Printer Reviews

I had always wanted to get into digital photography; but my PC was old, and I didn't want to buy a new one! So when HP introduced their new PS 100 printer, which prints directly from a camera's memory card -- no PC required -- I dove in with both feet first!

I purchased this HP PS 100 printer -- along with an Olympus C-700 digital camera -- and I've been very happy. The PS 100 makes bold and beautiful 4" x 6" prints that are every bit as sharp as those from a full-size printer.

As an additional convenience, both my camera and printer use DPOF (digital print order format) which allows for one-button printing. I can crop (and select) the photos I want to print on the camera's rear LCD screen -- pop the camera's Smart Media card into the printer -- and then output borderless 4" x 6" photos just by hitting "print" (with no scrolling necessary to find the right shot, since the PS 100 always calls up the DPOF pictures first). What could be easier?

With the PS 100, printing photos is so simple -- I now find myself giving away pictures (as gifts) to friends and family (something I had done only on rare occasion before). I've even taken the PS 100 to family gatherings -- where I've handed out photos on the spot (which everyone thought was cool!).

The PS 100 uses familiar ink jet cartridges, and is much less expensive to purchase than competing photo printers from Canon, Olympus, and Sony (all of which use a much more expensive dye sublimation technology). The PS also prints a full-size 4" x 6" snapshot, (whereas the others, such as the Canon and the Olympus, make only prints that are quite a bit smaller). The PS 100 is also the only printer in the bunch to accommodate all of the major memory formats (Compact Flash, Smart Media and Memory Stick); something the other printers will do only with an additional PC card adapter.

(For those of you more advanced, printing from your PC is an available option with the printer's built in USB connection and supplied software on disc. The 4" x 6" paper size template also transfers over to other applications, like MS Word, enabling one to print documents from the PS 100 on to 4" x 6" note cards; which, for example, I've used to prepare notes for speeches.)

The HP PS 100 is the absolute easiest way to get into digital photo printing. And when the next family gathering rolls around -- you won't want to leave home without it!

I purchased this printer because I own two digital cameras and no computer to down load the pictures. After reading a mazagine I came across the ad for the Hp 100 but I was skeptical on purchasing it until I got some more info or reviews on the product. After researching Amazon.com and Cnet I decided to take a chance and purchase one. It took about five minutes to set it up. I printed a test page on the plain card included and then a thumb nail print from one of my compact flash cards and I wasn't Impressed with them. I Closed my eyes and proceeded to print my first picture, once the printer stopped I opened My eyes. I was shocked at the results they were very impressive, I kept looking at the picture trying to find flaws. I then printed a few more. I couldn't put the pictures down, it was like having your very own photo shop. None of my friends could tell that I printed the photos from a printer until I told them, it was that good! I highly recommend this printer for anyone that has a digital camera. It's light an compact excepts three different types of cards with multi voltage so you can take it anywhere and it also connects to your computer. I'm glad I did my home work and took that chance on purchasing this superb little printer.

I own a 2.1 mega pixel digital camera and this printer makes a great companion. Forget about buying/developing film anymore, the HP Photosmart 100 prints excellent quality pictures that can easily be mistaken for photographs to the casual eye.

One noticeable feature is the compact size of this printer. It fits nicely on my already crowded desk. Keep in mind that you'll need at least 6 to 8" of clearence behind the printer for the photopaper to feed properly. Too bad the maximum size paper it will accept is 4x6.

Mac users are out of luck since this printer is only compatible with PCs, but another cool feature is that you don't neccessarily need a computer to use this printer since you can print directly from CompactFlash, SmartMedia, or a Sony Memory Stick memory card. PC users still have the option of using USB, but you'll need to purchase a USB cable if you don't have a spare.

If you own a digital camera and are looking for an alternative to film, consider this printer. You won't be able to print out any Word documents with it, but you can start displaying and sharing those digital images that are starting to fill your hard drive. :)

ok i bought this cable a month before i bought my new Canon S820 printer. I just got the printer today but need to let it sit for a day before opening it because the 7 degree temp. when ever you buy computer & componets they should be at room temputure before using. Now belkin is a well respected name in computer cables so just price counted. One important fact others failed to point out is that this cable is UBS 2.0 - 1.0 ready. Make sure anything USB you buy from cable to hubs are usb 2.0 because all new computers are usb 2.0. A USB 2.0 cable & hub can be used on USB 1.0-1.1 but not vice versia. YOu can't use a USB 1.0 cable to hook up to a USB 2.0 device. The speed is much different.

