Editorial Review
With the versatile PIXMA MP500 Photo All-In-One on your desktop, you'll ask yourself how you ever got along without it. This amazing machine delivers an impressive resolution of up to 9600 x 2400 color dpi, for remarkable detail and clarity, using superfine ink delivery. Its 5-color ink system - four dye-based inks and a pigment-based black ink - produces true-life photos with a wide color palette, along with laser-quality text. You won't have to wait long to see your results; a beautiful photo lab quality 4"x 6" borderless photo takes approximately 51 seconds. AE (Auto Exposure) Copy feature automatically optimizes reproduction quality based on the type of original you're duplicating. When scanning photos or graphics, you'll see high-quality 1200-dpi reproduction with vibrant 48-bit color depth.
With the large 2.5" color LCD viewer you can evaluate your images in beautiful color, then enhance them before printing! Just insert your compatible memory card into a built-in card slot and begin viewing. As needed, your images will automatically be enhanced for red eye, sharpness and brightness on your subjects' faces. Or, you can fine tune the images using the easy control panel. Dimension (W x D x H) - 17.7 x 16.8 x 8.1 / Weight 21.1 lbs Interfaces - USB 2.0 Hi-Speed (cable not included), IrDA 1.2 (JPEG only), Bluetooth v1.2 ( Optional BU20 accessory required)
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Customer Reviews
Drinks ink, and won't scan without it!! 
2008-07-10
I bought this all-in-one over a year ago, so I've had sometime to wear this thing in. For the amount of printing I do, mostly text and some pictures, it goes through ink pretty quickly given the number of pages actually printed. I print a lot at work on my desk top printer, but I replace the ink cartridge more with this printer then I do the printer I have at work.
The reason how quickly the printer runs through ink is important goes beyond the obvious; everything in this all-in-one is connected to how much ink you have. If you don't have ink, you can't even scan.
This printer also has two black ink wells, and you have to have both black ink wells with ink in them to print. If one of them reads as empty it will not pull from the other to finish the job.
Met all my expectations... 
2008-06-04
I purchased this printer second hand and I am absolutely delighted with it.
Quiet as a mouse, clear crisp output, quite quick and altogether in a word, "great." I print almost completely in Grayscale simply because it saves money but the cartridges are not too pricey and I've found the machine most reliable. I can't speak for its color quality so I wont.
I turned this sucker into a bluetooth wireless printer by purchasing a $20 Kensington USB Bluetooth dongle. I didn't get the Canon one ($50+) and it works fine regardless. (I had problems using a security code with Windows but not with Mac. In the end I decided I'd go without security).
I haven't used the built in card reader or printed photos.
The scanner and the printer both worked flawlessly on both a Mac (Lepoard OSX) and a PC (XP) through USB connection. The scanner wouldn't work through Bluetooth - only the printer would.
Main Pros:
- Works on Mac and PC
- quite quick once it's up and running
- quiet
- doesn't appear to be too much of an ink hog
- $20 USB bluetooth dongle (non-Canon) turned this puppy into a wireless printer!
- build feels relatively sturdy
- drivers available online
- reasonably quick scanning
Cons:
- First print is somewhat slow (coming out of 'hibernation appears to take time)
- footprint is larger than many scanning printers
- Couldn't get scanner working wirelessly (printing is fine)
- You need to buy your USB cable separately
I paid a ridiculously low $60 for this second hand and after a couple of months with it, I still give it a big thumbs up.
Best all-in-one I've had 2008-05-26
I bought this printer a couple of years ago, and have had no problems with it at all. Scans come out very clear, picture printing quality is impressive, and the ink cartridges won't break the bank. I like that you can replace the ink tanks individually instead of having to replace all at once.
Annoying and a rip off 2008-05-01
The printer and scanner work just fine.
However, the color ink tanks either dry up quickly or you have to use them up quickly. This would not be a problem except the color tanks must be in operation to print black and white!!!
So if you want to print black and white documents, you must spend $50 every 3 months for the color ink cartridges too. You also cannot simply fill the cartridges because the ink tanks have a special chip on them to make sure you use the "right" ink tanks...Cannon. Basically, you spend 2-4x as much on Cannon ink tanks as you did for the printer. And that's just annually. So don't buy it unless you're printing mostly color photographs...
