Canon i550 Color Bubble Jet Printer

PS-The text printed by the i550 is laser quality, just in case you need to actually use it as a "regular" printer:)


The only choice   October 30, 2002
Athair (Platte City, MO United States)
37 out of 37 found this review helpful

HP has let quality seriously slip, and Epson thinks the printer future is with cameras and not computers. So the perennial also-ran, Canon, has stepped in with this worthy successor to the S750.

The i550 is no great breakthrough product. Inkjet printers have become settled commodity items. And they are becoming very cheap. So the question is whether quality has suffered. For the i550, the answer is no. The ink comes in individual tanks for economy and has been reformulated so as not to fade. Speed is comparable to older Canon models and is faster in every mode than most Epsons and HPs. It is interesting that draft mode shows little degradation from standard mode for text and graphics but is noticably faster still and will be the setting of choice for all internal documents. But neither will you be ashamed to send anyhting you print in standard mode out into the world. The type seems crisp and black and the colors are true, at least to my eye.

This is not a photo printer, but to I think it produces pictures as good as any printer(assuming the right paper -- I used the samples from Canon), though real purists may want to invest more for a real photo printer if that is your main use. This is an office printer, and though it has camera-type software, it has no slots for memory sticks. Overall, it's a good all-around unit at [money] and I don't miss my old Epson a bit.


Great printer for a great price   October 19, 2002
32 out of 33 found this review helpful

This is my second printer I've bought in ten years. My first was a Canon BJC-600. It was a great printer, even up until the day I replaced it. But it was showing its age and it was way too slow. So I set out to get another Canon product. I had my eye on the S520, but was upset to find out that it had been pulled! Why? To make room for the i550, of course.

So, two printerless weeks go by and finally the i550 hits the shelves. I run out and buy one ASAP for two reasons. First, my previous experience with Canon products, and second, I saw the S520 in action. I was very impressed with the photo quality, speed, and price. The i550 promised to be better and faster at about the same price as the S520.

To make a long story short, if you're looking for an inexpensive printer...look no further. For someone like me who doesn't really use the borderless photo printing (as amazing as it may be), this is the best one I've found for the price. Best of all, it has individual ink tanks for all the colors! I like HP printers, but I hate the wasteful and expensive 3-in-1 color cartridges that go in them.

For those who do a lot of photo printing, be advised that you'll probably want to use Canon paper. Although you can use other paper (i.e. Kodak) the ink and paper are all designed as a system. Therefore best results will be achieved with Canon paper.

PROS: Speed, individual ink-wells, high quality, easy-to-use bundled software, low cost.

CONS: Vibrates a lot when it picks up speed.


I liked thw Canon i550 buble jet printer so much...   October 16, 2002
28 out of 29 found this review helpful

I went out and brought a new Canon S330 digital camera to co-ordinate my pictures with the new intuitive software that the printer provides for digital pictures taken with a Canon digital camera. Truthfully, my old Canon Bubblejet had given up the ghost after 6 yrs. of hard work. I chose this printer because it does everything: text, and, great digital photographs.

The i550 printer supports Exif 2.2 (Exchangeable Image Format File), a new worldwide standard for higher quality digital photos, and features exclusive Canon Easy-PhotoPrint software that delivers the potential of Exif Print. The quality is amazing with an ultra-high resolution of up to 4800 x 1200 color dpi. Simple-to-use Easy-PhotoPrint analyzes the recorded data then automatically adjusts printer driver settings for optimum image processing for photos that look like what you intended them to look like.

As for those ink cartriges that cost so much. Canon has replaced them with an intelligent ink management system for ease-of-use and lower printing costs. I have already printed out six 8"x11"and several 4"x6" photos, and dozen of text pages, and still have have almost full tanks. I would use Canon's glossy paper for the ultimate photos for clarity and color. There is a big difference in the paper you use for printing out photographs. Now, I am waiting for my new Canon S330 digital camera to arrive from 'Buy/Dig'. I can hardly wait to see the spectacular results. I heartily recommend the new Canon i550 Bubble Jet Printer for business, pleasure and photography.


Great photo printer but needs right paper   January 5, 2003
wu chou (Basking Ridge, NJ United States)
22 out of 24 found this review helpful

This is my first experience with a color printer from Canon. But initial test on regular papers was disappointing, even I selected the correct regular paper printing option. I was about to return this printer, thinking that if the printing quality on the regular paper is as such, it won't hold much chance for printing photos, where the quality is more demanding.

This turns out to be gravely wrong. The photo print from high quality photo glossy paper, a small gift package from Canon, is simply amazing and hard to believe. They are even better than my regular photos developed from the film. The time of digital camera and prints has finally come.

It seems to me that Canon i550 is a great photo printer if using the right photo paper. I highly recommend the Canon Photo Paper
Plus Glossy for this printer. I tried more expensive Kodak papers (e.g. Kodak Ultra Glossy). Canon's paper is better by a big margin, in terms of paper quality, printing quality and price.

In picture printing, once you see how good a picture print can be, you will never want to keep a less perfect one. I ended up wasting my investment on Kodak papers, that I originally thought to be the best given the expensiveness of the paper (a price factor of two or more comparing to Canon's paper).

In short, don't expect a great printing quality on the regular paper, and if the quality is not idea, make sure you use the right paper. The ink in i550 is more water like, and it produces beautiful photo print with a thin layer of ink that is tightly bounded to the paper. For regular paper printing, Epson C82 might be a better choice, since it uses a thicker but more expensive ink.

Here are some small things that can change your experience with i550.

(1) If you use USB port to connect the printer with your computer, make sure you order this cable (Belkin F3U133-06), a [money] item.

(2) The installation manual is generally good except at one step. You need to turn the printer on in order to reach the gray printing head release and installation handle. You cannot reach it when the printer is off. In other words, you need to turn printer on when you want to install the printing head and inks.