Canon BJC-2010 -- adequate for bare-bones printing
Written: Feb 19 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Light and small
Cons: Very slow
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| tanster's Full Review: Canon BJC 2000 InkJet Printer |
The quick story
No-frills 4-color printer, adequate for infrequent use.
Small and light, perfect for small spaces.
Reasonably priced ($79).
Resolution: 720 (vertical) x 360 (horizontal).
Setup
First of all, the printer does not include a printer cable. (This is what connects the printer to your computer.) Nowhere on the outside of the box does it state you need to buy the cable separately. Youll need a bi-directional, Centronics-compatible parallel cable (IEEE 1284-compliant). Its a male 25-pin connector on the computer end, and a male 36-pin connector on the printer end. You can buy this at any store that sells computers, like Office Depot, Radio Shack, etc. It will cost about $20.
The QuickStart poster was very easy to follow. After inserting the paper output tray and paper support flap, and connecting the cable and power cord, I installed the print cartridge (containing one black tank and one black color tank).
Installing the printer drivers was quick and painless - just follow the step-by-step instructions on the screen.
The installation CD gives you the option of also installing American Greetings CreataCard Special Edition software (by Micrografx). Special Edition really means demo version: it provides just a smattering of different card types. You can purchase the full-featured product, CreataCard Gold, for $49.95.
The setup process took me about an hour from start to finish. I encountered no problems whatsoever.
What the BJC-2010 comes with
One BC-21e Color BJ Cartridge, with one black tank and one color tank
Ink cartridge storage box (so ink doesnt dry out)
American Greetings CreateaCard Special Edition CD-ROM (includes printer drivers)
Users manual and QuickStart poster
Power cord
One-year warranty
Remember: you must buy a printer cable separately!
Output types supported
Paper (letter, legal, and A4 in portrait orientation)
Envelopes
Banner paper
Water-resistant Bubble Jet paper
Fabric sheets (for pillow covers, scarves, flags, and other textile items)
Glossy photo paper/cards
Transparencies
T-shirt transfers
Print options
For normal printing, you can print in Text, Auto, and Draft modes.
For higher-quality printing, you can print in Graphics, Photo, SuperPhoto (which requires SuperPhoto ink cartridges and special paper), and Camera (for digital camera images) modes.
You can customize halftone and color options.
The printer driver includes a clean print head function.
Cost of printer cartridge and tanks
There are three separate replaceable pieces: the cartridge, the black tank, and the color tank.
The cartridge is what holds the black and color tanks. The BC-21e Color JB Cartridge will last for 2,000 color pages at 30% coverage, and retails for $52.99.
The black tank, the BCI-21 Black BJ Tank, yields 900 text pages at 5% coverage, and retails for $8.99.
The color tank, the BCI-21 Color JB Tank, yields 50 pages at 7.5% coverage for each color, and retails for $21.99.
Additional accessories
You can turn the printer into a 360 dpi, 24-bit color sheet-fed scanner by purchasing the optional IS-22 Color Image Scanner Cartridge, $69.99.
What I like about the printer
Small: The BJC-2010 has a tiny footprint, (14.6 wide x 7.5 deep x 6.3 tall), and can fit in the tightest of places. I can fit my Dell Inspiron and the printer on my coffee table, and still have room for my dinner plate!
Light: Less than 6 pounds.
Decent print quality: No bleeding, streaking, or stray ink drops. I printed my Epinions profile page, and the photo printed quite well on plain paper - fully saturated colors with just the slightest bit of dithering.
You can purchase accessories online from the Canon Supply Store at www.ccsi.canon.com.
What I dont like about the printer
Slow: In draft mode, printing out my TurboTax forms took almost a minute per page (remember, though, that tax forms are very text-dense). In photo mode, the first page of my Epinions profile page took almost 7 minutes to print!
Small sheet feeder: It can hold only 5 envelopes at a time, or 50 sheets of plain paper at a time.
Short power cord: Only about 5 ft. long.
All in all
The Canon BJC-2010 came free with the purchase of my Dell Inspiron 3700 (see separate review), so I really cant complain! Id recommend this printer for infrequent, single-person use. If you're looking for a family printer, or if you print a lot of graphics, I'd recommend moving up on the price scale for better speed and features.
For me, who prints out tax forms and the occasional recipe off the Web, the Canon BJC-2010 is perfectly adequate!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
tanster
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 - Top 500 |
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Location: Palo Alto, CA
Reviews written: 111
Trusted by: 331 members
About Me:
Happily reviewing cool gadgets and SF Bay Area restaurants since 1999. Pass the gravy, please.
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