I had to buy a printer cable for my Epson 890. When I priced around, this could not be beat.

WILL NOT WORK WITH PARALLEL PORT ONLY COMPUTERS For the person that had a previous review, this is a cable that will only work on a printer that has a USB outlet. This is not for printers that are strictly parallel port hook ups.

ENDS FOR PRINTER AND COMPUTER DIFFERENT The USB end that is for the printer if you look in the photo, is the small end to the left. It is only about 3/16" wide and shorter than that. The USB end for the computer is the big end to the right in the picture(about 3/8" wide and shorter than that).

MANY USB PRINTERS HAVE BOTH USB AND PARALLEL PORT CONNECTIONS Many USB printers have both a parallel port cable connection as well. That is one of those huge flat type ones (roughly 2" wide).

This may sound simple for all you computer experts out there, but with the plentitude of this type of cable or that, it can get very confusing.

Great buy.

I do not really know what to say about this item except that it is a cable. Yep it is!!! :o)

However, when I bought my printer, I didn't know the USB cable didn't come with it (Mister salesperson at Sears didn't feel obligated to tell me I guess!!), so I had to find one. After looking around I found out that Belkin was the most famous and reliable brand for computer cables, and others... Brand doesn't make a big difference for me usually, but as far as electronics are concerned I want to be able to get the best, so I went for Belkin... The Belkin website didn't really offer the best price (I wouldn't have thought so!!). However, Amazon did!!

I've had the cable for about 2 months... I actually forgot about it because I never had any problems with it. The connection between the printer and my computer was done right away, without ANY problems.

I would definitely go for Belkin again if I needed to.

Years ago, I worked as a custom color printer, so I feel I have somewhat of a background in judging photo print quality. Hopefully the stability of the Canon photo paper pro media truly approaches 25 yrs, as Canon claims. This is good enough for me at this time. My prints are made for myself, and as gifts for my family and friends.....

The output from this printer, with the 8.5"x11" photo paper pro, really impressed me right out of the box. I figured I would give it the acid test right away and try printing portraits. I don't have any professional color management, but the color was bang on, did a +13 intensity change in the print driver and I felt I had honest WYSIWYG work-flow!!

Accurate flesh tones are critical in portrait printing and the printer nailed them. I didn't need the Canon supplied imaging software as I am a PSP 7 user, so I can't comment on Canon's efforts here. I printed 6x8" prints with 1" borders that are easily frameable, wall-hangable prints. I would have no hesitation in giving these prints as gifts to family and friends....

I did a lot of research on photo printers and after reading the Amazon reviews, I decided to get this printer to print pictures off of my great Canon Powershot camera.
The picture quality is truly amazing and very comparable to what I've gotten from ofoto.com. The software is pretty easy to use and pictures seem to print with better quality off of the Canon Easy Photo software than they do with other applications like Adobe. One downside is that the software has a tendency to crop images too much and I haven't yet figure out how to fix this. The Canon Photo Paper Pro works best with this printer. Don't go for the cheap paper because it makes a big difference. Also, since the printer ink cartridges are separated by color, you can just buy the colors you go through the fastest, which is much more economical than having to get the all-in-one cartridges.
The negatives:
- It takes a while to print pictures, so don't plan on doing a big stack all at once.
- The printer doesn't come with a cable, which is totally bizarre, and BEWARE: Amazon.com DOES NOT CARRY THE RIGHT CABLE FOR THIS PRINTER. Even though you can buy it almost anywhere else, they don't have it. They sent me two different cables that were both wrong and I finally had to go to the drugstore and get the right cable.
Overall, the printer is the best I've seen for this price and it looks good too!

