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Likes
- Large, 3.6" LCD screen.
- Easy-to-use menu.
- Simple, intuitive control panel.
Dislikes
- Poor image quality.
- Only one media card slot (SD).
- No wireless connectivity.
- High cost per print.
Conclusion
The Panasonic KX-PX20 is a dye sublimation printer selling for $199. It’s comparable in size to many other dye subs, such as Canon and Sony models. The printer comes with a starter ink cassette and paper cassette good for five prints, power cord, instruction manual, installation CD, and remote control. It sets up quickly and is easy to operate. The ink cassette installs effortlessly, like most dye sub printers, and the paper cassette is better designed than others. The unit is meant to be used with Panasonic Lumix cameras, and these and other PictBridge enabled cameras can be hooked up directly to the printer to make prints. Media cards can also be used, but only SD and Multimedia cards.
The printer drivers are simple, with a few selections for image adjustment. Unlike other compact printers, the PX20 does not come with any bundled software. If printing from a computer, users will have to rely on whatever program they have. Most of the controls are in the on-unit menu. Here users can utilize auto adjustment for brightness, contrast, and color, or they can apply manual changes for these settings. Monochrome effects can be aplkied to images, as well as artsy effects, such as oil painting and Japanese paper. Also possible are adding frames and clip-art, although most of these are pretty cheesy. A calendar menu allows the user to create mini calendar pages with their own images.
The PX20 performed slowly in out speed tests, but not much more slowly than other dye sub printers we’ve tested. Print quality lagged far behind its competitors in nearly very test. Very poor color accuracy was shown by the Colorchecker chart test (See the Photo Performance page), with sizable error in nearly all colors, notably skin tones. The PX20 also scored poorly in our color gamut test, meaning the range of colors it can represent is limited. Our test of the blackest tones, known as Dmax, also showed the PX20 not producing well, with very pale-looking and scoring black densities. The black-and-white prints from the PX20 were very washed out, with little contrast or definition between gray tones.
The PX20 is a small boxy design, similar to other dye sub printers, like the Canon Selphy line or the new Sony DPP-FP series printers. One feature that improves upon both of its competitors’ models is that the LCD display (at 3.6 inches, it’s larger than the Canon Selphy models and equivalent to the Sony FP90), which folds face down into the body of the printer, protecting the screen when it’s not in use. The screen on the Sony FP90 also folds down, but with the screen side up. The Canon Selphy CP730 screen is embedded into the printer.
The PX20 has few connectivity options, only featuring PictBridge and SD/Multimedia card connections.
If consumers are wedded to dye sublimation printers, there are a few other options available, such as the Sony DPP-FP90 for the same price or the Canon Selphy CP730 for $50 less. Canon also offers a model with a different design, the Selphy ES1, for $50 more. The HiTiS400 is also available at the same price and features slightly better resolution and a unique design.
For those consumers looking at both inkjet and dye sub printers, the field broadens a little with the Epson PM280. This inkjet printer features more media compatibility and connectivity options, as well as much better resolution and added features such as an included CD reader/writer and carrying handle, and an optional battery. See the Comparisons section of the Conclusion page for more info.
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