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Canon Imageclass MF8170C

76

Good
  • Pros
  • Excellent scan quality
  • Produces sharp and dark text
  • Cons
  • Middling network support
  • Pricing: Very Inexpensive: $999 (11/10/2005)
  • Performance: Fair: 68
  • Features: Fair: 63
  • Design: Very Good: 81
Find out how these four scores, and their relative weights, combine to produce the PC World Rating.

Pricing

Very Inexpensive: $999

Performance

Fair: 68
Text Printing (Plain Paper, Normal Settings)
Tested Text Speed (ppm) 10.6 
Three-Page Word Document (secs) 29.1 
Ten-Page Word Document (secs) 56.77 
Text Output Quality Very Good 
Color Printing (Plain Paper, Normal Settings)
Tested Color Speed (ppm) 1.9 
Two-Page Excel Document (secs) 55.96 
Three-Page PowerPoint Document (secs) 83.2 
Color Photo (secs) 50.34 
Color Output Quality Very Good 
Color Photo Printing (Glossy Paper, Best Settings)
Color Photo Quality Very Good 
Grayscale Printing (Plain Paper, Normal Settings)
One-Page Grayscale Graphic (secs) 23.57 
Grayscale Output Quality Very Good 
Lineart Printing (Plain Paper, Best Settings)
Line Art Output Quality Very Good 
Scan Tests (in seconds)
Preview Scan, 2-by-2-Inch Document, 600 dpi 17.8 
Preview Scan, One-Page Word Document, 300 dpi 17.79 
Preview Scan, 4-by-5-Inch Document, 100 dpi 17.67 
Preview Scan, One-Page Word Document, 300 dpi 17.79 
Final Scan Time, One-Page Word Document, 300 dpi 17.4 
Copy Tests
One-Page Copy (secs) 21.63 
Copy Output Quality Very good 

Features

Fair: 63
Memory (in MB)
RAM Installed 128 
Maximum Amount of RAM 128 
Dimensions
Dimensions 20.1 by 20.2 by 25.2 
Weight (pounds) 79.4 
Vendor Rated Speeds
B&W Pages per Min. B&W PPM:16 
Color Pages per Min. Color PPM:4 
Resolutions
Max. B&W dpi 1200-by-600 
Max. Color dpi 2400-by-600 
Language & Emulation
Printer Emulation Type GDI 
Interfaces
Parallel Port No 
Serial Port No 
USB 1.1 Yes 
USB 2.0 Yes 
Ethernet Yes 
PictBridge No 
Drivers
Macintosh No 
Windows 98 Yes 
Windows NT No 
Windows 2000 Yes 
Windows XP Yes 
Power
Maximum Power Draw (watts) 960 
Standby Power Draw (watts) 5 
Multifunction Printer Specs
Scan Area (inches) 8.5-by-11.7 
Max. Scanning dpi 1200 color / 600 B/W 
Maximum Enhanced Scan Resolution (dpi) 9600-by-9600 
Scanning Image Sensor Type CCD 
Scanner Type Color flatbed 
Maximum Scan Color Depth 24-bit 
Maximum Scan Grayscale Depth 8-bit 
Fax Resolution (dpi) 406-by-391 
Fax Memory (pages) 256 
LCD Type Mono 
Paper Handling
Number of Input Trays, Standard 2 
Number of Input Trays, Maximum 2 
Tray Capacity, pages 375 
Maximum Sheets With Optional Paper Trays 375 
Manual Feed Slot No 
Maximum Paper Size Legal 
Output Tray Capacity 100 
Auto Duplexer No 
Warranty & Support
Labor Warranty (years) One 
Parts Warranty (years) One 
Weekday Support Hours 16 
Saturday Support Hours 8 
Sunday Support Hours 0 
Toll-Free Support Yes 
Vendor-Supplied Data (in Pages)
Monthly Duty Cycle 30000 
Reliability & Service
Summary of results for all of brand's products in this category Readers rate Canon better than average in practically every reliability and support category. This stellar performance is even more impressive when you consider that Canon aced our last R&S survey too. 
Reliability of brand's products in this category
Reports of products arriving with problems Better than Average 
Reports of products with any significant problems Better than Average 
Reports of problems that render a product unusable Better than Average 
Buyers' rating of products ease-of-use Better than Average 
Overall satisfaction with reliability of brand's products in category Better than Average 
Service & Support Quality
Time spent holding for phone support Better than Average 
Overall quality of vendor's phone support Better than Average 
Reports of problems unresolved after contacting service Average 
Overall quality of service Better than Average 

Design

Very Good: 81
About the Test Center

Canon ImageClass MF8170C Review

by Lisa Cekan

- It's big and it's heavy. But the Canon ImageClass MF8170C fits on a desk, and it takes up a lot less room than four separate machines.

Read Complete Review ยป

User Reviews for Canon Imageclass MF8170C

  • Reviewed by: mtguy

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Excellent color and B&W copies. The setup was easy. Canon has provided excellent customer service when I called.

    Weaknesses: Slow to warm up. Requires frequent referral to the manual when changing settings.

    Overall Evaluation: I have been using the unit for over 30 days and so far it is every bit as good as advertised. The main negative point is that the operation of the unit requires more manual referencing than my old HP aio.

  • Reviewed by: TMUrquh

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: Very capable printer. I do like the networking functionality. It interfaces well with my Linksys equipment.

    Weaknesses: No duplexing capability.

    Overall Evaluation: I received a Canon ImageClass as a Christmas present to replace my old Samsung B&W laser. It was DOA when it arrived. It would not work at all. I had to call Canon's Tech Support for help and they were very responsive and sent out a technician to my house. Despite the face that the technician sent had no formal training in this type of laser printer (he told me he only received a CD from Canon as "training") he was able to fix the problem. He had to make two trips to my house in order to fix the problem. Two circuit/control boards were dead, so he replaced them. Ever since then, the printer has ran like a champ! That plus the fact that the printer has no duplex ability (for the price, you'd think Canon would include it) kept me from giving the printer four stars.

See all user reviews

News, Reviews, How-To's about Canon MF8170c

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