Customer Reviews
Canon S530D Review 
2004-04-02
This printer prints fast but the quality is poor. Consumer reports rates it a best buy but I disagree. Pictures come out very graney and its almost worthless to have a 2 megapixel or higher camera because the quality will not be seen with this printer. I do not recommend this printer to anyone. I bought the Cannon to replace a Hewlett Packard deskjet 932C and it was slow but the picture quality was superior to the Cannon. This purchase was a real dissapointment.
Canon S530D Printer 
2004-01-08
I had purchased a refurbished Canon S530d printer for my wife for Christmas. So far, it has been fantastic. The text prints amazingly fast and crystal clear. We haven't taken full advantage of the photo printing part of the printer, but we tried it out on a regular piece of paper with good results. I can't wait to get some photo paper and try it there.
Printing problems 2003-12-04
This printer has printhead problems. My first S530D couldn't even pass the first print test page diagnostic procedure. The black text printed fine at the beginning but faded to nothing by the end of the page. Doing a printhead cleaning solved the problem but only for that session. After a few hours of inactivity, the problem appeared again. This printer was brand new and right out of the box. Exchanging the printer for another brand new one did not solve the problem completely. The new printer passed the print test but the faded black ink problem resurfaced after several weeks of inactivity. Again, a printhead cleaning solved the problem but a user shouldn't have to do this before each print job. Inks shouldn't dry out and clog the printheads in that short a time (if that's what the problem is). When it works, it works great but it's a pain the do a printhead cleaning almost all the time in order to get good text output. The problem seems to be only with the black ink. Canon support is useless BTW.
Junker 
2003-11-11
Well I bought my mom this printer and it is a piece of crud.
Very good quality for the price 2003-11-04
I purchased this printer with the intent to use it for both photo printing and regular text printing. Photos look great and print relatively quickly, but I had a problem with white streaks when printing text. I ended up calling Canon support and they sent me a new printer head for free since the printer is still under warranty. I've had no problems since. I give the printer a high rating mainly because I was very satisified with their tech support.
Good while it lasted 
2006-07-04
I bought this printer in mid-2003. It has worked very well for me. Unfortunately, it is now messing up like some of the others have described. The pictures look very dull. I've deep cleaned and changed all cartridges, but they still have a dullness to them. I have done a lot of printing on this machine over the past few years. I just wish that it would have lasted longer. I agree that it eats a lot of ink. I can't count how many cartridges I've gone through.
I guess we're the exception... 2006-06-28
We've had this printer for almost two years. I do a good amount of printing, both color & b/w. While I do need to do cleanings more often with this printer, mine is not sucking up ink at an unreasonable rate at all. And it is very affordable. Photos don't always print well... the only photo paper I have found to work well with my S530D was very the glossy trial pack that came with it when I bought it. No other photo paper has done well at all, so I suggest theirs. This is the best printer we have had in 10 years, and belive me I've thrown my share out the window! I can offer THIS advice to owners of ANY printers. Always use the power switch ON THE PRINTER to turn it on off, never use the power strip switch, or the switch from properties. For some reason doing so supposedly wastes ink? I don't get it, but I've always followed that advice and this printer has been an absolute gem for us. Good Luck! Jeannie
print heads are duds 2004-08-19
I have had this printer for more than a year. At first, it was a great printer. Not anymore!! It uses up ink like no other, yes, it is great to have the individual tanks(which is why I bought the thing) but now the print head isn't working right. Do several deep cleanings and use up nearly all the full tanks up, and the problem is still there. The pages have splotchy black marks and the texts are only partially printed. Went to the canon website, they don't even acknowledge this printer ever existed.
My recommendation is don't buy this model!!!
uses too much ink!! 2004-07-13
I have to agree w/ the other reviewer that said this printer is an ink eater. It's absolutely ridiculous how often I have to replace the ink cartridges. I rarely print in color & try to use the 'gray scale' option as much as possible, but it still doesn't help. Although the cartridges are cheaper (you can get all 4 for about $50) than most, they run out much faster so you end up spending just as much on them. The print quality is good & once the printer gets started it prints very fast, but having to go to the store & replace the cartridges all the time is a big hassle!
Ink eater! 2004-05-19
I've had this printer for about three months now and have printed about 20 pages total (not full color, not photographs). I am on my third set of cartridges already! In other words, after printing about ten pages (remember, not full color), I have to replace all the cartridges. I find the print quality to be quite good actually, but have never seen a printer eat through ink so quickly. Before buying a printer, I seriously suggest you look at the page output per cartridge.
