I purchased my Canon F50 when they first came out on the market (they were 9 at that time). I was unhappy with the streaks that my old feed through scanner was leaving on the photos that I scanned. I wanted to find something that had a flat platen for scanning, and also offered the option of an automatic document feeder. I wanted an all-in-one unit that could scan, fax, copy, and print a decent quality photo. I had made my mind up that I would like one that had separate ink tanks so I could just replace the color that had run out and not the whole cartridge. I spent a lot of time researching multifunction units and reading product reviews. The Canon Multipass F50 met all of my criteria and it had mostly good reviews so I went out and purchased one.

Some of the complaints that I read in the negative reviews really didn't matter to me. I had no intentions of using this as a network printer, and I really didn't mind the status monitor setup. I have the status monitor disabled in the msconfig system utility and then I put a shortcut to it in my start menu. It only takes a minute or so to start it up when you do need it. If you don't do a lot of printing then there is no reason to leave it on all the time.

I took out the 3 year Canon extended service plan (which I would recommend to everyone) and anytime I need help I give them a call. They have always been very helpful and I have always been able to resolve any problems with their help. I have to say that their tech support has been great.

The Canon F50 prints out a decent quality photo at a reasonable speed. Remember when printing photos that paper quality is everything! Don't expect to get professional looking photos from low quality photo papers. With the right paper you can print out really great looking photos on the F50. The only thing that I don't like is that it doesn't allow you to print borderless photos.

The ink tanks are very reasonably priced - at least for the off brand cartridges. I found a place called Neximaging.com where you can purchase off brand cartridges for as low as a cartridge!! Just remember that using any cartridges other than Canon brand cartridges will void your warranty, so you have to decide yourself if it is worth the gamble.

The fax speeds are great and its auto-retry feature comes in really handy when you are faxing to a place with busy fax lines. You can just set it and leave. It will keep trying to send the fax while you're away. The Canon F50 can be set to print out a report verifying receipt of your faxes so you will know if your fax was successful or not.

There are some things that I would change if they were to build a better model of the F50. First of all the cycle time to startup and shutdown this unit is very long and it is very noisy during this time. I think that this is when it is refreshing its heads. This is actually a good thing because it extends the life of your heads, so I can live with it. The latch that holds the cover open when you are changing ink tanks seems very weak and the cover could easily drop down on your hand while you are changing the tanks. Also, switching over to envelopes is a pain because you have to unload your paper tray, resize your tray guides, load your envelopes, print your envelope, and then resize and reload the tray again. Couldn't they have a second tray to hold the envelopes and a switch to change between the paper and the envelope trays? Oh well, I guess you can't have everything!

I never have regretted purchasing my Canon F50, although I wish that I had waited a little while until the price on them had dropped. I see what they sell for now and it makes me sick to think how much I had paid for mine. I am not going to make the same mistake twice so I have waited until now to purchase the next model up - the F80. I will be purchasing one soon and I will write a review on that one after I have had it for a while.

Canon MultiPASS F50 Flatbed Multifunction Feature

• Fax, printer, copier, and scanner, in one unit
• Print up to 17 ppm black, 12 ppm color
• Scan at 9600 dpi in 36-bit color
• Canon Think Tank System individual ink tanks
• Built-in automatic document feeder

Canon MultiPASS F50 Flatbed Multifunction Overview

Designed with the small office in mind, Canon's F50 Multipass combines several necessary functions inside one sleek box that fits snugly into an 18-by-24-inch space. Featuring a fax machine, copier, scanner and printer, this speedy and accurate machine is an economical personal assistant for the home office.

Faxes are transmitted as quickly 3 seconds per page; color sheets may take as long as 60 seconds. With programmable dialing options for 12 one-touch numbers and a 30-page automatic document feeder, it practically operates by itself. The transmission memory can contain up to 270 pages, and users have easy access to a number of utility reports.

The printer and copier are compatible with envelopes, transparencies, photo paper, stickers, and transfers as well as plain paper in letter or legal sizes. For monochrome sheets, the F50 churns out up to 17 pages per minute at 600 x 600 dpi; in color, it can process up to 12 pages per minute at an outstanding 2,400 x 1,200 dpi. The paper tray can handle up to 100 sheets of plain paper. Up to 99 copies can be created from one original, with available magnification options ranging from 25 to 400 percent.

The flatbed scanner offers 9,600 x 9,600 dpi and 36-bit color depth; hobbyists can easily process their vacation photos while professionals can quickly organize important documents.

The F50 is fully compatible with PC and Macintosh systems, and includes a scan processing software package. Canon provides a one-year limited warranty on parts and service, along with an InstantExchange program. --Jill Lightner

Canon MultiPASS F50 Flatbed Multifunction Specifications

The Canon MultiPASS F50 multifunction peripheral (MFP) is a performance powerhouse - four full-featured Canon machines in one, high-powered compact design. It is one of the most powerful and essential additions to your home or office.The MultiPASS F50 MFP's centerpiece is a full-featured flatbed color copier. It can make high-quality legal- and letter-size copies in black and white at up to 17 copies per minute (cpm) and up to 10 cpm in color. It reduces and enlarges. And it features a built-in 30-page Automatic Document Feeder, which speeds copier, scanner and fax operation. The MFP's same high-performance imaging system enables you to scan documents and photos at 9600 dpi in brilliant 36-bit color. The high-performance printer can output pages at up to 17 ppm in black and 12 ppm in color speed that rivals stand-alone desktop printers. The built-in color fax features speed dial, a large memory and Canon's Super G3 high-speed facsimile technology. At up to 33.6 Kbps, it has the ability to fax a page in just three seconds, reducing your phone bill.The MultiPASS F50 MFP features exclusive technologies that make it one of the most powerful in its class. Canon's Advanced MicroFine Droplet Technology helps put truly remarkable 2400 x 1200 dpi photo-quality color printing to work for you. With its ultra-fine, 5-picoliter droplets, it refines color, precision and detail for breathtaking photo printing even on plain paper. And an intelligent ink-management system uses individual ink tanks for each color, so you replace only the color you need as it runs out, not the entire cartridge.

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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Jan 11, 2010 08:50:13

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