Canon Printer PIXMA MX340

I have been looking for a printer for about a month and came across a wireless printer. It's the Canon printer PIXMA MX340. I wasn't even looking to get a wireless printer, but there are advantages. I do have 3 children ranging from 14 to 22 years of age and having the printer in a more centralized location works the best for all. What I thought was real neat was that you could print the pictures directly from your cell phone. With this workhorse of a printer the price was less than $80.00.

Design

The design to this printer is very sleek. The LCD display and the rest of the controls are on the top front of the unit and is easily read. The output tray can be closed when not in use. When it begins to print it can automatically open up so the paper can come out. The rear tray can have different paper sizes including 4x6 photo, 8x10 photo, letter, legal and envelopes.

Set up

After the printer out of the box it probably took me about 30 minutes get the printer running. Word of caution, do not read the user manual. I am one of those guys that actually love reading manuals. But this manual does get a bit confusing. After reading it about 3 times you will get the hang of it. Best bet is throw in the DVD and go with that. DVD is a step by step guide which is a snap to go through.

Print speed

I like the print speed. The first page always takes the longest. I'm not sure why this is the case. After the first page the rest of the printed pages are of normal speed. What I like about the printing, it has a draft print selection which I think doesn't change the printing speed but uses less ink. For the first page, the print speed is about 14 seconds for black and white and 16 seconds for color. After the first page, it goes into a fast print speed, printing 8 ppm, and 5 ppm for color.

Fax

Faxing was easy, just plug the telephone cord to the back of the printer. You have a way to switch it to fax only or to use it as a phone only.

Energy test

This Canon printer PIXMA MX340 is also Energy Star qualified. It uses anywhere from 10 to 15 watts of power comparing to around 30 watts from a non energy efficient printer. In sleep mode it uses only 3 watts.