The Canon Pixma MX7600 produces excellent images as expected by both brand and nature. If only Canon could match its technical expertise with better network support, usability and documentation.
Test Procedure
In testing an inkjet printer we are more concerned with print quality and ease of use than speed and cost effectiveness (which are the forte of laser printers), though we will check the maximum print speed in both single-sided and duplex mode.
To test the graphics, we print text line images, photos, and graphs with graduated colour and shade in order to assess the handling of dithering to produce accurate lines and well defined colour boundaries, contrast control and colour quality. Being a multifunction device (MFD), we also consider the usability of the machine in general for printing, copying and scanning. I/O options are also of great interest — particularly USB and memory card support.
Design and Features
The Pixma is a stylish looking machine encased in silver and grey. Controls are well set out and clearly labelled. A 1.8-inch colour LCD screen provides clear information about the state of the device and jobs being processed. The menu system is generally clear (although we couldn't work out how to turn off double-sided copying).
Aside from printing, this device acts as a scanner/copier and has fax support. Don't worry if the machine runs out of paper overnight, faxes will still be received into memory which is claimed to support up to 250 pages.
Duplex printing is available and the duplex ADF (automatic document feeder) allows copying of two-sided originals. These features alone make the compactness of the device remarkable. Interoperability is enhanced through "PictBridge" direct printing from cameras and phones as well as from card readers for CF, xD, SD and MemoryStick formats.
The documentation proclaims that this machine has: "PgR [Pigment Reaction] Technology — Create long-lasting, smudge-resistant laser quality colour documents with Canon's pigment reaction ink technology". Hot off the press you will notice little positive evidence of this. Rather we felt that having a large extra tank of clear ink went someway in explaining the excessive fluid output on plain paper (even if high quality) resulting in crinkled and curled paper when paper coverage was very high.
Canon's high resolution paper did perform much better in terms of persistent moisture (and image quality of course). In fairness to Canon, once the ink had a chance to dry properly it was remarkably stable, resisting smudging even when water droplets were placed onto the page. PgR fails to give the same level of ink document protection enjoyed by laser printer output, but it is still a great improvement on traditional inkjet printers.
Canon provided some high resolution paper with the printer, but the software does not specifically provide an option for this media type — we ended up specifying matte photo-paper as it refused to go through the sheet feeder from the cassette. Ordinary paper can only be fed in through the tiny cassette and not via the rear sheet feeder! (The paper was only 106gsm.)
We planned to test the device as a network printer, but we had some difficulties with set-up. We did manage to get a network connection from a computer with no security installed (even Windows firewall was turned off), but we were unable to get a connection to the computer intended to be used for testing despite having all firewalls disabled during the install as required by the documentation.
A variety of software is supplied with the Pixma including image enhancement and optical character recognition. You can select which items are installed if you choose the custom installation.
Verdict
Greyscales and colour graduations were remarkably smooth in general with no horizontal or vertical lines apparent. Greys really were grey when relying on black ink, though CMY was (as with most printers) too warm — especially for mid-range shades. Line art and text were well handled. Complex colour borders were good and contrast control excellent.
As a copier the Pixma does a very good job. Colour, detail and contrasts were well handled. With quality paper and the quality set to high, you may find it difficult to tell apart the original from the copy.
The specification sheet for this machine claims print speeds of up to 28ppm (pages per minute) for monochrome text documents — this would be a good speed for a laser printer and for an inkjet printer it's unbelievable. Sure enough, we couldn't make it exceed 12.1ppm with monochrome text and set to "fast" mode. In normal mode it managed 7.4ppm and when duplexing the speed sunk down to only 3.1ppm.
While this product is part of Canon's "Office" range, we feel that this MFD is more for an office that mostly prints high quality documents with little expectation that you need to print many standard documents, plus some people may find that the 150-sheet cassette is too small.
The warranty lasts a full two years, but Canon will not cover courier costs when repairs are required. Although, the price, AU$549, is reasonable for a device of such manifold functions.
Enex TestLab is one of Australia's most experienced, independent technology test facilities. After more than 16 years with RMIT IT TestLab, Enex's founders acquired the business from RMIT in 2005.
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