Home > Consumer Reviews > Canon PIXMA MX850 Multi Function Printer

I'd been looking for a replacement for my HP PSC 2210 AIO printer for some time, having had a disappointing experience with an HP Officejet 6310 on the way (see my review for full saga...). I need networking connectivity for a Small Office/Home Office environment and that narrows the field somewhat. Anyway, having waited a while I decided to review the market again and low and behold Canon has just announced two new models, the Pixma MX7600 (available Apr 08) and this, the MX850.

Until now I've always had HP printing products and even with my recent bad experience still felt a little nervous changing manufacturer. So having checked the spec, I decided to take the plunge and I'm really pleased I did. Construction is sturdy and well engineered and it's acceptably quiet in operation. The only downside is that the overall dimensions are quite large but having said that, mine sits nicely on a 400mmx500mm cabinet with only a small overhang front (control deck) and rear (sheet feeder). On the subject of sheet feeders, there are three; one rear as stated, another at the front and an ADF (Automatic Document Feeder) on top. What I particularly like about this is that I can shut the rear one down and just use the front & ADF. Furthermore, the front paper tray is integral, ie it doesn't protrude, and the exit tray is covered by a door that opens automatically when a page is ejected. Note that some media types can only be used in certain trays so check your requirements beforehand; all are suitable for A4 paper. Finally, there is a CD/DVD adapter for printable media and this stores away neatly under the front paper tray when not in use.

So how does it perform? So far I've used the print, scan, copy and fax functions, including duplex printing via the ADF, and the MX850 has performed flawlessly over a LAN using any of my 3 XP-based machines. Use is reasonably intuitive and print quality is as good as I've seen from any other inkjet machine. I haven't tried printing photos or CDs so can't comment on those functions. Ink cartridges are reasonably priced (<£8 each) primarily because unlike some manufacturers', they don't incorporate the print head. Whilst this may be seen as a disadvantage by some, the bundled software includes a multitude of cleaning & deep cleaning utilities and if that fails a replacement print head is available for ~£15. Some things to watch out for:

* The mains leads and print cartridges are packed in a box stored inside the front Paper Output Tray - when you've searched everywhere else!
* Even if you're solely going to use the Ethernet connection, you must first connect using the USB port in order to set up the machine. Use the second option "Set up the printer and the computer for network use" for the first computer and then the third option "Set up only the computer for network use" for subsequent machines. This isn't made clear in the blurb. Also, you'll need a USB lead in addition to any LAN cables, none of which are included.
* These Canon print cartridges contain a micro-chip that, from the reviews, appears to be essential for correct printer operation. Allegedly third party cartridges won't work.

That's about it. Hope it was helpful to somebody.

What a fantastic value replacement multi function home office printer. I bought this printer to replace my Dell A960 all in one and it has not disappointed. I use this plugged into the back of my wireless router so now allows me to print wirelessly from my laptop without having the desk top on. Set up was straight forward, however even for network set up you must use a a USB lead connected to your main computer first - follow the instructions and you cannot go wrong.

Replacement ink is not that expensive either, see Ink Fusion and you can get a set of replacement 5 tanks for around £40. Not sure how long the ink will last. My tip is, do not stint on the ink - always buy Canon originals.

Photo quality printing is brilliant, especially when you are using high quality photo quality paper. Shop around for the paper, Canon paper is over priced and there are equally high quality alternatives that are cheaper. Ink dries very very quickly, 4"x6" photos are just about dry to the touch straight off the machine and come out of the printer in much less than a minute.

Printer is larger than it's predecessor in our house, and if you are operating in a small space then think about your desk space as it will eat up an area 51cm x 50 cm.

The Automatic Document Feeder works a treat, and scanning more than one page at a time has become so much easier. Duplex printer, though not of the same speed as a main stream office laser, works fine but is slower to get the first print out. Using ink jet on two sides of normal 80 gm/sqm paper can make the paper a bit soggy if printing out pictures, but for text is fine.

I have yet to use the stand alone fax send and receive functions so cannot comment on these now.

