Canon i860 Photo Printer

If you're a serious photo hobbyist who seeks a single printer that combines home office needs with top-notch color capability, look no further than the Canon i860. Its laser-quality black printing churns out 600 x 600 dpi sheets. And it's fast, with speeds of up to 23 pages per minute. The pigment-based black ink delivers exceptional clarity and legibility, whether you're printing a holiday newsletter or a detailed spreadsheet.

Individual ink tanks save money, reduce waste.

This printer can connect directly to select digital cameras. Learn more about PictBridge.

A light beam can "see" the ink level.

I spent months looking and shopping around, and finally settled on the i860 after going to a store and testing the printers side-by-side. True, at the highest photo quality, a lot of these printers will look alike...but after "looking under the hood," I decided the Canon was the way to go...Here is the skinny:

"Top Ten Reasons To Buy This Printer"
(1) Great photo quality prints in a jiffy (some say like 43 seconds, but it seems faster);
(2) Quiet (it almost whispers);
(3) Good print quality on regular text/regular paper;
(4) Easy to set-up, and the documentation is excellent (took me less than 10 minutes);
(5) Fantastic software package that comes with the unit...try the "Easy Web Print" and I guarantee that you won't be disappointed;
(6) Ink tanks are separate (meaning you don't have to replace a whole 3, 4 or 5 color tank when one color runs out) and relatively inexpensive;
(7) The paper that works best with the printer is made by Canon, which is also relatively inexpensive;
(8) Their customer support is phenominal (I had one small issue that turned out to have nothing to do with the printer itself), and their support staff not only knew what they were doing, but I didn't have to hold for an hour;
(9) It's very moderately priced; and
(10) True borderless printing (no perforated paper).

"Top Six Reasons Not To Buy This Printer" (can't think of 10!)
(1) Maximum print size is 8 1/2 x 11. If you like to print posters, find another printer;
(2) No LCD screen, so the printer needs to be controlled from the computer (or Camera if you have PhotoBridge on your camera) and you cannot review pictures on the printer before you print;
(3) No USB or Parallel cable in the box (why not, I ask?);
(4) Photo quality prints do not look great on other papers besides Canon;
(5) It's really big;
(6) The 4x6 paper try is a tad bit awkward;

I hope this helps!


Quality of a laser, versatility of an ink-jet   November 2, 2003
C. Charla
106 out of 109 found this review helpful

I really wanted to buy a b&W laser printer, but with a small kid at home, I knew I also needed color, both for digital pictures and crafts projects. After doing a *ton* of research online, I decided on the i850, only to discover it was relpaced with the i860, which I bought based on the strength of the 850's reviews.

This printer is great -- for text printing it uses a pigment-based black ink which looks sharp on *any* paper (even some crappy old typing paper I had lying around). For printing color images, it uses a dye-base black in (and dye-based cyan, magenta, and yellow inks).

The results are great: When printing text, this printer is FAST -- nearly as fast as my laser-jet at the office. The pigment based text is genuinely laser-quality. You simply cannot tell it was done on an ink-jet. For printing color images, the usual caveats apply (items look best on Canon products, etc.), but the results easily outpace six-color ink jets.

Finally, I've found that the ink is *much* cheaper than with competitors, making your cost per page much lower with this printer than with a Lexmark, Epson, or HP. If you're so inclined, it also does not have chips in the ink cartridges, so you can refill them easily as well.


Unbelievable Photo Prints   March 18, 2004
70 out of 71 found this review helpful

I just installed this printer (which replaced an aging Epson 800) and printed a test photo that was taken with a 5.0 megapixel Sony P92 Cybershot digital camera. The results are unbelievable. The print, using Canon's "Photo Paper Pro" 4x6 paper, has got to be seen to be believed. I used the Easy Photo-Print utility that came with the printer, at its default settings. The print is as glossy and shiny as the paper it was printed on, with no surface imperfections and no evidence it came from an ink-jet printer. The sharpness and resolution is just remarkable, with a depth and richness of color that I didn't think was possible from an ink-jet printer. If I hadn't watched the print being made, I would swear it came from a professional photo processor.

The great thing is that the I860 produces very acceptable color results on copier-grade paper as well, with sharp edges and no bleeding or running of colors. I wet a finger and dragged it across the page 15 minutes after it printed and there was no smearing or blurring. That was never possible with my old Epson.

There's a separate black ink cartridge reserved solely for text documents, I think, that prints reasonably sharp black text that looks like it came from a laser printer. And black-and-white text prints are fast, too.

Installation was a breeze, after first uninstalling the Epson software and deleting the Epson printer from the Win98's printer list. The supplied CD is simple to follow and about 25 minutes later I was printing the test photo. Installation of the software on our other networked Win2000 computer went just as quickly.

All in all, this has got to be the best value for the money, ever.


the i860 Rocks!   October 11, 2003
Timothy Webster (Sacramento, CA United States)
78 out of 80 found this review helpful

I have never written a product review before, but I have often used them when shopping. This time I felt obligated to submit my own.

After failing to research printers adequately, I purchased an HP 7550...I hated it! It was loud, slow, and the quality of the photo prints were at best mediocre. When I knew I was planning to replace it I looked up some reviews and found that the i860 was highly recommended, so I decided to try it.

I am both thrilled and amazed at how much I love this printer. It is fast, it is quiet, and the prints of photos I get on high gloss paper are the highest quality I have ever seen on a home printer.

I would recommend this printer over most of the $200-$400 printers out there. I've seen demos and comparisons, the i860 hangs with the best of them for far less $$.

On the $$ note, the i860 aslo kills the HP when it comes to ink replacement. The HP seems to use up ink faster and the replacement cartridges are too expensive.


Comparing the i860 to the i960   December 5, 2003
E. L Wanner (USA)
57 out of 57 found this review helpful

I own both the Canon i860 and i960 printers, plus a Lexmark Z52.

If you are wondering how the i860 and i960 compare, this may help. The i860 operates on a five ink tank system, while the i960 has six ink tanks. Better to have six? No, because Canon has developed a wonderful photo-enhancement technology that AUTOMATICALLY selects the inks that it deems will produce the most beautiful photos. The photos from either printer are really very similar, and both will do a fine job. If I had to choose, I would have to say that the i860 has a very slight lead in photo appearance as far as crispness and color brightness, but the difference is minimal.

The i960 costs about $50 more, which is probably due to the extra USB port for high speed data transfer, and the extra ink tank.

One more thing: Dark values can sometimes go very dark with these printers and lose some detail. The i960 will show a little more detail when this happens, but I have found that unless I am printing night or very dark photos, this is not a real problem.