Canon BJC-8200 Photo

The final key aspect of any printer's performance is its running cost. In general use, you'll only need to replace each colour's particular ink tanks as and when they run out, and on this basis running costs are 7.5p per colour page and 2.5p per mono page. The sting comes in the form of the print head, which needs to be replaced every 5,000 pages and costs £75, although this does include fresh ink cartridges as well. Factoring this into the costs, the running costs are 8.5p per colour page and 3.8p per mono, which on the surface doesn't compare too well to the 4.6p and 3p of the Stylus Photo 750. However, the Epson's figure assumes equal consumption of each colour, which is never true in practice, and the 750's print head is non-replaceable, so when this wears out you'll have to buy a new printer.

The BJC-8200 is better and faster than the Epson Stylus Photo 750. However, at £299 the BJC-8200 is expensive compared to the £148 street price of the Photo 750, while for non-photographic performance it's beaten by HP's PhotoSmart P1100. Nevertheless, this is a strong debut for Canon's new range of Bubble Jets, and it will be fascinating to see how its sister models fare against the best of the rest in next month's inkjet printer Labs.

Author: Ben Hardwidge