Canon PIXMA™ iP4000 InkJet Photo Printer

I am a graphic designer and have used many printers over the years and the Canon IP4000 has been the most useful printer I have had. I have been using the IP4000 for over 2 years now, and I am very pleased with it.

Setup - Installing and setting up the IP4000 is very easy, install the heads, install the ink cartages, pug it in, install the software and drivers, turn it on and you are printing.

Quality Design - The IP4000 is one of the best designs I have seen. It is quiet, and I do mean QUIET! It is also one of the fastest printers I have used, in high quality mode it prints as fast as most other printers in medium quality mode, and in medium quality mode it shoots pages out in just a few seconds. I never have to worry about paper jams or the paper being sucked in crooked or uneven, every page goes in smooth and looks great. The heads are cleanable and replicable, after over a year of heavy use the heads became clogged, flush it out with hot water from your sink spicket with a little pressure and you are back in business, when the heads finally do go, pop them out and replace them, it takes about 2 minutes and the replacement heads are currently around $30 on eBay. Aligning the print heads is very quick and easy, no sheets to compare and numbers to change, just click a button and in a minute they are aligned.

Quality Prints - The output of the IP4000 is very pleasing, there are many extra setting in the driver and manual ink control, even the most demanding person will find the proper color output with a bit of adjustment when using the cheaper ink.

Cost of running - The best part of the IP4000 is it is one of the cheapest inkjet printers you will find. You can use the cheapest ink on eBay that currently runs around $1.25 a cartridge, and the cheapest paper, either photo glossy or photo matt paper and you will get fantastic prints. From my experience over the years, I have found most inks, once you set your color profiles, do a great job, and most photo papers work great, and you may find some of the cheaper inks and paper to be of lower print quality, but, over all even the cheapest supplies work great in this printer.

Overall I have been most pleased with using the IP4000, I was unhappy that it did not print CDs and DVDs, but, a search of the internet found a way around that and for a $20.00 CD tray (found on eBay) and a few minutes reprogramming the printer using the buttons on the front of the printer I was printing beautiful CD and DVD printable disks in no time.

Of all the inkjet printers I have used over the years, the Canon IP4000 is the only printer I would ever recommend to anyone.

Reviewed 9-15-06 TimT

The Canon Pixma iP4000 is a 4 color ink smart and flexible photo printer with multiple features and benefits not found in other printers of the same class or type.

The printer does full duplex, two sided page printing while also housing two print paper trays. This gives the flexibility to both save paper if printing out documents and have a 2nd tray already loaded with photo paper to print photos if you decide to print a photo. You don't have to mess with changing paper as with single path paper feed printers, merely change a printer setting.

The ultra fine 2 pico droplet, over 6000 droplet print head produces sharp, grain free prints that can rival commercial photo prints. Canon's supplied software makes printing photos on the iP4000, about as easy as it can get! Even a novice, new user can be making beautiful prints in minutes, merely using the supplied software. Add a photo editor, like Adobe Photoshop, some practice and knowledge of photo composition, and creative possibilites are practically endless!

Even prints made up against 6 and 8 color printers, it was very hard to tell one from the other in standard 4x6 prints. For regular text printing, the iP4000 produces sharp and crisp text at blazing fast print speeds over 20 pages per minute. The two sided printing featute with collate will both save paper and present a pleasing printout, few could find any complaint with.

Ink usage depends on how the printer is set by the user. In draft mode printing, text is sharp and presentable while conserving ink use to a minimum. Coupled with the ability to replace only the individual ink tank color that is running low, saves a lot of money over other printers using 3 color cartridges. Most users should be well satisified with ink use economy with the iP4000, resulting in one of the lowest cost per prints available from any inkjet printer.

The ONLY down side we could find with this printer is that it suffers from 'red tone cast' while printing sepia prints. Many other photo inkjet printers suffer the same 'red tone cast' problem. Since most users will seldom (if ever) print in sepia mode, we don't find this to be a big problem. With some practice, using the iP4000 manual ink settings, an acceptable sepia tone print can be made with very little effort.

With any photo inkket printer, it is the COMBINATION OF BOTH THE INK USED AND PAPER, that will produce the maximum, beautiful, colorful prints the printer is capable of making. If the user chooses to use 'oem', cheaper, replacement inks, and paper commonly available, the resulting photo prints will suffer. Color shift is a very common problem when using non-Canon replacement ink as well as overal photo print longevity or 'photo fade', using the cheaper photo paper. The user will 'get what they pay for' in the end.

