Launched as part of Canon's new 'back to school' range, the TS3350 MkII is one of the most affordable multifunction printers we have seen.
Price
The model we're reviewing here is referred to as the 'TS3350 Black'; at first, we thought it was just a basic black-and-white printer. However, that only refers to the printer's color – as it is also available in white (TS3351) and red (TS3352).
And it turns out that the TS3350 MkII does provide a full-color multifunction printer with scanner and copier features at a low price of only £39.99. It is available from Canon and Amazon.
For some reason, the US version is called the TS3320 and has a slightly higher price of $79, and Amazon has it in red for $49 and only $39 from Canon.
Design features
Despite its low cost, the TS3350 MkII is a versatile multifunction color inkjet printer that delivers an impressive 1200x4800dpi print resolution. The flatbed scanner is simpler, with a resolution of just 600x1200dpi, but that's still enough to scan the occasional document or photo for a school report.
It has a 60-sheet rear paper tray and can print on a wide variety of papers and other media, including 5x5in square photo paper and Canon's unusual sticker. Connectivity is also great for inexpensive printers with USB and Wi-Fi, AirPrint for Apple mobile devices, and Google Cloud Print for Android.
Canon also provides its PRINT application, which provides more granular control for printing and scanning. There is a selection of additional software, including a simple photo editor, which you can download for free when installing the main printer driver.
However, there are some signs of cost-cutting. When switching between the different paper types, we had to specify a new paper size in both the printer driver software on our laptop and the printer itself – which involved squinting at the tiny 1.5-inch control screen as we looped around. Times were tapping a button to browse through various paper options.
There is no automatic duplex (two-sided) printing and no SD card slot for printing from a memory card. That's a bit of a spat, given that the printer's price is very competitive, and it should certainly be able to handle most types of documents and creative projects you'll be working on.
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The high resolution of the TS3350 MkII ensures good text, graphics, and photo quality. Text output is very crisp and sharp and can be an advantage for laser printers.
It's not particularly fast, with Canon citing mono output at 7.7 pages per minute (ppm), while our tests came close to just 6ppm. Still, it's great for occasional home use when you only occasionally print letters or other text documents.
Color printing is also great for such an inexpensive printer, with bold, strong colors and a keen eye for detail. The contrast might be a little sharper, but that's a lot to ask for in a printer that costs less than £40, and the TS3350 would be great for printing selfies or some graphs and charts for school reports. Read More: ij.start.canon.
Color printing is quite slow, with our tests producing speeds of just 3ppm, compared to Canon's quoted 4ppm speed. And a single 4x6-inch postcard print takes a full two minutes to print, so the TS3350 is designed for occasional home use rather than page after page every day.
Running Cost
As is often the case, a cheap printer like the TS3350 MkII can surprise you with a pain in the tail when it comes time to buy replacement ink cartridges. That's the case with the TS3350, especially if you buy the smallest standard-size cartridge.
The TS3350 uses only two ink cartridges – one for black ink and a 'tri-color' cartridge that holds all three colored inks (cyan, magenta, and yellow). Standard-size cartridges cost £15.49 for the black ink and £19.49 for the tri-color cartridge. The two cartridges only last for 180 pages each, making for a whopping 8.6p for mono printing and an acceptable 10.8p for color.
The larger XL cartridge costs £21.99 for black ink and lasts 300 pages. That brings the price down to 5.5p, though that's still pretty high for simple mono printing. Color printing performs better, with a 300-page XL color cartridge costing £21.99 and lowering the cost to a more reasonable 7.3p per color page. Get Support by visit Canon TS3350 Driver and Software.
