Specifications

ManualsBrandsCanon ManualsComputer equipmentimagePROGRAF iPF710 with Colortrac Scanning System

A Comprehensive BLI Laboratory Evaluation

© 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc. WARNING: This material is copyrighted by Buyers Laboratory Inc. and is the sole property of Buyers Laboratory. Duplication of this proprietary report or excerpts from this report, in any

manner, whether printed or electronic (including, but not limited to, copying, faxing, scanning or use on a fax-back system), is illegal and strictly forbidden without written permission from Buyers Laboratory. Violators will

be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To purchase reprints of any BLI reports or articles, contact us at bliEurope@buyerslab.com. Buyers Laboratory Inc., 20 Railroad Avenue, Hackensack, NJ 07601 USA.

LAB TEST

Please note that the following document is based on tests conducted on a Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 sold in the United

States. BLI has updated this report to reect the specications and features available on the European version of this

model. Although there may be slight differences in features and pricing, both models are manufactured by the same

parent company, share many of the same components, and are based upon a common engine. Tests were conducted using

U.S. letter-size paper and A4 results may vary.

BUYERS LABORATORY

Lab Test Report—European Edition

February 2008

Offering very good ease of use and colour print quality, the Canon

imagePROGRAF iPF710 performed commendably during its 7,500-square-

foot BLI evaluation. Demonstrating that it can capably satisfy the needs of

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

professionals, the iPF710 generated a broad range of architectural plans and

maps with exacting detail and vibrant colours. The ve-ink set, which includes

both dye and pigment black inks, produced colour that remained highly

consistent throughout the testing period, with very little shift measured by

BLI’s test instruments and no colour variation observed in a visual comparison

of images produced at the end of the test with the same group printed at the

beginning of the test. Moreover, remarkably ne detail was also produced

when colour and monochrome photographs were printed on Canon’s high-

quality heavy weight satin photo paper at default quality settings.

The Colortrac SmartLF Cx40e colour/monochrome scanner, a formidable

1016 mm width multi-functional wide-format scanning option that Canon

Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710

with Colortrac SmartLF

Cx40 Scanning System

Wide-Format Colour Inkjet Printer

Test duration: Two months, including a 7,500-square-foot

durability test.

BLI RECOMMENDATION

ALSO INSIDE

 Test Procedures

 Certicate of

Reliability

Ratings scale:

Excellent, Very

Good, Good, Fair

and Poor.

Reliability .............................................. Excellent

Ease of Assembly ...................................... Excellent

Ease of Network Setup .............................. Very Good

Paper Handling ....................................... Very Good

Ease of Use ............................................ Very Good

Administrative Utilities ............................. Very Good

Print Drivers .......................................... Very Good

Feedback to Workstations .......................... Very Good

Applications Compatibility .......................... Excellent

Colour Management ....................................... Good

Colour Print/Copy Quality .......................... Very Good

Black Print/Copy Quality ................................. Good

Colour Print/Copy Productivity .......................... Good

Black Print/Copy Productivity ............................ Good

Scan Functions ....................................... Very Good

Feature Set ........................................... Very Good

Multitasking ................................................. Good

Summary of content (27 pages)