Printed boarderless pictures, taken with my Canon G3 4.0 megapixel, are nothing short of astounding. Easy to install (you do have to align the print head, but it's a quick couple of minutes), easy to use with the included software (not the psycho 2 billion options that Epson printers have, I like simplicity, and can do my adjusting in photoshop elements 2.0), and fast, fast, fast. The drawbacks are no on board flash card reader (no big deal to me, but to some...), and you must use Canon products to print the great quality pictures.

Important cost saving measure!!! Sure, there are some pictures that you will want to use the .60/sheet photo paper pro (when perfection is needed), but for most I would suggest the wonderful Canon matte photo paper, at .20 / sheet 8 1/2 x 11 (either run them 1, 2, or 4 up on the sheet, no its not glossy, but good nonetheless), and you've got one of the most cost effective photo printers on the market (the think tank system with separate ink compartments already makes this one of the cheapest for inks).

Canon has, in my opinion, the best 4.0 mp solution for pictures (G3)and printing (i950) for the photo hobbiest. Add Photoshop Elements 2.0 , and you've got an astounding all around digital photo solution for around [$$$].

I was disappointed with this paper's quality, particularly when compared to the superb quality of Epson's glossy photographic paper. This paper does not produce realistic pictures at all.

Usage: While not necessarily a superb choice for matte photos, this paper does work wonderfully for printing desktop publishing documents (such as greeting cards, calendars, brochures, and other items printed on card stock).

Quality: It's consistency doesn't really offer a matte photograph appearance, even though the glossy paper from Epson DOES offer a glossy appearance.

Color: I've noticed that some packages are off-white, slightly tan/beige/yellow rather than white. It's kind of hit-or-miss as to whether you get the white or the off-colored paper. I've gotten the off-colored paper 2 out of 7 purchases.

(I use the Stylus Photo 870 to print)

Anyone thinking about using an inkjet printer for photography must try this paper. I do fine art photography and my own darkroom work in medium format. I just purchased the Epson 1270 printer and have been using this heavy weight paper with eye opening results. This paper is pure white and used with the new inks in the 870 and 1270 printers has a fade resistant life of over 26 years. This paper has the look of a fine art Ilford or Kodak N surface...And best of all ..the price is hard to beat !

I have a Canon S820 photo printer (2400X1200 dpi) and a Canon Powershot A40 2mp digital camera (1600 X 1200 max resolution). I bought a package of 120 8 1/2 X 11 Epson Glossy Photo Paper ... on 17-Jul-03. What a great deal, and the prints are excellent coming out of the Canon printer. I was a bit hesitant at first with the brand crossing, but I read a couple reviews here that said they work great with the Canon S800 printer so I took a chance... Super impressed and highly recommend for any Epson printers (which should work fine, I'm sure), or the Canon S820.

I was disappointed with this paper's quality, particularly when compared to the superb quality of Epson's glossy photographic paper. This paper does not produce realistic pictures at all.

Usage: While not necessarily a superb choice for matte photos, this paper does work wonderfully for printing desktop publishing documents (such as greeting cards, calendars, brochures, and other items printed on card stock).

Quality: It's consistency doesn't really offer a matte photograph appearance, even though the glossy paper from Epson DOES offer a glossy appearance.

Color: I've noticed that some packages are off-white, slightly tan/beige/yellow rather than white. It's kind of hit-or-miss as to whether you get the white or the off-colored paper. I've gotten the off-colored paper 2 out of 7 purchases.

(I use the Stylus Photo 870 to print)

Anyone thinking about using an inkjet printer for photography must try this paper. I do fine art photography and my own darkroom work in medium format. I just purchased the Epson 1270 printer and have been using this heavy weight paper with eye opening results. This paper is pure white and used with the new inks in the 870 and 1270 printers has a fade resistant life of over 26 years. This paper has the look of a fine art Ilford or Kodak N surface...And best of all ..the price is hard to beat !

I have a Canon S820 photo printer (2400X1200 dpi) and a Canon Powershot A40 2mp digital camera (1600 X 1200 max resolution). I bought a package of 120 8 1/2 X 11 Epson Glossy Photo Paper ... on 17-Jul-03. What a great deal, and the prints are excellent coming out of the Canon printer. I was a bit hesitant at first with the brand crossing, but I read a couple reviews here that said they work great with the Canon S800 printer so I took a chance... Super impressed and highly recommend for any Epson printers (which should work fine, I'm sure), or the Canon S820.

