CLI-251 BK/CMY 4PK (4-Color Pack), Black,Cyan, Magenta, Yellow AND PIXMA iX6820 Wireless Business Printer with AirPrint and Cloud Compatible, Black

I had to write a review of this printer even though I've only had it a week, because I am so impressed by the print quality. I am branching out into selling my artwork as greeting cards and needed something to replace my diabolical Epson WF-3640 printer/scanner combo. To be clear, I was only looking to purchase a printer, as the scanner on my Epson is ok. I wasted hundreds of dollars in time and on ink cartridges trying to work with the printer on it over the past 18 months, and finally gave in. It is AWFUL and I will never buy another Epson printer. I took the plunge on this Canon Pixma iX6820 because it received decent reviews in the art world, and on Amazon. I had my eye on other Canon printers, but couldn't spend more than $150 so this fit the budget.INSTALLATION: Relatively easy. I had to download the setup files twice before I was able to run the programs, but once installed, it was an hour tops.WIFI CONNECTIVITY: Not so easy. Still haven't gotten that sorted out. It would be nice if I had wifi connectivity, but as my printer is located right next to my computer, it's not a dealbreaker to me if I don't have this feature. I've never had luck with any printer and wifi connectivity, to be fair.PRINT QUALITY: Surprisingly good. I am still fine tuning the ideal print settings, as I work mainly in watercolor, pen & ink. Watercolor is challenging to reproduce accurately. That said, I've already printed higher quality, more color-accurate prints on PLAIN COPY PAPER using this printer, than I ever did using very expensive photo paper in the Epson.EASE OF USE: I have not used the My Photo Garden or whatever it's called yet, and you are not required to use it when printing. It's just an additional print formatting option. I have had no trouble printing from Photoshop directly, from PDF, or from my default Windows Photo Viewer.INK USAGE: Can't really tell yet, as it's only been a week, but the cartridges that came in the box were easy to install (not messy or difficult like I read in some reviews) and still show full levels after about 15 high quality full-page prints have been made, plus various smaller proofs.I will update this review if anything changes.UPDATE 1 MONTH LATER: I am still impressed. Ink cartridge life is great compared to my old Epson. The only 2 issues I have are: it is a pretty slow printer. Takes about 15 minutes to print 25 full color "photo setting" 8.5x11 documents. However, it is quiet, and the quality is gorgeous. The other issue is that it still doesn't work to connect wirelessly. Since my computer is always next to the printer, it's not a big issue for me, but for those who must have wireless print capability, plan to spend some time with tech support if installation doesn't go smoothly on our own. I haven't gotten around to it yet.

I am very impressed by this machine and believe that Canon made a marketing error calling it a "business printer". I am an artist who uses photo reference, so I need a lot of good, detailed prints for my work. Previously, I was using the Pro9000 II. It made very nice photos, but I could not support its unquenchable thirst for ink. With 8 small cartridges, I was constantly ordering refills. The cost was terrible, but it was also extremely inconvenient--I never knew when I was going to be stuck in the middle of a project with no ink. I tried an off-brand refill system but it leaked all over the place. So, apprehensively, I decided to try one of the printers with fewer cartridges--at least with only 4 inks (I believe the pigment black is only for text) I could cut the problem in half. I decided that I could live with diminished print quality in exchange for the cost and convenience. Well, so far I am delighted with the prints from this model. With a little tweaking, I was able to get a near-perfect match to my monitor (I reset the printer with a bit less magenta and a tad brighter). I was never able to do this with the Pro9000 II, which was inconsistent from print to print. There is no visible deficit from having half the number of inks--transitions are just as smooth or better, colors are vivid, contrast is excellent. It's difficult to be certain, but details and textures might be ever-so-slightly sharper with the Pro9000 II, and the ink dots might be a tad more visible with the iX6820, but that's under very close scrutiny. So far I've printed about 12 8 1/2 X 11 prints and the ink levels are all above half--and that is using the smaller cartridges that came with the machine. That's already better than the Pro9000 II, which would have been demanding a fix by now.I have only been using it for about a week, so I can't attest to its durability--I hope it will continue to work this well. I also can't comment on the wireless capability. I just connected it to the USB cable I had from my last machine. It works fine with a cable but quite a few people have complained about wireless problems.UPDATE: Many months later, this printer continues to make excellent prints. I notice that when I don't make a print for a long time--maybe a few weeks--there will be a slight bit of banding in the first print that comes out, but that seems to work itself out quickly by the next print. This is excellent performance compared to the Pro9000, which had a lot of banding issues and needed to be cleaned and fussed with regularly. I have had 2 small problems that should be noted. The paper feed is somewhat unreliable--there have been a few times when I had to fiddle with the paper for 5 minutes or so to get the machine to grab onto it. Also, the ink sensor function is extremely premature, to the point of being useless. I was able to continue to make excellent prints for a very long time after the notification that inks needed to be replaced. Interestingly, when the ink finally does run out, the difference in prints is abrupt...you know right away. These are annoying defects, but the quality of the prints is still such an astonishing bargain that I am keeping the 5 star rating.