I have used an Epson for several years, being loyal to the brand, but have grown intolerant of the printing quality. No matter how much I calibrated the printer, I still go blue streaks everywhere for normal printing. Very frustrating.
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The PIXMA MP280 has satisfied that need. It comes with a bunch of bells and whistles, but I was looking for something I would use every day to print, scan and copy, something to replace my Epson printer and Epson scanner (two separate components). This fit that need very well.
The price would lead you to believe that its quality is not very good. However, unless you're a photographer or graphic artist who requires really high resolution output onto really good paper, this is a fine addition to the office.
With that said, here are some notes:
First, you need to supply your own USB printer cable for this device. The printer does not come with one. Personally, I find this to be a huge miss. No manufacturer should assume that any customer has all the tools for the job. It's the same cable I use for my Epson, so I'm fine. This is such an easy way to make it easier on the end user. Therefore, this is a big miss.
SETUP AND INSTALLATION: I'm on a Mac, so setup was complete and I was printing in under 30 minutes. The manual says you need at least 20 minutes for software installation, but mine was installed in less than 10.
OUTPUT: Color printing was satisfactory. Nothing that I could hang on a wall (but I don't need it.) At standard printing, the color output was insanely slow less than two pages per minute. If you use color printing at the "fast" selection, not much quality is sacrificed, and the printing came out to about four pages per minute. For black and white, the printing was again satisfactory, with about six pages per minute. As a note: In relation to the IPM, the problem with that measurement is that while we all print images, 99% of the time they are still on regular 8.5x11 paper. So the image could be nice, but the paper still has to come out. What I printed above were pdfs, and the color was SLOW.
COPYING: Very easy. One button for color or black and white with satisfactory output. The copier warming up takes longer than the copy itself a total of about 30 seconds.
SCANNING: Again, satisfactory. The DPI is not very high, but this is an everyday scanner. Most of the customers would be people who want to share images on Facebook.
COLOR CARTRIDGES: One of the things I hated about my old Epson was that I had to change out color cartridges about once every two months. I have run several dozen color prints through this and it's now telling me that I need a color refill. Ugh. So I'm not thrilled that I may face the same situation with this one.
Overall, three stars. This is a solid printer for everyday use, and I like the compact size with the all-in-one features. The lack of a USB printer cable and the fact that it doesn't do a very good job with color ink consumption keep me from giving this really high marks. But this has a place in a home where it will see a lot of output, perhaps in a home with school-age children or home office.
A good all-in-one, worth the money.
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