CANON PIXMA IP2702 BLACK OEM INK CARTRIDGE

Canon PIXMA iP2702 Review

Overview:

Now that computers are as common a fixture in homes as coffee makers, it’s time to have a printer designed for personal printing.  Canon has created the inexpensive PIXMA iP2702: a compact 4-color inkjet photo-printer that’s simple to use.

Pros:

The PIXMA IP2702 weighs only 7½ pounds and when stored takes up 17.6” x 9.8” on your desk. The printer makes things simple by having an ON/OFF button and a RESUME/CANCEL button.  No complicated displays or menus.

While simple on controls, the IP2702 is big on detail. 4800 x 1200 dpi color resolution produces photo-quality images at average speeds of 4.8 color images per minute (ipm) and 7 B&W ipm at max resolution of 600 x 600 dpi. However, if all you want to do is print 4” x 6” snapshots, the PIXMA can do it in as fast as 55 seconds.

The PIXMA has no paper cassette tray; instead, up to 100 sheets of 17 to 28# bond paper can be loaded from the top of the printer through the flip-up cover. Capacity varies depending on media thickness. The printer can support paper sizes up to 8½” x 26” banners, and make borderless photos from 4” x 6” up to 8 ½” x 11”.  

Connecting to the IP2702 is using the USB 2.0 interface to directly connect to a PC or Mac.  Since this is a personal printer, to connect multiple computers requires “sharing” the host computer or buying an external print server device.

In case you forgot to turn on the “red eye” mode before taking a picture and you aren’t a Photoshop expert, Canon includes software that will make retouching images a breeze, saving time and paper.

Cons:

There comes a time when things could be too simple. While the IP2702 controls are quite simple, interpreting the controls is not. Depending on the error, the warning LED will flash between two to sixteen times. If you’re not instantly aware of an error, it’s easy to miscount the number of flashes.

Canon does not offer PCL or PostScript print emulation with this model. Instead, the PIXMA uses Canon’s proprietary printer language. The Canon emulator will do the job, but imaging problems like “ghosting” may occur with Adobe Creative Suite applications without a PostScript print option.  For most printing, users won’t notice any difference in performance.

Unlike many printers that are designed for the photo-printing market, the IP2702 is still a CMYK 4-color printer. The 4-color ink printing may not produce the wider color range as opposed to the 6-ink printers, but that would be more apparent with enlarged prints rather than snapshots. Since the color inks are all in a single container instead of separate tanks, if one of the colors goes dry, you have to toss the entire cartridge—wasting remaining ink and money.