A4 printers are generally adequate for the majority of home and office printing assignments, however occasionally we need to print an A3 document or picture. The Canon Pixma iX6850 Wireless A3+ printer provides such a facility.
On first appearance the iX6850 looks to be a wide machine, and when you extend the rear paper tray and front output tray, the overall desktop footprint is almost doubled. So even though this machine is relatively trim for an A3+ machine, you will still need a reasonably sized surface to accommodate this Canon printer.
Photographic enthusiasts often dream of buying a larger inkjet printer to print their latest photographs, and whilst the IX6850 is not marketed for this purpose, it is capable of printing terrific pictures. What is lacks is an LCD screen and memory card slots which would allow you to view and print without the use of a computer. Fortunately the Canon Print application supports Apple AirPrint and Google CloudPrint, enabling you to print from tablets and smartphones. Hard wired ethernet, and WiFi connections are also supported with this machine.
The iX6850 features a photo quality print head with a resolution of 9600 x 2400 dpi. A higher resolution than the A4 Canon Pixma MG5650 (4800 x 2400 dpi), but less than our favorite printer, the Pixma MX725 (9600 x 4800 dpi.). However, most users will be completely satisfied with the output quality.
The Pixma iX6850 uses five ink tank cartridges that click into the fixed print head. The PGI-550BK is a larger Black cartridge containing pigment ink, and is used for text. The CLI-551BK is a slimmer black cartridge filled with dye ink for printing photographs. As are the similar CLI-551C Cyan,, CLI-551M Magenta, and CLI-551Y yellow ink tanks. Buying a replacement set of original Canon inks cost around £60 and comes with an XL large black. For budget conscious owners there are replacement compatible and refillable cartridges available which can significantly reduce printing costs.
With no scanner, automatic duplex, colour screen, or memory card ports, the Canon Pixma iX6850 fails to tick all of the boxes as a single home or small office printing solution. However, if used as an additional machine, it can add a high quality A3+ printing facility to your set-up.
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