This is my review of the Canon Pixma iX6820 or the Pixma iX6850 which is the European equivalent.

With great satisfaction I have used Canon inkjet printers for more than a decade and the Canon iX6820 printer is no exception.

The iX6820 is extremely fast and the print results are stunning. This printer can easily hold its own in even a professional home office environment.

The large format A3 option is great but of course this also has an impact on the price tag. However, if you don´t need the A3 option I would imagine that a smaller A4 printer such as the Canon Pixma iP7220 will offer similar impressive results at a lower price. The European equivalent of this model is the Pixma iP7250.

The Canon Pixma iX6820 inkjet

Benefits

  • Large format A3 printing
  • Fast document and photo printing
  • Extremely high quality photo printing
  • Multiple connectivity options including network printing from mobile devices

What´s in the box

Apart from the printer itself you´ll find:

  • Power cable
  • A full set of cartridges (Unable to say whether they are in fact full due to the non-transparent material.)
  • Installation manual
  • Driver CD-ROM
  • Inkjet photo paper sample pack
  • Safety documentation

iX6820 box contents

First impressions of the Canon Pixma iX6820 / iX6850

When you unbox this device you get an immediate sensation of high technical quality which I have come to expect from Canon home office products.

The iX6820 cover is like a mirror and as such rather sensitive to fingerprints and dust.

After 10-15 years of being fashionable, I would very much like to see the end of the high gloss plastic era for office gadgets, monitors and TV´s. I believe I am speaking for many of us when I say that reflections belong in the mirror and we don´t really need to clearly see light reflections, finger prints or dust on our gadgets.

Obviously the A3 tag leads you to expect a large device and this is indeed the case with the Canon iX6820. It has quite a large footprint when the paper feed and exit tray is fully extended to cater for A3 paper.

iX6850 fully operational

Installation

When you turn on the printer for the first time I recommend using the installation guide that comes with the printer even though it is not particularly complicated. The printer head needs to be aligned and the installation guide will take you through this process and create the first print automatically.

The printer was not immediately recognized by Windows 7 pro on my main computer for automatic install, but for some reason the auto install ran smoothly on a laptop which was also running Windows 7.

I have not tried installing the printer on neither newer versions of Windows nor Mac computers where the recognized models are likely to be more numerous.

If your computer is not installing the printer automatically, the included driver CD is easy and straight forward to use. The installation process will ask you the necessary questions in regards to your preferred connection method.

Connectivity

You have the following connectivity options:

  1. USB
  2. Wireless  (WI-FI, Air Print, Androd Print App)
  3. Network (LAN)
  4. Cloud Printing

Printing performance

As it is my experience with home office printers, the Canon Pixma iX6820 is very fast. A text document is done faster than you can walk across the room to get the print and I imagine you need a laser printer to get faster photo prints.

Test results

All test results below are timed from pressing print and includes all the clicking and whirring when the printer is getting ready.

  • A4 tightly written document takes 37 seconds at high quality and 5-6 seconds at standard
  • A4 full page glossy photo, 2 minutes 13 seconds
  • A4 full page mat(silk) photo paper, 2 minutes 18 seconds

I chose a test photo that had lots of dark areas as well as bright highlights and I am truly impressed with the quality. Obviously I am unable to show you the print result, but the image below is what I used for my tests.

As a standard user I simply can´t come up with a single issue when it comes to the print quality of the Canon iX6820.

Paper quality

During my printing tests I used different brands of paper and I noticed significantly different results. So before stocking up on expensive printing paper it would be worth your while to experiment with different brands to find a paper quality that you like.

Ink / Liquid Gold

The printer ink aspect is always interesting since this has to be one of the most expensive fluids on earth! I have even experienced that you can get a brand new printer on offer with new cartridges that is cheaper than buying new cartridges.

With that in mind, I was surprised to see that the ink cartridges are now made of a non-transparent plastic material which means that you can no longer see for yourself how much ink is left.

This may not be news to users of recent models of Canon printers, but the printers that I have used had a significant amount of ink left in the tanks when the driver indicated a low ink level.

As a very telling example of this I can show you the big black tank on my old Pixma iP4300. The driver has indicated low ink level for a while but as you can tell from the image below the tank is 1/3 full.

 

Ink tank example

So my point is that because you can no longer tell for yourself how much ink is left, you need to trust the driver to tell you when to put in new in cartridges and risk throwing out cartridges that a still good for a lot of prints.

At least the colors are separated unlike some printer brands where all colors are in one single cartridge.

On orange light on the cartridges indicate a working cartridge and I guess it will turn off or blink when it is empty.

inktanks-01

Specs

Final words

The Canon Pixma iX 6820 / iX6850 is a good match for anyone needing the option to print A3 scale prints for fun, hobby and even professional presentations.

Don´t let the low price fool you. Even though this is a consumer product, this printer delivers flawless prints for even the picky enthusiast or professional home office user.

I would have liked a paper tray for everyday A4 use. While this is not a critical shortcoming it is great to have a dust-free stash of paper ready to go in a cassette tray.

Most users will most likely choose the WIFI connectivity, but at least one kind of connection cable would have been a most gracious addition.

The stunning prints and large print option easily outweighs the cons that I have mentioned and I recommend the Canon Pixma iX6820 / iX6850 without reservation.

Pros

  • Large format A3 printing at a competitive price
  • Incredibly fast printing
  • Stunning photo print quality
  • Multiple connectivity options including WI-FI

Cons

  • Dust and fingerprint sensitive cover
  • Non transparant ink cartridges
  • No connection cables included
  • No internal paper tray. An internal A4 tray would have been a welcome feature.
  • No cd printing

Verdict
  • Price / Performance
  • Print Quality
  • Features
  • Connectivity
4.6

Summary

The Canon Pixma iX6820 would be a great addition to your home office environment if you need A3 printing for work or hobby.

As mentioned I did miss a couple of secondary features, but the core duties of a consumer/semi-professional inkjet printer are covered to the fullest with this A3 monster.