Customer Reviews
Small Office Workhorse (best for "techies") 
2007-06-09
I have been pleased with my decision to purchase this item. It makes beautiful copies and is relatively quiet. The document feeder works flawlwssly.
My only criticism is that using the extra features like two-sided copying is not very intuitive. I still need to check the user manual from time to time. My office staff have given up on using some of these useful features because they are so hard to remember.
That is another of my laments- can we please have a printed manual to go with a product as complex as this? Can Canon be that cheap as to want to save a few pennies by not providing a manual?
Sir JAM A LOT 
2007-03-10
I think the machine I tried was an individual Lemon. I tried to make copies of patents in stacks of 5 to 30 sheets in the document feeder at a time. It started out jaming every other sheet. It quickly went to jaming 3 out of 4 tries. I used 4 different papers of different thicknesses without any solution to the problem. It was obviously never tested at the factory. The packaging was excellent with no damage in shipping or handling. When I returned it, I checked out a demo unit and discovered the demo unit had black electrical tape applied over one of the document feeder parts. It looked like a neat job performed by a factory technician. My guess is, it has an inherent weakness by design that requires field repair. I am a product design engineer so I inspected all of the parts from a design standpoint to see if there was a defect or obvious fix.
Worst printer ever used 
2007-02-08
This is a review of Canon imageCLASS MF6530 All-In-One Laser Printer. But I believe the comments here apply to the Canon imageCLASS MF6500 and MF6550 All-In-One Laser Printer as well because the primary difference is that MF6500 and MF6550 have a fax machine while MF6300 does not. (MF6550 also has more paper feeding capacity in its automatic document feeder, but this feature is irrelevant in this review.)
First, the next few paragraphs is an update of my original review. I couldn't change the rating. Otherwise I would have given it the lowest rating.
In addition to the problems with the multipurpose tray identified by my original review and other reviews, we further encountered the following problems:
(1) The LCD display is small and dark (with no backlit), and very difficult to read. In fact, if you place it in a not-so-well-lit area, it is almost impossible to read. And unlike other printers, you do need to read the displayed information on the LCD frequently.
(2) The main paper tray makes up the very bottom of the whole printer and directly sits on the surface of the support (a table for example). Not only does this make the opening and closing of the main tray noisy and difficult, it also damages the surface of the support furniture.
Worst of all, the main paper tray of our unit broke after about a year and won't hold the position. So the whole thing had to be replaced by another printer. And you know what, everyone was glad to see this thing go.
There are so many good copier/printers out there to choose from. I can't think of any reason to choose this one. In fact, with the problems it has caused, I wouldn't even want one for free. It's just not worth the trouble.
The following is the original review:
First of all, if you will not be using the multipurpose tray for nonregular paper printing (such as envelopes and checks), you will find this all-in-one printer highly competent. Very well-made, and much quieter than the Brother all-in-one laser printer I used. Especially, the Canon turns quiet immediately after the job is done, whereas the Brother keeps on making a loud noise for longer than five minutes before it goes to sleep (and there is no way to adjust that). If you like a quiet office setting like I do, this can be quite important. In fact, this was one of the reasons why I dumped the Brother and bought the Canon.
The main paper tray is very easy to load and very reliable. The fact that it holds a whole ream (500 sheets) of paper is a great plus. With other printers which have a lesser capacity, you always end up having a small amount of paper left behind making a mess. For example, with the most common 250 sheet loader, you are under pressure to divide each ream of paper absolutely evenly, otherwise some paper will be left after two loads. If you do this only once every few months, it may not be a problem. But if you have to do that once every few days in a busy office setting, you might have a problem as I did. So a big thumbs up to Canon FM6530's 500 sheet loader.
The automatic document feeder is also very reliable and I have not yet had a jam in over two weeks of frequent use.
Software installation was straightforward. Not a problem at all.
The printer is quite fast, seems to be close to the 23 ppm claim.
The quality of the scanner and copier is exceptional, much much better than the Brother I used.
Now here is the bad:
The printer has the worst multipurpose tray I have ever used. The overall user interface design of the multipurpose tray is difficult and confusing, and is further made even worse by the inadequate documentation. The main problem isn't its paper loading mechanism, which is actually fine, although not the best. The problem is the software part that controls how the printer interfaces with the computer. It turned out that you must set BOTH the printer panel (which itself was extremely difficult to figure out), AND the application on your computer in order to print on a nonstandard media (such as an envelope) using the multipurpose tray; and you need to do all the setting EVERY time when you print on a paper size different from what you did last time; and both settings must be just so. Any mismatch will result in a no-go error (with beeps and flashing lights, you name it).
