- Whether it’s because of exorbitant ink costs, industry-wide intentional obsolescence, or poor customer service, nearly every printer has a long list of customer complaints.
- In Consumer Reports’ study of all-in-one printer customers, Canon was one of the few brands to obtain a good dependability rating.
- With its long-lasting toner cartridge, rapid two-sided printing, and wireless connectivity, the Canon MF426dw was a breath of fresh air in my lengthy struggle with bad printers.
- Despite the fact that the Canon imageCLASS MF426dw Monochrome Laser Printer is more expensive than most people would expect to pay for a home printer (now $335 on Amazon), toner prices are minimal, at less than 2 cents per page.
Printers have a love-hate relationship with me.
As a writer, I am frequently required to print a variety of text documents. And I’ve gone through a long string of printers — usually in the $50 to $150 price range — that had poor print quality, pricey ink cartridges, and eventually stopped operating, even if I kept up with software upgrades.
When I wanted something printed, I’d resigned myself to going to the copy shop or relying on friends. Canon then asked if I’d want to try out their imageCLASS MF426dw Printer for free after reading my article on printers for college students. It wouldn’t hurt to take it for a spin, I reasoned.
The following is a summary of my first impressions of this remarkable device.
My initial impressions of the Canon imageCLASS printer
The Canon imageCLASS MF426dw is a multifunction printer that can print, scan, copy, and fax. It can scan in color but only prints in black and white, despite the fact that it can scan in color. This may appear to be a nightmare at first, and it is if you want to print images, artwork, or other colorful stuff. However, black and white is ideal for my needs — primarily printing text — because I don’t have to worry about replacing color ink cartridges when I inadvertently print a large document in full color.
The printer was delivered in a big carton. It took 15 minutes to get the printer up and running, including removing the box and setting it up. A disc is included with the MF426dw to help you install drivers and other applications on your computer. However, with today’s PCs, the disc is no longer required. My computer isn’t even equipped with a CD drive. Fortunately, the Canon website made it simple to obtain the necessary drivers.
You may connect your phone, computer, tablet, or any other smart device to the printer in a variety of ways. The simplest method was to connect to your Wi-Fi network. This was possible with all of my devices. You’ll need to install the drivers on your PC or the Canon Business Printer app on your smart devices to get more features, such as scanning.
The MF426dw is available with or without a toner cartridge. The Canon High-Capacity Toner Cartridge offers a yield of 9,200 pages and is currently available on Amazon for $165.60. This equates to less than 1.8 cents per sheet, which is far cheaper than the cost of other top models. If you’re willing to attempt an off-brand alternative, the cost of toner will be considerably lower.
The Canon imageCLASS Printer’s Results
In an office setting, the Canon imageCLASS MF426dw Printer was designed for up to ten users. It’s best for printing 500 to 4,000 pages every month, according to them. My wife and I both work from home, but we couldn’t even come close to these figures. We printed 346 pages in two months, according to the printer’s Status Monitor. The printer’s original cartridge is still 90 percent filled.
We were able to print from almost any device we tried, including my Android phone, with ease. We didn’t have any paper jams or toner shortages during the testing period. Our main snag was that our preschooler would routinely steal the 900-page-capacity paper drawer for coloring pages. I’m not going to hold Canon responsible for this.
I printed a 41-page home appraisal to see how fast the MF426dw could produce. Text, tables, and photographs are included in this document. From the time I hit “Print” until the first page was printed, it took seventeen seconds. It took 85 seconds to complete the paper from start to finish.
Duplex printing is also possible with this printer. It can print on both sides of a sheet of paper, in other words. I chose to use the identical appraisal paperwork to test the duplex speed. From click to print, the first page took 24 seconds. In addition, the full paper took only one minute and 43 seconds to complete.
It’s not all about the speed. Quality is also important. When it came to typography, the imageCLASS MF426dw‘s characters were crisp and clear, regardless of font. The picture quality, on the other hand, was a little lacking. The grays were a little hazy and not as exact as I’d like them to be. However, this printer was not made for graphics.
There are certain reservations regarding the monochromatic printer.
At times, using the touchscreen was a chore. I have large fingers, which made navigating the 5″ color screen difficult. This was especially true in the case of tiny symbols with small touch areas. If you have sausage fingers like me, I recommend keeping a stylus on hand.
I’ve mentioned it before, but I’d want to emphasize that this is a monochrome printer. If you frequently print color images or graphics, a full-color printer will be more useful.
Before diving into the details of the user manual, I attempted to utilize the printer and scanner without assistance. I was able to print directly from my computer without having to install anything, however it was occasionally difficult. Take the time to go to the Canon support site to download the drivers and other helpful information. The website is really user-friendly and beneficial.
In conclusion
My final point of concern relates to my final recommendation. For a home printer, the Canon imageCLASS MF426dw Monochrome Laser Printer is quite pricey.
This is most appropriate for a small office setting.
However, I would still recommend this for a select types of home users: purchasers who work from home, print a lot of text or other black-and-white documents, or people who have a little extra money to invest on a reliable printer and are tired of the difficulty that comes with the inexpensive options.
Despite the fact that the MF426dw costs $335, Canon backs its quality with a three-year standard guarantee, and the cost of toner per sheet is far lower than you’d anticipate for a printer in this price range.
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