Canon Pixma G660 Driver Download

Canon Pixma G660 Driver Download– After serving office users with the MAXIFY line of refillable ink tanks, Canon has turned its attention to consumers who like to print their photos at home but resist the high cost of replaceable ink cartridges.

The new PIXMA G660 MegaTank printer announced on April 5, 2022, caters to this market. With six tanks for ChromaLife 100 dye-based ink and using Canon’s FINE printhead technology.

As we noted in our review of the Epson ET-8500, we still have a ways to go before we have a ‘proper’ photo printer with refillable ink tanks. The two extra ink colors make Canon and Epson printers better than the companies’ respective four-ink (CMYK) models.

But users are stuck with the A4 output size, which means a maximum print width of 216 mm in borderless printing mode (which is not available for all media options). The Epson ET-8550 can print on media up to A3+ size (329 mm wide), which is a step for enthusiastic users, but we are still waiting for a model with A3+ output from Canon.

Unfortunately, neither company makes the most durable dye-based inks usable in their refillable ink printers – a shame. Canon’s ChromaLife 100 ink, used in the G660, has been around since 2005, when it was launched with claims of 25 years of light fastness for prints displayed behind glass or 100 years of fade resistance in environmentally controlled dark storage (such as closed photo albums).

Ink Set

The G660 comes with six 70 mL ink bottles in the following colors: black, grey, cyan, magenta, yellow and red. Installing this ink in its tank will use up some of it because the printer must draw some of the ink into the ink paths that feed the printheads.

Canon claims an ink set should be able to print up to 3,800 photos measuring 10 x 15 cm at an ink cost of fewer than five cents per print. It takes 47 seconds to produce a borderless photo print at this output size.

ChromaLife 100 inks were launched in 2005 to provide home users with inks that were longer lasting and better looking than those available at the time. However, in 2008, further progress was made with the release of the current ChromaLife 100+ ink system, which is used in photo printers such as the PIXMA PRO-200.

Interestingly Canon’s view is that most fading is due to interactions with gases in the atmosphere, not exposed to light. On ‘unprotected’ prints, both ChromaLife 100 and ChromaLife 100+ inks are said to be fade-resistant for up to 10 years. However, as always, the actual fade resistance depends as much on the paper on which the image is printed as on the ink.

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Newer ink sets promise about 40 years of light fastness for prints displayed behind glass or 200 years of fade resistance in photo albums. The gas resistance (resistance to pollutants in the air) with ChromaLife 100+ ink on newer paper is double the ten years claimed for the original.

Tests conducted by reputable authorities have consistently shown that ChromaLife 100+ ink is more durable than ChromaLife 100 ink, regardless of the paper used. Like Epson, Canon’s choice of less durable inks was driven by marketing and a desire to maintain higher profits from the better-performing ink, which is currently only sold in (relatively small) replaceable cartridges.

An interesting feature of this printer is the user-replaceable maintenance cartridge. If you follow the usual Canon practice, you will see the printer warn the user slightly before it needs to be replaced. The MC-G02 maintenance cartridge appears to be selling for around AU$15, but some resellers are listed as ‘out of stock’ while this review is ongoing. Very easy to replace; You can remove the full cartridge from its low slot on the back of the printer and push the new cartridge in

The G660 is designed for the home user who needs a more eco-friendly alternative to cartridge-based printers and wants to produce high-quality photo prints and scan and copy capabilities. While initially quite expensive, these printers will soon provide lower running costs and the convenience of high-capacity ink tanks that only need to be refilled.

However, there is also no memory card slot or cable connection for printing photos directly from the camera. Images stored on the computer can be printed via a USB connection. You can also print photos stored on your smartphone via Wi-Fi with the Canon Print app, which is available on Android and iOS versions.
In addition to the savings provided by refilled ink tanks, the G660 offers the following capabilities:

