BACK IN THE DAY, c 1960, Japanese products were only slightly better than today’s Chinese products. Like the Chinese, the Japanese stole most ideas, but improved upon them.
U.S. companies such as Honeywell did incoming QC on Japanese products associated with their name. I had a Honeywell Pentax H3v 35mm SLR that performed well for several decades until supplanted by digital cameras.
Over the years I have bought or been given a number of Canon products.
I bought a new, brass Canon F-1. Good 50mm f/1.2 lens, great 20mm wide angle, and disappointing 135mm. I added a second hand FtB. Both cameras are still “at the ready.” Neither had a wealth of “electronics.”
Later I bough a Canon video camera (lots of electronics) that failed when I needed it most.
My Second Born gave me a Canon PowerShot SD1100IS digi-cam with a plastic lens. It’s OK for scenics, but anything closer than a yard is not worth printing.
My Daughter decided the camera on her phone was more convenient than a Canon SX30 IS digital SLR. (Lots of electronics.) The camera gathers dust in my closet. I am used to controlling shutter speed, aperture, focus — the SX30 wants to do it all for me. There is one more camera in the closet, a 4*5 (inch) technical camera; absolutely nothing automatic about it. It’s a problem on a windy day, but I do love the thing.
Since most of my experience with Canon optics was good, I thought Canon printers also would be good.
I’ve used, sometimes owned, different home office printers. Most have been multi-function: print, scan, and sometimes fax. (My carrier, Consumer Cellular, does everything I want except send and receive faxes. Fortunately, there are work-arounds.)
I had, for perhaps 10 years, a Canon MP 560 multi-function printer.
It scanned, albeit sans automatic document feeder (ADF).
It printed everything I wanted to print, including envelopes. Open a slot on the back, slide in some envelopes, and, as “The Great One” (Jackie Gleason) was wont to exclaim, “Off we go.” No special settings on the printer.
But it got old and would have cost more to fix than to replace.
I bought a Canon MX 922 multi-function device.
It printed. It scanned — and had a document feeder (ADF) to make my scanned pages straighter.
But to print envelopes, the paper had to be removed from the single feeder tray and cheap plastic sliders re positioned.
In the beginning the MP 560 still was nearby so I used it for envelopes.
With the demise of the MP 560, I was forced to use the MX 922 for everything.
That didn’t last long.
The cheap plastic positioners broke and a spring “disappeared.” I still could use the printer for scanning and printing full-size pages.
Then something went wrong and the printing function failed.
I RT*M’ed and tried everything Canon recommended to no avail.
Naturally all failures happened out of warranty.
Needing a printer that could actually PRINT, I bought a Canon TR4520.
Another packaging failure
An aside.
I once worked for a company that made mid-size computers, and later a company that made telephony equipment (or maybe vice versa). Both had the same problem.
Both bought good looking cabinets for their gear; neither left room for cabling inside the cabinet. (The telecom company also made a product that lacked a common ground. I mentioned this to the Italian engineer who designed the thing and he told me it a ground was not needed. He also told my boss that this uppity tech writer needed to be chastised and I was. Later, in a demo to a prospective customer, the ungrounded machine sparked and nailed a guy’s metal frame glasses. The machine quickly got a common ground.)
Envelopes vs. software
Akin to the disassembly required to print an envelop in the MX 922, the Canon TR4520 forces the user to remove all paper from the single paper tray, slide some cheap plastic guides into place and then, with envelopes or photo paper in place, to make the software “think” it has an envelop try installed.
The error message on the printer tells the use to “insert cassette 1871.”
There is NO “cassette” to install.
Check the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on the printer’s site.
Also no “cassette 1871.”
Not only is the printer mechanical design (packaging) bad, the support information is lousy.
I did find a PDF manual that instructed me how to make the printer accept standard #9 envelopes.
I even got the printer to print an envelope.
Unfortunately the positioning of the text on the envelop made it a waste of time and paper.
LibreOffice Writer was used to feed the printer and it was set for #9 envelopes. (The OS was MS 10). LibreOffice may be part of the problem.
Now I’m REALLY frustrated
Having been forced to hand-scrawl addresses on several envelopes, I decided to put the printer to work printing a standard page.
I discovered that I have to reset software to 8*10.
Did that.
When I sent a page to print, I was told to insert that (expletive deleted) cassette again. Why? 8*10 is NOT an envelop.
I tried to set the machine for plain paper.
Insert cassette.
Turned off the machine for a minute, thinking the software would clear to default.
No.
Unplugged the machine while this is being keyed.
Returned to default?
No.
Despite following the on-line manual — that did NOT agree with the dark two-line “display” on the printer — I failed to clear the problem initiated when I tried to print a #9 envelop.
IN THE END I reinstalled the driver software, made the “Copy 1” the default and removed the original software.
The printer now works, but it will be the last Canon anything I buy. There are too many competitive options in the TR4520’s price range to suffer software that is poorly documented and a company that lacks real — even if off in Never-Never Land where English a barely understood — customer support.
I am so old I remember when customer support actually WAS. I also remember when a software product came with a real, paper, manual.
The excuse for on-line manuals, aside from being “cheap” is that they could be quickly updated and disseminated when a product was updated (or when an error was discovered in the manual — it happens).
My Second Born works with computers. His clients range from small business networks to little old ladies. He even helps out his old man via TeamViewer, an application that lets him “massage” my computer from his house.
My “bottom line:” Rather than swear at Canon products I’ll “swear off” Canon products.
My old F-1 had a small user’s manual and, although it hardly is “point-n-shoot” similar to Kodak’s Hawkeye of the 1950s, it was simple to operate.
I don’t want to go back to a mimeograph machine (c 1960), but a reliable printer that just worked would be great. Bring back the old MP 560. It worked.
It was made of stronger stuff than the MX 922. It accommodated envelopes without having to reset anything. (In 20-20 hindsight I might have been better off paying to have the MP 560 refurbished. The only problem would be finding a steady supply of ink. Like parts for a car, as the device ages, parts are harder to find.)
Meanwhile, I will work on my handwriting. It used to be legible, “back in the day.”
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