Canon Pixma MP750 for only $99.99

[Nifty]

Well, I just got back with my new toy. They offered me the $19.99 two year exchange program. I usually say no to these extended warranty programs, but I figured with all the additional mechanical parts in this thing, plus the additional risk of using non-OEM inks I'd give it a try. $19.99 for two years of peace of mind... no problem. Now this is what I've got to figure out:

1) Do I keep my trusty ol' i860 running?
2) If I don't keep the i860 running do I sell it, or keep it in storage?
3) Do I swap the printheads of the i860 and the mp750 so I'll have a new printhead as a backup or sell the i860 as a printer with a new printhead?
4) Should I go get a USB 2.0 card for my PC to take advantage of the faster speed?
5) Where the heck on my desk do I put this new beast?

What do you think????

 

[LinkinParkIM14]

if you dont want your old printer, i'll take it, free of charge :-D

 

[Nifty]

haha.... tempting but... no!

I just love my little i860. At first I was thinking I'd use both, but it just isn't practical. If using the printer is one of the best ways to keep the heads from plugging, then I'm cutting my usage in half as I spread my usage to two printers.

I'll probably do what I did before, sell the cartridges that came with this printer for $35 - $45 on eBay bringing the multifunction down to about $65.

So, do I packup my i860 for storage, or sell it?
If I store it, I'll store it with the new printhead from the MP750.
If I sell it, should I sell it with the old printhead, or the new one?

 

[panos]

This discussion is getting on my nerves.

YES, nifty, buy it! I bought mine for 300 euros... which is more than 350 dollars..... AAARGH!

As for the USB 2.0 card it will certainly help in getting prints quickly but more importantly in getting scanned images fast.

Well, I think you should sell your old 860 with its old printhead and keep the MP750 with a new printhead. After all, your warranty also covers problems in the printhead and therefore you are throwing away warranty funds if you sell it away.

And please keep us posted with your impressions on performance

 

[panos]

Nifty, regarding your question about the the duplexer -- I use it very often for small documents. When documents are large (>60 pages) I use the non-automatic duplex option on the driver preferences which yields much faster results. Of course non-automatic depends on the reliability of the printer's paper handling which so far has been perfect as the printer never got a single page wrongly (and this is an impressive achievement).

 

[Nifty]

Panos, thanks for the great info and wise points.

Any other thoughts?

 

[Nifty]

Well, I'm back from my trip and almost caught up (yeah right). I took some time and finally installed the Canon Pixma MP750.

I decided to try the printhead from my i860 for fun. I went through all the setup steps, inserted the print head, cartridges, and then closed the cover. The printer ran for about 4 minutes cycling between ready and something like "cartridge return". I was becoming concerned that using and/or moving an i860 print head to the MP750 was causing the problem. Just when I was about to pull the printhead I got a message that the Cyan was empty. I knew it was low, but was surprised it was empty. I pulled it and refilled it. After a few more cycles, it said READY!!! I guess the printer was just doing it's initial setup and did a major print head cleaning. Thank goodness I wasn't using Canon inks... that would have been about $10.00 of ink sitting at the bottom of my printer!

I haven't done any real tests, but just did some copies (color and black) and some scanning. I'm going to miss my i860 (we've developed quite a relationship over the past 9 months) but the ability to hit a button and get an instant copy is making me a very happy camper. What's even more fun is the fact that I can have my computer off and my family can still make copies!

More tests on the way, but so far my initial impression is pretty good.

 

[Nifty]

One thing that is a little frustrating is how much more difficult it is to get at the cartridges in this model compared to the i860. I recently refilled my BCI-3ebk with more Image Specialists ink and a few days later was getting some really poor prints (looked like plugged nozzles, but couldn't be sure). I ran multiple cleaning cycles which helped a little, so I removed the cartridge, blew into the air maze hole above the sponge to force out some ink and re-inserted the cart. I ran another head cleaning and everything looks fine. I wonder if it was the ink, cartridge, or something else.

A few things I'm really liking about this machine:

1) I really like the "feed switch" button on this printer. It's pretty neat to be able to reach over and touch a button to switch trays. I have scratch paper in the top loading and clean paper in the bottom tray.

2) I also like how the lower paper exit tray will open automatically if it is closed and a print job is on the way.

3) I love the fact that when I'm making a copy the machine starts to print right after it starts to scan. This saves me even more time then the old system: Scan the page... wait... send it to the printer.... wait...

 

[zakezuke]

I am curious as a mp760 owner. I'm pretty sure that the mp750 has NO fax, but does it have provisions in the mp springboard (whatever it's called) software to scan and fax? I'm curious as on my mp760 it's not an option to either fax or print to any device that isn't a "canon".

 

[Nifty]

zakezuke, sorry I didn't see this post before. You are correct that the Mp750 does NOT have direct fax ability (ie, no modem).

I also haven't found any software built into the printer that allows to send to fax or to a fax application. For this purpose I use "HotFax" which is a fax software application that sets up a printer driver that I can scan to / print to just like I would a printer, but faxes instead.

I hope that helps.