Canon PIXMA iP100 Mobile Photo Printer

• Compact photo printer offers lab-quality prints with take-anywhere portability
• Black-and-white documents print at 20 ppm; color at 14 ppm
• Patented print head uses 1,856 nozzles for outstanding print quality at 9600 x 2400 dpi
• Support for IrDA and PictBridge lets you print directly from cameras and cell phones
• Measures a compact 12.7 x 2.4 x 7.2 inches (WxHxD)

We bought this little gem to take to Europe. First impressions are very favorable. It's small, reliable, and prints beautifully. At just over four pounds, it's perfect for travel.

The little Bluetooth adaptor also works very well. Reading the manual (!), I discovered it is possible to mount the adapter permanently inside the printer so that it's not exposed and doesn't need attachment every time it is used. This is a simple procedure, and enhances the usefulness of the Bluetooth capability that is all but de rigueur when traveling. The installation / setup information is also in the electronic manual that comes on the CD.

But as good as the printer is, it does not come with (nor does Canon offer) a case of any kind. I found the perfect solution from Case-Mate: go to http://www.case- and buy the 'Glovez 15"' sleeve (like a large envelope with a velcro closure / flap). It comes in an assortment of colors and is a skin-tight (but very workable) fit in the 'length' direction. When inserted, the printer doesn't take up every bit of the case in the 'width' direction, meaning there is just enough room to also accommodate the cord and AC brick. Throw these in, close the flap, and you're always ready to roll.

Best part: this 'Glovez' sleeve is only $9.99 + $3.99 S/H, and gets to you in a few days. It's not bulky just what one wants to protect the printer but not take up room. (As an aside, the Case-Mate Glovez 13" [for the MacBook 13" and Air] fits the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 perfectly).

March 8, 2011: Came back (for the first time) to look over some of my reviews, and thought I would update this one. We took the printer to Europe for a month in the summer of 2008 (and, as noted by one of the commenters, it does indeed have a built-in usable voltage range of 100 240V, 50 60 Hz, so one needs only an adapter for local outlets, and not a transformer of any kind). It performed flawlessly then, and continues to do so today.

We take it everywhere. It goes in the bag wherever we go on vacation, or on business, and has never missed a beat. It sets up in an instant as soon as you get to your hotel room so easy to use. As stated before, I highly recommend the internally-mounting bluetooth adapter; it's never in the way, impossible to lose, and reliable. OK: Canon gets a small demerit for not building it in in the first place, but... With today's wireless-built-in portable PCs and other devices, it's a snap to hook up to the Internet within moments of arriving at your hotel, then send maps, proposals, anything else, etc. to the printer with no cables whatever. Especially good when both of us have our laptops out at a hotel room: we can both send jobs to the printer across the room without getting in each other's way. It's quick, reliable, durable, with various 'quality levels' available and I highly recommend it for mobile use.

I know Canon also makes a battery that 'bolts-on' to the back of this printer. For my application, the additional $100 wasn't worth the extra bulk to achieve a freedom from the electric grid that I didn't need. But if you conduct business in your pickup, or out in the field, it would certainly make sense: put the printer on the passenger seat and produce a customer invoice, etc. on the spot.

I seldom wax so enthusiastic over a product, and have been known to be excoriatingly critical of poor designs / execution. But Canon hit the nail dead center with this product: if you're in the market for a genuinely useful, rugged, portable printer get it. You will not regret the decision.

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Bought this to use while traveling, but once I set it up in an inconspicuous spot in the living room (where I spend way too much time with the laptop), I've been using it all the time. Haven't printed photos, but for letters, Web page copies, even maps, quality matches my Epson printers. It's at least as fast as any other home printer I've had. (But yes, it does spit out the pages from the table onto the floor; I attribute that to where I have it placed, and I don't care. I don't have to go upstairs to the desktop printer anymore.)

I use a Mac, which comes with Bluetooth, and bought the adaptor. So no cables, just the print command from the across the room, and I'm in business. I can access all the printer functions, including printer utilities, using Bluetooth -which I can't with my Epson, which is networked through my Airport router.

