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611 of 616 found the following review helpful:
 Good evolution of Canon's All-In-One Printer Series Mar 31, 2006
By N. Schweitzer
I've been waiting for this printer to come out for quite some time. I previously used Canon's MP730 and completely loved it. This new version adds several great features, and after a few days of playing around with it, it has lived up to my high expectations.
The MP830 is a bit shorter and wider than Canon's previous all-in-ones, and it looks a bit more "classy" with a black-on-black keypad and a color LCD screen. There are two paper trays: the main tray is an upright tray in the rear, and a pull-out tray is located on the bottom of the machine. My old 730 had a plastic cover that protected the paper in the vertical tray from dust, and that cover is no longer included. I live is a dusty area, and if the paper gets a layer of dust on it, that dust can collect on and clog the print head. To remedy this, I've decided to use the smaller pull out tray as my primary paper tray (you can select the primary paper tray with a button on the keypad).
This printer uses Canon's new "8" series inks. While these are top-of-the-line inks (UV resistant, pigment/dye system), they are considerably more expensive than the 3 or 6 series inks used my many of Canons previous printers. Also, each ink cartridge has a small computer chip attached to it which makes obtaining remanufactured or generic cartridges difficult. At the moment you cannot find generic ink for this printer, and various websites advise against refilling these cartridges as they ink density is different from the previous inks, and doing so might wreck your printhead. So if you were used to paying $3/cartridge for generic canon cartridges, you might have to raise your ink budget for a while (currently, cartridges are about $14 each, and there are five of them in this printer).
This printer has duplex printing and scanning, meaning that it can scan/print both sides of a sheet. At some point, I was led to believe that the scanner was able to scan both sides *at the same time*, but that is actually not the case. After a piece of paper is scanned through the auto document feeder, it is sucked back in, flipped around and re-scanned. This adds considerable time to your scanning tasks. If you are pressed for time, it is actually faster to scan in "manual duplex" where you scan the front sides of pages, then manually the pages over and re-scan the back sides. However, if you want to hit the scan button and walk away, the auto-duplex does its job well. The same issue exists for duplex printing--it works, but it takes more time than if you had manually duplexed the pages.
The fax is a fax. It works fine, and some test color-faxes I sent came out well.
The copier also works well, and the duplexers allow you to make two-sided to two-sided copies, but as I said before, this takes some time.
The scanner does a great job with photos and documents. It is considerably faster than earlier models, thanks in part to the USB 2.0 interface and new scan sensor. Also, the updated scanning software is a significant improvment over previous versions.
I've printed out some photos and they are of amazing quality, which is what I expect from Canon printers. However, because of the cost of the inks, I will not be printing photos very often. The text is a bit light for my taste (the black is more like a very dark grey).
All in all, this is a great printer/scanner/fax/copier and I am very happy with it.
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Note: Unfortunately, the memory card slots on the printer do not allow for USB2.0 transfer to the comptuer. If you need to move lots of data from a memory card to your desktop, use a dedicated card-reader; using the slots on this printer takes way too long.
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ADDED 5/9/06: After having this machine for just over a month, I have to say it runs through ink way too fast. My ink status lists several cartridges as only 25% full, and is warning me that two of my colors are "almost empty." I print 90% black text, 9% color documents (web pages, rebate forms, etc), and only about 1% photos (I have only printed 2 4x6 photos since I purchased the printer). My previous Canon printers sipped ink, this machine chugs it, and at $14/cartridge, that is unacceptable. (Especially becuase the print quality isn't much better than previous printers.)
103 of 103 found the following review helpful:
 Ink Hog! Jul 21, 2006
By Steven D. Peterson
"world traveler"
I've owned this printer now for 2 months, having purchased it after my 2 year old Canon MP730 broke down. While I love the design and print quality of both printers, somehow Canon has managed to significantly increase the amount of ink you have to purchase on the newer model. For example, I've now replaced the large black cartridge [...] 4 times in 2 months. On the MP730, I doubt I replaced the regular size black cartridge [...] more than once every 3 months or so. I've actually never written an online review like this before, but have been so frustrated with the time and expense of replacing ink cartridges I felt compelled to warn other potential buyers. I personally will be looking for another printer for everyday use, and relegating this one to photos. This printer deserves 5 stars on quality and 1 star on ink useage.
47 of 47 found the following review helpful:
Great--but watch ink prices!!! Oct 19, 2006
By Mr. Scott D. Desalvo
"Scott D."
This product is the best multifunction inkjet printer on the market, bar none. It is a great update to Canon's MP780, in that print and scan speeds have increased, and the scanner scans both sides of a document at once, which is super. Based on its features and performance, it is a 5 out of 5 stars product. Nothing else comes close.
