Product Review: Canon PIXMA iP100 Portable Printer

I know you are all waiting breathlessly for my reviews of recently acquired gadgets and I don't wish to disappoint.

Well, after a couple of months use of the Canon PIXMA portable printer, here are my thoughts; good, bad, and indifferent.  

The Good 

1.  It's portable. Well, duh! Actually, this is the sole reason justifying the purchase - the desire for a portable unit to print documents, invoices etc in the field as required. 
2.  Battery life. The lithium-ion battery provided supposedly is good for around 290-odd pages before needing a recharge. While it doesn't sound like a lot, it is sufficient for my purposes as most documents I print are in the 3-30 page range.
3. Speed. Supposedly prints 20ppm in Black & White and up to 16ppm in colour. As most of what I print are documents rather than pictures, it's good enough that I'm not waiting too long for larger files to print out.  

 The Bad

1. Ink. Not having used ink-jet printers before, I wasn't too impressed with the 200-page capacity for the black ink cartridge (PGI-35) or the 100-page capacity for the colour cartridge (CLI-36). This makes the printer less than economical for use as a 'general purpose' printer. My hope was that I could do away with the need for an office (and maybe I still can) but for printing out files, jobsheets, and other routine paperwork that I don't need on the fly, I'm better off getting a cheap laser printer and preprinting documents before heading out, leaving the portable printer for occasional use as required.

The Indifferent

1. Connectivity. I'm happy enough with using the USB connection instead of paying additionally for the bluetooth module. This module can always be purchased separately if required anyway. I haven't bothered with testing the IR connection and doubt it would work all that well given how the printer is used but I would have thought that a bluetooth connection could have been included as standard rather than the IR.

Overall Verdict

Given that the main function of this printer is portability and therefore some other functionality is likely to suffer, I give the iP100 a solid B/B+ rating. If you are relying on this to be your sole printer, you will probably be disappointed with the frequency of ordering replacement ink cartridges (as I am), but if this is for occasional use in the field - it's just the ticket!