The Canon Pixma Ip2702 Budget Printer

The iP2702 was simple to setup. The design is simple and uncluttered although it did feel flimsy. The paper is loaded from a tray which folds back and it has a capacity of 100 A4 sheets However there is no output tray so you will have to make sure you position the printer in such a way that printed documents don't end up on the floor. There are two control buttons with LEDs set into the right-hand end of the top panel, one for power and the other for paper feed and error conditions.

The back of the printer has sockets to connect the mains lead and a USB cable, you cannot use this machine in a wireless network.

Both the black and colour inkjet cartridges can be got to by raising cover of the Canon PIXMA iP2702. The black cartridge supplied is the PG-510 which contains 9ml of ink and the colour cartridge is the CL-511 which has 9ml of ink. These can be replaced by the better value PG-512 with 15ml of ink and CL-513 which contains 13 ml of ink.

Software provided with the iP2702 Includes Canon's Easy-PhotoPrint EX and Easy-WebPrint EX. There is also a copy of the user manual included on the software disc. You can make alterations to images using Easy-PhotoPrint EX although it has relatively limited functionality. However all the basics are covered including photo-fix and red-eye correction. With Easy-WebPrint EX you can capture bits of Web pages and then print them in a format of your choosing.

The Canon PIXMA iP2702 does not print particularly quickly but is in the same league as similar printers by other manufacturers. In tests the iP2702 printed a 20 page mono document in less than four minutes and a 10 page colour document took only slightly longer.

The print quality of the Canon PIXMA iP2702 was somewhat mixed. Text was very satisfying and was dark and easy to read. Business-graphics were also clear and sharp but the colour was uneven being quite pale in places. Photos were very disappointing with dim colours and a lack of definition.

The Canon PIXMA iP2702 deserves a cautious recommendation if you are looking for a cheap printer to do occasional black and white printing. It also has some pretty good software and does not take up a lot of room. However if you intend to do a lot of printing or are bothered about the quality of colour prints and photos you should look elsewhere.