Review on Canon IP8720 Wireless Printer, AirPrint and Cloud Compatible, Black, Compact Design: 6.3 x 23.3 x 13.1 Inches by Justin Wehrman

Over the past year I have tried many large format printers and tried to find one that satisfies me. Canon and Epson make quality large format photo printers that are expensive, but I need one for general office use, which means I print a lot of graphics and the occasional photo. I have tested three printers over the past few months: Epson Artisan 1430, Canon IP8720 and HP Officejet 7110. SETUPI is designed to use the printer over a wireless connection. All three are easily configured via WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup); Just press the button on the router, then the button on the printer and the connection will be established automatically. The HP Printer Setup Guide said I would have to connect the printer with a USB cable first, but that was wrong. All three were perfectly prepared by radio. The HP INK SYSTEM is a winner in terms of ease of use. It uses the fewest ink tanks (four versus six for the Canon and Epson) and to insert cartridges, you simply slide them in and out like a pen. Unlike Epson and Canon cartridges, there were no pull tabs or caps to remove. Even with the "Standard" quality setting, I was able to get beautiful, vibrant prints on photo paper. If you compare the prints side-by-side Canon may have a very small quality advantage, but I really had to take the time and study the prints closely to make that decision. However, HP isn't on par with Canon or Epson, probably in large part because it uses four ink cartridges versus six for the other two. Even with the "best" quality setting, the HP output appeared dull and a little washed out. PRINT ON MATTE PAPER Since I use it in the office, I mostly print on matte photo paper. Canon was the big loser here. When printing graphics and images that took up large areas of the page, the paper coming out of Canon curled like bacon even after the ink had dried completely and even when printed on thick (60lb) matte photo paper. . I don't know if the Canon printer deposits more ink than other printers and thus wets the page, or if the ink is more watery in consistency, but the finished product was unacceptable. The HP was the best in this department with only a few creases in graphics-heavy areas. Epson was somewhere between HP and Canon, with a slight crease, but still perfectly acceptable on 32lb matte photo paper. Front of the printer below the output area. As a result, HP takes up less space when loading paper. In theory, the backloading method should work better with thicker paper, but I've had no problems with HP's 60-pound matte photo paper. SOFTWARE Software installation was roughly the same for all three printers. (I always skip the included CD and instead download the latest software directly from the manufacturer's website.) When it comes to printing, Canon and Epson have a large number of customizable controls in terms of color matching and custom paper sizes, which were more than enough. for my needs. HP had the worst software and offered very few options for color management and custom paper sizes. The HP software also displayed a "free offers" message every time I changed an ink cartridge; it was nothing more than an ad. Canon had an annoying quirk in the software. There is a setting "Avoid paper abrasion"; It basically increases the distance between the printhead and the paper to avoid the printhead touching the paper and causing scratches. I had to use this setting because the paper is wrinkled as described above. However, if you print a page with the option enabled, the Canon software will display a warning message EVERY TIME the page prints, and you must click OK to dismiss the message before the page prints. This made it impossible to print multiple pages and get out of the computer because you had to press "OK" before the next page printed. The Epson printer also has a paper scrub setting, but it doesn't give a warning message, it just prints what you ask for. CONCLUSION All three printers have their strengths and weaknesses. For me, the Epson Artisan 1430 was an easy winner. The output quality is fantastic, the page doesn't get inked like Canon does and the software settings are more than adequate. If I was just printing graphics where light photos aren't a concern, I would go with HP. It takes up the least amount of space and is by far the simplest of the three printers. It's also by far the cheapest of the three printers. If I was primarily going to be printing photos on thick, glossy photo paper, then Canon would be a tempting choice. It had a very slight advantage in output quality over Epson. However, Epson has great print quality and has worked flawlessly for the few months I've had it and if I had to buy another general purpose large format printer today it would be Epson.