Canon S 200x

...for me. It was the Canon S200SPx. I previously had a 100GBP Epson printer but the thing wasn’t working anymore. Something inside broke and I even when I sent it for repair, but nothing helped. ‘No spare parts were able to be found’ and that is what the repairman told me.

I used it for about a week, but I did not fully test it. This is due to the fact that my brother came back to take the printer away for his own use in some other state. ...
...good as well.
Although Canon claims this printer to have 2880x720 Dpi, with vivid photo technology, it just wasn’t outstanding enough.

Taking in the paper was no problem at all, and so far there has never been a paper stuck or jams on it. It sucks in quite smoothly, prints it and vomits the paper out on the other side without having to worry at all.

This printer only accepts A4 size papers or smaller. Not recommended ... more

My dad purchased this printer for me when I needed it to complete my coursework. At first I told him I needed a printer which I would mainly use to only print black and white. So the next day, he got this for me. It was the Canon S200SPx. I previously had a 100GBP Epson printer but the thing wasn’t working anymore. Something inside broke and I even when I sent it for repair, but nothing helped. ‘No spare parts were able to be found’ and that is what the repairman told me.

I used it for about a week, but I did not fully test it. This is due to the fact that my brother came back to take the printer away for his own use in some other state. I’m left without a printer, so the next day, my dad got me a new one instead. This is then I discovered the true capabilities of this printer.

This Printer is any PC Win98 or higher and Mac OS 8.6 or higher compatible, and the warranty period is 1 year from date of purchase.

It comes in a yellow large box, properly packed and adequately Styrofoamed for protection. The picture on the box only shows the picture of the printer and does not really look fascinating. Once opened, you’ll notice the printer is wrapped in a plastic, adequately sealed with tapes so prevent moving parts and additional individual pieces from flinging about around in the box.
Once the plastic is taken off, you notice more plastic. It’s the printer I mean. It looks smells and feels like plastic. Confirmed, it is plastic, without having to taste it. I don’t agree with it as it has the plasticky looks and is somewhat fragile. But the design is not that bad after all, looks simple, nice smooth finish and comfortable to the touch. Basically, the ones old in my place only comes in White colour, with a blue front. I do not know if there’s any other colour.

The whole printer comes in 7 individual pieces and you’ll have to DIY. They are: The printer itself, 2 paper supporters, 1 USB cable, 1 power plug, 1 Black Ink and 1 Colour Ink.
On the printer itself only appears one button. The magic button does manual reloading order when you’re out of paper, or cancels a print job. That’s all the printer button does and it needs nothing more. To reload the ink when it’s finished, just turn on the external power and open the blue cover at the front. The printer head will automatically align itself to the middle for you to replace it. Cleaning is not necessary as it has an auto clean mode, configured through PC.
Since it is easy to fix and easy to use, although the instructions manual is provided, it is not needed to be used.

Once plugged into your comp, and the external power is turned on, the printer’s startup is quite long. It takes about 30 seconds to start up before it settles down. Within that 30 sec or more, you’ll hear funny noises, wheels turning, printer head is moving and whatever…. And after that, it stays very quiet, this then would mean that it has properly settled down and you can start any of your printing applications.

The software provided is easy to use, and easy to install. You will be given a picture viewer, just like ACDC and you are able to select your pictures, and print it any way you like, i.e: Thumbnails, Full page, 10 pictures in one page, or just about anything. For user friendliness, I’ll give it a 9/10.

Performance:
If you’d print it black and white on a economy or standard mode, it prints relatively fast. The High quality mode would take a longer time. Printing isn’t as sharp as laser printers or other bubble jets but it is good enough and clear enough to be read. Only a little smudges on some words can be seen if you take a magnifying glass to go over it. For normal looks, it looks just as good as any other magazine or newspaper printing. It goes easy on the eyes.
Whereas, printing a large JPEG format picture would take quite long, at about 4-5 minutes a page. Colour would be worse. A full page coloured picture will make you wait for about 6-8 minutes, depending on the quality selection.
Basically, it prints at around 3-4 Pages per minute, and the black printing is certainly satisfactory. Printing colour would be terrible. There seems to be a little problem on the colour ink cartridges. When a colour picture is printed, the picture has more blue on it than any other colour. This will make any or every single picture look blue and dull. I sorta doubted it that the ink cartridges do not separate the ink properly on the inside.
I think every colour picture it printed sucked, and the best quality does not look good as well.
Although Canon claims this printer to have 2880x720 Dpi, with vivid photo technology, it just wasn’t outstanding enough.

Taking in the paper was no problem at all, and so far there has never been a paper stuck or jams on it. It sucks in quite smoothly, prints it and vomits the paper out on the other side without having to worry at all.

This printer only accepts A4 size papers or smaller. Not recommended for large papers. The reserve section for paper is somewhat amazing. You can load at least 40-45 of 80gsm papers as reserves on the top-back, without having any problem. But I would not dare to say the same if you’d put a thick photo paper in it.

So far, I think I might have already printed 1000 pages, and it all turned out perfectly. The only problem was that the inks run out very quickly. Since January till now, I had changed the cartridge 3 times.

The printer uses only around 15 or 20 watts during printing and 2 watts during standby, which is quite power saving.

I had a doubt actually, if this printer only uses so little power, why does it need an external power and cable? Why don’t they just cram everything up in the USB so that it takes the power from the PC, like most of their scanners?

The computer weighs around 2kg, and cos’ the size it quite small, it sits perfectly on top of my computer tower, along with my DSL Modem. Because of its size and weight, I even thought of making it a portable printer. I don’t mind carrying it around while traveling.

I believe it is made in Japan, but locally assembled.

Price? Hey, it the cheapest bubble jet printer around! The whole printer costs only 25GBP! I don’t think there’s any other printer cheaper than that. It’s the cheapest range of printers from Canon.
As for the ink, Original Inks comes cheap too! The black ink costs only 2.5GBP and the colour ink costs within 4-5GBP. It’s all original Canon ink and you DON’T have to get an unofficial brand!
Besides that, guess what? It comes with a free scientific calculator too from Casio! That was the deal I get over here.
Price of inks may vary and I heard that Canon is going to increase the price of it. So better hurry!

Canon service centres are easy to be found, and even any other computer non-canon shops would also gladly accept them to be repaired, but of cos’ it comes with a price.

Mine is now covered with dust. I haven’t been using it for quite some time after I finished my coursework and exams. Well, I’ve tested it and the thing is still working perfectly. Maybe you’ll just have to test print once or twice during startup to keep the ink working.

If you’re a student who usually prints essays or charts, then this is the one for you. I’m a student myself! I would highly recommend only if you use if for your black and white printouts. For art students, forget about this. You’ll be disappointed with the colour. Trust me.

I have been using Canon products for quite sometimes like my scanner, and ixus camera, and now this, but none of them seem to be defective. I’m quite satisfied with their products overall.

For more info, check out http://www.canon-asia.com/spd/topframe.htm?printer

Thanks for reading, Ken.
 

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