- Up to 4,800 x 1,200 color dpi resolution
- Up to 13 ppm black, 9 ppm color; true borderless photos
- Direct printing from select Canon digital cameras
- USB interface; PC and Mac compatible; wireless IrDA for Windows
- Supports optional battery for fully portable operation
THE GOOD:
(1) This is the lightest printer among peers. HP''s 450cbi, the closest alternative in my book, is nowhere near as portable as the i70.
(2) Prints directly from a digicam. I use Canon''s G3, and I can now share photo print-outs straight from my camera. No need to lug my laptop around.
(3) The battery life is great, don''t believe detractors. IN general you don''t need the battery -that is only for outings, for those occasions when you just have to print out something while sitting by the lake.
(4) It is FAST! Especially for color prints, it outpaces my full-blown HP laserjet.
(5) It is QUIET. You''ll have to get used to its noiseless printing. First time round, I had to check to make sure the paper was printed on.
(6) Is a breeze to INSTALL. Something you can expect from Canon, of course.
(7) Works with both Windows and Macs.
CAVEATS:
(1) The photo quality may not appeal to shutterbugs, especially if NOT printed on photo paper, but for general office workers with little desk space or for folks with a packed travel roster, the i70 is a pretty safe bet.
(2) The ink costs may sky rocket quite quickly if you print colored stuff often. If, like me, your general printing is B&W, then this is a great buy.
(3) The price, especially if you buy the battery pack. But there are deals if you know where to look.
SUMMARY:
A great overall printer, definitely if you need to carry one around. I purchase Epson''s photo paper (not Canon''s own) for color shots and the i70 prints more than adequately. The speed, the quality and the quietness make it one of my top printer recommendations -all things said, even better than a regular inkjet.
Buy Canon i70 Color Bubble Jet Printer Now
I just bought this yesterday, so this is just my initial impressions.... I saw it in the store beside the HP 450. The i70 was about half the size of the 450. The Cannon rep was there and I asked for both a photo and text to be printed. The results were pretty awesome for such a tiny printer. This is just the perfect printer for a laptop.
But the only connections are via USB or infra-red. No parallel port! (That official Amazon.com review is wrong about this.) It comes with AC adaptor.... Also no USB cable. So it winds up being pricey. But it''s worth it. It''s also very good looking... not like that older model (Cannon 85?) which was an ugly black box.
The infra-red port is on the right side. My laptop''s infra-red port is also on the right. Since I didn''t want a backwards printer, I went with the USB connect. Installation was very easy. They give you a large, but one-page step-by-step guide. I was printing in about 15 minutes.
It has one tub for color ink and a second tub for black ink. So if you print a lot of text, you won''t use up that expensive color ink.
I hope that this printer can last as long as an HP printer. If it can, Cannon has HP beat.
Read Best Reviews of Canon i70 Color Bubble Jet Printer Here
My husband was going to a two-week writer''s workshop, and needed a printer to bring along. We bought a Canon i70 bubble jet printer, even though it cost considerably more than most low-end printers. We haven''t regretted the purchase for a moment.
The printer has two strong marks in its favor:
* It weighs only 7 pounds. It''s also about the size of a hardback novel, and slid right into his iBook-and-computer backpack. (Other people had to ship a box, complete with styrofoam and packing tape.)
* The ink cartridges cost $11 each. (Amazon''s likely to cut the dollar amount, so I''ll also point out this costs less than two fast-food dinners.)
At the relatively low ink price, we assumed that the printer would go through ink faster than I can eat a box of Lindt chocolate truffles. So we made sure to get a second cartridge before he left. To his surprise, a single ink cartridge lasted the entire two weeks -even though he went through an entire ream of paper. (Not single-spaced with lots of fonts, and no color to speak of, but that''s still pretty impressive.)
Note, however, that the i70 doesn''t hold a lot of sheets at a time. That wasn''t a criteria for the traveling printer (and we have a color laser at home, so it doesn''t get much use off-the-road), but it might matter to you.
To be honest, we haven''t done any real color printing on it yet, other than to test that it worked. So I can''t speak to that. However, it''s certainly fast.
Bottom line: if you need a truly portable printer, I don''t think you''ll do better than this. While plenty of other inkjets are light enough that, yeah, if you had to bring it along you COULD, the Canon i70 is easy enough to grab and stuff in your luggage. You''ll take it along without a second thought.
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I am a real estate agent and use this printer to print out contracts from my laptap. It fits in the front flap of my carrying case, hence negating the need for another bag. Slick, prints fast and easy to set up.
Here are some cons:
Infrared sometimes does not "connect" as fast
Ink dries up FAST!! Granted my contracts are lengthy, but I can''t get thru one complete contract (about 25 pages) without it drying up on me.
Besides the two complaints listed above, it is great.
As a road warrior, I bought the i70 to replace my old Canon BJC-85, and to use with my Powerbook G4. On the plus side, it is fast and prints reasoably good text, and very good photos if you use photo paper. The black ink tank could be bigger, but that is a minor issue. It is the smallest printer of its type that I have seen.
The real problem is that at a certain point, you will have to replace the waste ink tank, something that I did not have to do with previous Canon printers. This is not something you can do yourself; you must send or take the printer to an authorized service facility, and pay around $115 for the replacement. That is equal to half of what I paid for the printer approximately 2 years ago. And if you ignore the warning light, the printer will just quit on you in the middle of an important print job.
Cannon says that as a "loyal" customer, they will give you a discount on a new printer, instead of replacing the waste ink tank, however, they will not tell you what that discount is up front. Further, a tech at the service facility told me the newer models, such as the i80 and ip90 have the same flaw engineered into the product. Seems like Canon has decided their authorized service facilities are more important than their customers.
I wrote to Canon, and received the reply that my comments would be directed to the appropriate person. I hope so.