I just printed my first 4X6 photo with the S600, and it's worth a thousand words! Clear, sharp, flawless, no spots, no lines--just rich, vivid color. I can hardly believe I got it right the first time--and it was so easy with Canon's Photo Paper Pro professional-quality photo paper! I've had my S600 for a couple of months, mostly printing resumes, reports, notes, envelopes, spreadsheets, etc. I usually use the draft mode on grayscale, and the quality of the finished product still rivals that of laser printers. I've found this printer to be relatively quiet, extremely economical, and surprisingly fast. Installation was a breeze, and I'm still using the smaller ink tanks that came packed with the printer! (IMPORTANT: If you're running Windows 95, you must use a parallel cable! A USB cable will not work--trust me on this!) I recommend the S600 to anyone who needs a great, all-around printer. Whether you're on a budget or not, you won't be disappointed!

I needed a printer that could handle my heavy copy while being able to elegantly print out my slew of digital photography. After reading some user reviews and features for the Canon S600, I went ahead and purchased it. And it has been unreal. For less than $200, it doesn't make sense to buy another printer. With Photo Paper Pro paper and a digital camera, your images will have unsurpassed quality. The software installs easily, as does the printer itself. The refillable individual color ink tanks are terrific, saving you money in the long run, and the printer is more quiet than a whsiper. Black copy, whether in draft mode or enhanced, looks sharp and professional. Canon has outdone themselves with this printer, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a unit than can match high-quality images with high-quality printouts. The resolution is unbelievable for both color images of your most recent vacation and your crisp resume. Simple, affordable, quality -- it's perfect.

I bought this "refurbished" printer at a bargain price a year ago and could not be any happier with it. You don't have to replace the ink cartridge with one $$ investment. Instead you buy $$-$$ individual cartridges only for the color run out. Its great. I love the quality of the colors. Its my favorite printer ever.

I'm currently working on a Master's degree and needed a fast printer. I print out ALOT of research material! I ran across the Samsung ML1210 here at Amazon and read the reviews...in all honesty, I thought they were too good to be true. But I received the printer in a matter of days WITH the extra toner cartridge, and had the thing up and running in 10 minutes. No kidding! It produces nice, clean copies even when using the "toner saver" feature. I like the fact that there are no printer heads to be cleaned or aligned. It's also got a whopping 8 Meg of buffer memory. I agree with previous reviews: It takes a bit for the first page to come out; using a serial cable, about 30 seconds. But once it comes out, the following pages are printed about once every 5 seconds (continuous). The only other drawback is the fact that no serial cable or USB cable is included, but if you have a SAM's club nearby, you can pick one up for cheap. And while you're there, pick up a case of 10 sheaves (500 sheets each) of paper for about 20 bucks. In any case, do yourself a favor ASAP: Throw your old ink jet printer in the closet and order the Samsung ML1210...you won't regret it.

After reading a couple of reviews and user opinions for the ML-1210, I decided to give it a try. The printer was simple to setup/install on my Wind 98SE machine. I then ran several print tests and could not believe the quality of the output on this inexpensive laser. Plus, the machine is quiet and adequately fast enough. The print driver also has some nice options. I noticed the cheap plastic tab that supports the front panel when replacing the toner cartridge but this is no big deal. How many times will the panel be opened? Only to clear a paper jam or to replace the cartridge but the cartridge is rated for about 2500 pages so that is not too frequently. I would not hesitate to print any document on this printer - including my resume. BusinessWeek recently ran an interesting article on Samsung - the company's aim is to become an elite brand. This further reassured me that this printer was a quality product. Why spend twice (or more) the price when this printer is up to the task?

I have owned this printer for 2+ years and still works without a glitch. Love that I can use a USB connection.

First things first. This printer is exactly what it says. A personal or SOHO laser printer. It cannot do (efficiently) large graphics files or support dozens of users without noted slowness.

It has just 8 MB of RAM so keep that in mind when you are planning on a printer purchase. I print just basic stuff.. Internet web pages (like directions or guidelines etc), MS Office documents, etc.

I haven't had a single problem with printing any document. I even share this printer amont 3 machines and haven't had a problem with printing speed or anything.

