Canon Pixma G3520 review: a minimalist cartridge-free printer

Canon is renewing its range of printers without MegaTank cartridges with new references. The Pixma G3520 goes straight to the point and ranks among Canon's entry-level ink tank models.

Presentation

Canon's MegaTank range (G series) includes the manufacturer's ink tank printers, like Epson's EcoTank range. These models are said to be “cartridge-less” and generally enjoy a much lower cost per page than traditional inkjet printers, but are sold at a much higher price.

Within this range, the Pixma G3520 is one of the most accessible references, being launched by Canon at € 239.99. It is a color multifunction printer with Wi-Fi connectivity.

Design

The Canon G3520 is rather compact with closed shutters (44.5 × 33 × 16.7 cm) and has a fairly serious build. However, its only paper tray, with a capacity of 100 sheets, is located at the rear and the paper therefore protrudes from this gauge. You should allow about 13 cm behind the printer to insert A4 paper and 18 cm in front to let it out.

The first use requires installing the print heads, which is relatively easy, as well as filling the ink tanks. Located at the front of the printer, they allow you to consult the ink level by a simple visual check. Their filling is easy and not messy, as long as it is done with delicacy.

The connection is reduced to a minimum and is limited to a USB-B port. The Pixma G3520 has Wi-Fi connectivity and is compatible with the Apple AirPrint service, in particular.

The control panel is located on the top of the printer, to the left of the scanner. It consists of a 2-line LCD screen and a dozen buttons. The interface of the small screen is not intuitive and navigation is impractical. The menus and sub-menus of the parameters are rather poorly arranged, for example.

Consumption

We measured a consumption of 0.5 W in standby for the Canon Pixma G3520. This is a low value and consumption does not fly away when the printer is in use, with 11 W read in photo printing.

Unfortunately, this chapter is marred by significant noise pollution. Thus, our sound level meter, positioned 1 m from the printer, recorded up to 65 dB because of very high mechanical noise. In photo printing and once stabilized, we measured the G3520 at 40 dB, which is more acceptable.

A silent mode is offered and makes it possible to attenuate printing noise quite significantly. Peaks of 56 dB are still heard, however, and monochrome print rates drop from 13 pages per minute (ppm) to just 4.7 ppm.

Cost per page

Cost per page is the major asset of ink tank printers. The Canon G3520 is no exception with a cost per page calculated at just 0.7 euro cent (€ 0.007), or even 0.3 euro cent in monochrome (€ 0.003), based on the price of the bottles. ink sold by Canon.

These values are average for printers without cartridges and well below the cost per page of a traditional inkjet printer.

An economy mode increases the autonomy of the printer, further lowering its cost per page. According to Canon, it would print up to 26% more pages with the same amount of ink

Scanner and copies

The Pixma G3520 provides high speed scans and copies. Thus, it takes 10 s to copy an A4 document in monochrome and 21 s to do the same in color. The quality of the photocopies is satisfactory.

Scans take 8 s for an A4 document at 100 dpi in grayscale and 9 s for a 10x15 cm photo at 300 dpi in color.

Office automation

In office automation, the Canon G3520 demonstrates good print quality.

Its printing speeds are average, with 13 ppm in monochrome and 7.5 ppm in color. Economy print mode has little impact on print throughputs, with 13.3 ppm read in monochrome, for example.

Note that the G3520 also exists in a high speed version called G3560 , its printing speeds are advertised as being slightly higher.

First page out time

On and ready to print, the Canon Pixma G3520 takes 11 seconds to output its first page. When coming out of standby, or when the printer was off, this time is then very variable. We measured delays ranging from 20 s (printer turned off after a short period of inactivity) to almost 1 min (waking up from sleep).

Conclusion

The results are mixed for this Canon Pixma G3520. Its printing qualities are satisfactory and it benefits from a very low cost per page, specific to printers with ink tanks, but it has significant defects.

Whenever possible, investing a little more in a quieter model equipped with a more practical control panel seems wise to us. We think in particular of the Epson EcoTank ET-3700 .

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Canon Pixma G3520 review: a minimalist cartridge-free printer