Originally posted by: Kcucumber
I have a i850 and I am happy with it. I don't really know what the differences between the 850 and the 820 are.
Cannon S820
WHAT'S HOT: Designed as a photo printer, the S820 uses six inks--the typical cyan (blue), magenta (red), yellow, and black, plus light tints of cyan and magenta for fine-tuning colors. The result is a reasonably priced ($199) printer that produces breathtaking glossy photos with excellent detail, accurate colors, and lifelike textures. In addition, the S820 prints gray-scale graphics as duotones, so even on plain paper they convey depth and fine detail. Canon provides excellent printed and on-screen documentation covering every facet of setting up and using the printer.
WHAT'S NOT: The S820 didn't print well on plain paper: Narrow parallel lines smudged together, and color images looked foggy. Text, which prints at a very poky 2.2 pages per minute, looked rough and had a bluish-gray cast. Though that's no surprise in a photo printer, it limits the S820's versatility. Text looked better on glossy photo paper, but that isn't a typical printing scenario.
UPSHOT: For digital camera fans who want a machine exclusively to print photos, the S820 is a great choice.
Canon i850
WHAT'S HOT: Despite using four inks rather than a photo printer's typical six, the $199 I850 prints nice glossies with good detail, though the shading and textures weren't as strong as we'd like. (On nonglossy coated paper it does much better.)
The I850 prints photos at a fast 0.8 pages per minute. If you want your photo machine to double as a home-office printer, we recommend the I850 without hesitation: It delivers accurate, black text at 7.7 ppm--faster than any other photo or general-purpose ink jet printer we tested in our January 2003 roundup. It also cranks out graphics at 2.2 ppm, which is the quickest speed among the printers on both charts.
WHAT'S NOT: We were somewhat disappointed with the I850's grainy, banded gray-scale prints.
UPSHOT: Home-office bargain-hunters looking for a printer that can pinch-hit on digital photography should consider the I850.
By the way, the i850 is far superior in speed, Ink are way cheap generic kind ($1.99)/color x4 and most of all, the noise is 39 (db) very very quiet too. You can get a refurbished i850 from newegg for $123.75 +9.73(ca tax) + free shipping.