Canon Pixma MP180

We were impressed with this device's predecessor and were hoping for more of the same great-value and high-quality prints. We weren't disappointed in one area at least, with our tests delivering crisp and clear mono documents and acceptably good photos. But, in more ways than one, the picture wasn't quite as rosy elsewhere.

The first disappointment is print speed. Unlike the HP C4180 and Lexmark X5470, the MP180 stutters and pauses during printing, likely due to a lack of sufficient onboard RAM. The real-world effect is mono documents ejecting at a frustrating 5ppm at standard settings, compared to 9ppm from the Lexmark. Draft quality - while very nearly as strong and clear as Normal mode prints - only managed 8ppm. Equally high-quality drafts from the Lexmark appear by the dozen every minute.

The MP180 is a better bet than the Lexmark for photographers, though. Each 6 x 4in print drops out in around 1min 40secs compared to the 2mins 15secs of the Lexmark. There was still a lack of fine detail and a minor yellow hue, but the latter is at least far less pronounced on the Canon. The HP easily beats both, though, dropping near-perfect photos in around 90 seconds. We're not enamoured of the two-line LCD either, which has a confusing menu system and isn't ideal for printing directly from a media card - but at least there's a slot for every major card format available.

Unfortunately, scanner quality is lacking too. Banding isn't as bad as the HP, but in our test photos colours were either pale or dull, and noise proved to be a perpetual problem. Not surprisingly, the OCR test results were by far the worst too: even plain text lost its even line spacing (the one bright spot is that tables were perfectly reproduced). Worst of all, the bundled OmniPage SE 4 will only save as an OmniPage document, which Word can't read, so editing is made doubly frustrating.

Photocopies proved less troublesome: colour copies did have some grain, but colours were faithful to the original. Mono copies were even better: only slightly more pronounced spidering let us tell the difference between copy and original.

While the initial outlay for buying this printer is temptingly low, the cost of keeping it going isn't. The Canon ink is easily the most expensive of the three here. Depending on whether you use the high-yield cartridges or the standard offerings, mono documents cost either 7.4p or 6.8p per page, while colour A4 pages cost either 11.7p or 7.2p per page.

With scanning and OCR so poor on the MP180, only the respectably high-quality photocopies justify the inclusion of the flatbed scanner. The Lexmark is a better bet for a home office and, while photos are decent, if you want photography on a budget (and still want an integrated scanner) you'll be better off buying the HP C4180, but we still recommend investing extra in the much better and A-Listed HP Photosmart 3210.

Author: Clive Webster