Canon Pixma MX860 review

The Pixma MX860 is Canon's latest high-end A4 business inkjet, with built-in 10/100 Ethernet and 802.11b/g wireless networking, an automatic duplexer and duplex scanning from the ADF.

It uses five cartridges, including both pigment- and dye-based black for optimal performance on both standard and photographic paper. It also has a memory card reader and a PictBridge USB port that will let you scan and print documents using a USB drive. There are two 150-sheet paper trays, but you can't configure the second input to take over if the first runs out of paper.

You can configure the MX860's network connection settings via a web interface. This is an easy way to configure passwords and advanced security settings, but you can't alter paper handling and other print quality settings. Fortunately, the MFP's built-in 2?in colour screen makes these easy to configure.

Print quality was up to the standard we've come to expect from Canon's inkjets, with pin-sharp text, brilliant colour documents and rich photo prints. Standard-quality mono and colour print speeds - at 6.8ppm and 2.2ppm respectively - are quick for an inkjet but don't match up to its business credentials. The automatic duplexer produced draft colour prints at 1.7ppm.

The scanner's software is excellent. A multi-crop feature makes it easy to scan multiple objects on the platen as individual image files. You can also turn scanned documents into searchable PDFs using Canon's MP Navigator EX, which also lets you add scanned pages to existing PDFs. Scan quality was good, with brilliant detail, smooth shading and accurate reproduction of dark colours, although pale shades looked greyish.

The MX860 is aimed at small business users who want to be able to produce affordable and attractive documents and high-quality scans. It has a great range of features, but relatively slow print speeds and high print costs compared with HP's Office Pro 8500.