Hello Folks, I just joined in order to hopefully get some advice. I didn't know of any other place to ask this question. I need to replace my 15 month old IP8720. I needed to do a few 13x19 prints a couple of weeks ago. When I hit print, the unit made a loud, plastic gear striping noise and the print cartridge carrier locked up in the far right position. There were a couple of broken small white plastic pieces in the paper tray and a myriad of trouble codes. As a retired Mercedes mechanic, I'm thinking it's terminal. I spoke with Canon tech support who thought it wouldn't be worth sending in for service As it's out of warranty the only thing Canon is willing to do is sell me a new one sans shipping for $289.00 Before I bought this printer I spent quite a bit of time reading about it and it generally had very good reviews for an entry level 13X19 printer.. Did I just get a "lemon"? I understand that Lemons happen sometimes, I've seen it time and time again during my 42 years in the automotive industry. Should I replace it with another 8720 or upgrade? I was very happy with the printer but hesitate to buy another and have it fail after another 15 months. I'm not a professional photographer and I print less than 20 photos / text sheets per month. Thanks in advance for any advice, C Duncan
Looks like that is the same price you can get it for around the web and in store. I normally don't subscribe to store warranty up-sales, but given you have seen the gears grind up on this, if you want to try the same printer, it seems a best buy extended 4 year warranty is $50 on top the $289 and it may actually save you repeating this in 2 years. .....That said the Pixma Pro is the series of their better advanced amateur or semi pro printers. I got my Pixma Pro-100 for $100 of Craigslist many years back, they used to sell for 600 (i guess now 800) but would bundle cheap with DSLRs so you could find deals on them. Looks like there is now a 200 at the 599 price point which pushed the pro 100 up in price. But maybe look on Craigslist and Facebook buy and sell and see if anyone is flipping one they bought with a DSLR. Just an idea.
i'm on a couple of printer groups because i was considering the pixma 200, but i don't have the work flow to keep it running as it is recommended, keeping the head clear of dried inks etc. (it could be a month or two between prints atm.) but one of the things mentioned with printers over time esp if they not used is the rubber on the rollers can break down / deteriorate, like you i've been in the motor trade many years before retiring so i know how sticky some rubbers can get with age, with the plastic gear wheels stripping and breaking it sounds like something just got bound up and the plastic gave out so i'm wondering going forward if its worth keeping any rubber to rubber contact surfaces way from each other if you not using it for a long period maybe run some grease proof between the rollers.
Thanks for the reply's so far. I was sort of hoping to have a bunch of folks telling me how trouble free and long lasting their 8720 has been. That bring said, I don't think I'm comfortable buying another one even with the $50.00 Best buy coverage. I wonder if Canon has dis-continued them. I don't see them in stock on their website. I found a used Pro 100 on Ebay for $400.00 shipped. Used electronics never really gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. A local camera store I deal with, Hunt's Photo, may have a line on a new Epsom P400 which is a discontinued item for less than $550.00 The Canon Pro 200 is out of stock at their store at present. But they will discount it from the $599.00 MSRP when it's back in stock Plus it's a local store VS an online or box store. They do plenty of Pro 300's but I'm not sure I'm ready to spend $800.00 plus quite yet. I'll grind my gears about this for a while longer I guess. Craig
as you are mech minded have you tried taking your one apart and seeing what went wrong and why? might be able to get replacment gears and depending why they went ping it might be repairable worst case scenarion you have some cool macro photography props.................
Welcome to the forum, not much I can add but Johnsey and caladina are pretty switched on so it is worth reading to what they have to say.
