heckonwheels's Full Review: Canon i450 InkJet Printer
The Canon i450 was purchased to replace a Lexmark 3200. The 3200 inkhead belt (the belt that moves the ink cartridges back and forth when printing) had worn out and would no longer move the heads. I have now had the i450 for over a year and I think I can reasonably relate my opinion of it here.
I like this printer and it has done a fine job for us but it is not a printer for office use. Let me spell out the cons for you first before I sing its praises…
Warm up time. When you send that first print job to the printer, it takes quite awhile for it to wake up and start going. During this time, the printer clicks, wheezes, grinds, and generally makes a noisy nuisance of itself until it’s ready to print…probably around 2-3 minutes. It’s a minor annoyance but can be irritating when you’re in a hurry for a print job.
Once the printer’s warmed up, the printing comes along much quicker.
Paper supply tray: Supposedly holds 100 sheets of regular laser or copier paper but I wouldn’t put much more than fifty.
Ink cartridges: They last about half as long as the Lexmark cartridges.
Now on to what I like about this printer…
Speed. Alright, it’s not a real speed demon like the high speed HP 4300’s we have in the office but for personal use at home, it’s more than adequate. Once the paper starts coming out, it’s about 3-5 seconds for a black and white page. 10-12 for color. Much, MUCH faster than the printer it replaced.
Quality: Very good for such a budget printer. We printed some photos from our digital camera (using the Canon 4X6 Photo paper sample that came with the printer) and compared them with same prints we got from our local Walgreen’s digital printer and couldn’t tell any difference. We used the easy photo printing software that came with the printer. We also printed a few on 8 ½ X 11 semi-glossy paper and got prints that I would not hesitate to put in a frame. Resolution is advertised at 4800 x 1200 dpi for color, 600 x 600 dpi for B/W.
Black and white text printing is as good as our laser printers in the office…at least to my eyes. It works great for homework and home correspondence. I would hesitate to use it in an office environment only because of the limitations of ink and paper supply.
Ease of installation. Plug the USB cord (not provided) into the printer. Turn it on and then plug into the computer (we still use Win98…yes, it’s an old PC). With the provided CD in the tray, everything else is automatic.
Paper transport: The intake rollers grab the paper (or other media) very well. I have yet to encounter a jam. I have used regular copier paper, laser paper, 9x12 envelopes, #10 envelopes, various 8.5 x 11 label sheets, glossy & semi glossy 8.5 x 11, and 4 x 6 photo paper. The specs say that it can also handle transparencies, matte photo paper, and T-shirt iron on transfers.
Size: The printer has a small footprint. It’s about 16” wide and 10” deep. The fold out paper exit tray on the front adds about 6”. The input tray is in the back and on top so that will make the printer about a foot high when loaded.
Price: $49 (at Fry’s). Replacement ink cartridges, via Staples, $6.99 for B/W - $17.99 for color (Canon brand), $5.95 B/W - $15.33 color (Staples brand) plus more discounts for quantity. This is about 80% less for B/W and 60% less for color than the price for the Lexmark ink. Of course, the cartridges last about half as long but it is still cheaper (plus the Lexmark didn’t come close to having the quality or speed that the Canon does). Bottom line, it was cheap to buy and cheap to maintain.
Other features I like: Ink cartridges are very easy to change. Open the door, pop the old one out, pop the new one in. Done. Don’t even have to align them.
Printer software that’s included also displays ink levels and warns you (quite ahead of time) that you’re getting low so you can have another one ready.
Allows a wide variety of photo settings. The borderless function works as advertised.
To summarize, while I wouldn’t subject this printer to the rigors of office use, this is an excellent general purpose printer for home use that also does quite a good job with photos. It also helps that it is really easy on your wallet. I highly recommend for home users on a budget.
Up to 18 ppm black, 12 ppm color Prints 4-by-6-inch borderless photos in just 93 seconds 4,800 x 1,200 color dpi, 600 x 600 dpi black Advanced MicroFi...More at Amazon Marketplace
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