If users stay with Canon replacement ink cartridges and Canon Photo Pro papers, it is possible that photos, with proper care, will stay sharp and vibrant for 25 years or longer.

Over all, we give this printer a 4.5 out of 5 and highly recommend it to any user, either novice to professional, who need to make commercial looking grade prints on a seconds notice or like to do all their own photo editing.

(review c.2006 F. Bottke)

I went from not having an at home printer to having this printer. I have to say that it has been a very good purchase overall. But... before I complain I would like to say the following:

THIS IS THE BEST DESKJET PHOTO PRINTER OUT THERE!

SOME ADVICE FOR BUYING USED:
If you are lucky enough to get your hands on this printer used - I would recommend buying it. Make sure to ask the person how many times they have replaced the printer cartridges - this will give you a good idea as to how much this printer has been used and the state of the printer heads. Also, ask them if they printed from the printer at least once every one or two weeks - this too will tell you the state of the printer heads.


here are some of my complaints.

1. The installation software is an OS 9 application that can run within OS X. This is not a problem - but it means that there is definately a delay when you are sending your print job to the printer.

2. When you do the install things are put in places that are not so easy to find. For example every time you add another computer to the wireless network you have to go to Library>Printers>Canon>BJPrinter>Utilities>BJ Network tool to add the printer to the computer.

3. This is not a 5 color printer - it is a 4 color printer. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.

4. Figuring out how to print photos is not easy, but when you finally figure it out they are beautiful.

5. DO NOT PURCHASE CANON PRINTER CARTIDGES - you will simply be wasting your money. Their cartridges are overpriced and they are not worth it. I get mine from www.clickinks.com/. Free shipping and a Buy 2 get 1 free policy!!

I had great difficulty installing this printer!!!!!! Even w/ Tech support. Because of old Epson program????--I will never know but it was a bear to install. At the moment it is working but I have not used it very much.

do hope we have a long and happy life together......

I purchased a used Canon Inkjet PIXMAiP4000 printer as a backup, but when I hooked it up, it was inoperable. It was presented workable with OEM cartridges.
It did not work. I took it to a factory authorized Canon repair facility. It cost me $79 to find out that it would cost me $280 to repair the printer. Because I did not install the printer when it was delivered but waited until I needed it, I missed the deadline for a refund from PayPal. The seller should be
barred from using EBay. I bought a piece of junk and will have to dispose of it as E-waste, a tedious process. I have never been so disappointed. How could EBay allow this seller to use its facilities?

I needed to order a new print head for this machine. Costing me an additional $60 and downtime for my new business.

This Canon Printer is all that an ink-jet should be - speedy-enough printing and high-quality results.

I have nothing but praise for the Canon printers. When I 1st volunteeded at work to be their "Computer Technician",I was a bit timid, but, I learned very quickly that this was another fine machine, not a Chinese built junker that broke down before you plugged it in!~!
I had absolutely no problem with any part of caring for these machines, none at all.
I followed the instructions to the best of my ability, and since I was once a drafter and Machine Designer, as well as the machinist that knew working prints as my projects came to their finish, readng them were easy and very understandable,
I read them closely, outloud is my choice, as you hear yourself talking and speaking out the instructions, so your mind gets a double dose of instructions..basically they were a cinch, simple English and grammar was not confusing which I do not find in many products today.
After taking the machines out of their boxes, I proceeded with glancing back and forth at the directions, pix. and all, and it was as it said. :EASY!
You must treat these macines with the respect you would afford any expensive piece of fine work. We use "Quality Control Assurances" as a rule, and all was great~!
From the 1st plug-in to the test sheets, appropriate cleansing of the parts helped as they were very cleaned by the sellers I bought them from.
The printhead, where the cartriges are snapped into must be clean and kept that way. A good cleaning always includes the printheads,(inside and out)~! and in new OEM cartridges keep the pix. and copies clear and Adobe-like fonts, even in "draft" they are lighter but great. The ppm rated very high as once you hit print, itdid take some time, but I have my P.C. loaded so the memory is expanded by using an Ext. Drive for my paging so the spooling is fast and waiting for you.
I never owned any other printers than Canon, as they were passed to my kids, grand kids, and I bought two more Canon PIXMA iP4000, for their undying loyalty.
If you care for them, (depending on how well you care for it,) it will care for you!.. That is the secret to keeping anything at it's peak..tedious work and maintenence on and in time!


