Canon Pixma MG6350 review

Canon's home and small office inkjet printers have long led the field in print quality, but had fallen behind in terms of user interface. The new Canon Pixma MG6350, an update to 2011's Canon Pixma MG6250, sees the Canon range back on track, with elegant touchscreen controls heading a list of improvements in several key areas, though it's not without its drawbacks, too.

The Canon Pixma MG6350 is more stylish than its predecessor. At 8.4kg (18.5lbs) it's a little lighter, and at 466 x 369 x 148mm (18.3 x 14.5 x 5.8 inches), it's a tad smaller too, most notably in height.

With its six-tank print system, it's aimed at home users who need to print to a very high standard, such as graphic designers or photography enthusiasts. Yet with a full price of £169 (around AU$256/US$265), it's well within the reach of most home users.

Unlike its stablemate the Canon Pixma MX895, it's not specifically targeted at the home office user. If you're looking for a multi-function printer with a fax facility, an automatic document feeder and Duplex scanning, the MX895 better fits your needs, though the MG6350 has disc printing, which the MX895 lacks.

If you're looking for a shared inkjet all-in-one printer to use in a small office environment, an HP Officejet might be more suitable. The HP Officejet Pro 8500A Plus is very fast, has a sturdy build quality and can print from any device capable of sending it an email, but it has only one paper tray and it doesn't print onto discs.

The Canon Pixma MG6350 can print to a maximum of A4 (roughly US letter) size paper. If you need to print in A3 (16.5 x 11.7 inches) occasionally, the Brother MFC-J4510DW's innovative landscape printing system means you can print in A3 from a printer that's no larger than most A4 printers.

If you don't need the ultra high quality printing and high-end features afforded by the Canon Pixma MG6350 and are looking for something cheaper (both to buy and to run), there's the Kodak ESP 1.2.

Kodak doesn't subsidise its printer costs by charging more for replacement inks, so they're cheaper to run than other brands'. You can buy an ESP 1.2 for about £50-£60 if you shop around, and although Kodak has discontinued its printer range, it still produces its very affordable range of inks.

But if you're looking for high quality printing, twin paper trays, automatic Duplex, a great touchscreen interface, comprehensive connectivity, mobile printing options and printing onto optical discs, the Canon Pixma MG6350 might be just what you need.