifunction printer is a must. But since it is not always used for business, it also has to be a great photo printer. I had no qualms about buying another Canon. I had just installed an HP 7210 for a client at their insistence, and I was less than impressed with the HP (again).

So here's my review:

Unpacking and Assembly:
Again, I was impressed with Canon's packing job. It seems more and more manufacturers are going with cardboard inserts as packing materials for delicate equipment. Canon is still using the tried and true styrofoam which makes for a tight fit. And once again, they were in "halves" so you do not have to try a lift the entire thing - foam and all - out of the box. When you open the box, the first thing you see is the "Setup Poster" - 11x17, one language. It is easy to follow and easy to read. Unlike the MP730, there are NO external parts. Everything comes attached to the body and taped down tight. I lost track of how many pieces of tape hold this thing together for shipping but there were over a dozen. Each piece has a folded end for gripping and they came off easily without any fear of damaging the unit. The ink installed easily enough - all FIVE cartridges. That's right FIVE. (The HP's still come with two - one black, one color - run out of blue? you have to replace all three colors... What a great idea!) Along with the Cyan, Yellow and Magenta there are two black cartridges. One is the normal 13ML (same size as the color) and the other is larger - I'm guessing at least double capacity. And the larger is a "pigmented" black which I assume is darker - I can't really tell. While the cartridges slip in and lock into the carriage with no hassle, getting to the carriage can be. First you have to raise the top of the unit, then lower "the inner door", then lower the access door, then the carriage slides out to you. As with the MP730, it's tight if you have large hands. Then be sure you remember to close all those doors before lowering the lid! You won't damage anything, the LCD display just tells you that one of the doors is open and you have to go through the process again. I still wish Canon could come up with a way to make this easier.

Setting Up:
After uninstalling the old MP730 software - including all drivers and photo printing software, I inserted the CD that came with the MP780 (I'm running Windows XP Pro, but there is a Mac CD as well) and just waltzed through the software installation. Then (following the instructions) I plugged the printer USB into the computer and everything was recognized fine. I was printing in about 15 minutes.

Putting it Through the Paces:
First a word on print speeds: Don't listen to a word the mfg says! "25ppm Black / 17ppm color"?? Good luck with that. Print speeds are good, faster than the two year old MP730 and quick for an inkjet, but nowhere close to the claims - even in draft mode.

Printing Photos:
I wasn't thrilled with the old MP730's photo quality, but the MP780 is GREAT using EasyPrint and whatever the default settings are in that program. A 4x6 photo took 50 seconds - but looked PERFECT. Here's a tip though - USE THE CANON PAPER. We had purchased some Kodak paper earlier in the week and the photos that came out were AWFUL. (That's actually what sparked the upgrade - we thought it was the MP730 print heads. Turns out the MP730 is fine, it was the paper.)

Document Printing:
I printed an 8.5 x 11 web page that had about 75% text and 25% graphics using the default printer settings and it took about 13 seconds from the time the paper started feeding to the time it hit the tray. This printer is pretty quiet. There is the usual clucking when it first starts up, but otherwise not bad for an inkjet.

Sheet Feeder Copying and Scanning:
An 8.5 x 11 color copy took about 30 seconds in "normal" mode. Same page scanned to a file took about 20 seconds. The "normal" quality was a bit faded. Boosting it to "fine" took twice as long, and quality was better, but not an exact duplicate of the original. There is virtually no "lamp warm-up time". A cool feature of the MP780 is that the back half of the document feeder - the part that supports the paper folds over to protect the paper entrance. If you look at the photo of the printer on this site, that black thing across the top is this piece (It is shown closed). Documents and copies come out the front of the unit. That black panel below the control pad automatically (gently) flips open for your print to exit. Pretty cool. You have to close it yourself though. (This is also the door you go through to access the ink.) Using the MP Navigator is much improved over the last version. It's very simple and clean.

Misc Features:
My two favorites: DUPLEX PRINTING and DUAL PAPER SOURCES! I didn't even realize duplexing was included until I was writing this. But it works and works well. It slows the overall print time, obviously, but saves me from having to follow the steps to take out the prints, rotate them just so, put them back in the paper feeder, etc... The second tray (one is in the back, and one is in a drawer below) is a godsend. I hate to even think how much photo paper was wasted printing stupid emails before I notice that were awfully shiny and stiff. We keep photo paper in the drawer and plain in the back. You can specify in the printer properties what kind of paper is in each tray. EasyPrint remembers which drawer is which and will automatically print to the photo paper.
-The card reader of the MP730 has been replaced with a pictbridge port. Whatever - My camera (Olympus C-5000) is not PB compatible and it used XD Picture cards so I couldn't use the readers nor the new port. You're on your own there. Although I've never been sure why you would want to print photos before you got a good look at them anyway. Photo paper costs too much...
-Again, you'll want to turn down the volume of all the alarms if you're in a small office like we are.
-The new look is sharp. The black and gray is smooth. I especially like the fact that I can close the ADF and output doors to keep dust out of the machine.
-The LCD is backlit (finally!) and very easy to read. It has small ink level indicators which is nice. There are buttons on the control panel to easily configure almost any job - duplex copying, 2-on-1 copying, photo copying, etc - without having to wade through the menu for everything.

All-in-all, once again I'm impressed. This is a tight, slick multifunction printer, and while it's not *everything* the Canon website says it is - it has worked out great for us. It's a tremendous value for $249.00 - that's $150 less than the MP730...