Canon PIXMA IP5000

Author's product rating:   

Picture quality	Excellent
Printing speed	Fast
Colour sensitivity	Good
Ease of use	Easy
Value For Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Design, crisp quality text, clear photos, low running costs and quiet as a mouse .
Disadvantages:	Small issues over USB ports and PictBridge

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I needed to update the geriatric printer I had. After struggling with it for 2 years, feeding each and every individual piece of paper into it and assisting the spooling process I was growing tired with it.

The man in the shop was very helpful. I explained that I would soon need to print an awful lot of scientific papers, my undergraduate dissertation and in a few years time my PhD thesis. He recommended a few and pointed out the different features of each. The final decision fell on me and I plumbed for a Canon PIXMA iP5000.

General Printing
It is capable of printing up to 25 pages per minute (ppm) black ink and 17 ppm in colour. This is perfect for printing scientific papers and my dissertation too. It's is extremely fast and I have no complaints. These are maximum speeds however and have to be custom set. The standard speeds are 15 ppm black ink and 11 ppm in colour. I've timed pages and found this to be on the whole true for block text but more complicated things like headings, bullet points and images obviously add to the printing speed a little.

The text is of laser quality even on standard office copier and makes this model a cross between an office and home printer. It does not give fuzzy lettering so even smaller type sizes are easy and clear to read. Graphics also print very well, have clean tones and rarely irregular dithering.

The drive system is very quiet and even when the ink is charging there is only a bit of whirring. Canon claims that this is under 35 decibels even on the highest quality print setting. The front right of the printer has a user panel on. This has two buttons for selecting the paper source options, a socket for PictBridge and a power button on the corner.

Windows & Mac compatible
The PIXMA iP5000 is compatible with more recent Windows and Mac systems. It will work with later systems but often some of the extra features are lost. It connects via USB but other options are available to buy separately. This is my only niggle. I have a laptop and can't stand to use the mousepad on it so one of USB ports is always occupied by an optical mouse. This leaves only one USB port available and I have to swop and change this between a memory stick, digital camera, ipod and the printer. I haven't managed to part with any money for an alternative means so I can't hate it that much. Anyway with a PC this would be less of a problem.

Paper Sources
The printer has dual paper trays. On the top, a lift up flap supports top loading paper any size up to A4. Underneath is a pull out drawer that closes fully with smaller paper sizes (4 x 6, 5 x 7 and letter size) but has an extendable space for A4 this stores 150 sheets. Unfortunately with A4, the drawer does not close fully and slightly ruins the look of the printer but if it did close properly the printer would be bigger so I can't complain. Either the top loading option or the draw can be selected as paper sources on both the printer and the computer at the time of sending to print. With only the bottom tray loaded the printer looks neat. To print only the pop down out tray needs to be opened and extended to catch the printed paper. When it is not printing this can be closed and disguises where the paper comes out.

It is a bit of luxury to have two options for paper loading. I usually have both A4 and photo paper loaded at the same time, greatly reducing the messing about when changing from one to the other. Also, it is also possible to have two A4 sizes loaded for example different colours or paper quality.

The printer takes the following types of paper: Photo paper, glossy photo paper, glossy paper plus semi-gloss, t-shirt printing paper, sticky labels, plain and high quality white paper.
There is an illusive third method of printing. This involves folding down a secondary tray from the front of the printer. This accepts a CD tray for direct printing on CD or DVD media. This comes as an attachment in the printer package but you have to buy printable CDs/DVDs separately. These CDs are more expensive than normal writable CDs so not a function I use regularly. Although it does make CDs look more professional so I have used to type what is on the CD when I have been required to submit university coursework on CD.

Double Sided Printing
Known as duplex printing is a godsend. The duplex option can be selected when a document is sent to print or selected to be permanently on or permanently off. The duplex unit is integral so once one side had been printed and printer sucks it back in and does the other side automatically without the need to turn it over and re-feed it. This saves time as a number of documents can be sent at once and then I can go and watch TV while it does the hard work. Duplex printing also saves paper which I'm very keen on both cost and environmentally.

Photo Printing
The iP5000 can print photo quality pictures too. I had a separate photo printer but rarely used it as it was too much hassle. Having one printer for both purposes solves this problem. This printer boasts breakthrough 1pl (pico litre) ink drop size (more on this later). The photo quality is comparable to photographs from a professional developer. The borderless 4" x 6" photograph option is also very useful and only takes 36 seconds per picture.

There is also an option to print from a digital camera and avoid a computer completely. It supports PictBridge, for direct photo printing from all compatible digital cameras and camcorders.
The boxed printer also comes with a sample set of 4 x 6 size photo paper to get you started.

Ink
The iP5000 printer features Canon's latest 'Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering (FINE) print head' technology. This is a high performance print head with 1,856 nozzles which allows it to eject precise and consistent 1 picoliter droplets. These small droplets are what give a picture or text detail up to 9600 x 2400 colour dpi resolution.

The Ink system is very economical. It uses individual ink tanks so called 'Canon's Think Tank System.' This consists of five transparent ink tanks; Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black dye-based inks plus a larger pigment-based black ink tank which gives crisp high-quality black text.

