The Canon Pixma MG4250 Inkjet printer is the most advanced of the thermal print head Canon home printers. Priced around £50, it offers auto duplex, a 2.5" colour display, and mobile printing.
The Canon Pixma MG-4250 printer comes boxed with PG-540BK black and CL-541C colour thermal print head cartridges, providing a decent 4800dpi printing resolution. The pigment black 8ml cartridge allows you to print approximately 180 pages. The Chromalife100 colour cartridge also contains a total of 8ml of cyan,magenta, and yellow ink, and prints 180 pages.
The 1200 x 2400 dpi, 25-400% zoom cis flatbed scanner comes with useful features including scan to email, scan to file, scan to memory card, OCR text recognition, and PDF file creation. An A4 scan takes approximately 14 seconds to complete, and 20 seconds to photocopy a document. Border-less, and double sided copying is supported in high, standard, and fast settings.
There are so many ways to connect the the MG4250 printer. WiFi, Hi-Speed USB, Apple AirPrint, and Pixma Cloud Link are all supported. Not to mention the six different versions of memory cards, plus an additional seven types using an adapter (not supplied), which you can print directly from.
The Canon Pixma MG4250 has so far achieved review scores above 4/5, making it a safe purchase. However, the running costs are high using the Canon PG540 and CL-541 ink cartridges. In addition, the printing and scanning resolutions are half that of the more expensive Canon Pixma MX725 and MX925 printers (see chart below).
| Printer Model | Price | Print Resolution | Scan Resolution | Cheap Ink? |
| Pixma MG4250 | £49 | 4800 x 1200 dpi | 1200 x 2400 dpi | Ink Refill Kit |
| Pixma MG5650 | £79 | 4800 x 1200 dpi | 1200 x 2400 dpi |
Cartridges / Refillables |
| Pixma MX725 | £129 | 9600 x 4800 dpi | 2400 x 4800 dpi |
Cartridges / Refillables |
| Pixma MX925 | £134 | 9600 x 4800 dpi | 2400 x 4800 dpi |
Cartridges / Refillables |
Overall, the Canon Pixma MG4250 offers decent value for occasional printer users, but additional usage will quickly wipe out any savings made from the cheaper initial purchase price. However, if you cannot afford a more expensive Canon printer, then refilling the PG540 / CL541 cartridges is an option.
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