It does take a bit to warm up but it is a laser printer not your standard inkjet. It takes like 30 seconds to a min (max) to warm up but that isn't as bad as some other laser printers I have seen.

Pros:
- Fast enough to handle most if not all your text/ms office type documents efficiently
- Drivers are readily avaiable so it just works. No long detailed configuration/installation process.
- USB connection gives it flexibility
- 8 MB ram is nice and enough to suit most basic users
- Very crisp printing
- The toner cartridge seems to last forever

Cons
- It is a personal/soho printer not a small business printer but it still would be nice to have the option to upgrade the memory if I ever wanted to.

2+ years and still chugging along. What more can you ask. Of course if your needs are more.. than get a better printer :-)

I recommend the Belkin F3U133-06 USB Device Cable (6 Feet) as the usb cable.

I am very disappointed in the Cannon i960 printer. The printer head is very poorly designed. I had great difficulty getting the print head and ink cartridges to work. I had to reseat the printer head 5 times before it would work. I had to reseat the magenta ink cartridge 5 times before it would work. It took 4 hours of reading the manual to diagnose all the errors I was getting and running tests to get this printer where it would print a color picture. Our last printer was an HP 895cse. The HP was easy to set up and ran great for 3 years. I wish we had bought another HP. I am very disappointed in the quality of this printer.

What can I say, this is one fantastic printer. Having tried a few other photo inkjets over the past few years, I was beginning to think that I'd never get photo store quality in a home inkjet. This printer proves that is possible.

Using the i960 in conjunction with Photoshop Elements 2.0, I am getting fantastic results. And this printer is amazing fast, taking something like 30 seconds to print a 4x5 print. Despite its high quality, it is pretty stingy on its ink consumption. I've printed more than 75 4x5s and the ink levels are not down very much.

Plus, with 6 seperate ink cartridges, you can just replace the one ink color that is depleted, vs. the other printers that I've used where you have a single cartridge and wind up tossing away a lot of usable ink.

One suggestion, go into the color settings and under manual, engage the ICM feature. This uses predefined color settings to match your output with industry standardized colors. No clue why this is not the default. Also, it is worthwhile to adjust your monitor, either with Adobe Gamma (its free with Adobe Elements and Photoshop), or with a purchased product (like the Sypder). I used the Spyder and my color output is very close to what I see on the screen.

This is one great printer: fast, economical, and excellent quality. I have read that the inks can be prone to fading over time when not protected in an album or behind glass. That does not deter me, as I tend to use one of those when I save photos. Besides, I can always send out the few prints for display to an online photo service (I like Ofoto).

This is a great purchase.

This is my second Canon printer; I upgraded to the i960 after using the S520 for a year. The S520 was an excellent, all-around printer, good at both text and photos, but I wanted something optimized just for photo quality, without regard to text output. Since I've only printed photos on the i960, and not text, that's all I can comment on. On that score, it's been outstanding. The S520 was pretty good, but the colors are even truer in the i960. I've printed approximately 150-175 photos on it so far, in 4 x 6, 5 x 7, 8.5 x 11 sizes, in both color and black and white. I've had great results with Canon's Photo Paper Plus Glossy, Canon's Photo Paper Pro, as well as Epson's matte heavyweight paper, but haven't tried any other papers yet. My only complaint is that the photos sometimes come out with fine, hairline scratches on the paper - more noticeable on areas of the photo that are heavily inked. They aren't obvious when you look at the photo straight on, but if you tilt it sideways under good light, you can see them. In fairness, I recently noticed that there is an option called "Prevent Paper Abrasion" (click Properties, then Maintenance, then Custom Settings, and you'll see it), but I haven't tried that yet. The printer comes with one full set of inks (6 separate tanks - black [BCI-6BK], cyan [BCI-6C], photo cyan [BCI-6PC], yellow [BCI-6Y], magenta [BCI-6M], and photo magenta [BCI-6PM]), but no USB cable, so you'll have to supply that. Overall, I have been very pleased with this printer, and if it got stolen, hit by lightning, or otherwise removed from my service, I'd go out and buy the same thing again.

