Canon's BJC-3000ink-jet printer is aimed squarely at the mid-range buyer. It's competitively priced, but lacks several features found on its more expensive BJC-6100 sibling.
Three key attributes make the BJC-3000 attractive. It uses pigment black ink for good text density, it uses the same individual colour replacement ink tank system as the 6100 and it offers USB connectivity as well as the conventional ECP parallel port. Mac driver software is included.
Where the BJC-3000 suffers compared to the BJC-6100 is as follows: slower printing, 4-colour photo printing instead of 6 colours, no straight through media path for printing on thick card and instead of a nice retractable paper rest, the user has to make do with a rather naff clip-on rest which falls off very easily. Gone, too, is the 6100's automatic print head alignment facility.
While the 6100 just about managed to meet its claim of 9 pages per minute (ppm) text throughput in draft mode, the 3000 only managed 6 ppm in our tests - despite claiming the same 9 ppm as the 6100.
On the other hand, text and colour graphics capability proved to be very good. Even on ordinary copier stock there was little tendency for the ink to soak through the paper. We weren't able to try the optional photo cartridge, but we have tried the older BJC-4400's similar photo ink arrangement. Like the BJC-3000, the BJC-4400 employs a 4-colour photo cartridge instead of the more acknowledged 6 or 7-colour systems available.
Using just lower density inks for photo printing is a half way house. Tones are improved and dots are less easy to see, but detail can be lacking. The BJC-3000 does share the same 1440x720dpi resolution as the BJC-6100, but even Canon concede that the 6100 will produce detectably superior photo results.
Noise is an area in which the BJC-3000 scores well. Although it tends to wake up and run a head cleaning cycle unexpectedly every now and again, it is not too annoying to listen to in use. The printer is also relatively compact and easy on the eye.
Installation wasn't trouble free. In the installation documentation there is a warning that the Windows 98 USB configuration procedure could get stuck. That's exactly what happened with us. An experienced Windows 98 user would be able to fix the problem very quickly and the warning document had clear advice how to fix the problem. However, the user shouldn't really be allowed to get into trouble in the first place.
Having already used a BJC-6100, it's difficult to judge the BJC-3000 generously. The 6100 is a very fine all-round printer. The BJC-3000 simply looks like a cut-down economy model. That said, for users who don't need a quality photo capability, there are plenty of inferior alternatives to the BJC-3000.
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Jul 21st, 2000
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