Canon's latest home MFP looks smart and performs well.
The Canon Pixma MG5650 is a multifunction printer (MFP), which means it prints, scans and copies. It offers plenty of features including duplex printing, wireless connectivity and the ability to scan and print without the need for a computer. It’s a stylish device made of high-quality plastic. While it has a colour display, it isn’t touch sensitive and the controls can be a little confusing due to the somewhat convoluted on-screen menus.
This printer has a single paper-input tray that lacks a dust cover. There’s no separate manual feed, so you’ll need to empty this tray temporarily if you have one-off print jobs to carry out, such as envelopes. As you’d expect in a colour inkjet at this price, there are five separate colour ink tanks rather than a single combined colour cartridge, so you only have to replace individual colours when they run out rather than an entire cartridge.
When connected over USB, this printer delivered five pages of text in 30 seconds and five pages of colour graphics in one minute 11 seconds - both impressive results. Photo-printing speeds weren’t too bad either, with an A4 print taking under six minutes, and a postcard-sized print just over two minutes at the highest-quality setting possible. We’ve experienced slow performance from some Canon printers when connected via a Wi-Fi network, but we had no such problems with this one.
The MG5650 is quick with basic scans too, capturing an A4 page at 150 dots per inch (dpi) in eight seconds. Scanning a 6x4in photo at a more detailed setting of 1200dpi wras relatively slow, however, taking one minute 39 seconds. As we’d expect, scan quality was excellent - scans of photos and children’s paintings all looked superb. Print quality was also extremely good, with photos particularly sharp and detailed.
If you store photos online at Dropbox, Flickr or Picasa, you can browse them on the MG5650’s screen and print them - all without using your computer. You can also scan files directly to online storage and configure Google’s Cloud Print, enabling you to print to the MG5650 from your laptop, tablet or smartphone no matter where you are (as long as you have internet access).
On top of everything else, Canon has also ensured the printer’s ink costs are competitive - 7.3p for a page of mixed text and graphics. With impressive features, great print and scan quality, and respectable performance, the MG5650 is a strong all-rounder at a fair price, so it’s highly recommended.
VERDICT: This MFPs strengths far outweigh its minor niggles. It's an excellent choice.
SPECIFICATIONS: 4800x1200dpi maximum print resolution • 8.7ipm colour/12.2ipm mono quoted speeds • 1200x2400dpi maximum scan resolution • USB • Wi-Fi • One-year warranty