Canon PIXMA MG5220 Wireless Inkjet Photo All-in-One (4502B017)

I purchased this Canon PIXMA MG5220 wireless inkjet printer after a lot of research and extensive pondering. I own a greeting card business and I design and print everything using a PC and an inkjet printer. Most of my designs incorporate photos and I'd been using an HP PhotoSmart that produced decent results but was not as design-friendly as I needed it to be and I felt it did not produce the most professional results.After a year of fighting with my HP printer's options (and sometimes with HP Customer Service), I came up with a wish list of what the ideal printer would offer to a card maker:- Crisp, true-color printing, particularly for photos- Speedy printing, even in higher quality settings- Rapid ink drying time- Two-sided printing (many of my cards include inside messages)- Accurate depiction in Print Preview- Limited or no default print margin that might interfere with my design- Crisp text printing on cardstock and other heavy papers- No fading of color on high-volume print jobs- Absolutely NO roller marks, shiny streaks, or crimps left on the paper after printing- Perfect paper feed alignment- No open paper trays to collect dustWhen I received my Canon printer, I was immediately impressed at its appearance. It is sleek, glossy black and feels really solid. I was able to set it up completely in less than one hour, connecting 2 PC's via WiFi (a new Dell running Windows 7 and a 7-year old Dell running XP that is in a separate room and connects to WiFi via an adaptor).I was anxious to test all aspects of printing so I printed an assortment of items using various papers and sizes, checking off each of the items on my 'dream list' above and scrutinizing the results. I am happy to report that each of my 'demands' has been met by this printer!- My previous printer spit out photos with an orange-ish cast that would gradually fade as the photo dried, but never completely. Not so with my new Canon: photos exit the printer in their finished form so I can instantly see their beauty!- Print speed is very quick by comparison and when printing, my Canon printer does not rock the cabinet it sits on the way my clunky HP did.- Photos are dry in seconds, as are other images and text, even on glossy cardstock.- The two-sided print feature works smoothly and will be a massive time saver for me.- Print Preview ... this was a big problem with my previous printer because Print Preview would indicate that my design was sized properly but the design invariably ran off the page. With my Canon, the output has been exactly as what my Print Preview told me it would be.- That leads us to the printer default margins: my HP had default margins large enough to sometimes interfere with my designs and no amount of verbal arm-twisting with HP's Customer Service would confirm the size of those margins or offer a work-around.- Simple black text is superb: it's crisp and truly black. Even on a heavy cardstock that can be absorbent, the text remains crisp. I used my new Canon to print business cards and for text inside a greeting card and in both cases, I was wowed by the professional result.- I just completed a card order that required 18 pages of a color design on heavy cardstock. I printed them all in one run and the colors on the last sheet were just as brilliant as those on the first.- I am thrilled to report that there have been absolutely NO crimps, marks, smudges, bends or any other defacing of my printed pages, including on the paper's edges.- The bottom paper tray and the top paper feeder hold paper very securely and squarely for a perfectly aligned printed image.- All openings on the printer close up nicely so there is no chance of dust getting on anything I print. The finished printed pages exit cleanly and appear magically untouched by anything but beautiful inks!Obviously, I am thrilled with my selection and believe that if it meets my unusual demands as a card maker, it'll certainly be perfect for everyday home or office printing. I have also tested the SCAN function and found it fast & super-easy and setting up default SCAN options was a cinch.

Back in June, Amazon offered me $30 off the price of this printer. My old printer had broken and I was looking for a new one, but this MG5220 was well out of my price range without the deal Amazon offered. With the $30, it was the perfect price and left the competition in the dust. I've found it to be everything it promises to be in the product description.It was very carefully packaged - perhaps more carefully than necessary - and then quite easy to set up. The wireless function will be great when I go back to school; being able to put it anywhere should help alleviate those dorm-room space constraints.Print quality is excellent. I'm a photographer and while I don't often work with prints, it's nice to have the option occasionally. This is the third "photo" printer I've owned (first Epson, then HP, now this Canon), but it is the first that I've felt did justice to my photos. As for copies, in many cases I find the copy looks better than the original!The speed of the printer is comparable to other nice ones I've owned, possibly a bit faster. The lapse between hitting the Print button on my computer and the printer beginning to respond is comparable to wired printers, but the actual print speed is indeed faster. Copies and scans are so fast it often surprises me how quickly they are done.One drawback of this printer is that it is LARGE. It's quite a bit bigger than my old HP Photosmart C4650. It is about 18" wide, 20" deep with the trays open, and 6" tall (not including the rear tray, which adds another 6"). All those measurements are entirely approximated, I did not grab a measuring tape. Still, the wireless function makes size less crucial, since it doesn't necessarily have to take up all that space on a desk. It is a very well-built printer not prone to falling apart in the way that some I have used are.I don't find this very important, but as printers go it is an attractive one. Sleek glossy black with rounded sides, neat little lit buttons and a nice tilting screen. Dust magnet, though, as it seems they all are.I have not needed to replace the ink in this printer yet, but did my homework in advance and it looks like it's about average. Around $13 for a black ink cartridge. It takes separate cartridges for each color. Off-brand cartridges are very cheap and I will probably opt for those when the time comes. Allow me to take this moment for those of you who are reading and advise you to research the price of replacement ink for any printer you consider buying. Not doing so is something like buying a car without considering its fuel efficiency.Happy hunting in your printer-buying quest. I highly recommend this one, even at $100.