The rear paper tray holds 100 sheets of plain paper, 80 sheets of high-resolution paper, 30 sheets of 4 x 6-inch photo paper, or ten sheets of 5 x 7-inch photo paper at a time;
The dye ink is supplied in 70 milliliters bottles with a lock connection to ensure very easy ink installation;
User-replaceable maintenance cartridges, reducing the need to send the printer away for service;
Printing capacity of up to 3800 borderless 4 x 6 photo prints from a set of ink bottles with ink priced at 4.7 cents per print and a print time of 47 seconds per print;
A two-line LCD panel allows the device to be used as a stand-alone unit;
Users can print on envelopes, Canon Restickable Photo Paper (RP 101), Magnetic Photo paper (MG 101), Photo Paper Pro Luster (LU-101), 101), Photo Paper Plus Glossy II (PP 301), Matte Photo Paper (MP 101), Glossy Photo Paper (GP 701), Plus Semi-gloss Photo Paper (SG 201) and create banners or panoramic prints up to 1.2m long.

Unlike the multi-function MegaTank model, the G660 does not include a cassette for loading large sheets of paper. There is also no duplex unit to automatically print on both sides of a sheet of paper – although the driver includes a provision for manual duplexing. (You must turn the paper over and insert it into the feed slot, then press the OK button to start printing).

The scanner is fairly basic but sufficient for copying documents and photos. However, no scanning software is included with the printer in the box or via download from the product page on Canon’s website. As a result, scanning and copying must be performed from the printer control panel, which has limited capabilities.

Buyers of this printer should note that after the ink is installed, the printer should not be tilted. If you must move the printer, repack the printer in the plastic bag it was in and kept it as level as possible. A shipping guide (including using the included plastic bag) is included in the box where the printer came in.
Prepare

Like most printers, the G660 comes in a cardboard carton, packed in a large plastic bag, and wrapped in Styrofoam. Parts that may move during transit are secured with orange adhesive tape, which must be removed before the printer is connected to electrical power. (Interestingly, we found only three pieces of ribbon needed to be removed – a contrast from the other printers we’ve reviewed.)

Once free of packing tape, the printer can be connected to mains power and turned on. The next step is to install the two printheads, which are packaged separately with their electronic contacts covered with orange tape. Each head carries an ‘L’ or ‘R’ label to indicate which side of the head they are aiming for.

The locking cover on the head carrier must be raised, and the adhesive tape removed carefully without touching the contacts before the printhead is inserted into the dedicated slot. After the printheads are installed, the cover can be lowered, and the button on the top of each head can be pressed to complete the installation.

Once this is done, the scanner cover can be lifted back up, and you can start pouring ink into the ink tank. Each ink tank has a molded top that accepts only the correct bottles and the tanks are color coded for extra safety. The gray and black tanks are located on the left side of the printer, with the red, cyan, magenta, and yellow tanks on the right.

The ink bottles are solidly built, each with a lock on the top to fit into a designated color slot. After unscrewing the ink bottle cap, the bottle is inverted into the correct tank. Pressing on the bottle causes the contents to flow out.

When empty bottles (which can take a minute or two), they must be carefully removed, resealed, and stored for recycling. The process is easy and uncluttered, and if you don’t empty the bottle the first time, you can come back and finish the job later when the remaining ink runs out.

Once all the ink is loaded, the scanner unit can be unloaded, and the printer is ready to be tested. The LCD screen will instruct you to load several sheets of A4 or Letter-sized plain paper into the feed slot, close the cover, extend the output tray and tap OK to complete the setup, which takes about eight minutes.

During this process, the printer performs printhead alignment, which uses sheets of paper.

Paper is loaded through the top feed slot, directly behind the printer. It has short pull-up support and a cover cap that must be lowered before printing can begin. Paper feeds into the center of the slot, held in place by the adjustable paper guides. The output tray is short but has a pop-up cover that prevents printed pages from falling to the floor.

After the setup is complete, the printer will issue two alignment check sheets. (Interestingly, the printed setup guide doesn’t explain how to interpret it.) Then you can connect the printer to a computer or other device.

We chose to connect the printer to our computer via a USB cable (not included) as it provides a wider range of customization options. Connecting the USB cable to the socket on the right side of the back panel will connect the computer to the internet and allow it to download the printer driver – which should happen smoothly. If not, you can install the driver from Canon’s website.