CONS:
There were times when I had to wait for an inordinate amount of time for the spooling to get going, but, methinks th blame lied with the programs I run, such as ACAD 11 as well asa few othere just as demandng as that progra.
OItherwise,I am going to remain quiet, as I found no other problems, but the one that put my replaced Canon PIXMA iP4000 on the "back to Canon" pile...it blinks orange-yellow from green when tere is a problem with the printer. Thi time, it was nothing that I had done...I am a bit careful to let this happen~!~!~~! :)
Mine started to blink Orange-yellow 7-times then green once, and repeated it self, no matter how deeep I got into my Canon, and Canon had no answers for it anywhere, not in the Internet, not in the reading materials, no online to Canon, or to God Himself...there is no supplie answer to why it as running great, and then startd to blink or flash 7 X then green...in a loop.
Plugs I tested, changed, went from the parallel to the USB connection, leaned all of the machine with compressed air, brushes, checked safety switches, al in all THERE IS NO ANSWER to this delemna...NONE.
I was told to send it back after I changed plugs, printheads, pape thickneses, anything that came to mind never worked.
Any suggestions???
Thereare no answers.
tatonka

Purchased this printer to replace another iP4000 that I've owned for about 4 years but it died the other week. While it was home use, it was used a lot. Prob. 2 or 3 reams of paper (1500 sheets) per year. Not too many photos but at least 200- 300.
The 4000 is an excellent printer, never had any problems with my old one at all during the time I had it. Cleaned head 2 or 3 times but that was about it.
Excellent service so I purchased a used one since I like it so much and Canon no longer makes the iP4000.
The newer models have much higher ink cost, IMO.
No negatives I can think of.

prints well, but it doesn't stay on. In between print jobs it turns off, and then I forget I have to turn it back on each time. That's a hassel.
I bought a pre owned printer, and the price was reasonable. Hope it lasts a while.

Bought this Pixma iP4000 to replace a Pixma iP6000 that I wore out. The 4000 is notably faster, with excellent print quality. It has two black cartridges, and two fewer color cartridges (no photo cyan, no photo magenta). I rarely use it to print photos; mostly in my home office for flyers, brochures, and other color mailers. Rarely use it for plain text documents; I use a laser for that.

I'm 90% or more pleased. The duplexing is a nice feature, and I use it occasionally. One major consideration in this over others on the market is the low ink cost. I don't see how you can beat that.

These iP4000 printers are great machines, but mine was badly damaged in shipment and was DOA upon receipt. After disassembly of printer and broken case and a tube of superglue, I pieced it back together and got it working. The output is surprisingly good. The case looks pretty bad, but it seems to work, but who knows for how long. One of the great things about the iP4000 is the fact that it uses generic inks which are very inexpensive and seem to work well. The iP4000 also can be set to do automatic duplex printing which saves paper by printing both sides, but this slows it down considerably. Photo output is very good on glossy photo paper. I recommend the iP4000 highly. I plan to buy one that isn't damaged.

I like the upgraded options for picoliters and dpi content. It has double black ink cartridges which is interesting. The price was absoultely right because it was 60% cheaper than a brand new printer. And it has many options that you wouldn't think of like for making T-shirt transfers, and envelope printing. I wish that it came with the manual and a CD driver but all of this was downloaded via internet. I felt very good about this buy considering my other printer died on me after 6 years. I think deal came at a good time for me.
Devearoux

What I didn't anticipate, is the fact that the used inkjet printer was on it's last leg. Even after buying another new printhead for it, it only lasted for a few copies. So I ended up buying a new printer. The lesson I learned is to never buy another used product.

The best printer I've owned! Love it, love it, love it. Super cheap generic ink. Great printing resuls, clear. Great photo printing, great for labels, etc.
Bought it to save on ink costs. Had purchased a new printer, but the ink was so expensive. This one is just perfect!

I finally had the time yesterday to set up the printer you sent. I bought this Pixma IP4000 because I owned one once before and made the stupid mistake of replacing it with a cheaper model instead of paying the price for a new printhead. So when I opened the box and set it up yesterday I was amazed at the speed and silent operation of this machine. This is a great printer. Thank you again.

Printer arrived quickly and intact. I haven't used it yet since it will be used with food coloring cartridges and not regular. They just arrived recently. Thank you for your prompt shipment.