The ink tanks are replaced individually via the front of the printer, slide and click into place. This is handy rather than an entire cartridge having to be replaced which often containing unused ink. I have found the saving considerable. The see-through tanks mean it is easy to see when they need replacing but the printing box on the computer screen also gives a good indication of how close they are to replacement. The ink tanks are easy to find in printing shops, computer stores and larger supermarkets. They can also be refilled reducing environmental waste.

The black text ink is almost double the size of the others. It's like Canon know you'll print more text and won't want to replace it as often!

When I bought the printer the assistant assured me that Canon consider its print heads to be lifetime components, and this is the first time a head for a thermal ink-jet has been rated for life in a consumer printer. If damaged, the print head is removable and replaceable. I have had no problems with mine but it is good to know since other manufacturers require the whole printer to be returned if there is a print head problem.

Installation
Once you managed to unpack the printer removing all the protective coverings it's reasonably fast to set up. The print head is installed using the quick start instructions then the ink tanks fitted. The CD allows easy installation of the software which includes a test page. After that you're good to go.

Size and Energy Consumption
Energy consumption is approximately 0.65 W on stand-by and during printing 16 W. After printing the last thing in a queue, the printer has a small delay before it goes into stand-by mode. When another document is sent, the printer jumps into action again. The on/off button is on the right corner of the printer. It requires an AC power supply at 110-120 V or AC 220-240 V. The plug cable attaches to the back of the printer and lies flush to the printer so that when it is pushed against a wall it doesn't stick out. A nice design feature and something I appreciated when I had to store the printer on a shelf.

The dimensions are as follows: 418 (W) x 286 (D) x 170 (H) mm
Weight: 6.7 kg

Printing Options
The software the printer comes with is extensive but here are a few of the features it includes:

On the Page Setup menu you can choose paper size, orientation, duplex and print margins. The Stamp/Background page allows you to add a stamp or a background to all your pages. The effects menu has illustration, monochrome, sepia, noise reduction and other picture enhancing options. Under the profiles tab you can save custom sets of print settings for easy printing. The print preview allows you to check that a rotated image fits on the paper correctly with the right margins.

On the maintenance menu there are buttons to allow you to clean the nozzles or if they are really clogged, a 'Deep Cleaning' cycle. I have never felt the need to use this option but have used the other out of interest once. If the printed paper is smudged, the inside of the printer may be dirty and can be cleaned with the 'Bottom Plate Cleaning' button. Just the black print head can be cleaned without wasting coloured ink, or vice versa. The inside of the printer is cleaned by clicking the bottom plate cleaning button. As mentioned previously, the printer status monitor shows how much ink is left.

There's also an easy WebPrint function that prints the selected text of a site but not adverts. This web software installs as a task bar to your browser. Additionally if you wanted to print an online manual that has a number of pages which you would normally navigate and print each one individually, you can start at the index page and set the pages you wish to print from there.

Cost and Design
As Inkjet printers go this is sure to be a contender for anyone wishing to purchase a new printer. It looks rather sleek and sat on a shelf or desk is a bit of a Chinese lacquered box. None of the old fashioned dimpled matt plastic casing. It is slightly larger than a conventional desktop home printer but this matches its home-office capabilities. I like the rounded corners and fold out components. When it is not in use it can be folded up and looks rather smart.

It is available online and at high street computer stores for around the £120 mark. I wasn't looking at price when I chose it but viewing Canon's other printers this was a middle-upper price range. It is superb value considering it does document, Photo and CD printing and all to a high quality. Even the ink is cheaper than other models and lasts longer and you might expect this reduced user cost to be compensated by a higher purchase cost but it isn't. When you buy it, it is worth asking how much ink is included. I was told that half filled tanks of each colour were inside the box but asking got me another fully filled set for free. When I opened the box there was also a voucher for half price ink on my next purchase too! I have yet to buy full price ink but it seems to be priced at a reasonable cost.

Verdict
This Canon PIXMA iP5000 Printer is both a great photo printer and document printer. It is suitable for home and office tasks offering duplex and sharp laser quality text with fast print speeds.
What makes this printer even better is the dual paper sources. If the bottom tray is used the printer looks compact and only the front output tray needs opening to print. These options allow it to be tailored to your needs and that's how it should be.

The convenience features don't end with duplex and dual paper sources either. The USB socket for PictBridge photograph printing. Again PictBridge must be bought separately and your digital camera must be compatible. Where Canon went wrong was to use PictBridge instead of a memory card (SmartMedia) slot. This would allow the transfer of images from a camera directly to the printer without the need for PictBridge.

The purchase and running costs are both low and are not off-set by quality. I would reccoment this printer whole heartedly if you would make use of all it's features. If printing on CDs isn't for you then there are lighter, smaller Canon printers that have all the other features at a smaller cost. For home and office work it excels and even the computer shy could install it. I have had no teething problems with my printer which is the high quality I expect from a reputable computer ware company such as Canon.

My final point is that Canon use a lot of jargon and feel the need to give complicated names to the technology implemented in this printer. Think tank this and picolitre droplets that... whether you are considering it for home, office or a mixture of both you probably want this in real terms. It's best to ask the assistants to explain everything in words you understand. When it all boils down and the steam is cleared this printer is still just as impressive and its printing features, options, efficiency, speed, cost and reliability speak for itself.

I have included some images of the printer as the various components, trays and flaps are difficult to describe.