Verdict
It ’s expensive to bribe and slow to employ , but do n’t let that put you off . The Canon PIXMA G650 costs pennies to run , yet it prints great picture and has a strong scanner . If you ’re after a pardner for picture taking or other creative projects , this inkjet multifunction could keep the whole sept happy .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Canon PIXMA G650 is an inkjet multifunction peripheral ( MFP ) aimed at creative economic consumption in the home .
It does n’t have fax or a multi - page document self-feeder , but with a scanner it ’s set up to capture document and pic , and make the peculiar photocopy .
Keen snappers will appreciate its six - ink printer , while everyone will have a go at it the refillable ink tanks that keep its running costs down to a lower limit . But is it good enough to qualify for ourbest printerround - up ?
Design and features
At a quick look , the Canon PIXMA G650 does n’t seem so peculiar . It ’s a established , squat fateful multifunction peripheral ( MFP ) , with a simple newspaper tray at the front and back . On top , its electronic scanner get without an reflex document feeder ( ADF ) , so you ca n’t make multi - page scans or photocopies the lazy way .
Few of us need to telefax these day , but the G650 ca n’t serve you if you do . It also ca n’t automatically print on both sides of a plane ( duplex impression ): you ’ll call for to turn over pages over manually .
Check out this MFP ’s bare , mono showing and the few button down its side , and you might wonder why it costs the thick ending of £ 300 . The resolution lie in the ink tanks distributed across its front panel . These reveal both that it ’s a six - ink printer and also that it belong to to Canon ’s Megatank range of refillable inkjets .
In pattern , that intend it arrives with a pair of printheads for you to fit , and a set of ink bottles rated for 3700 black pages , or up to 8000 in colour . While you ’ll use up a little during the one - prison term frame-up unconscious process , that ’s still more ink than some printers use in a lifetime .
When it run out , replacement bottles are only around £ 11 each , meaning that you ’ll pay roughly 1p for every full colour Thomas Nelson Page you print – that ’s around a tenth of a conventional inkjet ’s extend price .
As if this was n’t enough of a steal , Canon says the G650 will print about 3800 postal card - sized photograph on a full set of tanks , meaning each snap fastener cost less than 2p in ink . Other photograph printers might be cheaper to buy , but with the mellow monetary value of cartridges they sure enough wo n’t leaven punk to own .
I ’m a prominent fan of refillable inkjets for a further reason : the bottleful are unremarkably equivalent to at least 10 schematic cartridge . Potentially , that ’s a passel of charge plate keep out of landfill .
This printer takes a little more set up than a regular , pickup - based twist . Inserting the head is much like fit a pair of cartridge , after which you ’ll require to empty six bottle into the six army tank – they ’ll only meet in the veracious slot , so you ca n’t really go wrong . After this , you merely need to wait for the ink system to prime itself , then download and establish Canon ’s software system .
locomote are the day when exposure printers tended to have verbatim printing process features like computer storage slots and PictBridge ports . Still , the Canon PIXMA G650 does support PictBridge over Wi - Fi , and its simple restraint instrument panel lets you configure various configurations – pass you control over copy quality and sizing , for example . you could also scan forthwith to a USB stick , or to a figurer on your web .
Print speed and quality
This Canon PIXMA G650 is unapologetically biased towards exposure printing . It combines conventional pitch-black , cyan , magenta and chickenhearted inks with an additional Charles Grey and ruddy – that ’s the six - ink setup I mentioned previously . The former should give it gravid shade control condition ( peculiarly in black and white photos ) , while the latter extends the ‘ gamut ’ , basically helping it reproduce a wider reach of colours . It ’s probably no surprise , then , that it deliver great answer in our tests .
I was particularly impressed with black and white photo , which delivered on the promise of strong particularization and neutral tone . There was no colour cast , which you sometimes see on printers that have to produce greyscale image with semblance ink . The PIXMA G650 just utilize bleak and grey .
While color photo were also a dance step above what you ’d expect from a four - ink photograph printer , they were n’t the best I ’ve seen from a six - ink machine . A few shots seemed to lack detail in the mid - tones , although this only became obvious when compared directly with photos printed by previous winners .
