Friday 26 September 2008

Portable Printer - mobile printer, bluetooth


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. Canon PIXMA iP100 Mobile Photo Printer

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.

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.

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.



[...] - Bluetooth - Inkjet - Mobile Printer - Canon'


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