With many variables and no instructions, it is highly frustrating to figure it out initially. And even after you have learned how to set it up, the problem does not go away as you need to change the setting on the printer panel every time when you change paper type/size used in the multipurpose tray. The fact that the setting for printing is hidden deep down in the menu on the printer panel adds further confusion and frustration.
In beats me why Canon designed this printer this way. Intuitively, you'd think that as long as you load the paper correctly, the rest of the printer settings should be done on the computer, either in the printer properties or from the application you are using (for example, Microsoft Word). Other printers I used behave just like that. Some are simpler and some more complex, but all can be figured out fairly quickly if you are familiar with printers. Not so with Canon. With the poor logic of the user interface design, even if they had a very clear instruction, which of course they don't, you would still need to spend at least half an hour to figure out how to do this conjunction. But because they don't have a clear instruction in this regard at all, it is close to impossible for most people to do this. I persisted and did it eventually only because I couldn't help. I read other reviewers' frustration and thought to myself, well, I'm sure I would know better. But I underestimated the unreasonableness of a product. It took me almost 2 hours to figure out how to print on an envelope using the multipurpose tray, and I'm highly experienced with the printers.
As of now, I still don't know how to print checks on partial letter-size sheets from the accounting software QuickBooks. We happen to use the check format that has three checks in one letter-size sheet. For the first of every three checks, you have a full letter-size check sheet which can be handled using the main paper tray without a problem. But for the second and the third check, presently there is no way we can print on this printer, unless the checks are printed at the same time with the first check. Once the first check is printed and removed, you end up with a partial letter-size sheet which is impossible to print on this printer from QuickBooks. To be fair, I don't know whether it is QuickBooks or the Canon printer, or both, to blame. But the Brothers Multi-functional we used before had absolutely no problems printing checks. Looks like we'll have to destroy all the existing blank checks and order some new checks that comes with just one check on each letter-size sheet.
After all that, I would become anxious every time when I need to use the multipurpose tray, not only because of the unnecessary trouble of setting up, but more because of the uncertainty involved, as I never know if it will work or not. After hitting the print key, I'd nervously watch the printer with a sickening anticipation of a beep and lit orange light showing an error signal. This has essentially discouraged me from using the multipurpose tray.
Well, if you don't believe me, try it. Just try to print an envelope from Microsoft Word using its built-in envelope and label printing options. I bet your printer would be still beeping with that orange light flashing after three hours. Just try it. Set aside a whole afternoon, prepare a bunch of envelopes to be wasted, bring whatever techniques you use for handling anger and frustration, and start to do trial and error. You may actually get some exercise because you need to run between the printer and your computer so many times, at least one round-trip for each trial.
I highly doubt Canon has really paid any attention to its multipurpose tray. Alternatively, I suspect it was a hoax by ill-intending Canon employees.
In comparison, the multipurpose tray of Brother all-in-one laser printers not only prints envelopes very intuitively and easily, it even has an automatic bypass feature. It works in this way: if the multipurpose tray is not loaded, the printer automatically chooses the main tray. If the multipurpose try is loaded, the printer automatically chooses the multipurpose tray as a priority, thus bypassing the main tray. This works wonderfully if you do mixed printing of both plain paper and letterhead. You would load plain paper in the main tray to handle the regular printing. And as you occasionally need to print on letterhead, you just grab a few sheets of letterhead and put that in the multipurpose tray. Often, you may be printing the first page of a letter on the letterhead, but the rest of the letter on plain paper. With bypassing feature, no special setup is required. You just put a single sheet of letterhead in the multipurpose tray, and the printing job will be done just the way you like.
It is sad that Canon's multipurpose tray isn't capable of doing anything remotely resembling the above. Even if Canon's design of multipurpose tray were perfectly implemented (easy to set up and easy to use), I would rate Canon's design itself a three-star, while the Brother's design a five-star. But because Canon's multipurpose tray really is a mediocre design with a pathetic implementation, I don't know how I would rate it.
With such a failure of design and implementation of a key component and feature, I just cannot give the Canon an average rating despite that the printer excels in most other aspects.
