Even more than the S300, the S500 is a "light" version of the S600. In practice, the S500 and S600 have the same cartridges, head block and pretty much the same motor.

The first complaint about the S300 is its high cost per page for a Canon printer and the small amount of ink in its cartridges. In fact, we only managed to print 130 pages with a black cartridge and 162 with a color one. The S500 uses the four cartridges cherished by Canon: black (about $11), cyan, magenta and yellow (about $9 each). The sum total of about $38 is therefore higher than the S300, but the duration is four times greater, reaching:

This being so, the S500, along with the S630, plainly gives us the lowest cost per page in the market. They are about four times cheaper than the HP Deskjets and Lexmarks, for example.

Surprisingly, the S500 is slower than the S300Photo except in the case of photo printing. It pumps out its 10 x 15 prints at a rate which leaves its rivals standing: 1 minute per photo is all it needs. Furthermore, it works fast and well, even though the dots can still be seen.