Hands-On Review: Canon’s PIXMA G620 Wireless MegaTank Photo Printer

As a photographer who is borderline neurotic about print quality, “everyday” print jobs have always been a thorn in my side. My office is home to a Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-1000 17" printer and an Epson Stylus Pro 9800 44" printer. While both units produce brilliant, high-quality photographs, neither was designed for practical home office applications or high-volume, small-scale print workflows. Any other poor souls who have found themselves hand-feeding letter-size copy paper through a printer designed for 44-inch wide rolls of photo paper just to make a return shipping label will understand my struggle. When I was asked to try Canon’s new PIXMA G620 Wireless MegaTank Photo All-in-One Printer, I was hopeful that it might cover the bases my larger printers have left empty.

The first thing I noticed out of the box is the relatively small footprint and compact build of this printer. When folded up, it occupies only 17.2 x 12.5" of space, so you don’t have to worry about it competing with everything else on your desk. When printing, it extends to an equally manageable 17.2 x 21.8". The second thing I noticed was its use of a 6-Color Ink System. Sharing its design with previous refillable MegaTank printers, the G620 uses bottles with keyed nozzles to ensure that only the correct color can be added into its designated tank. I became aware of this clever feature while attempting to make the exact mistake described above, so—nice foresight, Canon. Another useful feature of the MegaTank design is the inclusion of transparent windows for each color so you can quickly eyeball levels without even needing to turn the printer on.

While the G620 is billed as an all-in-one printer, it has a handful of features that exceed what I would usually expect from this category. For example, the addition of red and gray inks to the usual cyan, magenta, yellow, and black configuration provides a wider color gamut, resulting in exceptional color accuracy for a printer in its class. Print quality further benefits from 4800 x 1200 dpi printing for crisp and sharp details, as well as Canon’s ChromaLife100 technology, to prevent fading over time. A common complaint about consumer printers—especially from those of us accustomed to photo printers loaded with massive ink cartridges—is how quickly their cartridges empty. Canon states that the G620 is capable of printing up to 3,800 4 x 6" photos per set of ink bottles, and I believe it. I printed well over a hundred 8 x 10" black-and-white images and observed only a small dent in supply levels. I have always wanted to print small physical copies of the thousands of photos stored on my phone, and the G620 seems like exactly the printer to handle this type of task. In terms of print dimensions, it produces borderless prints up to 8.5 x 11" and is capable of making up to 47" long prints—which, incidentally, is twice the maximum print length of my PRO-1000. Custom print sizes can also be entered, and a variety of paper types are supported for creative applications.

The G620 features an 8.5 x 11.7" flatbed scanner on its top. Scans are possible in either color or grayscale modes, capturing at 600 x 1200 dpi using a Contact Image Sensor (CIS). Up to 99 copies can be made at a time and images can be scaled from 25-400%. A 1.5" LCD screen and intuitive set of controls make it easy to adjust settings on the printer itself. Wired connectivity is provided via a USB Type-B port. Alternatively, Wi-Fi connectivity allows you to print remotely. You can print directly from a smart device using the Canon PRINT app, AirPrint (Apple devices), or Mopria Print Service (Android devices).

Overall, I was impressed by the G620’s versatility and could see it rounding out my collection of photo printers to cover my office needs, as well as small photo tasks.

What do you think of Canon’s latest printer? Have you tried any of the MegaTank printers? Share your thoughts in the Comments section, below!