Canon PIXMA G5050 Price and Reviews

Canon PIXMA G5050 Reviews- There have been some significant developments in the Office printing technology in recent years, but, as we reported recently, the traditional business model for office printing has begun to change, reflecting the increased Operating costs and environmental sustainability.

Canon PIXMA G5050 Price and Reviews

Epson started the trend a few years ago, with the printer's range of Ecotanks. These printers are no longer used expensive ink cartridges, replacing them with large internal ink tanks instead. This new design means that the initial purchase price of the EcoTank printer is higher than that of a

conventional inkjet printer. However, the internal ink tanks can be easily refilled using low-cost and recyclable ink bottles, which drastically reduce operating costs and total cost of ownership (TCO) over the lifetime of the printer. And now Canon has joined the ' Low-TCO ' crowd with its own range of MegaTank printers.

Canon PIXMA G5050 Pricing & Option

There are several models in the Canon MegaTank lineup, starting with PIXMA G1510, which costs £132.50 (e.g. VAT £159 Inc. VAT or $179.99) and is designed as an affordable home printer. Two models of top-of-the-range-PIXMA G5050 and G6050--are aimed at small businesses, home offices and retailers who need a reliable printer for everyday use.

PIXMA G5050, reviewed here, is a single-function color inkjet printer, priced at £191.65 (e.g. VAT £229.99 Inc. VAT), while G6050 is a multi-functional alternative, equipped with a scanner/copier unit, which costs £249.99 (ie. VAT £299.99 Inc. VAT). And, for an office that only requires black and white printing for other text-based letters and documents, there is a Mono model called GM2050--though, somewhat odd, which has the same price as the four-color G5050 (and does not support the MAC, as Other models in the range do).

Options for US customers are more limited, with a smaller range of MegaTank printers that have just been available for pre-orders. MegaTank printers also seem to have different model numbers in the United States, with G5020 and G6020 providing the same features for their UK partners, and the prices are $250 and $300 respectively.

The need for a large house of internal ink tanks means that the G5050 is somewhat thicker than a conventional inkjet printer. It measures the full 403mm width and 369mm inside, though without a top-mounted scanner from the multi-function G6050 It stands only 166mm tall. This is not a type of printer that can only sit on a shelf, and weighing in at 6.5 kg, you will need a table that is strong enough to stand in.

The initial setup process is also slightly more complicated than simply inserting a set of cartridges into a traditional inkjet printer, as you have to pour four bottles of ink by hand into each tank located on the right and left side of the printer . Thankfully, Canon has designed a bottle with a small Nozzle that fits into the input valve on each tank, reducing the risk of spills.  However, you may still feel safer with old newspapers placed on the table, just in case.

Aside from the rechargeable ink tank, G5050 is a fairly conventional inkjet printer, although it does not boast a set of useful features for office use. It provides 4800-by-1200dpi resolution for printing, with USB and Wi-Fi connectivity, as well as Ethernet for office cable networks. The main paper tray, the front loading holds a 250-sheet A4 paper, while the rear tray holds a further 100 sheets of A4, or other paper types such as glossy photo paper or envelopes, so you can choose different media while still sitting on Your desk. This Printer supports automatic two-sided printing (duplex), with AirPrint for Apple iOS devices, Google Cloud printing, and Canon's PRINT apps for Android. The one obvious omission is scanner/Copier though, as mentioned, the more expensive G6050 model adds a 1200-by-2400dpi scanner for users who prefer a multi-functional printer to their office.

Canon PIXMA G5050 Operational costs

The initial purchase price of £230 (INC. VAT) was relatively high for inkjet printers but, of course, Canon claimed that a rechargeable design from the MegaTank range offered a much lower operating cost.

Like Epson, Canon includes a set of ink bottles with a rechargeable printer, with G5050 including three black bottles that must provide 18,000 pages for Mono printing. There is also a set of colored inks-1 bottle respectively for Cyan, Magenta and Yellow--for about 7,700 pages of color documents. That works out at less than 1p per page when using the initial set of ink, which is very cost-effective even for plain Mono printing. It can easily cost hundreds of kilograms to print that many pages when using conventional ink cartridges, so G5050 will surely get that maintain if you need a printer for ordinary, daily use.

Canon Strangely coy about the cost of replacing ink, which does not help, considering that this is the USP for the whole MegaTank range. However, ink costs from third-party retailers indicate that black ink bottles will cost around £10.40 (e.g. VAT £12.50 Inc. VAT), while three CMY inks cost £7.16 (ex. VAT; £8.49 Inc. VAT) respectively.

That works at 0.2 p per page for mono printing, and 0.4 p per page for color-similar to the running cost of an Epson EcoTank printer, and much cheaper than using conventional ink cartridges.

Canon PIXMA G5050 Quality & Performance

Their running costs are certainly interesting, though, like the initial EcoTank model Epson, the Canon MegaTank printer offers relatively simple print speeds. Canon cited the 13 ' IPM ' Speed for Mono printing (referring to ' images per minute ', not pages per minute or ppm) and 6.8 IPM for color printing. Mono printing proved to be quite respectable, with a choice of text-only PDFS and Word documents reaching a speed of 12ppm, which should be very adequate for most small offices. However, the document combining text and color graphics drops to a simpler 4.5 ppm. And while Canon cited the speed of just 37 seconds for a 10-by-15cm photo print (postcard), our test photos took 90 seconds which was a bit more relaxed.

We can not blame the print quality of G5050, though. Canon's pigment-based black ink delivers crisp, smooth text that can provide laser printers for its money. The color graphics are also good, and while photo printing is relatively slow, our test photos are bright and refined in detail, so G5050 can certainly turn their hands into presentations or marketing materials when needed.

Canon PIXMA G5050 Conclusion

The relatively high initial purchase price of the PIXMA G5050 may preclude some users, but the ink bottles included in the price still provide excellent value for money. The supplied inks can last for several years in many small offices before you need to purchase your first set of substitutes. G5050 also provides excellent quality for text, graphics and photo output, although a relatively simple pace of color printing means it wouldn't be ideal for busy offices requiring a lot of color printing. But, if you work in a small office or retail location that requires a hard worker printer to document primarily text-based, G5050 will soon get that saved.