Canon i-Sensys MF249DW
A speedy mono laser MFP, but the i-Sensys simply costs too much to run compared to its rivals
SCORE ✪✪✪✪✪ PRICE £188 (£226 inc VAT) from misco.co.uk
Like the HP LaserJet Pro MFP M227fdw, the i-Sensys MF249DW is a compact, mono laser all-in-one aimed squarely at small businesses. Even though it comes in cheaper than the HP, it poses pretty much the same question: when you can buy an excellent colour office printer for less than £250, why opt for one that can only print in black-and-white?
As with the HP, convenience and size are part of the answer. At 390 x 378mm, the Canon has a small desktop footprint. The 250-sheet cassette sits neatly inside the printer, and while a support for the 100-sheet
output tray slides outwards during operation, both it and the control panel can fold inside when not in use. But the Canon’s real advantage is speed. While it isn’t quite as fast as the HP, it can still whip through documents at 23ppm, with a single page appearing in under nine seconds; significantly faster than every other laser, bar the HP. It’s slower when printing duplex, at roughly 14ppm to the HP’s 16ppm, but that’s still fast compared to the other office printers on test.
With its small, monochrome touchscreen, the i-Sensys feels a little dated in comparison to other office printers, but it’s easy enough to configure its 802.11n Wi-Fi connectivity using WPS and access the core copy, scan and fax functions. It also supports pull-printing, Apple AirPrint, Google Cloud Print and Mopria, not to mention Canon’s Print Business app, which provides useful printing and scanning capabilities from your tablet or smartphone.
Sadly, the i-Sensys suffers from the exact same disadvantage as the LaserJet Pro: at 2.6p per mono page, it isn’t competitive on running costs. What’s more, the Canon doesn’t quite hit the mark for print quality. Text is crisp but a little lightweight, images are grainy, and detail in photos and illustrations is often lost in an excess of black. It’s also on the slow side when scanning, taking nearly two minutes to capture an A4 colour page, although a five-page report rattled through the ADF in just 24 seconds. This is a fast, business-focused device for the small office, but given the price and the cost per page, the numbers don’t quite add up.