Canon Office Products IP7220 Wireless Color Photo Printer

It's very hard to find a decent single use printer nowadays. Almost all of them are multifunction, but since I already have a B&W laser S/C/F I was only looking for a good quality photo printer. After searching around I saw very good reviews of this printer and decided to buy it.First impression: It is flat, wide and deep. So as some over reviewers have stated it can take up a bit of desk space, but the design is perfect to put in a shelf/cubbyhole. Let me try to explain a bit better. If you just set this thing on a table top it's going to eat up a lot of space. However, all the paper and maintenance access is on the front of the printer so this would be perfect to have a shelf over it and stack things above it. I have a printer stand that has a wide 'paper slot' under the top for storage that this would probably fit perfectly in. Because it's wireless you can put it anywhere in your room and don't have to worry about any cables but the power cord. I wouldn't stack anything directly on top of it because the maintenance access door flips up and needs about 6 inches of clearance, but unless you are doing a LOT of printing you won't have to get into it all that often.Print Quality: As long as the image quality is good, the print quality is amazing. I have a few phone photos that are not the best but they still came out pretty decent all things considered. I'm no photo snob so I can't give a 'professional' opinion. But for a mom wanting to have cheap photos of her family at a moment's notice, this is perfect. I've made some amazing photos that are now hanging framed on my walls right next to my professionally done photos and you can't tell the difference.Wireless Printing: Setup requires you to use a USB port once unless you have a wireless router that supports WPS setups. Mine does not. However after initial setup you can disconnect it and not have to worry about it again. I've printed using Picasa 3 and it's been perfect. It even has some nice options, though if you try to do borderless printing on normal paper it yells at you a lot. The only reason why I tried was because I had a pdf for a color poster for my daughter. Turned out pretty well too. I did just try printing from my iPhone 4s, but using the default photo app gives you no options and it image didn't size to the paper I had selected nor gave me any option for zoom/crop to fit. There might be other photo print apps that do this better than the native print app though. My only problem is that I don't keep the printer stocked with photo paper so it seems rather pointless to print directly from my phone. I find it much better to print from my computer and have access to the full range of printer settings and editing options.One complaint I saw all over the main canon website was the lack of rear paper feed. Honestly I saw this as a bonus instead of a drawback, but then all the people who were complaining sounded like they were businesses doing a lot of heavy duty printing. This is not that kind of printer. My belief is that this is aimed at light business or home use. People that are only really printing one to a handful of photos at a time. Recommendations are to only print one page at a time, but I have done up to 5 with no problems. Some complained of paper jams but it makes me wonder if they had the alignment guides setup properly. Unlike most printers, you don't shove the paper all the way to the back of the tray wall. There is actually a gap in the back. Set the front guide and align your paper to IT rather than the back of the tray. You also need to only put a few photo papers in at at time, especially with glossy paper as they have a tendency to stick together. One thing to beware of is that the trays feed from the bottom, upside down, and reversed. Very odd. If your photo paper doesn't have text on the back of the paper this can lead to some confusion as to the direction the paper needs to go in. Thankfully there are pictures on the paper trays to help remind you.Some people have stated that the ink runs out fast, but I've been printing a bit and haven't even used half of the ink. If you're doing a LOT of color printing my guess is that you could run out quick, but for normal household use I find the regular cartridges lasting ok. Of course this could also be due to the fact that unless I'm doing photos or something that requires color printing I use my laser for all my other printing needs. There are XL cartridges available but I don't foresee a need for me to get any.Another complaint I saw was about the alignment being off but I think that person had a defective device as everything has been lining up perfectly for me.As of yet I haven't tried the duplex printing nor the printable disk feature so I can't comment on them at this time.Recommendation: If you are going to be printing more than a handful of photos at one time I'd suggest getting something more heavy duty than the ip7220. If you're someone who's only looking for something to print standard 4x6 photos from their camera or phone, I'd suggest a printer more like the Selphy Compact line. If, however, you're right in the middle of that and want something with the flexibility to print on different paper sizes and styles then this is the printer for you. I think it's perfect for light to moderate home and business use.

.....having Windows XP "Media Center" is a BIG issue. Otherwise, VERY happy with it! Seems to be printing very well so far. Easy to use. I love Canon printers. The price was very good. Arrived very quickly. People say it's noisy, not to me. It's actually quite quiet. Yes, it IS kind of slow, warming up, a little annoying when you are in a hurry, but hey......why are we all in such a hurry about EVERYTHING now-a-days??? It's not that bad! Came with ink already installed & head alignment already done but NO instructions except for something that was not helpful at all (which confused the heck out of me 'cause I am NOT "computer literate").Had to get manual, instructions, & download a driver from the internet 'cause the installation disc couldn't find my computer to install ANYTHING, & make many phone calls. Info everywhere says that the printer is compatible with Windows XP...... it is......but.....with the EXCEPTION of Windows XP - "Media Center" and I just happen to have that! The installation disc & the printer program (to function to it's fullest extent) NEED to have .NET Framework 4 or above installed on your computer (that's why I couldn't use the disc) ....Media Center has .NET Framework 3.5 & there are no updates for it (the "APRIL 2014-Windows no longer updating XP issue").The printer will work, you just can't use the disc to install, and you have to find everything on your own. I have not printed using all of the functions available in the normal printing program yet. But so far, so good! It has done all that I have needed to do. I am going to upgrade my computer some day soon & then I'll be able to use the printer with something called "My Image Garden" that is a free download from Canon or comes on the installation disc that comes with the printer (creative printing techniques). Wasn't expecting to get this with the printer, quite a surprise. Looks very interesting!There are 2 paper cassettes, one on top of the other, at the bottom on the front. The top tray has the one for printing the labeled discs on the underside of the tray for printing individual 4X6's & 5X7's (someone from Canon had to tell me to look there). Do not remember seeing that on any of the instructions that I found.Because of all of the above stuff it was not EASY for ME to install but I really do LIKE this printer. It took many hours, many rest periods, & lots of aspirin! Shame on someone.......Microsoft (?) for not updating or Canon (?) & MS (?) for not putting more INFO out on this issue. But then maybe no one but me & a few others owns an XP "Media Center".