PAGE 1
February 2008 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition A Comprehensive BLI Laboratory Evaluation Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 with Colortrac SmartLF Cx40 Scanning System Wide-Format Colour Inkjet Printer Reliability............................................... Excellent Ease of Assembly....................................... Excellent Ease of Network Setup............................... Very Good Paper Handling........................................ Very Good Ease of Use........................
PAGE 2
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition offers with the imagePROGRAF iPF710, was included in this evaluation, and also proved easy to use. Whether utilising the straightforward SmartLF or more advanced CopySmart software, the Colortrac scanner package enables user-friendly scanning and copying of large-format documents, though superior overall functionality and greater colour accuracy, quality and consistency were achieved using the CopySmart program.
PAGE 3
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition Performance Overview , — and  represent positive, negative and neutral attributes, respectively.  Reliability EXCELLENT  The Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 is certified highly reliable by BLI, completing its two-month evaluation, which included a 7,500-square-foot durability test, without experiencing a single jam and with no service calls required.
PAGE 4
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition  A second CD entitled Canon iPF710 User Manual is also provided. It autolaunches and installs the manual in HTML format in six clicks. It is available as a selection in All Programs and from the printer driver and Status Monitor.  PAPER HANDLING VERY GOOD  The iPF710 is compatible with a wide range of media, from various plain and bond papers to many different satin and photographic glossy papers, to name just a few.
PAGE 5
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition reprint upon loading a new roll, unlike with some other units tested. All other pages sent will print in succession, however. Users must reprint the partially printed page.  EASE OF USE VERY GOOD  The iPF710 control panel has a small gray LED display that measures 50.8 mm x 57.2 mm. There are four lines of text, each containing up to 20 characters.
PAGE 6
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition user selects the paper type on the control panel and the printer automatically detects the sheet’s dimensions. This information is transmitted to both the Web page and Status Monitor.  This model provides good guidance to users at the control panel with a range of helpful messages.
PAGE 7
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory  Administrative Utilities Lab Test Report—European Edition VERY GOOD LAB TEST  Users can view the progress of print jobs and the paper and ink supplies in real time for all networked imagePROGRAF printers using the Status Monitor. Jobs can be canceled or paused in the Job tab, but cannot be reprioritised. As a workaround for reprioritising, users can pause jobs submitted earlier to allow later jobs to print next.
PAGE 8
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition  The Print Job Log Display, located in the Status Monitor’s Information tab, offers a list of only the last 32 jobs that were printed on the iPF710. Job information includes job name, page count, status, start time, end time, total time, size, media type and ink consumed for each job. Users can save this information as a text file if desired.
PAGE 9
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition  There are 14 Print Target Settings from which to choose on the Main tab, which, when selected, automatically provide the best settings for a print job based on the selected print target. Among the choices are Draft, CAD Line Drawing, 3D GIS Map and Highest Quality. The number of Print Target Settings varies depending on the media type selected.
PAGE 10
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition LAB TEST  Up to 50 different paper/size/quality setting combinations can be user-configured for one-touch print selection in the print driver’s Favorites tab. 10 — Though not uncommon, when sending A1 PDF documents, in either portrait or landscape mode, the prints incorrectly rotate 90 degrees, resulting in wasted paper. (This did not occur with A4 documents.
PAGE 11
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition  The print driver’s “Draft” setting is available for selected media for users who require the fastest output possible on the iPF710, although, as would be expected, with some sacrifice to image quality.
PAGE 12
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition on the Web page, however, are the various security settings that can be enabled by an administrator, including SNMP and IPP authentication and IP and MAC address filtering.  Paper and ink status information is available on the Web page. The Print Job selection on the Web page only displays the latest job that is printing or processing, not an entire list of pending jobs.
PAGE 13
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition end of the test period, observed both in the red and green ranges, colour production remained very consistent. Although BLI’s instruments detected this slight change in the gamut, no noticeable changes were detected in a visual observation of a group of images printed at the end of the test period compared to the same group printed at the start of the test.
PAGE 14
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition  Sliders are available in the Advanced Settings tab for adjusting brightness and contrast for monochrome prints, which can be applied to images, graphics and/or text elements within a document.  Black print quality on plain paper was rated Good overall. Characters appeared dark and fully formed, with some ink spray visible. Circles were cleanly formed.
