Hi! I'm 20, from Leeds, UK. I'm nuts about rollercoasters, thrill rides and technology as you'll see...
Hi! I'm 20, from Leeds, UK. I'm nuts about rollercoasters, thrill rides and technology as you'll see from my reviews, check out my first Diamond of Cedar Point in the USA. Plenty of computer reviews coming, as I just built myself a new one! Tom.
Member since:20.10.2000
Reviews:49
Members who trust:29
I purchased a Canon S200x printer as a stop-gap measure when my absolutely dreadful Epson 680 gave up for good (a definite blessing in disguise!). I have since upgraded to the brilliant Canon i560 (which I have also reviewed) but used the S200 for a few months whilst I saved up for a better one.
The printer cost me less than £40 from the superb ebuyer.com - this is especially excellent when you consider that cartridges (unofficial) for the printer can be purchased for about £3 each! Sometimes budget printers like these sting you later on the cartridges but with this unit, the cost is low and stays low!
Unpacking the printer, you'll notice it is fairly compact and light, and also feels rather tacky and plasticky. The printer is mostly standard beige, with the front cover in a green/grey effect. It doesn't look too bad, but not too good either. Let's face it, at this price looks probably aren't a major consideration.
Note you do NOT get a USB cable included in the price and there is no parallel port so you will need to purchase a cable spearately if you don't have one lying around. Software installation is fairly painless and the manuals are excellent. And if you do get stuck, I've found Canon's technical support to be superb.
The software is basic but allows tweaking of your print quality and running of the usual utilities. Print quality is predictably mediocre. When you consider that this printer costs just £40 however I'd say it's still pretty impressive.
Mono text printouts are acceptable, sometimes a little grey looking with some bleeding at the edges on plain paper. Speed is fairly slow compared to other printers, but again taking the cost into account there are no major complaints here.
Plain paper colour printouts are again slow and middling in quality. If you want to try and print photos (which the printer doesn't even pretend to be able to do) you'll find that with a bit of decent photo paper and on the highest quality the results are really not too bad. They look a little washed out and grainy in places but are more than adequate for the occasional play around. One snag with this is that a print takes about 5 minutes.
When I was ready to upgrade, there was a slight snag when the printer got a bit damaged in transit to its new owner. Luckily, this was just a piece of the flimsy casing that had snapped and jammed the cartridge, after I had removed it the printer worked fine again. Shows that you'll have to be a bit careful when handling it.
Overall, I'd say that you get what you pay for. The S200x is an excellent choice for the very occasional user or student on a budget. Use it to print out the occasional email, web page or document and you won't be disappointed.
Print more than this and you may want to go for something a little more expensive - maybe the £70 i475. If you're expecting lightning fast top quality photo printing then you're gonna have to pay a lot more - personally I recommend the Canon i560, best printer I've ever used.
No matter what, I'd take it over my hideous old Epson anyday! Thanks for reading, Tom.
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damn companies always seem to screw people on printers by not including usb cables
latitia 14.07.2004 16:14
Sounds like good value for money but as you say, you get what you pay for. I would be lost without my printer, my daughter keeps sitting on mine but it is old, bulky, reliable and sturdy so think I will stick with it till it dies as it seems to hold my daughters weight (touch wood)
Quality:Highest quality guaranteed compatible cartridge that offers great saving against ... more
the original branded version. Our manufacturer is a quality endorsed company holding ISO9001 certification. This means that these cartridges are manufactured to the highest standards.Guarantee:Please see our guarantee section within Seller Help.Price:All our prices include applicable taxes, this means no surprises at the checkout.Compatibility:Canon i320 BJi320 i330 BJi330 i250 BJi250 i350 BJi350 i450 BJi450 i455 BJi455 i470 BJi470/D i475/D BJi475 MPC190 MP360 MP370 MP390 MPC200 Photo, Canon S200/X S300 S330/Photo; Pixma iP1000 MP370 MP1300 MPC390 iP1500 MP110 MP410 iP2000 MP130 MP430; Multipass F20 3605
Postage & Packaging:£3.91 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Quality:Highest quality guaranteed compatible cartridge that offers great saving against ... more
the original branded version. Our manufacturer is a quality endorsed company holding ISO9001 certification. This means that these cartridges are manufactured to the highest standards.Guarantee:Please see our guarantee section within Seller Help.Price:All our prices include applicable taxes, this means no surprises at the checkout.Compatibility:Canon i320 BJi320 i330 BJi330 i250 BJi250 i350 BJi350 i450 BJi450 i455 BJi455 i470 BJi470/D i475/D BJi475 MPC190 MP360 MP370 MP390 MPC200 Photo, Canon S200/X S300 S330/Photo; Pixma iP1000 MP370 MP1300 MPC390 iP1500 MP110 MP410 iP2000 MP130 MP430; Multipass F20 3605
Postage & Packaging:£3.91 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: cheap, can still be used to print word documents that are of quite acceptable quality Disadvantages: Absolutely rubbish for printing pictures, photos, etc.
Jun 26th, 2004
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