This is not a joke.
I've just lost $600 that I can't recover because of the @#&# new IP4600 printer drivers.
I used to have an IP5000. It never gave me any problems. I could print various sizes in the lower tray and various sizes in the upper tray. I love it. It worked perfectly for me every time. I used it for almost 6 years until it wore out.
I wanted the same printer, but couldn't find one new so, after a lot of research, I settled for the IP4600.
I hate this printer. Or rather, I hate the printer drivers. The IP5000 was very flexible, specify the paper size, put it in the upper or lower tray... and go.
But Canon had this brilliantly stupid idea of changing things to force the user to put odd-sized paper in the top and only 8.5 x 11 in the bottom. The printer driver will override your settings even if you explicitly select upper or lower tray, so there's no way to get around it.
Okay, so why not just follow Canon's new system?
There are two problems:
1. It doesn't work properly. It's set up to recognize the paper size and choose upper or lower for you. But... Canon didn't do so consistently so that if I put a business check in the top (it's a half-sized sheet, but slightly wider than 8.5"), according to Canon, this should feed out of the top but it doesn't. It only feeds out of the bottom onto a piece of letter-sized paper and I can't put the check in the bottom tray to "fool" it because it's slightly too wide. If I lie about the paper size (which you shouldn't have to do), then I can get the thing to print out of the top feeder, but it's extra work, you have to remember to do it, and you have to figure out which settings work to override it. All this costs time and money and causes endless headaches.
2. The second, and even bigger problem is that the Canon printer driver confuses many of my applications. I always printed flawlessly from PageMaker, Indesign, Filemaker, Photoshop and other apps to my ip5000 but I have endless problems with the ip4600 because the app doesn't know about the ip4600 tray idiosyncracies and unpredictable (and unfixable) things happen.
For example, I just wasted a couple of hours trying to get InDesign to print to 8.5 x 14 standard legal sized paper on the ip4600. It will not work, no matter HOW I set things. InDesign senses the media as being 8.5 x 11 no matter how I select the page settings. There's no combination that makes it work. It will print, but it cuts off the image at 11". As I mentioned, this never happened with the ip5000.
I can't pass on the cost of troubleshooting and bug fixing and workarounds to my clients. I have to eat the loss and I'm out $600 much-needed this month due to bugs, many of them printing bugs.
I don't know why Canon changed it. Why "break" something that works well? Is it to accommodate the newer, cheaper "half tray" that sits in the bottom of the printer? I would happily have taken the tray from my old ip5000 and moved it to the 4600, but the opening is not the same size so, as consumers, we don't even have this option.
Does anyone know how to fix these problems? Or could you suggest another ink-on-demand printer that is equal to the ip5000 in reliability, quality and longevity (I got 6 years regular use from the ip5000)?
Thanks for any suggestions.
I've just lost $600 that I can't recover because of the @#&# new IP4600 printer drivers.
I used to have an IP5000. It never gave me any problems. I could print various sizes in the lower tray and various sizes in the upper tray. I love it. It worked perfectly for me every time. I used it for almost 6 years until it wore out.
I wanted the same printer, but couldn't find one new so, after a lot of research, I settled for the IP4600.
I hate this printer. Or rather, I hate the printer drivers. The IP5000 was very flexible, specify the paper size, put it in the upper or lower tray... and go.
But Canon had this brilliantly stupid idea of changing things to force the user to put odd-sized paper in the top and only 8.5 x 11 in the bottom. The printer driver will override your settings even if you explicitly select upper or lower tray, so there's no way to get around it.
Okay, so why not just follow Canon's new system?
There are two problems:
1. It doesn't work properly. It's set up to recognize the paper size and choose upper or lower for you. But... Canon didn't do so consistently so that if I put a business check in the top (it's a half-sized sheet, but slightly wider than 8.5"), according to Canon, this should feed out of the top but it doesn't. It only feeds out of the bottom onto a piece of letter-sized paper and I can't put the check in the bottom tray to "fool" it because it's slightly too wide. If I lie about the paper size (which you shouldn't have to do), then I can get the thing to print out of the top feeder, but it's extra work, you have to remember to do it, and you have to figure out which settings work to override it. All this costs time and money and causes endless headaches.
2. The second, and even bigger problem is that the Canon printer driver confuses many of my applications. I always printed flawlessly from PageMaker, Indesign, Filemaker, Photoshop and other apps to my ip5000 but I have endless problems with the ip4600 because the app doesn't know about the ip4600 tray idiosyncracies and unpredictable (and unfixable) things happen.
For example, I just wasted a couple of hours trying to get InDesign to print to 8.5 x 14 standard legal sized paper on the ip4600. It will not work, no matter HOW I set things. InDesign senses the media as being 8.5 x 11 no matter how I select the page settings. There's no combination that makes it work. It will print, but it cuts off the image at 11". As I mentioned, this never happened with the ip5000.
I can't pass on the cost of troubleshooting and bug fixing and workarounds to my clients. I have to eat the loss and I'm out $600 much-needed this month due to bugs, many of them printing bugs.
I don't know why Canon changed it. Why "break" something that works well? Is it to accommodate the newer, cheaper "half tray" that sits in the bottom of the printer? I would happily have taken the tray from my old ip5000 and moved it to the 4600, but the opening is not the same size so, as consumers, we don't even have this option.
Does anyone know how to fix these problems? Or could you suggest another ink-on-demand printer that is equal to the ip5000 in reliability, quality and longevity (I got 6 years regular use from the ip5000)?
Thanks for any suggestions.