If you decide to connect the printer to your smartphone, you can scan the QR code in the startup guide with your phone to access the Canon website, download the Canon PRINT app, and then open the smartphone’s Wi-Fi settings to connect the printer to the network. All other instructions are provided via the installed application.

Canon G660 Printer Drivers

We reviewed the G660 with a Windows computer, so the software reported here is the Windows driver. Compared to the other photo printers we’ve reviewed, it’s pretty basic. However, so are the controls provided by the two-line LCD on the printer control panel, which is used for stand-alone operation.

The initial Quick Setup page in the driver contains a basic control panel for job selection (where you set printing photos, business documents, envelopes, etc.), media type settings, paper size. There is only one paper source option, the rear tray, and the user can check the box to save the settings for future use. Another check box selects print preview for last-minute checks.

Preloaded profiles are provided for six types of Canon-branded paper, one of which is for ‘Photo Paper (Other Brands). There is also one profile in the Fine Art Papers section for Premium Fine Art Rough papers plus two profiles (Light Fabric and Dark Fabric) for ironing transfers. Under Other Papers is one profile for High-Resolution Papers. Unlike some other Canon printers, the G660 has no provision for printing on stickers (PS-101 or NL-101) or printable optical discs. Also, we couldn’t find any profiles to print on third-party media, although, if you print via editing software like Photoshop, you can create your profile and use it with the software interface.

The Home Page (shown above) is also sparse and duplicates some of the settings provided on the Quick Settings page. This includes the Manual Color Adjustment checkbox, which opens a series of adjustments for color brightness and contrast (shown below). This adjustment is best made when editing an image, so it should only be used as a last resort.

The Page Setup Pages are similar to most Canon printers but pared back to basic controls with missing features like a gray duplex. Interestingly, manual duplexing is supported and can be selected on the Quick Settings page. Settings for duplex, page size, and the number of copies are duplicated on this page.

The last page on the drivers (shown above) covers Maintenance, and it’s very basic with only one set. At the bottom of this page is the View Printer Status box, which, when clicked, opens the printer status monitor (shown below). Unfortunately, it doesn’t include the ink status display.

Since the printer status monitor does not show the ink level, there is no way to measure how much ink is in the tank. When filling the tank, you should try to remove the bottle as soon as the tank appears full and be careful when filling the tank to minimize the risk of spillage. When it comes to ink usage monitoring, the only way to see how much ink is left in the tanks is a rough estimate you get from the transparent front panels of each tank.

Printing

Canon provides A4 sheets of Pro Luster Photo Paper (LU-101), Plus Glossy II Photo Paper (PP-301 and PP-201), Matte Photo Paper (MP 101), and Museum Etching Art Paper (FA-ME1) for use. When testing the printer. We also print on 6 x 4-inch matte paper and the Ilford A4 Premium Matte Duo 200 gsm, the two-sided printer we use to print our books.

The printer driver includes ‘canned’ profiles for Luster, Glossy, and Matte papers but not the heavier Museum Etching papers. We used Glossy for PP-301 and PP-201 glossy papers and Matte settings for MP 101 and FA-ME1, both of which have matte surfaces. This setting gives good results overall.
Print speed is slightly slower than claimed in the printer specifications, which are based on the business-based ISO/I EC 24734 standard. Since standard images contain text and graphics but are slightly in the way of still images, they will take less time to print.

Spooling time (the time it takes to send data to the printer and set it up before using the print head) ranges from barely measurable when a second print is made on the same substrate to a few seconds.

After an average spooling time of seven seconds, we measured the following average print time for 15 x 10 cm photos printed without borders:
Standard quality: 1.01 minutes; High quality: 1.47 minutes
When printing on A4 paper with narrow white borders, the following average times are measured:

Average winding time: 10-15 seconds
Standard quality on glossy and luster paper: 1.35 minutes; on matte paper: 2.07 minutes
High quality on glossy and glossy paper: 2.24 minutes; on matte paper: 3.42 minutes
Grayscale printing with high-quality settings: 3.52 on glossy paper, 3.54 minutes on matte paper
The average business document takes about 15 seconds to print, regardless of whether it is B&W or color.

