Canon PIXMA MG8120

The Canon PIXMA MG8120 has been replaced by Canon’s PIXMA MG8220, which we don’t have enough evidence to recommend yet.  Consider the Canon PIXMA MG5320 or the Epson Artisan 835 instead.

 

Canon PIXMA MG8120 Overview:

For about $250, you can get the Canon PIXMA MG8120 which has very nice features. We’re talking about a touch-screen interface (which happens to be 3.5-inches!) that only displays the buttons you need during navigation. There is also a scroll wheel to aid in menu navigation. Like other Canon models, you can capture HD movie frames from your Canon EOS Digital SLR camera or Powershot and print them at a great resolution. The maximum resolution available from the Canon PIXMA MG8120 is 9600 x 2400 dots per inch (dpi).

Oh yeah, and the PIXMA MG8120 has the ability to smatter your photo paper with 1 picoliter sized dots. Yes, that’s one-trillionth of a liter (seriously). Canon must be so proud.

Now, most of the time with mid-range priced printers, you’ll get 5 individual ink cartridges. More economically priced printers may only include two cartridges total: one black and one multi-color. The Canon PIXMA MG8120 is different. It comes with 6 individual cartridges. Lets see…so you’ll get two black cartridges, 1 cyan, 1 magenta, 1 yellow, and…wait for it…a glitter cartridge! For all your fruity sparkle needs!

Actually, the 6^th cartridge is gray. So much for sparkly party invitations. You’ll have to use glue and glitter from Hobby Lobby like everybody else. So why the gray cartridge? Well, according to Canon, the gray is for “professional-looking black & white and color photos”. Is Canon insinuating that without a gray cartridge on the MG8120 you’ll print out unprofessional-looking photos? Personally, WE use glue and glitter on everything so it all looks professional.

The rest of the capabilities of the Canon PIXMA MG8120 are pretty normal for Canon. These include: built-in Wi-Fi, printing from your smartphone (iWhatever and Android devices), double-sided printing, memory card direct interfacing, 2 paper trays, and Auto Photo Fix II technology. This software makes general contrast corrections to your pictures based on one of five settings. Those settings are: Portrait, Scenery, Night Scenery, Snapshot with Scenery, and Snapshot with Night Scenery.

 

Canon PIXMA MG8120 Key Points:

Canon PIXMA MG8120 Manual and Installation:

-prepare yourself for the installation, it may take a while. You have to put stuff together and follow directions. Can you follow directions?

-the latest drivers are available to be downloaded from Canon’s website

Canon PIXMA MG8120 User Interface:

-3.5-inch LCD touch-screen that you can use to directly “edit” photos and navigate the menus

-scroll wheel

Canon PIXMA MG8120 Paper Tray:

-2 paper trays, one vertical in the back and one horizontal

-Sample pack of 3 sheets of “PP-201” 4” x 6”paper is included in the box

Canon PIXMA MG8120 Ink:

-Black: PGI-225 ($15…before shipping of course)

-Color: CLI-226 (Cyan/Yellow/Magenta/Black/Gray…about $14 for the Gray and

$46 for the other colors…this is before shipping)

-Wireless networking

-built in Wi-Fi

Canon PIXMA MG8120 Operation:

-not incredibly fast, but not slow by any means…about 20 seconds for a 4” x 6” photo

-accurate color rendition on scans and photocopies

-good and pretty quiet at scanning documents and photos

-the built-in photo-editing capabilities of this printer are not stellar. Use Adobe Photoshop.

 

Canon PIXMA MG8120 Customer Reviews – The Good

“…I love this printer. The photos are absolutely gorgeous. The colors are eye popping, every bit as good as you’d get if you were looking at photos developed from film. I can’t praise the quality enough. Canon has built a true gem here …” Vesta Irene on Amazon.com

“The print quality is great both for photos and normal paper documents. It prints very fast and I like the duplex printing. The scanner is also excellent. The scanned images are absolutely incredible in detail and color. And it scans fast. Installation was very easy and so far I haven’t had any problems with wireless printing. Works every time…” sunstorm on Amazon.com

“…It is quiet, very fast, and delivers unbelievably crisp images. It is also an extremely attractive piece of office equipment, and people have commented on its appearance sitting on a corner table. Not that appearance is too important, but combined with the operating accomplishments, it is just one more thing in its favor.” Duane Sparks “Duane” on Amazon.com

“…wonderful wireless integration into both Mac and Windows; simple wireless setup; easy scan to network; the ability to print all kinds of templates directly from the printer menu such as red/blue-lined handwriting paper (great for my 1st grader) and graph paper; absolutely stunning, amazing, jaw-dropping 4×6 photos; and the list goes on…” Lawrence D. Lowe III “Larry Lowe” on Amazon.com

Canon PIXMA MG8120 Customer Reviews – The Bad:

“…This printer Canon PIXMA MG8120 has a few drawbacks: (1) slow to power up and be ready for functioning, (2) the ink cartridges are hard to find, especially in a value pack (so it can be expensive $100.00+ for a set), (3) so far I am not that impressed with the photo color quality. It appears to be a little yellow…” spike-a-do-da on Amazon.com

“…The older I get, the more frustrated I get with software incompatibilities. When the scan and send to email function is used, it is only compatible with Microsoft Outlook Express, not compatible with Windows Live Mail. This should be a basic software choice. I would have given this unit a five star if not for this very basic oversight…” crowe27 on Amazon.com

“The printing is fine so far, but I’m quite frustrated that it won’t do both wired (Ethernet) and wireless without changing the configuration. The illustrations and documentation strongly imply that it can handle both at once. We’ve got PC’s attached to a wireless router, and laptops with wireless, and have to choose to configure it for one or the other. Switching between them requires a number of steps and isn’t intuitive or fast.” Nathan D. Bos on Amazon.com

Canon PIXMA MG8120 Conclusion:

We would highly recommend the Canon PIXMA MG8120 printer, if it hadn’t already been replaced by the newer Canon PIXMA MG8220 (which we don’t have enough evidence to recommend yet…consider the Canon PIXMA MG5320 until we know more).  Still, when it came to the MG8120, 88% of its owners practically left their spouses to marry this sexy beast. Not really, but 88% of owners being happy with it is an accurate figure. Here are some helpful pointers when considering this printer.

1) Buy your ink ON THE INTERNET. Otherwise, local stores will take naughty advantage of your wallet. This is easy if you keep track of the ink levels before you run out. Remember the 5 P’s: Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance!

2) Download the latest drivers from Canon.

3) The on-screen photo-editing capabilities of this printer are not what the CIA would use to beef up their satellite pics of North Korea.

4) The photo scanning is really good, but it’s not perfect. If you really want *amazing* scanning, consider buying a standalone scanner instead of an All-in-One printer.