Mar 13, 2009 05:48 PM
17266 Views
(Updated Apr 24, 2009 04:41 PM)
I am writing a review after more than 7 years. This too is an old story for me. I have long ended my good times with my Pixma iP1000 printer.
And the ending wasn't the poor printer's fault, it was mine. I am not too sure exactly when I purchased this printer. I guess it must have been 2005 or early 2006. It is a very simple and light-weight printer. But for sure it wouldn't win any beauty contests.
The good things -
This printer gives pretty decent print quality. Even draft mode is fine. Great photo printing with the right paper.
The highlight of this printer is the low cost of ownership. I used to purchase cartridges at just Rs 80/- for black and Rs. 100/- for colour.
It is a pretty rugged printer. I used it so many times for outdoor events with so many people using it on multiple computers. It was easy to carry and never gave any problems except once when the USB cable went bad and I had to replace it.
Great paper handling. Never had a paper jam.
The bad things -
Not really much
A bit noisy when starting up.
Slow to print the first page.
After using many cartridges, the waste ink tank can get full at which point the printer will give an error message and not print. The official Canon remedy is to carry it to their service centre to "fix" the problem. But you can do it at home with a little help from your friendly google.
What happened to my printer?
Because I was so happy with my printer, I recommended the same to my friend. He too was happy with it till one fine day his printer stopped printing. Don't know if the problem was really with the printer. He called in the person who had sold him his PC and the person came and said it looks like the print head but he can confirm it for free if he can try it out on some other identical model. I suppose you can guess what happened next.
Yes the guy came to my house at a time when I wasn't there. He interchanged and concluded that the head was OK. He showed my folks that my printer was still working after he finished. He then went off and my friend's printer was fixed and works fine till this day.
When I next tried using my printer I found gaps in the printing. Then I called the same people to fix the problem with my printer and they took it and returned it worse than before. I complained and they took it again and it was even worse.
Finally I gave up hopes they would ever fix it. I went to Canon service and they said they would have to replace the head which would cost me almost Rs 2000/- and even then, something more could be required after that.
Meanwhile, newer models cost less than replacing the print head so like a fool I bought a newer model IP1300 for only Rs 1400/-. This new printer costs a bomb in running costs. It would have probably been worth for me to spend even 3000 bucks and repair my trusty old IP1000 because of the low cost of ownership.
Latest Update on April 21, 2009:
I have managed to sell off my IP1300 and purchased a HP F2120 All-in-one. I believe that I will be able to keep my running cost low with this. As I mentioned in the review, Canon printers are no more good value because their PG40 and CL41 cartridges used on all current products are exorbitantly priced.
