Compare Prices
Postage & Packaging: Free!
Postage & Packaging: £3.​89
Postage & Packaging: £3.​89

Canon PIXMA iP4200

from (6 offers) · Product Information

Canon PIXMA iP4200

Quote-start

Canon Pixma IP4200

Quote-end

5 Mar 30th, 2006 

7 Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful

Advantages:
Quiet, fast, square, a paper tray plus a feeder and excellent prints .

Disadvantages:
Slightly bigger than others of the same price range .

Recommendable Yes:

Detailed rating:

Picture quality

Printing speed

Colour sensitivity

Ease of use

Value For Money

Tanziebob

Tanziebob

About me:

Member since:28.08.2005

Reviews:1

My previous printer was a Canon i850 - not a bad little printer - but it gave up recently so I started shopping around for a replacement. I half-heartedly looked at other makes, but the price and quality of the Canon printers, together with the price of their cartridges, always drew me back to them. They have a large range that I considered - the IP4200 was the cheapest at around £60, then the IP5200 and I also considered the MP500, an "all-in-one" printer.

The specs I looked at were:
IP4200 - price around £60, resolution 9600x2400 at 1pl (picolitre - very fine drops of ink), DVD/CD direct printing, one paper tray and one paper feeder.
IP5200 - price around £82 and everything else much the same as above, but it had two paper trays.
MP500 - price around £120, printer the same as above, but with a scanner/copier working at 1200x2400 resolution.

I decided to discount the MP500 - I already had a scanner that worked okay and I'm sure that if I was to buy another one, I'd be able to get one with a better resolution. (plus, if part of the MP500 broke, I'd have to replace it all!).

So then it was between the two normal printers. In the end I plumped for the IP4200 because I really couldn't see the need for two paper trays.

Right - after all that waffle - what's it like?

First off, you need a USB cable, preferably USB2 compliant - you don't get one with the printer.

On the plus side (which is fairly hefty) - you DO get a full set (5 tanks) of ink cartridges - and not these cut down ones you sometimes get with new printers. Nope, these are proper, full sized, full ones. You get the usual Cyan, Magenta and Yellow, then two blacks - one for photos and one for normal text. You also get the printhead in a seperate sealed bag, which is very easy to install. Ink cartridges generally cost between £8-£10 each - but note that, at the time of writing, there are no compatibles out there for this machine.

Set up was fairly easy - it comes with a step by step guide, although it may be worthwhile reading it through once before starting. The first thing that impressed me was the printhead alignment - on my previous printers, you print out a sheet of paper then you have to go through some routine of choosing which blocks of colour are best. This printer does all that by itself, automatically. Very cool. It seems to print a bit out, then go back and "look at it" then print the next line, etc, etc.

The printer comes with 5 sheets of 6x4 Canon Photo Paper Pro, so you can get started and I have to say, I wasn't greatly impressed when I printed out a couple of photos that I'd taken with my Kodak 3.1MP camera. But I did wonder if it was the actual photos that were the problem, rather than the printer, so I downloaded a high quality, high resolution photo off the internet and printed that out. WOW!!!! I have to say, it was just a picture of a cat, but I cannot stop looking at it. I was so impressed. I cannot believe that something of that quality can come off a printer. A printer costing £60 no less. The quality was amazing - but unfortunately shows that either myself or my camera aren't really up to the printer's standards!! (Although I did discover a couple of mucky fingerprints on my camera lense afterwards, so that probably didn't help!).

As far as the paper tray/feeder goes - it took me a while to work out how to put A4 paper into the tray (I gave in and had a look at the manual - one downside - the manual is on the CD - I much prefer paper ones). Note that, if you put A4 paper in the tray, it sticks out of the bottom of the printer by a good 2-3 inches - however, it comes with a cover and, with the output tray down, it "disappears".

There is a button on the front of the printer to manually select which input you want - tray or sheet feeder - however, you can also set it to automatically use the tray for certain types of paper - for example, I have set it to automatically use the tray whenever I select A4 plain paper, regardless of what is selected on the button. This way it keeps the printer looking much more streamlined as I can keep the top feeder shut, and reduces the amount of dust inside.

As far as the design goes - it looks like a box with the corners rounded - not particularly pretty, but very handy with its flat top. On the front are the on/off button (although I don't use that, I have it set up to come on automatically when a print job it sent, then switch off when it has been idle for a while); the resume button and the paper tray selector. There is also a socket on the front to directly connect "Pictbridge" compatible cameras.

It also comes with a DVD/CD tray - you insert your printable CD/DVD into the tray and then slide that into the printer to the front for printing directly onto the DVD/CD. I haven't tried this facility yet as I need to buy some special discs, but the printer comes with plenty of software - easy to use but not too "automatic" - including software to help print onto the discs.

All in all, a very impressive piece of kit for the price - I really can't see how you could get any better than this as far as print quality goes. 

