The Canon Maxify GX6050 3

Canon Maxify GX6050. Picture: Noel Campion.

Inkjet printers often get a bad rap because the cartridges are so expensive. You think you’re buying a relatively cheap printer only to find the ink runs out fast and then you have to pay more for the ink cartridges than you did for the printer. A new generation of printers is solving this problem by using a different technology which offers greater ease of use, large ink tanks instead of cartridges and printers like the Canon Maxify GX6050 come with four ink bottles in the box which is enough for 6,000 black and white (economy mode 9,000 pages) and 14,000 colour pages (economy mode 21,000 pages).

Design and features

The GX6050 is a large yet compact 3-in-one printer that can print, scan and copy. It has a 50-sheet ADF (automatic document feed), a pull-out touchscreen interface and dual scanning. With a maximum monthly duty cycle of 45,000 pages, it can handle large workloads and print on a wide range of media, including glossy photo paper.

It has a manual paper feeder (100 sheets) at the back and prints come out the front on top of where the paper cassette is (250 sheets). The feeders and trays are designed to be folded back flush with the body of the printer when not in use which is great for a small office or home office.

One of the best features is the large transparent ink tanks that allow you to see how much ink is left. The ink bottles are also designed to clip onto the top of the tanks in a way that ensures there's no spillage or mess.

The 6.9cm touchscreen interface is a nice bonus and makes using the printer easier but there are six physical buttons on either side of the screen for power, Home, Return, Cancel and Colour and Black and White copying. The touchscreen is flush to the body but can be tilted outwards for convenience — handy if you want to place the printer on a low shelve.

Around the back, you’ll find a USB B, Ethernet (10/100Mbps) and power ports.

The GX6050 features duplex scanning in addition to duplex printing up to A4 in size. This includes light fabric iron-on transfers as well as envelopes, labels, and hefty paper stock weighing up to 275g/m2.

It's good to see an Ethernet port here, especially for office use, but it also comes with WiFi which may be more convenient for home office users. The latter supports the usual protocols including AirPrint and I had no problem printing directly from an iPhone.

The GX6050 has a maximum print resolution of 600x1200 which is more than enough for office use. It also supports photo printing and while it does an okay job, not surprisingly, it doesn't match the quality I get from my dedicated photo printer the Canon Pixma Pro 10S.

The scanner has a resolution of 1200 x 1200 dpi and produces crips and detailed scans whether copying directly to print or if you scan an image into your computer.

Print speeds vary vastly depending on what you’re printing but a standard office document is rated at 24 ipm. The speed drops to 15 ipm for colour prints in the duplex mode.

At a pace of about 12 ipm, the ADF can copy a stack of 100 pages. A really useful feature is that you can automatically copy both sides of the paper thanks to the dual scan mode.

Performance

During my testing, where I printed hundreds of pages I never got any paper jams or any other print issues. I found it quick to print most documents, even photos and the printer is relatively quiet at 49dB. Power consumption is 21W when copying and only 1-1.6W on standby.

The print quality is excellent. Text is crisp, clean and dark while colour graphics produced vibrant colours while not over-saturating the paper for wrinkle-free results.

Verdict

The Canon Maxify GX6050 is a powerful 3-in-one A4 printer that prints, scans and copies with exceptional quality and performance. The touchscreen interface makes it easy to use the comprehensive list of features. Unlink cartridge-based inkjet printers, the tank and bottle system employed here is far more economical to use even when compared to many laser-based printing solutions. The initial cost of the printer is high but this is easily offset by the large bottles of ink that come in the box. Highly recommended.

Canon MAXIFY GX6050 — €520 Canon

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