Canon MP830 is horrible for duplexing black text
Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 9:54 am
I know this isn't specific to burning, but many people use Canon inkjets
to print on inkjet printable blank media. Anyway, this, in my opinion, is a huge issue concerning the MP830 that many people are not aware of (they only scratch their heads and ask why their colour ink is dropping--or why their black text output looks bad).
This printer is getting rave reviews from both PC Magazine and PC World.
That said, there's a big problem with this printer that neither review mentions: namely, duplex black text printing from ALL applications produces inferior results than when duplexing is off--and uses colour ink to produce black text when printing in duplex mode.
Why? According to Canon technical support, it's by choice. But more on that later.
If I don't duplex print on fast mode, the text looks very good (the problem is duplex text printing). The print quality when duplex text printing looks dotty and washed out. If you turn duplexing off, the text print quality is vastly superior.
I've reproduced this problem on two different systems with two different MP830s. The difference on fast mode when not duplex printing is quite astounding. Simply using duplex printing makes the text quality significantly worse on fast mode.
One might be inclined to believe bad quality from fast mode text printing isn't a big deal (except that the MP830 is quite capable of producing very good text quality even at fast mode--except when duplexing), but this problem also extends to standard printing when duplexing is enabled. That said, in standard mode the problem isn't as pronounced.
Basically the MP830 is using the colour inks to produce black text instead of the pigment black ink when printing text in duplex mode. I find this to be extremely bothersome. The problem exists when duplexing text in other printing quality modes, but it's most apparent or obvious when duplexing text on fast mode.
You won't find this issue listed in professional reviews from PCMagazine or PC World, simply because the reviewers probably didn't bother to check. For whatever reason, missing this issue is pretty sloppy.
If you want good text quality when duplex printing, it's best not to use this printer at all: you're using color ink instead of the black pigment ink--and the text looks vastly inferior as a result.
This is from Canon technical support:
"The unit was designed to print using "composite black" when duplexing. Composite black is created by using color inks. Unfortunately, we do not have answers as to why Canon USA made this decisions, these decisions are determined by the developers at Canon INC."
Absolutely brutal. Composite black text print is vastly inferior to the text print produced when using the black ink cartridge. Canon technical support is basically telling me that duplex black text printing on the MP830 is horrible by design. Oh, plus you have the added bonus of wasting color ink when printing inferior black text while duplexing.
Inexcusable
This issue is very easily reproduced:
Print text in fast mode with duplexing on. Then
print text in fast mode with duplexing off.
Night and day
It's not just fast mode that's affected either.
Visit http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/view ... orum_id=40 for more information.
to print on inkjet printable blank media. Anyway, this, in my opinion, is a huge issue concerning the MP830 that many people are not aware of (they only scratch their heads and ask why their colour ink is dropping--or why their black text output looks bad).
This printer is getting rave reviews from both PC Magazine and PC World.
That said, there's a big problem with this printer that neither review mentions: namely, duplex black text printing from ALL applications produces inferior results than when duplexing is off--and uses colour ink to produce black text when printing in duplex mode.
Why? According to Canon technical support, it's by choice. But more on that later.
If I don't duplex print on fast mode, the text looks very good (the problem is duplex text printing). The print quality when duplex text printing looks dotty and washed out. If you turn duplexing off, the text print quality is vastly superior.
I've reproduced this problem on two different systems with two different MP830s. The difference on fast mode when not duplex printing is quite astounding. Simply using duplex printing makes the text quality significantly worse on fast mode.
One might be inclined to believe bad quality from fast mode text printing isn't a big deal (except that the MP830 is quite capable of producing very good text quality even at fast mode--except when duplexing), but this problem also extends to standard printing when duplexing is enabled. That said, in standard mode the problem isn't as pronounced.
Basically the MP830 is using the colour inks to produce black text instead of the pigment black ink when printing text in duplex mode. I find this to be extremely bothersome. The problem exists when duplexing text in other printing quality modes, but it's most apparent or obvious when duplexing text on fast mode.
You won't find this issue listed in professional reviews from PCMagazine or PC World, simply because the reviewers probably didn't bother to check. For whatever reason, missing this issue is pretty sloppy.
If you want good text quality when duplex printing, it's best not to use this printer at all: you're using color ink instead of the black pigment ink--and the text looks vastly inferior as a result.
This is from Canon technical support:
"The unit was designed to print using "composite black" when duplexing. Composite black is created by using color inks. Unfortunately, we do not have answers as to why Canon USA made this decisions, these decisions are determined by the developers at Canon INC."
Absolutely brutal. Composite black text print is vastly inferior to the text print produced when using the black ink cartridge. Canon technical support is basically telling me that duplex black text printing on the MP830 is horrible by design. Oh, plus you have the added bonus of wasting color ink when printing inferior black text while duplexing.
Inexcusable
This issue is very easily reproduced:
Print text in fast mode with duplexing on. Then
print text in fast mode with duplexing off.
Night and day
It's not just fast mode that's affected either.
Visit http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/view ... orum_id=40 for more information.