Asking which one is the ‘Best portable printer‘ is a nonsense question as it has so many probables in the answer. The best printer is whatever is best that suits your need. A more realistic answer would be the one that does the best job within your budget. Reliability and economy with inks must be a big factor in deciding the answer. How much hard use can it take and print speeds are all the critical factors.
But after writing many reviews on many machines, you start to get a feeling of consistency with one or 2 machines that give you a sense of confidence in a product. One machine that always seems to get a tick in nearly all departments is the Canon Pixma iP100 Mobile Photo Printer. This printer always comes out high in many ratings and although not totally free from critics it’s a good reliable good all round portable printer.
Lb for Lb Champion
And while trying to find another ‘best portable printer’ can be fun and challenging, I have given up. There is only one answer to this question, and that’s that. Having reviewed hundreds of printers, it comes as no surprise to me that Canon is the winner.
They have a knack for quality, their features are advanced yet simple, and they offer good customer service. Are there some models that they fell flat on their face with? Well yes of course, but they’re few and far between, and the iP100 certainly isn’t one them.
The Canon Pixma iP100 has a list price of $249.99. This is the one grey area with this model. At that price its sounds like a good price but of course to become truly portable you need you have to add on the price of a LK-62 Battery Kit at $99.99 and if you require the addition of a BU-30 Bluetooth Adapter, were talking another $49.99. So from seemingly inexpensive it becomes a little pricey but still a decent value portable printer when you consider what it gives you back.
These prices are all estimated retail prices off Canon. You may check Amazon.com for much lower prices if you really want to get this high quality portable printer at cheaper rates.
What It Does
The iP100 is of a very high quality. Print resolution can reach as high as 9600 x 2400 dots per inch. The print head uses 1856 nozzles – not too shabby. There’s also an Auto Image Fix feature, so you won’t have to worry about exposure, color, brightness, or contrast. They will all be automatically adjusted for you.
For speed, the iP100 can print up to 20 pages per minute black and 16 pages per minute color. A 4 x 6 borderless photo can be produced in 55 seconds. These are solid numbers for any type of portable printer.
The Canon Pixma iP100 is PC and Mac-compatible. It comes with a 1-year warranty and offers technical support, as well as an instant exchange program. Its dimensions are 12.7 x 2.4 x 7.2 inches and it weighs 4.4 lbs.
When it comes to convenience, this machine offers plenty of features. For one, it has IrDA technology. This means you won’t need any wires to print. It’s also PictBridge-compatible, so you will be able to print photos directly from many digital cameras and some cell phones.
In addition to that, it’s Bluetooth-compatible, which means you will be able to print from a PC, a PDA, or a camera phone wirelessly. And, yes, there is a USB interface.
Minor drawbacks, as nothing is perfect, are that No WI-FI options that can be added nor is there a carrying case. It also does not have an integrated media card reader.
Finding Savings
This model is an update from the popular iP90 with increased amount of ink nozzles and doubled the maximum resolution. For speed and quality of print in the price range that it comes in, this is an excellent good all-round dependable little machine, which can compete with some full size printers.
There are no problems with availability and for those on a budget there are refurbished options too. On Amazon, they are available brand new at $194 and sometimes used or refurbished, proving its best to shop around for reductions on the retail price.
On eBay, you may also find brand new so as long as your as lucky in finding these prices its suddenly not seeming such a heavy price. Google Shopping turned some up at the incredibly low prices as well.
The amount of consistency with high ratings in virtually every review available shows the worth of this portable printer.
What People Say
A lot of customers who have bought the printer and were good enough to send in their feedback on their use of the product, seems to have a general satisfaction on the reliability, its compact design, the setting up proving to be easy, high durability in spite of its being lightweight and portable, very easy to use and produces clear and sharp tones and colors.
The only reported downside is its high ink consumption.
In a Nutshell
Going back to the question of which is the best portable printer on the market. Well, for general all round consistency and performance and versatility, I don’t think you will find a better little portable printer than the Canon Pixma iP100.
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About James Wikkee