slemons@contract3.EBay.Sun.COM (Steve Lemons) (02/27/91)
A number of people have inquired about the Canon BJ10e printer. Having owned one for over 6 months now, here are my impressions: PRINT QUALITY ------------- > While the fonts that this printer has built-in are good, they are not the best that it is capable of. So if you were planning to print from DOS using the built-in fonts, you would get good (24 pin dot- matrix quality) output. > Printing from Windows, using the Proprinter driver is disappointing. While this printer emulates the Proprinter, I don't consider the print quality acceptable when using this printer driver. > When Windows 3 originally shipped, there was no BJ10e driver included. However, a driver for this printer was included with the supplemental drivers package that was shipped a few months ago. Those drivers can be downloaded from cica via FTP, or from Canon's BBS. Print quality is much improved, using the driver designed for the printer. > The optimal quality is obtained by using one of the 3rd party type scaling software products. I use Adobe Type Manager for Windows, with Postscript fonts that I downloaded from cica. This results in excellent print quality. > No special paper is needed. I have used it with paper of various textures and weights, but usually use laser/copier paper which works quite well. > Does it print as good as a laser? The resolution is slightly better than most laser printers (360 dpi vs. 300 dpi), but I personally think that the laser output looks better. This I would attribute to two things: 1) Regardless of what laser printer you are using, you buy fonts that are optimized for that printer. So laser output always looks good, even if it is not a Postscript printer. 2) The output from the laser printers appears denser and blacker, for whatever reason. The fusing together of the toner particles may have something to do with this. So even though I think laser output looks better, it is a small difference. And considering that the BJ10e and ATM for Windows can be obtained for < $400, there isn't much competition. > My exposure to the Deskjet/+/500 has only been in-store demos, so I haven't compared them side by side. I would rate the print quality of both printers as comparable, but they would seem to be aimed at different users. PAPER HANDLING -------------- > Since the BJ10e (and the BJ300e) are the first of this line, there are improvements to be made. > The paper alignment on the BJ10e needs to be re-thought. Currently, paper alignment is done manually, visually aligning the edge of the paper with lines on the back of the hinged lid. There is an optional automatic paper feeder, but it requires that you stand the printer on it's side. Paper then feeds directly through the printer from back to front. Since the paper path (in this print mode) is straight, heavy paper such as envelopes are printed this way. > This printer uses cut-sheet paper only. If you are looking for a printer with tractor feed, this isn't it. This is either a significant oversight, or an added feature -- depending on your point of view. FEATURES -------- > If you are interested in downloading fonts to the printer, the Deskjet has the advantage. Personally, I just want Windows to feed the printer a bitmap, so this is of no importance to me. The BJ10e has 37K of memory that can be used either as a print buffer, or for downloading a single font. I have only used it as a buffer. > If you don't want to feed paper a sheet at a time, and portability isn't important to you, this probably isn't the printer for you. > If portability is important, I've not seen any other portable printer that can touch it's print quality. Toshiba has just introduced a comparable printer, but i haven't had a chance to try it yet. > Some reviews of the BJ10e that I have read disliked the controls of the printer. Personally, I like them. I do feel that the users manual is poorly done. I have yet to figure out how to set certain print modes via the controls (for printing from DOS). But since I rarely print from DOS, I probably will never bother to figure it out. > Changing the ink cartridge couldn't be much easier. I have found that it is easy to damage the nozzle area of the ink cartridge. When you purchase an ink cartridge, it is heavily protected against damage. But when changing the cartridge, bumping the front of it against anything will likely put a dent in the nozzle area (the holes where the ink comes out), thus affecting print quality. Fortunately, this is corrected the next time you replace the ink cartridge. > If you are really going to use the printer as a portable, the battery is optional and will cost you at least $50. Also, the AC transformer seems unnecessarily heavy. OPERATING COST -------------- > It's hard to figure the cost per page, the way I use it. Canon rates the ink cartridges at 700,000 characters; but that is text only, using one of the built in fonts. I tend to print from Windows using Postscript fonts (varying sizes) and graphics. The replacement ink cartridges are $22 at a local store. Hopefully, the price will come down as more of these printers are sold. > Unlike laser or dot-matrix printers, the ink/bubble-jet printers have very few moving parts. And the fewer the moving parts, the lower the probability of needing expensive 'maintenance' in the future. SUMMARY ------- > The BJ10e is a nice personal printer. It's quiet, it doesn't take up much space, and it doesn't eat too much. > For myself, there were 3 things that I wanted in a printer: 1) quiet - as little sound as possible 2) small - no larger than my laptop computer 3) print quality - as close as possible to laser The BJ10e is the only printer I know of that meets these conditions. > I am satisfied with my purchase. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steven Lemons --- These are my opinions only
BRAUN@FRECP12.BITNET (02/28/91)
About BJ10e drivers for windows 3..
