Printers: Compare features & prices Canon Pixma MG5250 review http://www.which.co.uk/technology/computing/reviews/printers/canon-pixma-mg5250/review/

Purchased this printer Nov2012 and was very pleased with how easy it was to set up/connect to both older (XP) desk top and new (Win 7) laptop on WiFi. Scanner, copier and print quality very good as expected from the Best Buy rating but though not used a lot the first "low ink" warning message first showed up before Christmas. All tanks except one black are now showing the message. With a replacement set at over £50 from Canon it seems that my pattern of rather intermittent use (evrey four/five days for a few prints ) is very wasteful of ink due to the automatically initiated cleaning cycles performed with each use.

We've looked into your queries around the capabilities of this printer and more particularly the scan function which we'll address as briefly as possible in the order listed.

1) We used Win 7 64-bit in our tests. To keep the test time and costs manageable we can’t test everything, so we use the just the one option. This is the first time we’ve heard of a problem with a variation of the driver, we’ll follow this up with Canon to work out if it is likely to be a problem with more models.

2) We use the scanning software that comes with the printer, which worked with no problems during testing. Our test doesn’t include importing an image directly into Word or Excel, but TWAIN drivers are almost universally included. We don’t have this printer at the lab anymore, but we’ve tried scanning directly into Word on some other Canon all-in-one printers that we have at the lab at the moment and there were no issues – it’s worked fine, so we can’t work out what has gone wrong or what is responsible for the difference in your experience.

3) We used the lower paper tray on this printer during testing and there we no jamming problems. We only have the printers in a lab for a few months, it would be useful to know whether the jamming you’re experiencing has always been an issue, or whether it was fine to begin with and the printer developed this problem after further down the line.

4) Auto-scan would normally pre-scan of the full platen and detect the bottom of the printed area of the page, then allow a small margin below that on the final scan. It sounds from the description as if the margin is empty. The scanner can't normally detect the actual paper edge, since the backing that lies on the platen is white like the paper in which case the experience doesn’t wound strange. However if there was text or a logo in the margin we would have expected it to be picked up.

Lastly with regard to ink use, this wasn't the most frugal machine in our continuous printing tests and we're due to roll out additional ink costs tests in the new year to enable us to report on ink use taking into ink use over time, taking into account periods when the printer is turned off.

Whilst test results from Which indicate generally good performance and reasonable price (resulting in Best Buy status), potential buyers need to be aware of the below listed annoying design issues that the Which tests don't seem to have uncovered:1. Setup of WYFI connection for the printer on Win Vista 32 bit based laptop less than straight forward after having installed WYFI connection for it on PC using Win 7 64 bit. This indicates some snag with printer driver software when using the printer on computers with the differing Op Systems just referred to or possibly just the Vista 32 bit driver. It needed Tech support from Canon to sort out and the first tech was unable to resolve over an hour plus session on phone. Whilst annoying in itself, buyers may also run up their phone bill if, like me, Canon support to resolve is needed.2. I use MS Office 2010 and at least for that there seems no TWAIN support if one wants to use the scanner to directly import an image into MS Word or Excel from within MS Word or Excel using the insert > picture function (no scanner is listed). This leaves only the more long winded option to scan and save a picture to file before then using the insert > picture function referred to and then browsing to the saved image etc. This may have something to do with the software driver needing loaded before Microsoft Office is installed however this implies poor design if so as it assumes users are buying and installing the printer before any other TWAIN compliant applications are installed whereas many if not most customers are likely to already have their TWAIN compliant applications already installed (eg Office, CAD, Camera) and won’t want to have to uninstall these before installing the printer and then having to reinstall the applications in order the printer can “see and implement” TWAIN functionality. TWAIN compatibility is something I feel the testing Which? does should cover and report on but does not seem to.3. When using the lower paper tray loaded with multiple sheets, 9 times out of 10 an awkward to fix paper jam occurs when the last sheet in the tray is being drawn in. This results in the need to remove the printer from its installed location (may not be easy for some) in order to access its rear roller service cover and to then fiddle around to remove bits of jammed paper. A visit to Canon's only authorised repair agents in UK (CRC Tasktron Ltd) has not resolved this leaving no alternative (short of return to shop for refund) but to continue to allow the printer to jam on the last sheet thus subjecting it to ever increasing risk of worsening any damage that is anyway implied by the jamming fault.4. Use of the "Auto Scan" setting for page size in scanner mode results in scanned image of an A4 page being truncated in the foot of page area that is often used for logos and page footers, page numbering etc. As this does not happen if "A4" or "Platten Size" page size is selected it implies the "Auto Scan" page size function is faulty. There was nothing Canon's only authorised repair agents (CRC Tasktron Ltd) were able to do about this either. It means one has to preselect the "paper size" correctly for the paper size being scanned each time a different sized paper original needs to be scanned rather than simply depending on the "Auto Scan" function to do the job correctly.5. The claimed pages of print possible from each of the various individual tank colour and black & white cartridges, are in practice nowhere near possible to achieve owing to the printer having a completely ridiculous automatically completed, long winded, self-cleaning/testing programme that seems impossible to influence in order to reduce wasteful (of ink) cleaning/testing. The cleaning/testing programme involved seems to want to clean/test all the different colour print heads etc even when default print settings have been set to "Greyscale printing" and "Fast (Speed Priority)". This means ink is wasted every time the printer is switched on even after only a small period switched off of say a few minutes – and moreover unnecessary colour ink. Even more ink is wasted auto cleaning and testing if the printer is switched off by removing mains supply rather than using the printers off switch and waiting for completion of its shut down procedure before removing the mains supply - a right pain if you want to go out in hurry (without leaving the printer on) as you need to wait and shut it down correctly unless you want to wait for an even longer period (and waste ink, colour included) when you next turn on the printer (if mains power was disconnected too soon during shut down procedure last time).Conclusion:A quality printer that offers many useful features but which is let down badly by at least the above 5 design issues. I feel Which? need to review particularly how they test printers and report findings so that potential buyers are made aware of such as the above annoying issues otherwise only found after purchase. Perhaps if Which? did look at and report on such issues the printer makers would pay more attention to why their printers are not selling and make design improvements to subsequent models. Giving a printer with such issues as the foregoing "Best Buy" status - as applies here - will simply result in sellers increasing their prices without makers having to take note of design faults that otherwise would likely cause price drops and/or poor sales.I rate this printer as poor value because of the above issues even though it is capable of very good printing etc and has many features. I certainly felt let down after buying on the "Best Buy" basis

Uses ink more quickly than old HP. Paper tray selection sometimes irrational.

Bought in Aug. 2011. The wireless facility worked briefly then stopped and I've been unable to re-establish it so now hard wired, a pain. Canon advice did not help. My previous Canons allowed me to self fill the cartridges but this MG5250 is not happy with that so, reluctantly, I've had to buy loaded cartridges at £13 per set. I enjoy the all in one functions but still use my old Pixma 3600 and Canoscan 4400F duo. Canon had a name for ink economy but I think that attribute has been lost.

Overall I am pleased with the Canon MG5250 which I have linked to my home wireless network. Things I don't like so much are :the expensive Canon ink cartridges. Cheaper ones bought elsewhere are quite satisfactory for my purposes however.Messages telling me I need to replace the ink cartridges when they will actually keep working for quite some time.The scanning software seems to want to make me do things the way it wants rather than what I want to do eg to simply pre-scan and crop images then scan or copy.