The Canon Pixma TR150 is a small, portable inkjet printer with basic features and reliable performance. The TR150 is a monochrome printer that does not copy or scan. It does, however, have a small enough size to fit in a standard backpack. A standard wall outlet is used only by the printer. For INR 24,999, you can get a bundle that includes a printer and a mobile battery for off-the-grid printing. On a full charge, the battery is expected to last up to 330 sheets.
Design
When closed for travelling, the TR150 measures 12.7 x 7.3 x 2.6 inches. The lid lifts up to reveal a 50-sheet input paper tray and a front flap that drops to reveal the output slot. The vertical paper tray adds 12.1 inches to the depth and 9.7 inches to the height. The printer weighs 4.5 pounds, which is relatively light for a portable model. When the optional battery is attached to the back of the unit, the weight rises to 5.1 pounds. In comparison, the HP OfficeJet 250 weighs 6.7 pounds when equipped with a battery.
When the lid is opened, the control panel on the upper part of the body is revealed. A four-way control, a 1.4-inch monochrome OLED display, as well as a wireless connectivity button are present.
Memory card slots are not available. The USB port is located near the back of the right panel, next to the power port. It supports Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct and comes with a USB-C cable. Aside from AirPrint, Google Cloud Print, as well as Mopria support, the TR150 also supports voice commands via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, as well as device pairing via IFTTT (If This Then That).
Printing Speed
In our tests, the Pixma TR150 printed a five-page text document in 40.5 seconds, or 7.4 pages per minute (ppm). The average print speed for portable printers is 6.9 ppm. The HP OfficeJet 250, our top-rated portable printer, was faster, printing text at 9 ppm.
Canon Pixma TR150 was quick to print text from an iPhone 7, setting the fastest times on this test. The TR150 could print a single page in 10.3 seconds and a five-page document in 38.7 seconds, or 7.8 pages per minute. Other portable models took 14.6 seconds to complete a single page and 1 minute and 3 seconds (or 4.8 ppm) to complete a five-page document.
The HP Tango X, on the other hand, printed a page of text in 11.3 seconds. Several other models, such as the Epson WorkForce EC-C110, printed the five-page text document at a much slower 54.3 seconds, or 5.5 ppm. The speed of photo printing was also faster than the category average. The TR150 printed a 4-by-6-inch glossy photo at default settings from a Windows PC in 1 minute and 4.8 seconds, compared to the average of 1 minute and 11 seconds.
Print Quality
Text is printed in a light grayscale rather than a deep black. Letterform edges appeared rough and not razor sharp. Colour graphics printed on plain paper appeared washed out, with visible banding. The graphics additionally did not have the sharper details, higher contrast, and richer colour saturation found in better-looking prints like the HP OfficeJet 250. Pixels were more visible in the graphics prints on the TR150.
Glossy photo prints, on the other hand, were excellent. Details appeared sharp, and colour saturation was pleasing. The colours in our landscape photo, in particular, appeared to be very natural. In comparison, the same print produced by the HP OfficeJet 250 appeared a little unnatural due to exaggerated yellow hues.
Ink Cost and Yield
The printer accepts two ink cartridges: one dye-based ink cartridge with three colours (cyan, magenta, yellow), and one black ink cartridge. The second cartridge contains black ink that is pigment-based. For a portable printer, the Pixma TR150 has low ink costs. It costs 7.5 cents per text page, which is significantly less than the 8.9 cents category average. In comparison, the HP OfficeJet 250 is estimated to cost 9 cents per text page.
The same goes for colour pages: The TR150 has the lowest colour page cost of the portable printers we’ve tested, at 14.8 cents. Purchasing an ink cartridge bundle should reduce that cost to around 12.7 cents. In comparison, the HP OfficeJet 250 has the highest estimated colour page ink cost we’ve seen, at 23 cents per page, and only reduces that cost to 17.3 cents per page when using high-yield cartridges (which aren’t available for the TR150).
Printer Set-Up
The TR150 was easy to set up. Only a few pieces of packaging tape must be removed. Lift the lid to reveal the cartridge bay, then install the print head, which you insert in the same manner as the two ink cartridges that follow. You either download the software from the internet or insert the installation disc into your computer. I used my smartphone to scan the included QR code to access the online setup instructions. You’re ready to go after the printer performs a print head alignment and you print a test page.
Canon Pixma TR150 has a dedicated wireless connect button on its control panel to make wireless setup easier. I used the WPS connect method, following menu instructions on the 1.4-inch OLED screen; pressing the WPS button on my wireless router connected the TR150 to my network.
Verdict
The Canon Pixma TR150 performed well in our tests. Text printing was especially quick, both from a PC and a phone. Colour graphics and photo print speeds were faster than average, and a startup time of less than 5 seconds will get you up and running quickly. Low ink costs make this portable Pixma very appealing to the wallet, and the high quality of the photo prints is difficult to compete with.
