The first impresion when opening the box is that there is an big printer. In fact, is as big as many all-in-one products, but is only an printer. There are however some reasons, including the fact that it's comming with an built-in Auto Duplex Printing Unit, wich handles both plain and photo paper. Most printers doesn't have this, or it's only optional. Hopefully the design is excelent, all paper trays could be closed if unused, so it takes less space, having even an very compact aspect.

After removing it from the box, I've start searching the accesories needed to put it in function. I found 6 colour tanks ( 2 are used only for photos ) wich are the same as in the previous Canon 6 inks models (the i960 and i9100) , the printing head, an photo paper sample, the CD/DVD printing tray and the software CD.

Concerning the colour tanks, even if the Printer is not an cheap one, because of the transparent ink tanks for all six colours ( cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks plus a photo-cyan and photo-magenta ) who can be replaced individually, the costs could be significantly reduced. You just change the empty tank. And the price is extremely low, because it has no head on it.

Also, because the printer head could be removed and changed by the user, there is no need to go to the service to change it.

Surprisingly, no printed Manual. There is an manual on the CD, but is far to be complete. Also, no Quick Start Guide, to see how to mount the printing head and the colour tanks. Nothing about that on CD...

Mixing what I know about printers, with some explanations found on the CD, in the section about how to change color cartidges, I finally put it in function.

Software instalation was normal, no problems occurs. The printer comes with the followings applications: Canon PhotoRecord, Easy-PhotoPrint, Easy-PrintToolBox, PIXMA iP6000D Memory Card Utility, CD-LabelPrint, an Help, and an HTML Manual.

Now, about the facilities it want to offer:

• Built-in Auto Duplex Printing Unit.
• Built-in Tray for CD/DVD Printing ( not available in US ).
• 2 way Paper Feeder: Auto Sheet Feeder and Cassette Feeding with paper feed switch.
• Memory Card Reader supporting: CompactFlash, Microdrive, SmartMedia, Memory Stick Memory Stick Pro, SD Card, Multimedia Card, xD-Picture Card4, Memory Stick DUO4, Memory Stick DUO Pro4, miniSD Card.
• IrDA interface allowing you to print images straight from your mobile camera phone.
• PictBridge for print photos directly from your camera.
• 2.5" colour LCD and interface for Computer Free Operation.
• Separated, transparent, ink tanks for all six colours.
• Borderless printing with maximum 4800 x 1200 dpi resolution.

As everything was ready, I've started the first tests.

The results were quite impressive. The quality of printing is very good, but I have to mention that the printing speed is low when printing normal documents. However, the Photo printing is fast compared with similar printers. And the quality is excelent, if using Canon Photo Paper Pro as recomended. Colors are very real, but I don't recomend you to use the Vivid printing, if your camera don't favorise the red colour. This option enhances the green and blue colors and contrast and may be too much for some images.

The CD/DVD Printing has some small problems, caused probably by the software wich is only version 1.02. The outer size of the disc could be maximum 118 mm. That means that on some CD/DVD there will be some white margins. Also, an problem is that, even if I choose an Dark Saturation, the print is quite light. I've try an trick, and WITHOUT moving the CD on his tray, I've reinsert the tray in the printing, and I print over the first print. There was the biggest surprise ever... It was an perfect match of the printed image, wich was now enough darker. I've expected an gap between the two images but the positioning was so perfect, so I try this again and again, with same result. That's really "Precision", with an big "P". And the software problems I believe will be solved with an update...

Some hints for printing CD Labels, as they are not mentioned elsewhere:

• Measure the Inner circle of your CD and make an new entry in "Select Paper". The default entries dont let you reduce the Inner Circle more than 33 mm, or there are some CD's with 21 mm.
• Use an image with an minimum 300 dpi for an good print. 600 dpi - recomended for best results.
• If afther the first print you are not satisfied with the saturation, as already mentioned, you can choose between the Light and Dark printing for an better match with the darkness you want to obtain.
• If Double Printing an CD, make sure you don't move it in any way on the tray, and also you dont change anything on the image you print.

In fact, the software software doesn't do justice to the hardware. It's easy to use, lets you quickly setup the printer by simply choosing the Media Type ( for Photos you can select your Canon Photo Paper for best printing quality ), the Paper Source or Paper Allocation, and the Print Quality setting. The default options produce the best quality printouts at the fastest print speed. But when you hit the Correct/Enhance button, you are presented with the most rudimentary tools to correct skin tones and red eye — no general contrast, brightness or colour correction utilities. If you want more, you need an other Photo Editor.

As the printing test were done, I started to see how works the promised facilities. The first one, the Card Reader. Using an Protec Compact Flash, the result was "no card". Trying with an second, same brand, but higher capacity, same result. Only the third, an SanDisk was accepted. I believe that an list with compatible memory cards is welcome from Canon.

With the memory card recognized, I've start to browse it with the help of the provided interface and the colour LCD. Event if the LCD is large, it has no contrast and the resolution is low. The image is very light, and only the zoom could gives you some image details. Also there is no possibility to rotate left-right the LCD, it could only be Tilted. The menu is not very intuitive, but with some practice you can use it very well. You can make even some minor corrections to the image, such vivid colours, noise correction, but as I say the LCD does not help you too much, so the result is uncertain.

About the printing directly from the camera using PictBridge, this has work with an Canon A95 camera but not with an other one even if it was PictBridge compatible. So, the same problem like the memory cards. As an mention, it's pitty that the guys from Canon didn't think, as there is an USB connection for PictBridge, to use it also as an normal USB connection, with capability to print images from an USB flash memory.

For the IrDA connection, I was unable to find an compatible phone, I tried 2, one did't initiate an transfer, the other one has failed just after I've think it works.

All tests done, more or less, there are the final results:

As an conclusion, the Canon PIXMA IP6000D is an very good Printer oriented especially for the Home User who need an Photo Printer with high conectivity ( no Bluetooth or Wireless however ), who could be used also for document printing. The CD/DVD Printing function is also usewfull for an Home User, but you must ask if this facility is available in your country.