Very good clarity and definition at the 'Normal' (default) settings. Excellent results when using 'Fine' setting, albeit at the price of print time increasing.
The unit is very quiet in operation, no doubt due to the fairly substantial construction, 12.5 pounds of weight there.
A very good value for dollar in view of the quality of prints this unit produces.
Ink usage is slightly less than competing printers in this price range (notably my old Epson R300...)

Inks are fairly expensive to replace, with each cartridge costing between $20 - $24 CDN.
Text output on plain copy paper is not quite as crisp as it could be, with some (not all) fonts showing edge artifacts.
The paper tray located under the printer is quite lightweight (ok, to be blunt it's pretty cheesy), handle with care. It is convenient for photo paper as at least it keeps the dust off !

Canon saw fit to not enable CD printing on the North American iP4200. This is a poor decision on their part.
The CD tray is not supplied, the firmware is not enabled in the printer, and the CD tray slot is plugged with a plastic cover. How rude !
There are instructions on the web regarding enabling the CD function, but I'll wait until this printer is out of warranty until I hack it for use on CDs.

This no-frills photo printer produces excellent quality prints at a reasonable per unit price.
Colour rendition is reasonably accurate, however depending on the specific photo paper used it may be necessary to experiment with the colour density set in the printer profile - several profiles have proven to be necessary, especially when changing between Glossy, Satin, and Matte papers.
If anything, this printer tends to apply a bit too much ink using the default settings.

I would recommend using the 'Photo Paper Pro' setting for printing to Canon or Epson (9.0- 10.5 mil) papers in Glossy or Satin finish. 'Photo paper - other' is more suited to output on matte papers. See the Kodak website for advice on colour balance and density using Kodak papers, the guidelines for
matte paper worked well for me density-wise. I did not need to play with colour balance to the extent described in the Kodak chart.
Skin tones are rendered reasonably well, tending just a bit to the magenta side. Within the Canon print utility supplied with the printer I have found no need at all to use the 'Vivid' option. Colours are well saturated without it.
Printing a 4x6 at 'Normal' quality provides an excellent result. I have only really noticed the difference in going to 'Fine' quality when printing 8x10 photos.

Customer Service

I have sent one email to Canon regarding paper selection vs. settable print quality. They replied via email the same day to suggest I use their customer service phone number.
It was easier to run my own tests than to suffer through an automated call distribution system.

Similar Products Used:

Epson R200, Epson R300. (R300 will stay in service for now, just for CD/DVD labelling)