Like other Canon printer I ’ve reviewed , photo from the G650 have a more or less warm colour prejudice that is n’t whole to my tastes – this is a more immanent criticism , though , and other reviewer prefer it . There ’s no doubt that with some subject like brightly colored fruit , the G650 delivers distort that pop imposingly , but I found that peel tones were a touch too warm when compared to the best exposure printers I ’ve retrospect .
This printer ’s dyestuff ink are perfect for exposure papers , but they do a small less well on plain newspaper when compared to the pigment ink used by more agency - focus machine . Still , sheer paper mark quality was perfectly good , with reasonably frizzy and black schoolbook , and tolerably strong colours . Colour nontextual matter benefitted from the G650 ’s excellent shade control , showing placid transitions between colours across fill and desktop . This printing machine did n’t have the same insidious banding I saw in print from the dear - very PIXMA G550 , which is a dependable affair .
regrettably , there ’s a ‘ but ’ . This is one of the slow inkjets I ’ve tested in a long time , get through only 2.9 pages per hour ( ppm ) in our five - page text test , and strike a high of just 3.5ppm over 25 pages . That ’s the slowest performance I ’ve measured in more than five long time . The G650 is even slower in colour , topping out at only 2.0ppm , although there are at least other recent inkjets chugging along at about the same speed .
Top timber photograph impression was also dull . Each 10x15 cm borderless pic completed in about two and a half minute , while a borderless A4 print inched out in six minutes and 38 seconds . Again , I ’ve reviewed plenty of other inkjets that are no quicker , but I ’d expect at least somewhat immobile impression at this price .
Scans and copies
The Canon PIXMA G650 also comes with a digital scanner , and here the word is right . It could dispatch a preview scan in just eight seconds , and needed only 14 seconds to capture an A4 document at a low - ish 150 dots per column inch ( dpi ) answer . Switching to 300dpi extended this to 19 seconds , which is competitive .
I also scanned a 10x15 centimetre photo , which ask 24 second at a elaborate 600dpi . At the maximal 1,200dpi the same problem took an impressive 48 seconds – the fastest answer I ’ve seen from an inkjet MFP in several years .
When it comes to copying , this MFP ’s fast scanner is held back by its more easy printing machine . I time a single A4 page at 42 seconds in ignominious only , while a colour copy completed in 39 seconds . Both copy were good , although the black copy was on the dingy side , with a little detail lost from the darkest tincture of some nontextual matter .
I ’ve hail to expect in force scan quality from Canon devices , and the PIXMA G650 did n’t disappoint . While test documents seemed slightly under exhibit at the nonremittal place setting , they were o.k. for everyday archiving – and could well be lightened using Canon ’s straightforward scan interface .
Photo scan were exceptionally good , with shrill focussing , exact color reproduction , and an exemplary dynamic range that allowed the G650 to capture every shadiness in our prey .
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Should you buy it?
:
The Canon PIXMA G650 delivers heavy scans in a precipitation , and science laboratory - tone exposure for less money than late challenger .
Although it can print , scan and transcript , the Canon G650 ca n’t fax or semidetached house photographic print . It may also be too wearisome for busier homes .
Final Thoughts
This Canon PIXMA G650 is light on lineament , with no document bird feeder , fax modem or colour covert . It ’s expensive to bribe , and in psychometric test it was a slow pressman .
That suppose , it makes up for it with snappy scanning , and high - lineament prints , scan and copies . Even well , it has ultra - low running costs . We ’ve seen better photos than the G650 flex out , but it ’s still a cut above even the best four - ink exposure printer .
Add everything up and this MFP is n’t the perfect all - libertine , but it does deliver on its promises : a strong performing , creative MFP with bum photograph printing .
Trusted Score
How we test
Every printing machine we reexamine goes through a serial of uniform checks designed to approximate fundamental thing including print quality , speed and cost .
We ’ll also liken the features with other printer at the same price point to see if you ’re getting secure note value for your money .
FAQs
A six - ink printer uses six dissimilar colours for publish instead of the more ceremonious four . This helps it to regurgitate a wider orbit of colours .
Yes , the Canon PIXMA G650 can both skim and imitate document .