Print Quality

We compared the photo prints from the G660 with those we made with the more advanced Canon PIXMA PRO-200 printer using the same image files and printing on the same paper.

As expected, prints from the PRO-200 have slightly better contrast and look sharper than those from the G660. But their differences are much less than we expected, given the different ink sets and prices.

We also compared G660 photo prints made with standard settings and high-quality color and grayscale modes. Interestingly, we found very little difference between standard and high-quality prints for color images.

Therefore, we recommend using standard quality for most color printing as it is slightly faster and may use a little less ink. However, with grayscale prints, high-quality prints are slightly sharper with deeper blacks and better color gradations, so we recommend printing with high-quality settings when making B&W prints.

The difference in performance at different quality levels arises because dye inks are used for all colors in the G660. This means that black ink cannot achieve the density and depth possible with pigment black ink.
This problem is common to all dye-based printers and one of the reasons why office printers often use pigment ink for blacks when using dye for color. The G660 also uses the older Chromalife 100 ink, which does not perform as well as the newer Chromalife 100+ ink used in the PRO-200.

However, it isn’t easy to see a significant difference between prints made with the G660 compared side-by-side with prints of the same image from the PIXMA PRO-200. Therefore, the G660 ink set is good enough to be used to print photo books up to A4 size, especially because the prints are claimed to be fast-resistant for up to 100 years in album storage.

However, a lot will depend on the paper used, which must be high enough quality to maintain the printer’s dynamic range and detailed resolution. We particularly recommend Canon’s Museum of Etching papers, which produces B&W prints that look great and can finish off the details and nuances of color in the color prints we make.

Scan and Copy

The G660 includes basic scan and copy functions, which appear similar to those of a multi-function printer. However, no details on the scan resolution are included in the printer specifications, and we couldn’t find any information in a web search. In addition, the product page on Canon’s website does not provide a download for Canon’s ScanGear scanning software, so scanning can only be performed using the two-line LCD on the control panel.

This can be frustrating as the interface isn’t intuitive, and it’s easy to enter the wrong settings and switch back and forth until you find a combination that works. The copying process is also quite slow overall.

Copying documents is a breeze, with a regular A4 copy taking between 20 and 35 seconds to produce. However, we found the G660 did a good job of copying business documents, especially those with color graphics. Magazine pages and brochures containing images take a little longer, and we found copies usually have slightly lower contrast and saturation than the originals.

When copying photos, we often find that copying won’t start until we re-enter the parameters for the output paper, which can be frustrating. However, the G660 produces excellent results when copying photo prints once the correct settings are applied. As always, the quality of the copies depends on the quality of the paper on which they are reproduced.

As a general observation, when a printed image is copied, the comparison between the original and the scanned copy shows a slight loss of contrast, saturation, and detail resolution. But you have to look closely to see this difference, which is excellent performance for a basic scanner/copier.

Like most basic printers, the G660 cannot be used to scan original images on film as it lacks the necessary film holders, light sources, and resolution settings. The resolution may also not be high enough for the required level of magnification when scanning 35mm film frames.

Consumables

Without an ink status monitor, it is difficult to measure ink usage. The ink tank has a see-through panel that provides a visual check, but this will only allow a rough estimate of the remaining ink.

During our tests, we produced a dozen 15 x 10 cm borderless photo prints, approximately 150 A4 photo prints, and a similar number of document pages. At the end of the test, the black and gray ink levels were down by about a third, while the four-color ink tanks were down by less than 20%.

Canon claims an ink set should be able to print around 3,800 snapshot-sized (15 x 10 cm) photos. At RRP AU$29.95 per bottle, a set of ink will cost AU$179.70, which translates to a per-print cost of around 4.7 cents. .

As usual, a small amount of included ink ran out during the setup process, but in the case of this printer, it’s unlikely to have much to do with overall ink yield. Yields and costs are more likely to vary based on the type of document being printed and whether the printer is used in standard (default) or high-quality mode.

Overall, we think buyers of these printers will quickly recoup their higher investment costs, especially if they do a lot of printing. Photo enthusiasts looking to start printing their own photo books will find the savings quickly increase, making this printer a much better investment than models that rely on non-replaceable ink cartridges.