Canon Pixma MX925 review

We’ve no criticism of Canon’s excellent scanner interface. If you want scanning to be as easy as possible, the default Basic Mode asks you for a bit of information about what kind of material you’re scanning and at what size you’d like to print or display the final image. The software then uses this information to work out what resolution and settings to apply to your scan. If, on the other hand, you want complete control over your scanned image, Advanced Mode lets you enable, disable and adjust features such as sharpening, grain correction, saturation and brightness. In both advanced and basic modes, the interface can detect when you’re scanning a photo or multiple photos. Its thumbnail view displays each photo separately and will automatically crop them to the right size.

Scan quality is very good indeed, with accurate reproduction of even subtle shades and precise reproduction of fine detail. With a maximum optical scan resolution of 2,400×4,800, this CIS scanner is good enough for making archive-quality reproductions of favourite images and important family documents. Copy quality is also good, with sharp text and accurately shaded image reproduction, even on the mono parts of a densely coloured illustration.

The MFP’s print quality is also excellent. Its print speeds aren’t fantastic compared to high-speed business inkjet or laser printers, but they’re decent for home or home office use, particularly if you don’t usually print loads of huge documents. Colour prints emerged at a consistent 3.5ppm, while mono prints took 11.5ppm. If you print text at draft quality, you’ll only get a boost to 11.8ppm, so it’s not worth it, even though this MFP’s draft text is better than many inkjet printers’ full-quality attempts. There’s no card reader here, but you can plug one into the USB port if required.

Text prints were incredibly sharp, while our challenging illustrated business documents looked brilliant, with smooth, accurate colours, excellent shading and fine reproduction of even 8pt lettering. Photo quality is, as we’ve come to expect from Canon printers with four or more dye-based cartridges, excellent, with natural colours, good contrast and rich, deep black tones. At top quality, 6x4in photo prints take just over a minute each to emerge.

Print costs based on Canon’s XXL ink cartridges are surprisingly cheap, working out at 1.9p for a mono page and 7.3p for a page of mixed colour, and the printer itself only costs £113. It’s not the fastest printer around, but it’s quick enough. We certainly can’t fault its print quality, making it a great buy for a home or small office.