Canon MP600 duplex + fast = horrible

[headphonesman]

Looking at those pictures above I would use "duplex normal". It appears to shoot out enough ink to look like fast mode on a single side and probably uses the same amount of ink.

Don't get stuck in the "I have to use fast mode mindset", if normal mode works then use it.

I would agree , I have recently printed a PDF 80 page camera manual in duplex on my MP600 using the normal setting. Yes it was slow , ( I went shopping for an hour), this is due to the "ink drying time allowance", (which I you can adjust in Custom Settings , perhaps playing with this will give you a bit more speed ?).

The only mistake I made (manual had Black and White illustrations) was to leave on the colour setting, the illustrations had a slight pink tinge) , a test after printing using the Greyscale setting was perfect.

 

[fixup]

But surely the duplex mode is automatic - the page turns over without human intervention?

There is a "Auto" checkbox under "Duplex" option; if uncheck, it'll do it manually.

Looking at those pictures above I would use "duplex normal". It appears to shoot out enough ink to look like fast mode on a single side and probably uses the same amount of ink.

Don't get stuck in the "I have to use fast mode mindset", if normal mode works then use it.

Exactly.

After some tweaking with the settings, I have figured out all the details:

1) Once duplex is selected (manual or auto), printing quality will be adjusted automatically. "Normal" mode becomes more like "Fast" of non-duplex. This is indeed the best setting for duplex - not too dark, not too light.

2) If you want faster printing under duplex mode, you have to use "custom" and set halftone to "diffusion". If you simply select "fast", halftone will be selected automatically but improperly (see the picture). Under "custom" mode, you can actually see two fast modes. If you select the fastest, you can leave halftone to be "auto" and be fine.

3) In non-duplexing mode, the "standard" prints are too dark - too wet actually. "Fast" mode is perfect.

The bottom line: the quality of the same print quality mode is very different when duplexing or not, you have to play with the custom settings (including halftone). For my printing job, fast mode is the best for non-duplexing and standard mode is the best for duplexing.