Canon Pixma MP560 Review– Appealing, Not Sensible

We loved:

Canon Pixma MP560’s low price, innate scroll wheel, Wi-Fi option, and huge 2 inch LCD screen for photo viewing and auto duplexer.

We hated:

In the modern fast moving world Canon Pixma MP560’s slow print speeds is its biggest drawback and on top of it there is the tedious image quality.

Introduction:

Cannon already has set the bar sky high for printers and just after few months of bringing in their PIXMA MP540 all-in-one printer, they have thrown two more sequels to it. The Canon Pixma MP560 is one of them and comes with even more features than its precursors, but what interests us is that does it have the “Wow” factor? And that’s what makes us scan and put the review of MP560 for you. So here it is.

The Canon Pixma MP560 brings an end to the days of drooling over all an all-in-one printer and now, for $150 gadgets like MP560 are in the tech market for the potential consumers. Though the MP560 has got stunning looks and offers several functional features akin to a bright 2 inch LCD display and an auto-document feeder, but it lacks behind other multifunction printers such as Lexmark’s Impact S305 and Epson WorkForce 310. Though, there are satisfactory features in MP560, but what we knows is that speed and quality rules the $150 market, and that is where the MP560 lags big time

Build and Design:

Canon Pixma MP560 carries the conventional Canon printer appearance in its look and resembles very much to the previous canon printers we have seen, in shape, size and appearance. You will need 18 inches width, 14.5 inches depth, and 6 inches height at your workstation to place MP560, which carries the proverbial shiny black and lusterless silver finish, although you will have to take the tray out to use the printer and it will add another 4 inches to its width, so keep room for that. We never expect any thing outstanding from the cheap multifunctions when it comes to design, but Canon has proved that a professional finish and artistic shapes never goes out of fashion.

The biggest upset for some people like us will be the absence of Ethernet port, yes; you read it right, turn the Pixma MP560 and check, it doesn’t have the port to connect the Ethernet cable, though you can connect it to your PC via USB 2.0 or through built-in wireless print server. So if you are IT professional or a business shopper then you should look somewhere else for this feature. If we were you, we would have gone for a $100 multifunction, Lexmark Impact S305, with Wi-Fi, Ethernet networking and USB connectivity. Head over to the review for the full story.

Despite the networking omission, we’re always intimidated by how simple is it to set the wireless connection through Canon’s driver software. All you have to do is to insert the CD and the software will automatically prompt you for installing the printer using either a wireless 802.11b/g or a USB 2.0 connection. After that all we did was placed our router information and the printer took care of the rest; the two devices didn’t took long to jell together.

Talking about style and innovativeness brings us to its heads up display, which undoubtedly is the most stylish and pioneering facade of the printer. Just under the display, there is a petite door which will provide you access to the media card reader which supports MMC, xD, Memory Stick, SD, and microSD cards. To facilitate direct-to-print accessibility the printer has a PictBridge compatible USB port right at the bottom of the printer.

The paper handling of MP560 is identical to Canon’s older printer models, with 150-sheet tray at the rear end for the smaller and photo paper and various paper sizes, and another 150-sheet control at the front. Another impressive aspect of MP560 is its auto-duplexer for double sided prints, now that’s an eco-friendly as well as pocket friendly move by Canon.

The customary 8.5 x 11 inch scanner inlet is located straightly above the ink inlet which holds the inks and their corresponding print head. MP560 comes with five separate ink cartridges including cyan, yellow, and magenta, a pigment black and black for photos.

Specifications:

Inkjet Technology: FINE (Full lithography inkjet Nozzle Engineering)
Ink Type: Canon ChromaLife100+
Max Printing Resolution: up to 9600 x 2400 dpi (color)/ 600 x 600 dpi (mono)

Scan Element: CIS
Interpolated Resolution: 19200 x 19200 dpi
Optical Resolution: 2400 x 4800 dpi
Scanner Type: Flatbed

PC Connectivity: Yes
PC Connection: IEEE 802.11b, Hi-Speed USB and IEEE 802.11g
Operating System: Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Vista, Apple Mac OS X 10.3.9 – 10.5.x
Software Included: Drivers & utilities, Canon Easy-Web Print, Canon Easy-Photo Print EX, and Canon MP Navigator EX

Max Document Reduction: 25 %
Max Document Enlargement: 400 %
Maximum Copies: 99
Copier Type: Digital
Max Copying Speed: up to 2.3 pages/min (color)/ Up to 2.3 pages/min (mono)
Copy Features: Auto Exposure / Intensity Copy, Face Brightener / Fading Fit-to-Page, 4-in-1 / 2-in-1, Correction, Image Repeat, Trimming Copy, Masking Copy, Manual Color Adjustment, Photo Reprint, Multiple Copy: 1-99 Pages, Gutter Shadow Correction Copy, Preset Copy Ratios, Zoom

Performance:

Putting Canon Pixma MP560 in test against four of its top contenders of the same league, neither did disappointed us not did blew us away. It showed mediocre results for all our tests, but despite its mediocre results we were immensely pleased by the Canon for including several generous features like auto-duplexing that we doesn’t see in normal $150 printers. But the company still has a ways to go before it’s ready to compete with Epson and Lexmark’s advantages in print speeds.

Support and Service:

Canon Pixma MP560 comes with standard one-year warranty and apart from the warranty there is the toll-free phone support on weekdays from 8 AM to midnight PT and from 7 a.m. to 5 PM on Saturdays. There also is a 24 x 7 E-mail through a Web-based form. The standard online support for Canon includes software, downloadable drivers FAQs and manuals.

Expert Comments:

The multifunction Canon Pixma MP560 printer with its auto-document feeder and flashy 2 inch LCD screen might be appealing to consumers, but if you look from speed and performances perspective Lexmark’s Impact S305 is a much sensible choice that too, $50 less.