I have a non-working Cannon MX700 and will NEVER buy a Cannon again. Expensive cartridges, proprietary network that was a royal pain, print head that continuously clogged. It had perfect print when it worked, the scanner was great, we never used the Fax. It's sitting tucked away because after spending a lot of money to get it working (sponge was filled, the pump to clean the printhead clogged, two new printheads), we gave up on it.
We have a Lexmark Pro 800. The black cartridges are 4.99. Although the print quality is not as sharp as the Cannon, it's good enough for home use. We have never used the fax. The duplex printing is great. I've never printed photos on it. The scan quality is not quite as good as the Cannon but, hey it prints ALL the time. And it's wireless and was nothing to set up - very easy, it detected our wireless network right away.
I have had Cannon and HP printers over the years, I like HP ink jets best. The Cannon printers I have had worked well while they worked but seemed to have short lives. I also had a Cannon laser printer but the toner cartridges cost almost as much as the printer!
Not sure about your preferred method of purchase but I have had mixed results with online purchases of multi-function machines, they don't seem to travel well (or the UPS guy hates my guts). I normally decide on the features I want and then look for a product that meets or exceeds my needs at a price I can tolerate. COSTCO seems to have a good selection of HP printers and ink cartridges, they have a refill service for the ink cartridges but I have never used it. Best Buy, Office Max, and Office Depot all seem to price products within a couple of bucks of each other, sometimes the price of gas isn't worth the drive to save a couple of bucks.
I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.
"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him; better take a closer look at the American Indian." - Henry Ford
Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges; When the Republic is at its most corrupt the laws are most numerous. - Publius Cornelius Tacitus
We ended up with the HP 8600 series, on sale at the local Staples. Very easy set up even on the wireless network. If it holds up it should happy for a long time.
If that doesn't happen, I have a Brother. Love it. It also does large format--11x17--scanning and printing. My first machine was a Lexmark. It's good for home use, but the Brother has been a biz machine and bears up under the strain better than the Lexmark.
