Review: Canon Pixma iP100 with Battery photo printer

Canon, in its Bubblejet days, used to do a decent line in portable printers. But in recent years they've been relatively rare.

The Pixma iP100, however, combines text and photo printing with a battery, making it truly portable.

It's easy to set up, with a simple quick start guide in the box. The battery pack (which, as the name suggests, is included) doesn't fit inside the printer but instead uses a separate cradle that screws on to the back of the main unit. There's no screen, hence no memory card slots, but there is a USB port for Pictbridge direct printing, along with a USB port for connecting it to a PC.

Overall, print quality was excellent, with a good photo result even on standard paper. On photo paper, results were stunning; a pleasant surprise from such a tiny device. It's not too slow, either; borderless 6x4in prints averaged at 54 seconds while text came out at 8ppm in fast mode and just over 2ppm in high-quality mode.

Text quality was also impressive. In draft mode text was readable down to very small font sizes and there was little ink bleed even on fairly cheap paper. In high-quality mode, text was comparable with that you'd expect from a laser printer.

There are only two cartridges, so if one of the tanks in the colour cartridge runs out before the others you'll end up wasting ink. However, it's hard to see how Canon could have avoided it and still made such a small, portable printer (even with the battery pack bolted on it's still only the size of a large hardback book).

The only downside – and it's a large one – is the high initial cost. But if you need a portable printer, this is definitely the one to get.

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