Stay away!!! 2008-04-11
This could have been a decent product. But for the ink problems. First you need 5 cartridges. That's right 5. Next, it runs out very very fast. This is the biggest problem. 4 cartridges cost 15.00 each and the second black costs 18.00. That's 78.00 a total refill. I print almost exclusively plain paper black text. The main reason I bought this printer was the duplex printing so I would not waste so much paper. Well the photo cartridges run out just printing black even when you indicate not color ink. You can not turn it off. When printing color it does not print a good quality color. So you lose all the way around. They should put some software together so you could not use the color cartridges just the one black. Until that.... STAY AWAY!!!!
I would give it minus stars if I could. 2008-03-14
With the versatile PIXMA MP500 Photo All-In-One on your desktop, you'll ask yourself how you ever got along without it. This amazing machine delivers an impressive resolution of up to 9600 x 2400 color dpi, for remarkable detail and clarity, using superfine ink delivery. Its 5-color ink system - four dye-based inks and a pigment-based black ink - produces true-life photos with a wide color palette, along with laser-quality text. You won't have to wait long to see your results; a beautiful photo lab quality 4"x 6" borderless photo takes approximately 51 seconds. AE (Auto Exposure) Copy feature automatically optimizes reproduction quality based on the type of original you're duplicating. When scanning photos or graphics, you'll see high-quality 1200-dpi reproduction with vibrant 48-bit color depth.
With the large 2.5" color LCD viewer you can evaluate your images in beautiful color, then enhance them before printing! Just insert your compatible memory card into a built-in card slot and begin viewing. As needed, your images will automatically be enhanced for red eye, sharpness and brightness on your subjects' faces. Or, you can fine tune the images using the easy control panel. Dimension (W x D x H) - 17.7 x 16.8 x 8.1 / Weight 21.1 lbs Interfaces - USB 2.0 Hi-Speed (cable not included), IrDA 1.2 (JPEG only), Bluetooth v1.2 ( Optional BU20 accessory required)
Very Disappointed 2008-02-12
I am SO disappointed with this printer! I review as many reviews as I could find on this printer before purchasing it. I had previously owned a Canon printer that I liked so I hoped this would be even better. I was searching for a good printer for printing photos. The Pixma MP500 worked great for the first 18 months, then it developed a HEAVY black line on the BOTTOM of each page printed! I tried all the cleaning options offered by Canon on their website - none worked. I even emailed Canon's customer support and was told I could either take it in for repair (at my own expense since it was out of warranty) or they offered me 10% off a new printer - from their website. I think I'll be looking at Epson for my future printer needs. :(
NEVER AGAIN..... 2008-02-03
Canon has installed a chip on every one of their cartridges. If you try to use refills or replacement catridges, you are in for a nightmare! You either have to dissect and place the factory chip onto the replacement catridge each time ( and the printer is still going to realize this at some point and give you hell ) or you have to refill the cartridges and wait for the printer to freak out because you've printed more than you're supposed to with one of their catridges. Essentially, they know how many pages a cartridge will print and if you go over that, you're in for it.
After buying a combination of two different kits on ebay, I was able to successfully use refill ink, but it is a royal pain in the arse and print quality isn't good...
Ink? Glad you asked. If you want the printer to perform well, and you don't want all the alarms and halts on printing with warnings, you're in for at least 75 every time you need to re-ink. There is NO way I can afford that as much as I print. I'm going with HP c6280, with NO CHIPS, better resolution, and for which I can buy complete refills for less than 15$ an inking. GOODBYE CANON!
PLEASE DON'T BUY THIS PRINTER 2008-01-30
I have had this printer for about two years and it is the worst printer I have ever had. I have had nothing but problems with this printer and the support for Canon is a joke. They will not support their products, plain and simple. Also, the thing uses ink at a record pace and the ink is VERY expensive.
The quality of the pictures is good when it works, but that is few and far between. I would strongly recommend against this printer. And yes before I bought it I did all the research but take it from a real consumer this is NOT the printer for you.
very disappointing 2007-10-27
I purchased this product because of the good rating on Amazon and other reviews. Pictures produced from this printer were good, but not stellar. Then, after fewer than two years, my Canon Pixma died. I was not an overuser of this product, but the strap that moves the printing cartridges failed suddenly. Moreover, it is an ink hog. My old Dell 960, which is now attached to my husband's computer still works fine after six years of use. Don't waste your money on this product.
