Canon Pixma iP6210D Inkjet Printer

Canon PIXMA iP6210D - reasonable priced, high quality photo printing, lackadaisical speed

Introduction

The PIXMA iP6210D is Canon's recent entry into the already crowded budget inkjet photo printer market, and at $100 MSRP is priced similarly to competitors offerings. With the right type of photo paper, the company's PIXMA line of photo printers is capable of producing near lab-quality photo prints and can also handle full-page text and other print jobs.

The iP6210D is targeted toward people who want an inexpensive and capable photo printer with a wide variety of print methods - through the typical USB connection, directly from a digital camera or from a Bluetooth enabled device.

Look & Feel and Basic Information on the iP6210D

The iP6210D is a basic looking printer with a fairly small footprint of 17.3"(W) x 6.8"(H) x 10.3"(D) without paper trays extended. It offers a wide array of connection options for printing. The most commonly used is the USB 2.0 port, with connects directly to your PC. It has a direct print port for connecting to a PictBridge compatible camera or DV camcorder. It will also allow printing directly from a Bluetooth enabled device such as a digital camera or cell phone (if you purchase a separate Bluetooth adapter or already have a Bluetooth adapter). Additionally, it offers printing directly from a memory card - CF, SD, Memory Stick / Memory Stick Pro and SmartMedia cards are all supported.

Top view of the iP6210D	CF / SD / Smart Media slot	PictBridge direct print port

Canon does not give it a specific page per minute speed rating, but instead states that a 4x6 inch borderless photo can be printed in approximately 60 seconds and an 8.5x11 inch photo can be printed in approximately 2.3 minutes. Maximum resolution, in dots per inch, is rated at 4800 x 1200. It can print on all the various types of paper (Letter, legal, A4, A5, etc.) and can print border-free photos with sizes of 4" x 6", 5" x 7" and 8" x 10". The input paper tray in the top of the printer holds approximately 100 sheets of plain paper. The output paper tray holds approximately 30-40 sheets of plain paper. The output paper tray can be extended out to hold long sheets of paper (for example, legal size) and it can be flipped back up to a closed position when it is not in use. It is compatible with both Windows (98, ME, 2000 or XP) and Mac (OS X 10.2.1 or later). It includes a 1-year limited warranty.

Included in the Box

1) PIXMA iP6210D Photo Printer with power cord and paper trays 2) Ink cartridges: CL-51 Color, CL-52 Photo 3) Quick start guide 4) CD with driver and software 5) Canon photo paper sample pack

Note that everything you need to get started is included in the box EXCEPT the cable. Unless you are printing directly from a digital camera or a Bluetooth enabled device, you will need a USB cable to connect the printer to your computer. If you need to purchase a USB cable, take note of the distance between where you'll place your printer and the back of your computer. You'll need to know the approximate distance before you go shopping so that the USB cable you purchase is long enough.

Installation
Installation of the iP6210D was completely painless and only took about 10 minutes. The process involved unpacking the printer, installing the Color ink cartridge and the Photo ink cartridge, installing the driver and the software, and then connecting the printer to your PC with a USB cable. Once the printer is set up and connected to your PC, the next step is to align the print heads. This, too, is a simple process. After loading a piece of paper into the input tray, the printer recognizes that it needs to auto align the print heads and the LCD message prompts you to select "Auto align" . After confirming that the printer should perform an auto align, it takes approximately 5 minutes for the printer to perform the alignment process and print out a test pattern. Once the test pattern is printed, you are finally ready to print photos or other documents.