Expert’s Rating
Our Verdict
If you ’re wait for a introductory , small - monetary value document printer , this is n’t for you . But the TS8250 offer tremendous mark character at an impressive speed , along with a good range of features .
Canon ’s late releasedTS8250is in earnest colorful – in more ways than one . Available in an heart - catching shade of red , along with more conventional black-market and white version , the TS8250 is a specialist printing machine aimed at photo fancier and creative users who want the very good colour timber for their work . And , in decree to achieve that lineament , it use no less than six different coloured ink to produce striking picture and graphics .
Most conventional inkjet printers apply just four colours – cyan , magenta , yellow-bellied and black – to publish text , graphics and photo . However , the TS8250 uses those four colours , along with a special shade of ‘ photo amobarbital sodium ’ to develop very pernicious nicety of colour in your photos : a warmer downcast sky for your holiday snaps , or more delicate tegument tones in your portraiture photos . The 6th ink is a especial ‘ paint black ’ that is used to produce extra nippy , penetrative textbook for letters and other text papers .
We put the Pixma TS8250 through some serious examination in our labs . Here are our opinion on whether it ’s a desirable printing machine for a Mac owner . For more general advice , seeBest printers for Mac .
( US lector should mark that this theoretical account is designed for the UK marketplace . Canon assure us that theTS8220 – also available fromAmazon – is the same in all respects , except that it ’s designed to back up US composition sizes . )
Features & design
Multicolour aim away , the TS8250 is n’t the most graceful pressman we ’ve ever regard : it ’s resolutely rectangular and rather slab - like , with laborious edge and corner all around . Even so , it ’s quite neatly designed , appraise 373 millimeter wide-cut , 319 mm deep and 140 mm high , so it ’ll fit on to a small desk or shelf at home without too much trouble .
Canon also does a salutary job cramming in a wide range of feature film , which will be utile both at base or in a modest office .
The TS8250 is a multifunction pressman that combines 1200 x 4800dpi printing with a 2400 x 4800dpi scanner and copier . It provides both USB and Wi - Fi connectivity , and patronize Apple’sAirPrintso you could quickly print photos from an iPhone or iPad .
With creative users in mind , the TS8250 include no less than three different tray that can handle a all-encompassing range of different papers and other media .
The main paper tray at the front of the printer holds 100 sail of unmingled bureau newspaper , while the 2d tray at the back is for sheeny photo newspaper publisher , envelopes , or heavier papers that hobbyist can utilise for fine - art prints . There ’s also a ‘ multi - role ’ tray that slides into the physical structure of the printing machine and can be used for printing on candle or DVDs – or even on Canon ’s ‘ printable finger nail stickers ’ – so Instagram addict can wave their selfies around on the end of their fingers .
Print speed
Despite the apparent complexness of the six - ink printing system , the TS8250 proves to be a degenerate performer .
Canon quotes speeds of 15 Sir Frederick Handley Page per minute of arc ( ppm ) for mono printing and 10ppm for semblance , while 4x6 in mailing-card print should take around 17 bit . Our tests in reality came in at 13ppm for apparent text documents , 8ppm with a mixed bag of textual matter - and - graphics single file , and a snappy twenty for glossy photo prints , so the TS8250 can certainly handle as much work as you ’re probable to throw at it .
Print quality
As you ’d plausibly expect , the extra ink get really impressive tone .
Our photo prints were shining and bold , but also capable of get smoothly graduated semblance on pelt tone as well . text edition caliber is crisp and keen too , so the TS8250 can handle routine text documents as well as it handles high - quality photos and graphics .
Running costs
We were worried that using six inks in the TS8250 would prove expensive when it comes to buying surrogate cartridges . Sure enough , if you buy each of the sixindividual cartridges separately , the toll can mount up quickly .
fortuitously , Canon sells a number of multi - packs that hold the five independent one-sided ink , and this helps to reduce overall run costs for picture and colour impression quite a mountain . You ’ll still need to buy the sixth ink – thepigmented black ink – singly , but that makes sense as it ’s only used for impress text , and will run out at a different rate to the coloured inks .
( observe that the reach of multi - packs can be bewildering . You ’ll also see six - ink packs , andfive - ink packsthat admit pigment inkiness but not photo blue . We mean the cyan - Battle of Magenta - scandalmongering - smutty - photo - blue combination make up most signified . )
canyon sell the five - ink multi - packs in three unlike size – standard , XL , and XXL , and if youshop around onlineyou can find these for around £ 44.45 , £ 58.45 and £ 84.95 respectively . This is where things get a bit complicated , as each of those five inks lasts for a different number of pages , but a spot of act - crunching in Excel eventually allowed us to aim the distinctive cost - per - page for colour printing process with each of the multi - packs .
The received multi - inner circle works out at just under 13p per Sir Frederick Handley Page for colour printing , which would be a bit exorbitant for an ordinary four - people of color printer , but just about acceptable for a specialist printer such as this . And , when you step up to the XL multi - pack , that monetary value drops to around 7.8p per varlet , which is much more competitive . The XXL multi - pack shaves almost another cent off that toll , coming in at just under 7p per Thomas Nelson Page , which is a sound price for the TS8250 ’s gamey - character picture output .
However , like most inkjet printers , the TS8250 still has a flimflam in the tail that you involve to determine out for . In this caseful , it ’s actually aboveboard mono text edition that evidence rather pricey .
Again , the paint black ink is available in three sizes , which cost£11.49 ( criterion ) , £ 15.49 ( XL ) and£21.49 ( XXL ) , and which last for 200 pages , 400 varlet and 600 pages each . Those prices work out at a brawny 5.7p per page when using the stock cartridge – which is earnestly expensive , and hard to advocate .
The gravid cartridges do avail to cut the price , with the XL cartridge working out at 3.9p per Thomas Nelson Page , and the XXL cartridge dropping only slenderly to 3.6p per page . The prices with the XL and XXL cartridge are still a little above average , but they ’re just about satisfactory if you cognise that you ’ll mostly be using the TS8250 for print picture and colour documents , with only the periodic letter or other text documents .
Verdict
If you just want a low - cost printer for alphabetic character and other routine documents then the TS8250 is n’t the best choice . But if you ’re a keen photographer , artist , or interior decorator who need to print high - calibre photograph and other colour graphics then the TS8250 will be just what you ’re look for .
