Take the minimalist design of the Canon Pixma MX330, add the functionality of the Canon Pixma MX7600, finish it off with built-in Wi-Fi, and you’ve got the Canon Pixma MX860. It’s the only printer in the series that offers wireless while still maintaining all the features you need to print, scan, fax, and copy. Despite small missteps in output quality, the $199 Pixma MX860 is a worthwhile printer for shoppers who need a multifunctional printer at a very reasonable cost. (Source: CNET)

Do you own this printer? Tell me how you feel about it. Thanks!

— CNET Rating: 3.5 Stars —

The good: Large 2.5-inch LCD; built-in memory card reader; stylish design; robust software suite; fast output.

The bad: Output quality can use improvement.

The bottom line: The Canon Pixma MX860′s auto-document feeder, large LCD screen, and quick print speeds are sure to increase your productivity, but it also includes plenty of software to nourish your creative interests. At $199, this multifunctional printer earns our recommendation. (Read the full CNET review)

— PCWORLD Rating: 4 Stars —

Pros: Roomy paper trays; fast, capable scanner; Automatic duplexer; Wi-Fi connectivity

Cons: Average to slow print speeds; Printed photos suffer on plain paper

Bottom Line: You get nice print quality plus Wi-Fi and automatic duplexing, but speed is just average overall. (Read the full PCWorld review)

— Consumer Ratings: 3 Stars —

A positive comment from Amazon.com:

Buy now, read review while you wait for delivery truck!

The Canon PIXMA MX860 is the iPhone of All-In-One Printers – it is feature packed, easy to use, and exceeds expectations at every turn.

SUMMARY
Excellent quality, clear menus/instructions/software, Wireless setup, printing, and scanning on OS X is flawless. ADF and Duplexer in a high quality wireless printer from Canon is a steal at $199.

PROS
Build quality, setup instructions, feature set is huge, price tag isn’t

CONS
Weight, could be quieter, internal paper tray doesn’t handle photo media, no wireless faxing

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The build quality is striking. It is very well packed and instructions are the best I have seen of any consumer electronics product including previous Canon products. There is a “kickstand” for keeping the printer open while inserting the 5 ink tanks and closing it reveals that it has a gentle piston like a luxury car’s hood. Other details include a mechanism on the output try that automatically opens when printing to keep papers from spewing onto the floor. There is definitely some weight to this device and it is much larger than a printer you might get free with a PC purchase. Still I said to myself as I unpacked “was this really just $199?” as I had been looking at more expensive models and was concerned the quality would suffer to provide the MX860′s price point.

PHYSICAL SETUP
Okay, I was flat out scared to insert the print head and break the caps off the five delicate ink tanks to insert them, but I think the instructions were just trying to make a point. In any case, do prepare your setup with lots of light as the print head insertion process is both dark and covered in warning stickers. I had no problems however because the on-screen instructions were clear (both visually and intellectually) and after printing a three step printhead alignment, output quality was definitely promising. I went with the wireless setup so I left the included USB cable (thanks Canon!) and phone lines (don’t intend to fax) in the bag. The built in paper tray (letter size only) hides away neatly under the printer and there is a second input on the back of the unit for other media, plain paper, envelopes, or photo paper (hey a free 4×6 sample pack is included, cool!)

NETWORK SETUP
I installed the OS X drivers on a MacBook and it was very easy. Note that there are different instructions for 10.4 and 10.5 which are the only two versions supported as of Feb 2009 (Vista, XP, and 2000 are also supported, though it is unclear if 64-bit drivers are provided for those OSes). Software is as straight forward as the printed instructions. I did not install Canon’s included photo software as I am expecting iPhoto to handle those tasks.I put the printer in Wireless LAN setup mode. A couple items to note though: Canon does proide for totally wireless setup though Wi-Fi Protected Setup though I went with the more straight forward USB connection to get the printer setup on the wireless network (turns out that included USB cable was helpful). The second item to note is that the software required a reboot which I am not accustom to with OS X software but none the less went along with. It was very cool to see the results of a two minute Wi-Fi quality test that shows the signal strength from base station to printer. (I was in the green zone from about 50 – 60 feet from the base station through two walls.)

PRINTING
Printing is so subjective I’m not going to try to quantify it. I’ll say that it looks very crisp to me – not laser printer crisp, but every bit as sharp as I expected. Have not printed photos yet. The printing is about moderate in speed and as loud as my $300 HP All-in-One from 2004 but lower in tone so not as annoying.

SCANNING
Wireless scanning was what I was very interested in and the MX860 did not disappoint. Can scan from the glass, or the Auto-Document Feeder (ADF) and even do front and back duplex scans from the ADF. The awesome on-screen menu system is intuitive and allows you to choose your target wireless device to scan to. Scanning was faster and quieter than I expected and the resolution is truly excellent for an All-in-One. This is not a dedicated scanner and it won’t scan a legal document, but when you want to quickly front and back scan those rebate forms before you send them in, this will be a good friend to have. I also look forward to batch scanning old printed photos for import into iPhoto.

OTHER FEATURES
I haven’t had time to test printing from a memory card, duplex or ADF copy/print/scanning, faxing or receiving a fax, or Bluetooth (didn’t purchase the optional module for $30). But what I was keenly impressed with is the crisp, intuitive menus. Very easy to navigate and follow. Things are where you think they will be. I wanted to turn down the volume of the keypad confirmation beeps and pleasantly had a whole menu of selection to do so for various volumes including off, as well as different settings for key press or alarms. The attention to detail and user experience really shows.

I hope this review was helpful and you enjoy your new Canon PIXMA MX860.

A negative comment from Amazon.com:

Paper jam? But I just set it up!

Took it out of the box – heavy enough to throw my back out, but nicely packaged and secure. Set it up — beautiful looking machine. Power it up — lots of whirring, then some more whirring, and more…then an “ADF” (automatic document feeder) error message. Apparently there’s paper jammed in the ADF even though *I just took it out of the box*.

I check for packaging material that might be stuck, shake it gently, check every nook and cranny for stuck paper or material just in case the machine’s mixed up about what’s stuck where, shut down, wait a few minutes, restart, repeat about ten times, shut down for a day, restart, still can’t get anything on the little screen except the error message. Looking at the 1 star reviews I notice someone else had the exact same problem out of the box. I pay a “tech expert” about eighteen bucks to diagnose: he tells me in all likelihood it’s defective and get a refund fast while I still can. (Read all Amazon.com user reviews)