How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines

exceptional

very helpful

helpful

somewhat helpful

not helpful

off topic

Products you might be interested in »

Canon PIXMA iP3600

Canon PIXMA iP3600

Digital Photo Printer, Photo printer - Inkjet - Colour: 9600 dpi - x 2400 dpi - USB, Direct print USB

User reviews (2)

Buy now for only £ 55.99

Epson Stylus Photo R2880

Epson Stylus Photo R2880

Digital Photo Printer - Inkjet - Black: 5760 dpi - x 1440 dpi - Colour: 5760 dpi - x 1440 dpi - Direct print USB, USB

User reviews (2)

Buy now for only £ 193.95

Canon PIXMA iP2600

Canon PIXMA iP2600

Digital Photo Printer - Inkjet - Colour: 4800 dpi - x 1200 dpi - USB

User reviews (2)

Buy now for only £ 14.99

HP Color LaserJet CP1515n

HP Color LaserJet CP1515n

Workgroup Printer - Laser - Black: 600 dpi - x 600 dpi - Colour: 600 dpi - x 600 dpi - Ethernet 10/100Base-TX, USB

User reviews (5)

Buy now for only £ 172.49

Canon PIXMA iP4700

Canon PIXMA iP4700

Digital Photo Printer - Inkjet - Colour: 9600 dpi - x 2400 dpi - Direct print USB, USB

User reviews (1)

Buy now for only £ 78.19

Polaroid PoGo CZU-10011B

Polaroid PoGo CZU-10011B

Compact Photo Printer - Thermal - Bluetooth, USB

User reviews (1)

Buy now for only £ 18.99

Comments about this review »

MAFARRIMOND 30.03.2006 21:37

An impressive first review. Maureen

tomi111 30.03.2006 13:42

That was a great one there.. all details covered.. Keep it up.. Welcome to Ciao

belfin 30.03.2006 12:12

Hi there, welcome to the site. Good first review. Belinda

Compare prices for Canon PIXMA iP4200 »

1 to 5 out of 6 offers for Canon PIXMA iP4200 Show all offers   sorted by: Price 
10 Canon Compatible Ink Cartridges ip4200 ip4300 ip5200

10 Canon Compatible Ink Cartridges ip4200 ip4300 ip5200

The Compatible Cartridges listed below are supplied without the microchip&require the chip ... more

from the existing Original Canon Ink
Cartridge.Therefore please ensure you have
retained the Original Cartridge with Chip.It is a
simple proceedure&full instruct...

amazon marketplace electronics

Postage & PackagingFree!
AvailabilityUsually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
 Visit Shop  >
amazon marketplace e...
CANON Kit ink cartridge CL-41 - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow + photo paper 10x15 - 100 pages for  ...

CANON Kit ink cartridge CL-41 - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow + photo paper 10x15 - 100 pages for ...

Canon has poured all the Know How of its extraordinary history of developing innovative ... more

office machines into each of its copiers,
printers, and networked office systems. The same
superiority of design and manufacture goes into
all of the Canon-branded ...

amazon marketplace electronics

Postage & Packaging£3.89
AvailabilityUsually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
 Visit Shop  >
amazon marketplace e...
CANON PG-50 High Capacity Ink Cartridge - Black for Canon PIXMA iP iP4200, MP150, MP160, M ...

CANON PG-50 High Capacity Ink Cartridge - Black for Canon PIXMA iP iP4200, MP150, MP160, M ...

Get the best results from your printer with Canon cartridges.The high-capacity PG-50 ... more

cartridge is compatible with PIXMA printers.

amazon marketplace electronics

Postage & Packaging£3.89
AvailabilityUsually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
 Visit Shop  >
amazon marketplace e...
CANON PG-50 High Capacity Ink Cartridge - Black for Canon PIXMA iP iP4200, MP150, MP160, M ...

CANON PG-50 High Capacity Ink Cartridge - Black for Canon PIXMA iP iP4200, MP150, MP160, M ...

Get the best results from your printer with Canon cartridges.The high-capacity PG-50 ... more

cartridge is compatible with PIXMA printers.

amazon marketplace electronics

Postage & Packaging£3.89
AvailabilityUsually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
 Visit Shop  >
amazon marketplace e...


More reviews »

Canon PIXMA iP4200 - review by reviewer_chris

Advantages: Cheap but high quality
Disadvantages: No screen

Canon PIXMA iP4200 - review by reviewer_chris reviewer_chris 11.06.2006 (14.06.2006) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Canon PIXMA iP4200

Canon PIXMA iP4200 - review by paperghost

Advantages: Printing Quality
Disadvantages: Noise

Canon PIXMA iP4200 - review by paperghost paperghost 08.07.2007 (08.07.2007) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Canon PIXMA iP4200

Canon PIXMA iP4200 - review by pehorts

Advantages: easy to use, 5 seperate ink cartridges
Disadvantages: does not have a screen

Canon PIXMA iP4200 - review by pehorts pehorts 09.10.2006 (10.10.2006) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Canon PIXMA iP4200

Canon PIXMA iP4200 - review by dhillcrest

Advantages: Prints well
Disadvantages: Chipped cartridges a nightmare.

Canon PIXMA iP4200 - review by dhillcrest dhillcrest 10.11.2007 (10.11.2007) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Canon PIXMA iP4200

Canon PIXMA iP4200 - review by benedictine

Advantages: individual ink tanks
Disadvantages: none

Canon PIXMA iP4200 - review by benedictine benedictine 21.06.2007 (21.06.2007) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Canon PIXMA iP4200



Are you the manufacturer / provider of Canon PIXMA iP4200? Click here