Canon Pixma G1220 Evaluation | PCMag

A protracted-overdue improve to the Canon Pixma G1200 we reviewed 4 years in the past, the Pixma G1220 MegaTank Inkjet Printer ($179.99) is an odd chook amongst single-function or print-only inkjets. Being a MegaTank bulk-ink mannequin—a Canon printer that, like Epson’s EcoTank machines, will get its ink not from cartridges however reservoirs stuffed from bottles—makes it distinctive. What makes it engaging? Its operating prices are among the many lowest within the enterprise, and its value is a few third decrease than the 2017 model’s. Versus the avalanche of entry-level multifunction printers on the market, the G1220 is brief on options and a sluggish churner, so it is not for everyone. But when all you want is to print numerous high-quality images and the occasional enterprise doc or homework task, over time this Pixma is without doubt one of the least costly methods to go.

Small and Simple

A single-function printer is by design easy to function: Whereas it helps a number of varieties and sizes of paper, all it does is print. There isn’t any scanner for making copies or digitizing paperwork, therefore there is not any want for an automated doc feeder (ADF), lowering the machine’s dimension versus an all-in-one (AIO) machine. 

The Pixma G1220 measures 5.4 by 17.6 by 13 inches (HWD) with its trays closed, and it weighs a lean 10.6 kilos. That is the identical dimension as, however a few pound lighter than, its G1200 predecessor, and far smaller and lighter than the semi-portable Editors’ Selection award-winning HP Tango X. Epson’s devoted consumer-grade photograph printer, the Expression Photograph HD XP-15000 Broad-Format Inkjet Printer (one other PCMag favourite), is way bigger, as it could actually accommodate paper as much as 13 by 19 inches.

Paper dealing with consists of 1 100-sheet drawer that doubles as a 20-sheet premium photograph paper tray when wanted. By comparability, HP’s Tango X holds solely 50 sheets, and Epson’s XP-15000 holds as much as 250.

Print-only machines additionally do not require a lot by the use of a management panel. As you may see within the picture beneath, the G1220 has solely a handful of buttons and standing indicators…

In case you seen the shortage of Wi-Fi or wi-fi community controls, that is as a result of the G1220 does not assist Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, NFC, or Bluetooth. In truth, its solely connectivity possibility is USB (carry your individual cable), that means that you would be able to join a single Home windows or macOS laptop computer or desktop however no handheld units.

Bundled Software program and Specialty Papers

The considerably meager software program bundle consists of the Pixma G1220 driver, Canon’s Simple-PhotoPrint Editor, and PosterArtist Lite. Simple-PhotoPrint Editor is, as you would guess, an image-editing and -enhancement program that helps you put together images for printing. You are able to do issues like resize, crop, and apply correction and enhancement filters reminiscent of sharpening or red-eye elimination. PosterArtist Lite can be simply what it appears like, an app for creating posters and different photograph preparations.

You possibly can additional embellish your photos by printing them on specialty papers reminiscent of 5-inch-square shiny, double-sided matte paper, Canon magnetic and restickable photograph paper, or iron-on transfers. (These and different specialty media can be found at Canon’s on-line store(Opens in a brand new window).)

Sluggish Doc Pages and Quick Snapshots

Canon charges the G1220 at 9.1 pages per minute (ppm) for black and 5ppm for shade. In case you print quite a lot of lengthy paperwork or massive images, these speeds quickly get tedious. It is also necessary to level out that this Pixma does not assist automated two-sided printing. To print duplex pages, you will want to show the stack over manually. I ran my assessments over a USB connection from our Intel Core i5 PC operating Home windows 10 Professional. (See extra about how we check printers.)

For our first check, I clocked the Pixma because it printed our 12-page Microsoft Phrase doc. The G1220 averaged 8.9ppm, just below its rated pace. This result’s about common among the many printers talked about right here to date; Epson’s XP-15000, for instance, managed 7.9ppm whereas the HP Tango X received with 9.6ppm.

Subsequent, I timed the G1220 because it printed our colourful and complicated enterprise paperwork consisting of Adobe Acrobat PDFs containing enterprise graphics and typefaces of various sizes and colours, Microsoft Excel spreadsheets with assorted charts and graphs, and PowerPoint handouts together with colourful full-page enterprise graphics. Then I mixed these outcomes with the textual content doc instances and got here up with a median rating of 5.2ppm.

This, too, is about common for printers on this class, although the Tango trailed with a depressing 1.8ppm. To complete testing, I timed the G1220 because it printed two of our colourful and detailed 4-by-6-inch snapshots. The common print time was 52 seconds per photograph, which is not fast however is respectable. (The Tango took 59 seconds.)

There are two belongings you will be certain of with most Canon Pixmas: They print nicely, they usually print slowly. The excellent news is that the G1220’s output is value ready for, particularly images. Pictures print with better-than-acceptable element and correct, good shade. The Canon can print borderless images as much as letter dimension (8.5 by 11 inches). 

The G1220 additionally did a good job with our enterprise paperwork, although the full-page graphics had been nearly an excessive amount of for it; it printed them very slowly, too. However entry-level inkjets weren’t actually designed to print stacks of full-page handouts.

Pixmas sometimes print legible, handsome textual content with engaging spacing and well-shaped characters, and this one is not any exception. The G1220’s print high quality nearly makes up for its sluggishness—nearly.

Printing for Pennies

Greater than the rest, the Pixma G1220’s principal attraction is its extraordinarily low operating prices—about 0.3 cent per web page for monochrome and 0.8 cent for shade. And Canon has sweetened the deal by throwing in two extra 170ml black ink bottles, for an in-the-box whole of roughly 1,800 black pages. In response to Canon, the three 70ml shade bottles (cyan, magenta, and yellow) are good for 7,700 prints.

These numbers kind of match these of most Canon MegaTank, Epson EcoTank, and HP Sensible Tank Plus printers (although EcoTank shade pages value 0.9 cent). However Epson is providing two years’ value of ink with some EcoTank machines, which is by far one of the best worth. 

To make certain, print-only machines are uncommon, particularly on the entry degree, but when every month you print just a few hundred images and solely the occasional doc, the Pixma G1220 is comparatively cheap to purchase and use. Once you run out of ink, a set of three 70ml shade bottles prices solely $12.99 and a 170ml black bottle runs $17.99. Total, this can be a simple machine that prints slowly however at an exceptionally low value per web page. The Pixma G1220 gives a smart technique to print stacks of images and different pages for you and your loved ones—should you and yours will be affected person.