The down side is the ink prices. True, 5 separate ink tanks mean you only replace what you use, but the ink tanks are small, and run about $20 per cartridge, though you can get them cheaper online--but watch the jacked up shipping charges that put the per cartridge price back up at the $20 level. No one has come out with third party or aftermarket ink, because with this printer, Canon has "chipped" each cartridge, essentially making producing after market or third party ink replacements impossible. Several inkjet ink websites have been promising to have workable non-OEM ink cartridges for this model, but with the product being almost a year old now, there are still none available. It must be a pretty tough chip to emulate. That means no $5 ink for you--you pay full price.
I didn't know this when I bought it, and had I known, I probably would have bought another close-out MP780, which has 90% of the featuresof the MP830, but can use non-Canon ink cartridges. And of course, this fact is not something Canon would announce. My older Canon multifunction (at home) still works like a champ on non-Canon ink, and a full replacement of ink costs about $25--and I run through 2 or so sets of carts per year. $50 per year for a great multifunction that prints great photos? Not too shabby! This newer model at my office is going to cost me $100+ per ink change, so I have relegated it to photo-only printing, and mainly use its scanning and occasionally, copying functions. In fact, I might start printing photos at home so I do not spend ridiculous money on ink at work. I dislike using it to print anything, because I know that if I match my use on my home machine here at the office, it is going to cost me $200 or $300 a year for this machine. With ink prices that high, and a new machine costing about $200, we are almost at the point where it makes sense to buy a new once every time the ink runs out! I understand these companies need to make a profit, but if they cut their ink prices in half, they'd still make a killing on per unit ink sales, and consumers would be willing to pay a premium for OEM cartridges. We just dont want to be complete worked over on the ink, which $20 cartridges is.
46 of 46 found the following review helpful:
 One of the best multifunction printers May 03, 2006
By Banancheck
"bananacheck"
I have owned HP and Epson all in ones. After my HP died, I researched quite a bit, and decided on the Canon MP830. I have owned canon products in the past and have been very happy, and when Amazon offered this printer for 249.99, free shipping, I couldn't pass it up. Set up was very easy and the software very good. It only took about 40 minutes to get up and running. I knew when I bought it that it did not come with a USB 2.0 cable so I bought one to have on hand when the printer arrived. Contrary to one of the reviews here, I have no problem faxing "from the glass," without using my computer.
The print speed is excellent, and the automatic document feeder a big plus! I have tried all of the features and I am very happy with the fax and print. I am a little less enthusiastic about the copy and scan. I would have to say that these features are adequate, not great. My discontent is based on the fact that the scans and copies are a little off when it comes to the color of the original. I have searched the manual and cannot find if there is a way to calibrate the color for scans and copies. I noticed that particularly with gold, the scan and fax aren't able to reproduce the color accurately. Overall it is acceptable, but like I said, not great, hence the four star rating, instead of five stars.
As far as printing and faxing, this machine is really fantastic, and I have printed several photos that have turned out perfect. Black text is sharp for an inkjet, and color printing is accurate and fast! Faxing is problem free and a breeze with the ADF for multiple pages. BTW, this machine is capable of printing a 2 sided document from 2 one sided originals, or a 2 sided original. Very nice.
Pros: Price, speed, ease of use and friendly software. Sharp black text, and great color photo printing.
Cons: No USB cable. Color calibration for copy and scan.
50 of 51 found the following review helpful:
What Has Not Been Said So Far... Jul 04, 2006
By Micah
"Micah"
First Impressions: I've only owned it for a week, and its positive aspects have been mentioned in previous reviews, but here is what I find missing with the MP830:
I have been wanting to convert all of my gas receipts, bills and business cards I collect from others and assorted papers into digital files on my computer.I bought the 830 because it had an automatic document feeder/scanner combination, and the highly rated photo-qualtiy printer was a nice addition.
Once you own the machine and get the manual you find out 2 important things 1) Scanning from the Automatic Document Feeder will not yield as good results as individually placing items on the scanner (boo!) and 2) Forget about feeding in all sorts of small bills and business cards - the ADF won't respond unless its a relatively large piece of paper. (Another Boo!)
If you want a nice scanner/photo printer/copier then this is a nice one. If you want all of your documents, large and small, converted to digital files, you might want to look at the Fujitsu Snapscan 500, which can handle business cards fed into its ADF.
I will agree with a previous reviewer that having to physically turn on the printer when needed is annoying, compared to many which will come to life when a document needs printing.
As another reviewer stated, I also find it annoying that this machine cannot scan a legal size document.
Maybe I haven't figured it out yet, but from what I can tell of the Canon scanning software for the PC, it does not seem to have a lighness/darkeness adjustment which comes in very handy when copying from receipts that have different intensities of printing on them(e.g. a cash register receipt that is readable to the naked eye, but the ink is very faint).
I was happy to have the memory card reader built into the machine when I wanted a quick photo printed. Excellent!
This machine does have an enormous number of spiffy options and features when it comes to copying documents and printing photos. One example would be that you can print a plain paper "proof sheet" containing many photos, select the ones you want with a dark pencil, scan the proof sheet and the Canon will print only the selected photos. Another would be the copier's ability to fit 2 documents on the same side of a piece of paper.
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