A Pricey Portable Printer

Canon's i80 Color Bubble Jet produces high-quality output.

Michael S. Lasky

Canon i80 portable printer.

Canon's i80 Color Bubble Jet Printer is a versatile photo and text printer with high-quality, speedy output. This 12.4-by-6.9-by-2-inch device is billed as portable, but it weighs in at almost 5 pounds (including an optional battery pack you are sure to need), which is not insignificant. However, recent home inkjet printers we've looked at, without portability-enhancing features, weigh an average of 8.5 pounds.

The i80 supplies a clutch of printer connections, including one for a USB 2.0 cable, plus a wireless printing capability (via a built-in infrared port or an optional $80 Bluetooth module). The device can use conventional AC power, and it also works with a $140 battery/charger kit or a $90 car adapter. If you purchase all the options, this basic $249 printer ultimately costs an extremely pricey $559. Is it worth it? Only if you truly need printing on the go.

The printer's top cover, when opened, doubles as a paper stand that easily handles 12 sheets of 20-pound bond and single sheets of Canon-optimized photo paper. Black-only and color output looked remarkably crisp on any quality of paper that I inserted; the results had no smears or bleeds, even on low-end bond. A full page of black text printed out in 10 seconds in my tests.

Using the included Canon software, I achieved excellent results for photos printed on 20-pound bond and outstanding quality on the company's custom Photo Paper Pro paper. A high-resolution photograph took a minute to print.

Both wireless infrared and Bluetooth-module printing from my Palm Tungsten C were a snap. The printer can also print without a PC from any PictBridge-compatible camera or camcorder. The device's lithium ion battery charged in 2 hours and powered through five 8.5-by-11 photos and a dozen text-only pages with no change noted on the power indicator.

Canon i80 Color Bubble Jet Printer

Expensive portable printer produces high-quality output. List: $249 for base unitCurrent prices (if available)