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General Performance
Warm-up (5.14)
The iP1800 comes up to ready status in 22 seconds, which is a tad better than the other single-function inkjets we’ve tested, the Canon Pixma Pro9000 and the Epson Stylus Pro 2400. This is also certainly a respectable warm-up time for a low-end inkjet.
Power Usage (11.69)
The iP1800 performed amazingly in our power usage tests, maintaining ready status while using only one watt of power. Printing used only 6 watts, a feat not matched by any other printer tested. The Pro9000 used 13 watts and the Epson R2400 used 15 watts while printing. Both printers also burned more power when sitting idle, around 3 to 4 watts. This highlights the huge gulf in power consumption between inkjets and lasers or even dye sublimation printers, for that matter. Laser printers can consume 20 to 30 watts while just sitting idle. Dye subs are similarly conservative to inkjets when idle, but really suck up the juice when printing, using around 50 watts on average.
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Power Usage (watts)
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Off
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Idle
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Ready
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Printing
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Self-Cleaning
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Canon Pixma iP1800
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0
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n/a
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1
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6
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5
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Epson Stylus Photo R2400
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0
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n/a
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3
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15
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12
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Canon Pixma Pro9000
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0
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n/a
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4
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13
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12.5
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Document Speed/Timing (3.22)
We separate out document printing speeds from photo speeds because there is usually such a large gulf between the two times in our tests. We haven’t yet tested any comparable printers in price to the iP1800, so in the chart below, we’ve listed this printer alongside three all-in-one photo inkjets (Canon MP600, HP C5180, and Kodak EasyShare 5300) and two pro photo printers (Epson R2400 and Canon Pro9000). We also threw a laser printer in there (HP 3600) to give a frame of reference.
The iP1800 was a little faster than the pro photo printers when printing black text documents, but much slower when printing color graphics. All of these times were exceeded by the all-in-one inkjets, especially the HP model. The laser printer put them all to shame, but high speeds are the nature of laser printers. For a low-end inkjet, the iP1800 had respectable document times, despite its low score in this category.
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Document Print Speeds
in Pages per Minute (ppm)
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8.5" x 11" Text
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8.5" x 11" Graphics
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HP Color Laserjet 3600
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12.41
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15
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HP Photosmart C5180
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6.00
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2.57
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Canon Pixma MP600
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2.81
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1.35
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Kodak EasyShare 5300
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1.59
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1.33
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Canon Pixma iP1800
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1.12
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0.5
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Epson Stylus Photo R2400
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1.08
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0.92
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Canon Pixma Pro9000
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0.87
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0.74
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Document Quality
Text (4.50)
Text clarity was decent, but not as good as most other printers tested, notably the all-in-one inkjets and especially the lasers, which are know for printing crisp text.
Below in the center image you’ll see a sample character printed with the iP800. When compared to the Lexmark X342n (on the right), a monochrome laser, it’s clear that the edges of the iP1800’s text is relatively soft, not crisp like the laser output. Another inkjet, the HP C5180 (on the left), an all-in-one photo printer, displays similar edge softness but less rich black than the iP1800. The iP1800's text quality was acceptable, but not something to be used for high-volume document output where clarity is critical. That said, that’s not what this printer was made for. It’s made for printing photos at home, and it can also print documents. For that use, it is serviceable.
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HP Photosmart C5180
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Canon Pixma iP1800
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Lexmark X342n
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