Verdict

Pros

• Neatly stowed CD/DVD carrier
• Fast photo prints
• Trouble-free wireless setup

Cons

• No front panel USB socket
• Slow duplex mode
• Random housekeeping

Introduction

The market for single function, desktop photo printers may be shrinking, but Canon still has a good range including of course the one we’re looking at here, the PIXMA iP7250. In many ways it’s merely a redesign but nonetheless it comes at a low asking price and can produce high-quality prints from a variety of sources.

Canon PIXMA iP7250 – Design and Features

Canon has shaved around 25mm off this printer’s height, but in the process has added to both its width and depth, in comparison with its previous generation of printers. To make the reduction, the company has had to redesign many aspects of the machine, and there are lots of clever little tweaks to make life easier.

For example, when you press the button to the right of the front panel, the panel folds down and at the same time a support swings out from its front edge. This technique for paper support has been used before, but it’s usually a two-stage, manual procedure to open it.

Then there are the two paper trays, squashed together to take up little more space than a single tray in other machines. You can fit 125-sheets of plain paper and 20 photo blanks in these two trays but, when you flip over the photo tray, there’s a CD/DVD carrier clipped to its underside, where you won’t lose it. This slots in above the paper trays, when you want to print directly on coated discs.

The five ink cartridges are very easy to get at, by flipping up the full-width cover forming the front section of the printer’s top panel. There’s a photo black ink cartridge, as well as the pigmented black one for plain paper and Canon uses its clever LED indicators to show when a cartridge is correctly inserted and when an empty one needs replacing.

There are both USB and wireless connections and the WPS setup on this machine is very quick; press a button on the front panel and the button on your router and it’s all done in a few seconds. Connecting from an Apple or Android device is very quick, thanks to Canon’s Easy-Photo Print App.