In summary - an excellent home office work tool - outstanding photo quality printing, at speed, ease of use with network connectivity especially when hooked up to a wireless router. Highly recommended.

Once set up, the unit works really well. It's quick, provides perfectly decent print quality, and looks robust. (My previous HP 6110 eventually fell apart after not many years of not particularly heavy use, and the driver started doing really bad things to the computer it was connected to).

Scanning across the network works very well, the fax function seems OK, and there seem to be more features than I'll ever get to in a long while.

The unit is operating fine from both PCs (Windows XP) and Macs (OS X 10.5).

Main complaint: this is without question the nastiest setup process I've ever encountered on a printer. The Mac setup in the manual didn't work at all on OS X 10.5 (and fails ungracefully): after several attempts, I had to spot the bit in the scrap of paper that accompanied the printer that tells you to look in the guide on the CD and do something different. The PC setup involved multiple disconnections and reboots - and that's without anything going wrong - and required a run around every PC on the network with disks.

Worth the hassle, I think, given that the results are really good now it's all working, but a thoroughly unpleasant setup experience.

A fantastic printer but first a little preamble!

I'd always had Epson printers in the past and been very pleased with them, until the Epson R300. Repeatedly paying £72 for a cartridge set made me somewhat agrieved so I looked on eBay to get them more cheaply. I found some "originals" at around £34 and bought them only to find most wouldn't work. I then went to Asda and bought some "compatibles" at around £30-odd only to find that they exhausted so quickly (one hemorrhaged inside the airtight seal before I'd even opened it. So what is the moral of this little aside? Check the prices of the original cartridges before you buy your next printer, use the numerous reviews out there to gauge the ink-tank life and then just pay the price for the originals!

Now back to the review. As the Epson was about 5-6 years old and I needed a fax as well as a printer I looked in Which? magazine where they rated the Canon MX850 as a Multifunction "Best Buy".

I bought mine through Amazon. The printer arrived within 3 days in a very, very large and heavy box. (Be warned! Even out of the packaging it is not a small printer if you intend to use it at home). I then set about installing it but could not get the fax to work. I took a trip to my local Maplin store (ecxellent, knowledgable staff too!) where I was informed that you don't connect a fax directly into a Broadband line. Ignorance is bliss! I had to buy a double phone plug adapter and extension cable (another £11) and that solved the problem.

Once set up, the printer is very easy to use with the colour screen offering prompts for the different functions. Duplex printing/copying is excellent and reasonably quick too.

Print quality is excellent. Photos are much better than the Epson R300 with no evident graining, good shadow detail and good colour balance. Print speed is very good and, according to Which? cost per print is very reasonable - for a home printer. Remember that if you want to print a lot of photo's take a memory card or stick to Asda or Aldi's in-store services - allegedly much, much cheaper with very good quality.

Printing directly onto printable CD's/DVD's is both simple and effective with quality being quite good. On-screen auto-tutorials mean that it's difficult to go wrong - unlike my previous Epson.

The fax is simple to use and allows both colour and monochrome transmissions and receipts. There are other advanced setting options available too such as fax quality settings, Tel. No. memory, fast-dial etc.

If there is a criticism, it's the scanner quality. Fine for genreal text and graphics but photo scanning leaves a bit to be desired and certainly no match for my 5 yr old Epson Perfection 2400 scanner. If you want to scan in an original photo to edit in Photoshop or the like, then it really isn't up to the task. I suppose that there is a price to pay somewhere for a multifunction device.

Would I recommend it? If you are looking for a multi-function printer and have the space on your desktop I would say yes. Overall, I'm very pleased with mine.

I've had this printer for several months now and, overall, it is very good indeed. Text printing is of near laser quality and graphics and photos are only just short of the better photo printers. The duplex operation, while a bit slow, is very handy.
Minor tip: You can set the wait time between printing the two sides (for drying) to a much shorter time, through the inbuilt menus.
The only slight downside with this printer, is with its use of colour ink when printing b/w or monochrome. It always uses a small amount of the colour inks no matter what the print settings.
Apart from that, it's quick and has all the main functions needed for most small business or home uses.