I bought a S820 to replace my old Epson Stylus Color 600. I'm totally blown away by the speed and quality of the output. Printed an image I took with a digital camera on 1 of the free 4x6 Photo Paper Pro samples, I couldn't believe it came out of an inkjet!!
I prefer the S820 over the S820D because of the legacy (parallel port) support and [price] difference. I process all my photos before I print them so the direct print feature in S820D is not important. I liked the idea of the integrated CF reader in the S820D, until I found out that the printer needs to be turned on in order to transfer files to an attached PC. S900 gives the same quality as the S820x but 2x as fast. However, I can't see myself printing more than 30 photos a month, so I can't justifies paying... more for the S900.

you use Canon paper. I just replaced my old Epson600 since it never would print color well with Windows XP. This Canon blew me away when I used the Canon Photo Paper Plus (mid range glossy). An 8.5 x 11 picture from my Canon A40 (only 2 mp) is indistinquishable from a photolab film print. There is zero pixelation even under a magnifying glass. So do NOT believe the ususal reviews that say a 2 mp camera is OK only for medium quality 5x7 printing. The quality of prints on other brands of paper is mediocre so only use the Canon paper. I bought some cheap other brand glossy 4x6 paper and the results were not very good. Colors were fine but there was pixelation. The fact that this printer has 6 tanks solves the problem of cheaper printers. Refills are not costly if you know where to get them. Canon printers were good years ago and then Epson took the lead in color printing. Now Canon has come back strong with a real winner.

Bought this printer after owning an Epson which caused me only problems. The prints from my digital camera were awful and I had to continuously clean the printhead. Ran out of lots of ink that way. So, I researched this printer and bought it a few days ago. Installed the software and got it up and running in less than half an hour and started printing out pictures with the paper they included (Canon). Then bought Staples brand (cheaper) glossy photo paper - standard and printed about thirty pictures from that. These prints were reproduced from 35mm photos that were scanned. I use Photoeditor to edit them then print them out. They look identical to the original and much better than the Epson... If you want great photo prints for a very reasonable price, buy this printer!

I recetly bought a new Canon i550 printer and I put it to work immediately. First, I was impressed by its quietness and the capability of closing both trays, input & output. But I'm using my printers only for making brochures and booklets for my patients in 3 different languages, not for photographs or pictures...For my purpose, this printer is very disapointing product: the print is faint (not CRISPY, as most other reviewers stated), even in its highest quality--it can't much even the "draft" mode of Canon S600 inkjet printer, which i'm using successfully for better than 8 months. I thought Canon is improving their line of products progressively (they stopped manufacturing the EXCELLENT S600), but it seems I'm wrong! Of course, I'm still going to look at Canon printers because of their economical "Think Tank", but I'll first try them and than buy.

I bought this printer for basic home use because it was highly rated by PC Magazine. A lot of internet research was performed as well (about 2 weeks worth). I debated between the Canon i850 and the i550...The only discernable difference between the two was print speed. This was confirmed on Canon's website. I am very impressed with its photo printing. Since we went all digital photography at our house, my wife kept complaining about not being able to get a good quality print. PROBLEM SOLVED!! It prints a beautiful, 4x6 borderless photo in no time at all! It would take a magnifying glass to distinguish it from a professionally developed photo. 4x6 glossy photo paper is only 15-20 cents a sheet. The individual tanks, and ink cost was the deciding factor as well. The cost of the Canon ink replacements vs. the other leading brands is a no-brainer. I had my last Canon for 4 years before I decided to upgrade to the newer technology. Bottom line - great printer, great photos, great price.

PS-The text printed by the i550 is laser quality, just in case you need to actually use it as a "regular" printer:)

With a baby on the way I wanted a more convient way to take pictures and share multiple copies of them with the family. I bought a 4 megapixal camera and needed a great printer to make hard copies. This printer makes photo lab quality 4x6" photos in under a minute. I see no difference between ones taken with a 35mm and developed at a store then the ones I printed out. It is much quieter then my previous Canon BJ-4300 and light years ahead in quality. The individual tanks are very cost effective too. The software included even made a low resolution digital print (about 20 kb) come out very nice at 4x6". You can see all your photos and send multiple copies to the printer. It also does regular printing of letters very quickly. Highly recommend!!