Canon PIXMA iP6700D

Introduction
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I would like to start of with explaining why I bought this product. I bought this product primarily because I needed a new 6 ink printer because recently I have been having problems with my old Canon model. My old printer was good quality but had just reached the end of its lifespan. I chose this product as a replacement as it looked stylish and I figured it would compliment my new digital camera perfectly. The first thing that attracted me to this product was the design. It is quite compact and should fit in with plenty of room on any desk or work surface. As there is a wide range of printers out there it can be hard to choose the right for you. I often to have this problem and often just go on other people experiences by reading reviews such as this one. On my old model printer I seemed to somehow always leave it with finger marks, however on the surface of this machine the finger marks seem non existent on its grey metallic finish. The finish of this machine also seems to eliminate a build up of dust which makes this machine look as good as new as time goes on.

Overview
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This is the latest in Canons top new range of six photo printers. I have not tested the others in the series but I am assured by others that the 6700D is the best that has been released. The printer uses six individual I tanks filled with a dye-based ink. A good feature of this machine that is not apparent on all printers is the ability to work from the printer rather than your PC. You can do pretty much anything using the easy to use controls on the front of this device such as simply printing photos or at a touch of a button you can transfer stored pictures to your PC. This machine is flexible in its media handling and this makes it a great addition to your home. It supports direct DVD/CD printing as well as automatic double-sided (duplex) printing as standard.

The machine has two paper trays so you can swap between document and photo printing with ease. I liked that the two trays could be loaded simultaneously so that I did not have to continually swap the types of materials like I have had to do in the past with other machines. I have had to replace the ink once on this machine but only because it’s so much fun to use! When it came to replace the ink I could do this with ease and found it so much easier than on some other printers I have had in the past. Although I have seen many Epson printers where the ink change is even easier than on this product. I liked Canon's illuminated ink cartridges which meant I could immediately see which cartridge to replace.

I found the speed of this machine to be very fast when printing certain types of documents. However in printing other types of documents, such as when I printed from Photoshop, The speed of the machine was more average than fast in my opinion. When printing my photos at their highest quality though I found that this printer goes faster than any other I have seen at these settings. You can conveniently set the printer to a sort of automatic settings mode that will print in the way that the printer feels is most suitable for the job in hand.

The installation of this machine was very quick and little effort from was needed in order o set this up with my pc. It would be hard to make a mistake when installing the printer as you are helped through every step of the way. Of course if you do somehow manage to get stuck, the instruction manual is always on hand to help you out of any problems. However for a machine with so many special features I would have liked the instruction booklet to include a little more information as at times it seemed to me a little vague.

Disadvantages
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I found two minor problems with this machine. The first of which being that if you make a mistake when using the printers interface then you cannot cancel your print easily from the printer itself. This means that you have to go back over to your pc to cancel then start over again. I should point out that eventually I did find how to cancel from the machine but it was so hidden and through so many button presses that you like me will probably just stick to cancelling at your PC if a mistake is made.

The second problem I encountered was when I printed with image production software such as Photoshop, I found that faint borders were sometimes seen around my images that I did not order to be put their. I did try to solve the issue but in the end had to save my images and then print them from another program instead of Photoshop. As of now I have requested technical assistance but two days on have received no reply.

Specification
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PIXMA iP6700D printer
Ink-jet color
Photo printer
42.9 cm x 30.4 cm x 18.3 cm dimensions (WxDxH)
7.5 kg weight
Canon FINE technology
6-ink - cyan, magenta, yellow, black, photo cyan, photo magenta
Max Media Size - A4
Max Media Size (custom) - 216 mm x 356 mm
Up to 18 ppm - black fast ink speed
Up to 17 ppm - colour fast ink speed
Up to 6.5 ppm - black normal ink speed
Up to 4.9 ppm - colour normal ink speed
9600 dpi x 2400 dpi Max B&W Resolution
9600 dpi x 2400 dpi Max Colour Resolution
Duplex Printout
Built-in Print on CD/DVD
USB, infrared Interfaces
3.5" Preview Screen
Card reader
Media Types - Envelopes, plain paper, iron-on transfers, photo paper, semi-gloss photo paper, photo stickers, glossy photo paper, fine art paper, matt photo paper, high resolution paper, DVD discs, CD discs
300 sheets Total Media Capacity
150-sheet input tray
150-sheet paper cassette
Borderless printing
AC 120/230 V power
System Requirements - Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, Apple MacOS X 10.2.8 - 10.4

Price
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You can buy this machine for as little as £95.00 on some internet sites. I would recommend checking out your local printer store for special offers to though.

Final Thoughts
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This is a great buy for anyone looking for a new 6-ink printer. This device incorporates all the best ideas that have made other Canon printers such good quality. I would recommend this to anyone as it is easy to use and should not give you too many problems like other machines. If you’re looking for a printer that will last you a long time though I would recommend another model as this machine although durable will run out of date with its features pretty fast.

Verdict
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8 out of ten.