Canon Pixma MG3220 Wireless Inkjet Photo All-in-One

The Canon Pixma MG3220 Wireless Inkjet Photo All-in-One is a home multi-function printer (MFP) with a bargain-basement price and a few goodies like WiFi connectivity and an automatic duplexer for printing on both sides of a sheet of paper. However, it's largely a case of "you get what you pay for", as its speed and photo quality are below the curve, and its display is primitive.

The MG3220 is a three-function MFP: it can print, scan, and copy. Matte black with rounded corners, it's reasonably compact and light at 6.0 by 17.7 by 12.0 inches (HWD) and 12.1 pounds. The paper feeder, which can fit up to 100 sheets of plain paper or take photo paper instead, is in front, below the output tray. At the top is the flatbed, which lacks an automatic document feeder (ADF).

To the right of the flatbed is the control panel, with start button, color and black-and-white scan buttons, a button for switching between 8.5 by 11 plain paper, 8.5 by 11 photo paper, and 4 by 6 photo paper. Other buttons include setup and fit to page. The green LED can only display a single character at a time, and you need to refer to the printer's user manual, which you install on your PC, to make any sense of its functions beyond simply setting the number of pages to print, scan, or fax.

Also installed on your computer is Canon's My Image Garden software, which lets you organize your photos by calendar or event, create layouts, employ facial recognition and filter effects, and more. The MG3220 is AirPrint-enabled, letting you print to it from Apple mobile devices on the same WiFi network.

The MG3220 is the middle model of three budget inkjet MFPs that Canon recently introduced; we'll be reviewing the other two soon. The Pixma MG2220 ($69 list) lacks WiFi connectivity and the auto-duplexer, and has a slightly lower rated print speed. The Pixma MG4220 ($129.99 list) sports a 2.5-inch LCD.

The MG3220 connects via USB in addition to Wi-Fi. We did our speed and quality testing over a USB connection with a PC running Windows Vista.

Print Speed
The Canon Pixma MG3220 printed out our business applications suite (as timed with QualityLogic's hardware and software) at 2.0 effective pages per minute (ppm), which is slow even for a bargain-priced MFP. The Editors' Choice Brother MFC-J430W zipped through the same tests at 4.3 ppm, while the Editors' Choice Kodak ESP 3.2 All-in-One Printer output the tests at a 3.2 ppm clip and I recently clocked the Epson Expression Home XP-400 Small-in-One at 3.2 ppm.

Output Quality
Text quality was typical of inkjets, fine for basic home, school, or business correspondence, but not for documents like resumes with which you seek to convey the impression of professionalism, nor for applications requiring very small type.

Graphics quality was a bit sub-par for an inkjet. Issues included dithering (graininess), posterization (abrupt shifts in color where they should be gradual), and trouble printing thin, colored lines. Graphics were fine for typical home or school uses, but not for formal reports or handouts for people you seek to impress.

Photo quality was slightly sub-par for an inkjet. A monochrome photo showed a tint, as well as dithering. The best of the test prints were about the quality you'd expect from drugstore prints; the others didn't quite rise to that level.

The MG3220 is a home MFP pretty much all the way, with no significant business features except WiFi connectivity that would make it suitable for home-office duty as well. As a home printer, its photo quality is fine for snapshots to pin with a magnet on a refrigerator, but you're not likely to be wowed by its print quality. If you're on a tight budget, your printing needs are light duty, you want a WiFi-enabled machine, and you're not overly concerned about image quality, this machine may fit the bill.

The Canon Pixma MG3220 comes at a bargain-basement price, and provides a couple of nifty features for a sub-$100 printer, namely Wi-Fi connectivity and an auto-duplexer. However, its display is primitive, it is slow, and its graphics and especially photo print quality are below the curve. For a little more money, the Editors' Choice Kodak ESP 3.2 lets you print from memory cards and preview images on a 2.4-inch display. The Kodak is also considerably faster, and prints better-quality photos.

More Multi-function Printer Reviews:

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