Canon imageCLASS MF424dw Monochrome Printer with Scanner Copier & Fax, Amazon Dash Replenishment Ready

I requested this machine as a gift to replace my 10yo Brother color laser MFC machine. I waited to play with this printer for about six weeks before I wrote my review. After six weeks of use, I must say, I'm very pleased with this machine, and I think it's a great overall value.1. I'm really pleased with the print quality. So far, the print quality has greaty exceeded the print quality of the Brother machine that I replaced, and it's on par with the quality of the more expensive workstation laser printers that I have at work.2. I spent quite a bit of time looking into the difference between this model (MF424dw) and the related model (MF426dw), which is about $100 more. To spare others the hassle: I learned that the only difference is that the -26 model is loaded with Adobe Postscript. I didn't know what that meant in terms of functionality, but a graphic designer friend told me that it really means that it provides expanded printing functionality for non-standard fonts, etc. He told me that even he doesn't own a printer with Postscript, and that if he needs to print anything that might require Postscript, he just prints it at a FedEx store. So far, I haven't printed anything that would've required PostScript (i.e., I usually just print stuff from Microsoft Word and other standard software), so it's been a good decision to save the $100.3. I've been pleased with the functionality. I initially experienced some funky scanning-related glitches. I went to Canon's website, and I discovered that there was an updated version of the scanner driver thing. So, I downloaded that, and thereafter, it worked just fine. In my view, the basic features have been really easy to use. If I want to print something from my phone, my phone detects the printer, I click print, and the printer prints the document really quickly (particularly relative to the printer that I replaced). The basic features on the device are also intuitive. My wife (who isn't technologically inclined) and my 7yo daughter have been able to figure out how to print, make copies, and scan on their own and without me having to show them.4. The build quality feels and sounds a little flimsy -- but, yeesh, what do you expect for a $200 printer. So, I'm ultimately content with that for the cost.5. It's not a dynamic that's unique to Canon or this printer -- but, what's irritating is that a high-yield genuine Canon replacement cartridge costs almost as much as the machine itself. And, Canon lets you know that it's monitoring whether you're using a genuine Canon cartridge, as when you check the toner level on the machine or desktop, you get a message that acknowledges that you're using a genuine Canon cartridge. I have always bought a manufacturer's genuine toner cartridges -- but I'm not sure that I'll be able to bring myself to pay almost as much for the cartridge as I did for the machine. So, I'm inclined to buy a MUCH, MUCH lower-priced off-brand cartridge, just to see what happens. Under the circumstances, I think it's probably worth the risk.UPDATE [2/4/2020]: I have been using the printer for more than 15 months now, and I continue to be pleased with it. The toner cartridge that came with the printer lasted us for about 14 months, with regular / normal family use. As noted above, I decided to buy a knock-off replacement cartridge, given that the high-yield Canon-certified cartridges cost about 75% of what I paid for the printer. I have not noticed any difference at all in the print quality or in the function of the printer since I insstalled the knock-off cartridge, so it's looking like buying the knock-off cartridge was worth the risk and savings.UPDATE [5/17/24]: This bad boy is still going strong. In addition to typical family home use for which I bought it, this became my primary printer while working from home through and beyond the pandemic. This machine has turned out to be an outstanding value.

TLDR: Read the manual, download the drivers from Canon, yes I’d buy it again.Bought this for a small professional office. The Canon is tasked with light duty use as a secondary/back-up printer and scanner. Easy to set-up although scanning to a network drive is not intuitive. Can also set to scan to an FTP server. I still haven't taken the time to fully customize the settings; you can change everything from security settings to the home screen layout. Note: I am not an IT professional.Printer setup using wifi on a Mac took about 5 minutes for basic configuration. Before I even received the printer I downloaded the print and scanner drivers from Canon’s website. (There is a fax driver available also.) These are found on the Drivers tab under Drivers & Downloads. Get the Setup Utility which is on the Software tab. Install the drivers. There’s a tab on the support page for Manuals. I selected the pdf User Guide and it opened in a separate browser window. Look at the security section, especially if you’re not operating behind a firewall.Because I had the drivers already loaded on my Mac the setup was really simple. The printer arrived and I powered it up. I input the wifi credentials on the printer screen. Opened up system preferences on my Mac and clicked “+” to add a printer. The MF424dw was there in the dropdown menu. Click. Done. Printed my first document.Printing was so easy that I tried to scan, also via wifi. This was simple to initiate from my Mac by using the Apple utility. But what if I wanted to start the scan from the Canon? No intuitive way to do that, my computer wasn't showing up. What if I wanted to change the destination location? (OK, this last one you can do from the Apple scan utility.)At this point I spent a few minutes reading the User Manual. I was short on time so I called Canon support. Got a live person in under a minute. Got an answer in under 5 minutes. Trouble-free scanning. Open Finder, go to Applications and select Canon MF Scan Utility. At the top left there are 3 icons. To create custom settings, choose the middle icon. This will allow you to preset scan settings. I wanted the ability to save scans locally and to the network. I also wanted the ability to save b&w scans as .pdf files and color scans as JPEGs. These settings all show up when I go to the Canon and select scan, then select Computer as destination, then select type of scan.Standby mode is silent and the machine is very quick to wake from sleep.In this case RTFM is good advice. You can customize the display panel. You can set user restrictions. You can set pins and document security. You can get into all of the setting menus. You can change image quality and adjust print density. There’s a lot of customization available. I also give 5 starts to customer support.I’m still learning all of the capabilities of this machine but at this point I’d buy it again.

I had to return this unit twice.The first one arrived defective. One of the plates in the back was installed cock-eyed making it impossible to open the cartridge drawer.I spent an hour and a half on the phone with the Canon tech person trying to get the second printer set-up. He got only the print function working but was unable to get any of the other functions working. He blamed it on my computer and left me with a non-viable all-in-one. I called Amazon tech support and got a wonderful tech support woman who helped me trouble-shoot the problem. It was the drivers. We tried to get updated drivers from Canon but there were none available. She recommended I return the printer which I did.Canon sells a printer for which they do not provide appropriate drivers--there are no words.....As a result, I will never even consider the purchase of any Canon products in the future.