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Configuration (8.00)
The Canon mini320 compact inkjet photo printer features just a single integrated ink cartridge composed of four colors—cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. The small cartridge is easily installed and replaced, with a simple latch holding it in place.
The print head contains 1,536 nozzles, with 512 each for the cyan and magenta colors and 256 each for yellow and black. The ink sprays through one-picoliter-sized droplets, the smallest in the industry. Smaller droplets usually mean greater ability to produce finer detail.
Value (7.00)
Each manufacturer measures print yield differently, and all of them say they’re working with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to develop fair standards so printers can be compared across brands. Until then, they shy away from comparison.
That said, we’ll report what the manufacturers list as the page yields based on their own tests. Canon estimates a page yield of 109 4x6-inch prints from the mini320’s CLI-36 cartridge, while HP estimates only 55 4x6-inch prints from the HP110 cartridge. A single CLI-36 cartridge for the mini320 costs the consumer $16.99 at the Canon website. A standard HP110 cartridge for its A626 compact photo printer costs $19.99. This seems a significant enough difference despite potentially different testing methods.
HP also sells a photo value pack for $34.99 that includes 120 sheets of paper and enough ink to print on them. This makes their ink and paper more competitive only with Canon’s higher-end paper for this printer, since 120-sheet paper packs of Canon paper can cost anywhere between $11.99 and $18.99, depending upon the paper surface.
Ink Management (7.50)
Canon provides good tools with most of its printers for gauging ink levels. No manufacturer is yet able to give precise assessments, but at least Canon makes the information they do provide accessible and up-front.
The printer’s main menu screen features a dedicated ink volume item accessed by the left button beneath the screen. This brings up a graphic of the cartridge displaying four coarse level markers. When the ink does get low, the printer advises that the ink "may be low" and the user should replace the cartridge. We were able to continue printing for several more prints before there was any noticeable change in print quality. Eventually, the printer displayed a screen indicating that the ink cartridge was out, and we could not continue to print.
The printer driver displays a status window showing ink levels when printing is engaged in any program. Users can plum a little deeper by clicking on the Ink Details menu item to view ink status and a window showing the model number of the replacement cartridge.
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