BAD MP Tray function 
2007-02-03
I just bought this printer for my office. I previously had a D series canon copier which started acting up after 3 years of heavy use. I thought this was a nice upgrade and to be fair the copy/print functions are not bad. However, the real problem is if you use anything but standard size paper. For example, to use an envelop using the MP (multipurpose) tray, you have to go through the whole menu to set it up. Then set it back for other types of paper. My older canon copier did not require these steps and it recognized when an envelop was being fed vs regular size sheet.
Good product but multipurpose tray could be better 2006-11-06
I just bought this multifunction laser printer for my wife last week because she is doing a serious amount of scanning and e-faxing of big documents. Her HP all-in-one couldn't handle more than 15 pages or a combination of legal and letter scanning without jamming or performing painfully slow. The solution was to buy her this robust more professional piece of machinery. So far the scanning of her 50-page documents comes out really well (around 8 pages a minute) and she can just drop a large stack for scanning and walk away.
Now for the bad: She went to print using the multipurpose tray for small label sheets as well as envelopes and could not succeed. At first I laughed and said silly woman electronics are for men. So I went about trying to perform the same tasks and was surprised that I could not get it to work. Of course I consulted the manual and looked for online forums and lightly punched the machine and still no success. So we waited until Canon support was available to call for help. The support was good and we were able to print labels using the multipurpose tray after an hour on the phone. However, the process for custom sized feeds in the multipurpose tray is not user friendly and expect a struggle. If you are planning on printing on envelopes and postcards and any other non-standard media don't expect the ease of feeding this stuff in like it's an inkjet printer. Instead prepare to spend time with the control panel on the printer each time you change the media. Other than this issue this multifunction laser is good to go.
Inadequate support 2008-07-18
I bought this machine in January 2007. It stopped working in July 2007. Canon sent out a tech who said there was a flaw in the machine that Canon was aware of but had not developed a reliable repair for. The tech replaced the part and said it would probably break again. Lo and behold, July 2008 it broke again. This time Canon requires that I load the copier in my car and drive it to a service center that is 30 miles away. I also have to pay a diagnosis fee of $25. I called Canon and asked if they could send someone out since this was obviously an issue with the machine. I received a flat out No . . . Won't be buying a Canon copier next time, that's for sure.
Great value for a reliable multi function machine 2008-05-17
I had a home-based business and have been using Canon copiers and printers since the 1980s. This MF6530 had replaced my Canon D660 I had since mid 2003. The D660 goes to my son and hope it will last for few more years. I've tried other brands and none as reliable, so Canon is all I buy. [...]
It's warranted for 3 years with onsite service for the first year. It supports Windows XP and Vista.
The display is still small and hard to read and the machine could have been smaller. Don't need anything fancy - good reliability, printer, copier, document feeder and clean copies is all I wanted. Duplex printing and scanner functions are a plus.
Great copier value! 
2008-05-08
We bought this copier for our church teacher's workroom. It's great! Very quick warm-up and copy speed. We love the document feeder on the top. I've used the bypass tray, which works well. Nice, clear copies. Great features, especially the duplexing, and pretty easy to use. Would buy again.
Inconsistent Performance 2007-12-11
It was meant for a 6-person real estate management office. We repacked and returned it within one week. The set up and config were easy. The printer's control panel prompted for user action EVERY time non-letter-sized media was detected. It worked fine for single copy jobs but continuously jammed up for multi-page copies causing the toner wastefully smeared over hands and paper when unjamming. Canon brand toner cartridge at around $140 a piece would need replacement frequently.
Not For Heavy Use 2007-06-15
All the reviews about how well this machine operates are fairly true. As far as the paper tray, I had to figure out how to adjust it (it is a combo of adjusting the paper size in the tray, then telling the machine you have actually done it through the menu system, specifying type and size). I am satisfied with the performance of the machine itself, however, beware if you plan on using this quite often.
When we purchased it, our intention was around 400 copies per month, which should translate into replacing the cartridge every year( at 5000 copies per cartridge). For some reason, the cartidges lasted about half the time (discounting the initial 'barely enough toner till you can buy a full one' that comes with the machine). This means, that the first cartridge lasted about 6 months, then the second one lasted about the same time. Therefore, within a year we had to buy a third cartride, still averaging about 400 copies per month. At $140 a pop, we have effectively paid for the machine again within a year! I have tried all the toner settings for the machine, and maybe I simply have a defective machine. I have bought all my cartridges from a name brand trusted office supply store, and that might be the problem!
Hopefully, the price of the cartridges will fall quickly, or else I will have to look at another machine (ugh!) that is more cost effective.