Pricey, perhaps, but I've already taken this with me on a long weekend and was happy to be able to print out something I needed. I'll definitely find room in the luggage for this one.....

UPDATE: Still have this printer, and 15 months later, still like it. One hiccup: Upgraded my iBook (Mac OS10.4x) to a MacBookPro (OS10.5x "Leopard") and could not connect to the printer via bluetooth. In May, found a link via a Mac user forum to Canon driver updates, and I'm back in business. Until I did, was able to connect the printer to my Airport Extreme router and still use it. However, restoring bluetooth functionality made my day. Not sure whether Amazon allows links, and it's hard to find on the Canon site. But you should look for the ip100sosmosx100us driver package. A google search will bring it up. Perhaps newer printers already have these drivers with the install software. If not, give it a try.

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I purchased the Canon iP100 so I could have a small, compact printer in my travel trailer. This one fills the bill perfectly. Setup was easy and it worked right out of the box. Print speed and quality is excellent. The only flaw is that it occassionally feeds multiple sheets of paper at one time. Fanning the paper before placing it in the feel tray helps rectify this.

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This Printer is great except that when I load multiple sheets, the rollers and feeder mechanism grab 5 or 6 sheets at once. I double checked the setting and ran a diagnostic. I also tried different paper types/quality, fanning and pre-sorting the paper, bending the paper, and nothing worked. Every time the print job reached the second or third page, 5 or 6 sheets would be jammed through. This issue makes printing more than 2 sheets at once nearly impossible. Otherwise great printer. Apparently this is a common problem as it is addressed on the Canon website. However, I implemented the suggested solutions and I still could not print more than 2 pages without the printer jamming, thus I am returning the printer.

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This model is fairly expensive for an inkjet printer but there is an elegance about its design that appeals to me; especially when I need a versatile printer while traveling. This printer is about the same width and depth as a NETbook computer and about twice as thick. Print quality of text and color graphics on plain copy paper is excellent. This printer also does a superb and reasonably fast job of making photo-lab-quality color prints up to 8 ½ X 11 in size on glossy photo paper. Thus far I haven't experienced any paper feed problems.

Installation of the printer driver on my Windows XP Pro SP3 notebook computer went without a hitch. I avoided installing the other software that Canon included on their CD because it duplicated other applications. Since I did not buy the bluetooth adapter I didn't install their bluetooth configuration software either.

Weight of the printer by itself, without the optional battery pack and bluetooth adapter, is 4 pounds 6.5 ounces. With the AC power supply the total travel weight is 5 pounds 0.9 ounces. With plug adapters the power supply will work on either 120 or 240 volts. An optional 12-volt car adapter will also power this printer. A clam-shell type top, which serves as a paper support and guide when open, protects the innards of the printer when it is held closed by a magnet for traveling.

For several years, I've owned a PIXMA ip4000 color inkjet printer, which is considerably larger and was not designed for portable use. That printer also consistently produces excellent color images, so I was already familiar with Canon PIXMA printer quality before I bought this one. I might add that I've been using "compatible" cartridges purchased from Amazon for less than 1/2 the cost of the Canon brand and don't see any difference in print quality or cartridge life.

Aside from NOT having separate tanks for each ink color and dual paper trays this printer offers all of the features of my larger PIXMA printer, and even better print quality, without the bulk and weight. Since I usually have access to electric power during my travels (I use an inverter in my car), I didn't order the optional battery pack which adds bulk, $100 to the cost and nearly 2 pounds to the travel weight. However I can see how the availability of such an accessory would be valuable to those who need it.

Having this printer delivered to me the day after it was ordered using Amazon's free super-saver shipping was an unexpected and delightful surprise. No sales tax or other fees were added and Amazon's price was competitive. Amazon's advertised, "Save Big on the Canon iP100 Mobile Photo Printer" price was reduced another $15 one day after my printer was shipped. Amazon would NOT give me price protection and refund the difference. Considering the higher-than-average cost of this printer, I did find it annoying that Canon does not include a USB printer cable in the package. After shopping for what other manufacturers charge for their bluetooth adapters Canon's price seems excessively high. Aside from those two minor gripes, I am pleased with my purchase.