PAGE 15
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition the Default plain paper/monochrome driver setting. Timing began when the printer was taken out of a paused mode, and ended when the last page of the job stream completely exited the device. The job stream was completed in 25 minutes and 28 seconds, which translates to 44.8 pph.  To assess colour copy productivity, a 24" x 36" document was copied using the CopySmart program at 200-, 400- and 600-dpi settings.
PAGE 16
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory  SCAN FUNCTIONS Lab Test Report—European Edition VERY GOOD LAB TEST  The Colortrac SmartLF Cx40 1016 mm-width scanner is well designed and very easy to use. Although there is no feed guide present, loading originals is an easy process. Media must be fed face down as evenly as possible into the scanner slot. The scanner has sensors that automatically detect an original as soon as the original is fed into the slot.
PAGE 17
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition The Canon iPF710 print driver must be installed on this computer as well as on all workstation computers. The service technician will also load the two scanning software applications on the computer. The CopySmart software requires a USB-connected security dongle, which comes with the software; the SmartLF software does not.
PAGE 18
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition  The multi-step procedure for colour and grayscale calibration of the Colortrac Cx40 scanner is straightforward in the CopySmart software. It involves linearisation, ink limiting and colour and grayscale profiling. The procedure for each step is described in detail on the monitor and can be accomplished without consulting a manual.
PAGE 19
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition  For Windows platforms, Canon’s Poster Artist 2007 software, a poster creation program that includes print-ready clip-art and royalty-free images, is available as an option.  The iPF710’s ink tanks are available in 130 ml capacity only. Other userreplaceable items include print heads and a cutter blade.  Additional roll holders are available for multi-roll users.
PAGE 20
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory  Lab Test Report—European Edition SUPPORTING TEST DATA Test Environment The product has been tested in BLI’s 10,000-square-foot test lab, in an environment monitored by a Honeywell Temp/RH chart recorder, which replicates typical office conditions. Test Equipment BLI’s dedicated test network, consisting of Windows 2000 servers, Windows XP and 2000 workstations, 10/100BaseTX network switches and CAT5 cabling.
PAGE 21
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory  Lab Test Report—European Edition Reliability Reliability Service Required PMs/Malfunctions Meter count (beginning of test) 0 End of test period 7,500 Total misfeeds/misfeed rate 0/Not applicable Total Service Calls  0 MULTITASKING LAB TEST Secondary Function PRINT SCAN COPY PRINT Yes Yes Yes SCAN Yes No No COPY Yes No No Primary Function 21 Paper Usage (Square Feet) Note: A “Yes” indicates that the user can initiate the seconda
PAGE 22
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory  Lab Test Report—European Edition PRINT DRIVERS Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Print Driver Features Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 LAB TEST Features  22 Auto Configuration/Device Detection Yes Collate Sets Yes Mirror Image No Negative Image No N-Up Printing 2 to 16 Paper Gauge No Quantity Selection 1 to 999 Reduction/Enlargement 5% to 600% Print Quality 14 preset choices Printing Shortcuts/Save Settings Yes Show Preview Yes Consumables Statu
PAGE 23
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition Colour Density Readings – Heavy Weight Satin Photo Paper Speed Draft Default Highest Quality Dot Fill 100% 50% 100% 50% 100% 50% Cyan N/A N/A .79 .53 .79 .54 Magenta N/A N/A 1.34 .43 1.31 .42 Yellow N/A N/A 1.00 .45 .98 .45 Black N/A N/A 1.46 .41 1.45 .
PAGE 24
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition Colour Copy Quality – Plain Paper CopySmart Software Colour Business Graphics Good AEC Graphics Very Good Colour Copy Quality is based on documents copied on plain paper at 600-dpi resolution with the unit configured with the Colourtrac SmartLF Cx40 scanner.
PAGE 25
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory  Lab Test Report—European Edition PRODUCTIVITY Job Stream: Mixed File Types, Same Size Sets Actual Time (Min:Sec) Calculated Pages Per Hour 1 25:28 44.8 BLI’s job stream includes PDF, TIFF, DWF and PLT files totaling 19 pages. This test indicates the type of traffic a typical wide-format device might experience in a real-world, multi-user environment.
PAGE 26
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 Buyers Laboratory Lab Test Report—European Edition Monochrome Copy Productivity: CopySmart-Monochrome Poster/Graphics, Fast Scan Speed Scanner Resolution (DPI) Scanning Speed (Min:Sec) Calculated Speed (ips) 200 0:06 4.0 400 2:01 0.2 600 2:06 0.2 LAB TEST Above results are for 24" x 36" Monochrome Document. 26 © 2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc. WARNING: This material is copyrighted by Buyers Laboratory Inc. and is the sole property of Buyers Laboratory.
PAGE 27
CERTIFICATE OF RELIABILITY AWARDED TO CANON, INC. For the performance of the Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 throughout BLI's in-house durability test. BORA LA T S C NC YIIN R RY O O ANTHONY F. POLIFRONE MANAGING DIRECTOR UY B BU YE ER R This is to certify that when subjected to a 7,500-square-foot Buyers Lab durability test in a networked environment, the Canon imagePROGRAF iPF710 proved to be a highly reliable product.