Canon Office Products MG5420 Wireless Color Photo Printer with Scanner and Copier

I bought this printer for one purpose, to print color photo's. I have an HP laser printer for black and white. Got smart two years ago and went laser to save on ink. Smart move, toner does last forever. The Laser didn't do sharp photo's so I thought about getting this printer for that job. Otherwise I would never go back to ink jet.I used this printer for three weeks and until today (8/23/14), I was printing mostly on paper from the internet. Worked fine. Today I got the photo paper out and decided it was time to try some photo printing. Here's my overall review of the Canon MG5420. Read on ...............The Good: easy set up, easy wi fi connection, easy instructions. Machine is wider than I expected, I suggest measuring if this is to go in a cabinet. Two media drawers. Easy to install ink. Looks good.The Ugly: Its slow. So are laser printers in start up mode. A little noisy but so are laser printers.No paper feed. Have not tried the scanner.The Bad: I could have sworn Cannon said 'Photo Printer' in there advertising. Seriously I have thrown out dot matrix printers from the 80's that could out perform this printer. They of course have a disclaimer saying you need to use the right paper. I used three types of photo paper and none worked.I understand that the top quality paper produces better results but the kind of results I'm getting are not because of the paper.I tried Canon's print software which is bare bones, and PhotoScape and got the same poor results. I ran the clean the heads program twice and the Deep head cleaning once. I then ran the test pattern and the colors were light pastel. They should have been dark and bold but looked washed out and printed photos the same way. It prints crisp dark black and white text on stock paper so its the color printing that is the heart of the problem.I cannot recommend this for Photos'. In addition this printer cannot handle home office work. Way too slow, and ink usage would kill you. Here is where the laser printer seriously out performs the ink jets. The Toner cartridges I buy from Amazon last a year or more and I buy knock off brands............................................................................Update...................................................In my previous one star review I did not trash the printer itself. Matter of fact I liked the design, looks and easy set up. It does not make a lot of noise and isn't that slow.My whole issue, and the only issue, was it did not produce good pictures after trying about everything.In frustration I decided, hey its either the paper type I'm using or possibly the ink cartriges that came with it got old sitting around.I put new color only cartridges in (knock off) from Amazon, two sets for $19. I also, and I apologize to the readers for not doing this scientific and trying one thing first to see what the problem was. Instead I bought some Hi Gloss Canon paper and gave it a go. Wow. Total difference. Beautiful pictures. I did shake up each cartridge before installing it.Last, knowing I was going to update this. My other issue with my HP Printer is I scanned and old 5 x 8 picture and with that program I could not make it larger. I tried the scan on the Canon, opened the picture in their Photo Software, enhanced it and it printed and saved a beautiful 8 x 10 photo. So Canon gets a big five stars from me now. One last thing. I suggest buying Hi Gloss paper. I was using some old Matte and some semi gloss that I have no idea where it came from.Thank You. I did not try to copy any thing but I'm sure that works as well.

First let me start off by saying I was a die-hard HP printer guy for the better part of 20 years. I had a horrible experience with my last HP and decided to look in to a new multifunction. By chance I happened to see this Canon MG5420 at Best Buy. I loved the design, very low profile if not a little wide but that's not a big deal. It's almost "elegant" looking. As much as a printer can be I suppose anyway. I took a look on Amazon to check pricing and more importantly, reviews. None! Did a search for other reviews and they proved to be very hard to find as this is a new product. I took a chance and ordered it anyway, couldn't be any worse than my HP I was replacing.Can I describe this in one word? Yup...WOW! This is by far the best printer I've ever owned...and for $110? You've got to be kidding me! My biggest areas of importance were the scanning and obviously the print quality.Scanning: Fast and great quality. Scanning a 4x6 photo is completed in a very short period of time, 20-30 seconds would be my guess from hitting the scan button to complete. The photos were clear, color was pretty accurate and detail was crisp. I'm very happy with the scanning abilities of this machine! Set up to a default of 600 DPI for photos it does a fantastic job. Far better than the 3 year old HP it replaced.Printing...Can you say fast? Photo printing of all sizes is QUICK! Doesn't matter if it's a 4x6, 5x7 or 8x10. Under a minute and BOOM, it's done. The colors are gorgeous and the detail is pro quality. As a reference, I printed a copy of a photo I had printed at a local shop. You can't tell a difference. Seriously, the MG5420 is that good. I also tested this with a photo of one of our cats, who happens to be black. Black cats are hard to photograph, let alone print...I can see virtually every hair on her. The clarity and detail is exceptional and impressed me beyond expectations. Oh, if printing photos is something you'll be doing I'd also try the Pro Platinum paper. I got the 8x10 pack and my prints are absolutely stunning. There are two paper trays to use, one for normal every day 8.5x11 and another for photo paper and envelopes. Not really a huge selling point but it is pretty convenient to be able to keep two different kinds of paper loaded at all times.Ink usage: This is the one area that left me disgusted with the old HP. This Canon however, from my experience so far, is excellent. I've printed 11 4x6 photos, 2 5x7 photos and 4 8x10 photos and three of the cartridges still register as full and two show only a small decrease in usage. If this is the norm for this printer then this ink will last me a long, long time.Ease of use: While not a touch screen (wish it was but it's a minor complaint), the menu system is very easy to navigate. You get 3 rows of 3 options (9 menu options total) and use the hard keys to choose and go deeper in to the selected menu. It's no-nonsense, straight forward and easy as pie to get around. Couldn't be happier. The output tray folds in to the machine when not in use and automatically pops out when needed. That's a nice feature since you can just tuck everything back in to the printer for a really clean look.Set up: Super easy to install the included software and drivers. Took about 10 minutes or so and I was up and running with no issues at all. I am NOT using the wireless feature so I can't say how that works but via USB it is flawless.In conclusion, I would recommend this print/scan/copy machine to anyone. The quality it puts out, combined with the price, make this little baby a real winner. Being this was a first experience with Canon printers, they've sold me. I couldn't be happier. If I left anything of importance to you out or you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment. I always try to help out where I can. And again, this little gem deserves very strong consideration.