As it sometimes happen, I went to use my printer the other day only to find it was completely dead. No power, no lights, nothing. I thought, what an interesting way to start the New Year. It was a Canon MP970 which I have enjoyed for quite some time because of the simplicity, features, quality of output, speed, and an Ethernet port. Since I only have one printer, I set off to look for a replacement and did not want to sacrifice any of these features. I also did not want to spend a fortune as my printing needs are fairly modest. I also wanted if possible, to get a printer that supported “AirPrint” so that if needed, I could print from my IOS devices.

I won’t bore you with all the details, but I found very little that interested me when I looked around. Selection was fairly limited when looking for a multifunction printer that contains an Ethernet for under $175. For starters I refuse to buy HP anymore, not because of the tablet debacle but because of the bloated (and at times unstable) software that they install. I have had numerous battles with their drivers that I will not buy their product because of it. That said that does not leave much so I ended up looking at Canon’s new line and locked in on the newly released MG6220. On paper it met all the requirements except that it appeared that it did not support Air Print. After doing a bit of research I found that it indeed did support it, but only after a firmware upgrade. Much to my surprise, I found the unit at Best Buys on sale for $149 on sale so I picked one up.

Device

P1010932

Software

Solutions Menu

Canon Solution Menu

Quick Access Icon that pop up from you task tray.

Canon Quick Access Icons

AirPrint

The firmware installation was simple but it did require that you temporarily hook up the USB cable, upgrade, then you can disconnect and return to Ethernet/network.

IMG_0258  IMG_0259IMG_0260  IMG_0261

Conclusion

Overall I am very pleased with this product and once again Canon did not disappointment me. The software is straight forward, fairly small footprint, and customizable. It lets you install only what you need and allows you to customize the setup for each of your computers so you only get what you need. There are seven cartridges in the unit and a full replacement of all of them costs about $73 which is not cheap, but considering we are talking about 7 independent cartridges, it is tolerable as they are typically not all replaced at the same time. The printer quality is excellent and the display allows you to easily change the settings. The speed is decent and print/scan output is excellent. The AirPrint feature works extremely well and I had no problems using it with any of my devices. If you are looking for a network multifunction printer/scanner for a decent price, keep this one in mind when you shop.