Canon PIXMA MG5520 Wireless All-In-One Color Photo Printer with Scanner, Copier and Auto Duplex Printing, Black (Tablet Ready) | Best Product 2014

Canon PIXMA MG5520 Wireless All-In-One Color Photo Printer with Scanner, Copier and Auto Duplex Printing, Black (Tablet Ready)

CUSTOMER REVIEW



Review for: MG5520 Inkjet, Copier, Scanner



OVERVIEW:

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This is definitely NOT a sweet spot in the Canon MG/MX line-up.



One would think the MG5520 is the replacement for the MG5420. However, the MG5420 IS A SUPERIOR INK JET PRINTER ALL-IN-ONE for very little cost difference.



And if looking at the MG5420, I highly suggest checking out the MG7120 to see if its better features such as especially an additional GRAY ink tank and ETHERNET are worth the relatively little additional cost.



If interested in either, see reviews on MG5420 and MG7120 for details.



vs. MG5420:

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Here are some of the notable differences in MG5420's favor:



MG5420:



- Print Color Resolution: 9600 horizontal x 2400 vertical dpi

- Print Most Granular Dot: 1 picoliter

- Scanner Resolution: 2400 horizontal x 4800 vertical dpi (optical)

- Print 4"x6" Photo speed: 21 seconds

- Copy speed (FCOT): 14 seconds

- Printing on DVD/CD's



MG5520:



- Print Color Resolution: 4800 horizontal x 1200 vertical dpi*

- Print Most Granular Dot: 2 picoliter

- Scanner Resolution: 1200 horizontal x 2400 vertical dpi (optical)**

- Print 4"x6" Photo speed: 44 seconds (110% slower)

- Copy speed (FCOT): 20 seconds (40% slower)

- No printing on DVD/CD's



*The MG5520's 4800 horizontal x 1200 vertical max dpi COLOR PRINTING will meet MOST NEEDS. The Pro photo inkjet printers (PRO-1/PRO-10/PRO-100) even max out at 4800 horizontal dpi (though have finer vertical stepping capability), for example. Be sure to use specially designed paper (for example, enter "canon paper_guide" in a search engine) to really see the difference of the higher resolution. Also, print from an application in which you can choose the profile for that paper (ex: many Adobe products) if possible, too.



**The MG5520's 1200 horizontal x 2400 vertical max dpi SCAN will meet MOST NEEDS (though it is too low for some film/slide scanning needs especially if you plan to enlarge). For example, even a 2.5"x3.5" paper photo scanned at 1200dpi may enlarge to 8x10 comfortably, though frankly you will be fortunate if that amount of info is even available from the photo. It is therefore also moot to argue enlargement benefits of over 1200dpi scanning of paper photos as the detail is likely not there for over 1200dpi.



SOME PROS OF MG5520 over MG5420:

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- MG5520 will automatically turn on if it is off when a print request is sent.

- MG5520 doesn't require a wireless router to print from a mobile device, it has an Access Point Mode which allows direct printing to the printer without need for a wireless router.

- MG5520 allows you to print directly (no computer needed) from Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, DropBox, Evernote, and more, via apps downloaded to the printer.



Summary:



I don't think the few ancillary pros of the MG5520 outweigh MG5420's superior features, though the info is there to make your own call. And if you want your cake and to eat it, too, the MG7120 for a bit more money will give you the benefits of the MG5420 plus the MG5520 benefits, plus the GRAY toner tank and ETHERNET to boot.



INK USAGE:

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If you insist on buying this printer :), here below are some suggestions for keeping ink costs under control.



Anyone researching Inkjet Printers will likely be concerned about ink costs. Here are 6 things you can do to mitigate this with the MG7120:



- Buy the XL versions of the ink, this is supposed to reduce the cost per color page to a very competitive 13-14 cents per page (vs. 16-19 cents).



- As noted above, choose to print black and white or grey scale when that will do just fine. For some documents this can avoid black made from layers of colors. Canon says, for example, MS Word may print in black only with default text color but an Adobe graphics document not saved in a grey scale only format will likely use colors to try to faithfully reproduce the graphics.



- Turn off the automatic shut-off. Standby mode uses 1.0W, so on standby even all year uses around 9kWh/yr., so around $1/yr depending on where you live. This can help lessen the number of minute or so long cleaning routines as it runs around a minute after start-up and sometimes at shutdown. It runs the cleaning other times, too, which is good as it keeps ink from clogging.



- Avoid printing pages with solid or heavily colored background in color when possible.



- Some fonts use 20-40% less ink than others. According to a leading consumer magazine, Times uses much less than Arial which uses much less than Calibri, for example.



- Draft quality mode uses less ink than Standard (and is faster), and of course both use less ink than High quality mode. Note that text is much sharper at high quality.



NOTE: If there is no printing or cleaning routine at least once a month or so, select it to run a cleaning routine (easy to do) or turn it off and on to force it to once a month or so to keep the nozzles unclogged. If they clog talk to Canon support for what is often an easy solution.