The Canon Pixma iP8720 Wireless Inkjet Photo Printer is similar to the Canon Pixma iX6820 Wireless Inkjet Printer in many ways. However, it has one key difference that makes it a very different animal.
The Canon iX6820’s five-ink system (cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and photo black) does a good job with photos, but it’s still mostly made for business use. The iP8720 adds grey ink, which makes it possible to print black-and-white photos that look much better.
[content-egg-block template=offers_logo hide=price]Specifications
- 13″ wide photo quality inkjet printer
- Print 4″ x 6″ up to 13″ x 26″ banners
- Six Dye Based Inks – Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, Black, Gray, Pigment Black
- Estimated Retail Price $249
- Ink Cost – About $11.99 for standard size and $17.99 for XL size
- Standard Ink Tanks – Holding about 7 mL of ink each
Where to get Canon IP8720 all-in-one printer?
The iP8720 is a large, black, glossy printer that doesn’t stand out except for its textured top panels and three buttons (power, resume/cancel, and Wi-Fi/WPA). Even though it looks and sounds like its Pixma Pro big brothers, the iP8720 is made for the home market. Canon calls it a “crafting printer,” but we think designers on a budget could use it. It’s also lighter than the professional models, but heavier than most inkjet printers that cost less than $100.
You can connect the printer using USB or Wi-Fi, which is how most people connect devices at home these days. Even though it’s a photo printer, it doesn’t have a front USB port that works with PictBridge. But if you have one of Canon’s newer cameras, you can connect directly over Wi-Fi. The same is true if you want to print wirelessly from an iOS or Android smart device.
The front panel folds down to reveal the paper output tray and a straight path for the CD/DVD print tray that comes with the printer. The paper tray can hold 120 sheets of plain paper or 20 sheets of heavier photographic media. The back panel lifts up to reveal the tray. The printhead can be seen when the top panel is opened.
The iP8720 can print in six different colours. Canon adds photo black and grey to the standard cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. These extra colours make the gamut bigger and give much more detail to shaded areas. They also make it possible to make finer black-and-white prints.
When talking about a photo printer, the amount of ink a cartridge can hold doesn’t mean much. There are standards that printer makers must meet, but it’s impossible to guess the actual yield based on the photos you print. Canon says that the standard size black cartridge will print about 1,100 pages and each of the colour cartridges will print about 310 pages. This does not include photos.