There are (at least) 2 differents drivers. One made by Canon (i tested
Version 1.15.3) (made by Canon Europa), and it it is quite disapointed,
as it produce some vertical and horizontal blank line (1 point large).
The second driver i have found is from microsoft, avaiable by anonymous
FTP ( garbo.uwasa.fi ; /pc/win3/winsdl*.zip)
Using it with coreldraw makes really good looking pages, as good as what
you may expect from a laser printer..)
Regards
Daniel Braunpegram@kira.UUCP (Robert B. Pegram) (03/01/91)
From article <5261@male.EBay.Sun.COM>, by slemons@contract3.EBay.Sun.COM (Steve Lemons): > A number of people have inquired about the Canon BJ10e printer. > Having owned one for over 6 months now, here are my impressions: > > PRINT QUALITY > ------------- > Steven Lemons --- These are my opinions only But you didn't answer the one burning question, or is the answer well known? Is the ink water soluble or not?? Not being able to address envelopes and such, is the reason I stayed away from DeskJets until the 500. Anybody know the answer? Thanks, Bob Pegram pegram@griffin.uvm.edu or ...!uvm-gen!pegram
BRAUN@FRECP12.BITNET (03/02/91)
Bob Pegram (pegram@griffin.uvm.edu) wrote : >But you didn't answer the one burning question, or is the answer well known? >Is the ink water soluble or not?? Not being able to address envelopes >and such, is the reason I stayed away from DeskJets until the 500. > >Anybody know the answer? Thanks, i have just made a test for you: i took an sheet of paper i printed with my bj10 one or 2 days ago, and throw *a lot of* water on it. It appears to be half soluble : some of the ink went away with the water and made the sheet look ugly, but it was still completely READABLE (with courier font, it may be less readable with more "complicated" fonts..). Post offices usualy don't throw your letters in a pool. :) by the way, **according to the manual** (i haven' test any envelopes) only "commercial number 10" envelopes should be used (4.1*9.5 inches) and none of the following : * envelopes with windows, holes, perforations, cutouts, double flaps * " with special coated paper or deep embossed paper * " using peel-off sealing strips * " in wich letters have been enclosed hope it helps Regards Daniel Braun $ $ BRAUN@FRECP12.bitnet ! Am i soluble in alcool ? $ !
geof@aurora.com (Geoffrey H. Cooper) (03/02/91)
In article <1991Feb28.174222.25748@uvm.edu> pegram@kira.UUCP (Robert B. Pegram) writes: >Is the ink water soluble or not?? Not being able to address envelopes >and such, is the reason I stayed away from DeskJets until the 500. The ink is not as durable as ball-point pen ink or laser-printer output. However, it is not nearly as water soluble as HP's DeskJet ink. I just tried the "puddle test", of dropping a piece of BJ10e printed paper in a puddle (we're revelling in rain here in drought-striken CA). The ink runs readily and in quantity, but not ALL the ink runs. The paper was clearly smudged and ugly, but still readable. For veterans of the fountain pen, it looks to me a lot like what used to happen to homework written in "washable blue" that had similar treatment. What is next is to convolve the puddle test with the US-mail envelope printing test. I'll leave that to someone else. BTW, if you're worried, just get a piece of clear tape (clear binding tape is suitable) and paste a square of it over the address on the envelope. This is still easier than writing it out by hand. - Geof -- geof@aurora.com / aurora!geof@decwrl.dec.com / geof%aurora.com@decwrl.dec.com