Canon PIXMA TS6550i Review: Compact 3-in-1 Inkjet

The Canon PIXMA TS6550i looks, at first glance, like a thoroughly typical member of the entry-level class: compact, plainly styled and built down to a budget. It is a multifunction device that prints, scans and copies, and it makes no attempt to disguise where it sits in the market. Published laboratory testing of the machine found rather more behind that unassuming shell than the plain exterior suggests, along with a few clear limits that anyone considering it should understand before committing.

Canon has taken the red pen to the feature list on the PIXMA TS6550i without cutting away the essentials. Printing is handled by combined ink cartridges, an approach that usually keeps the purchase price of the machine itself down but which can cost more when the time comes to replace the consumables. That trade-off is covered in detail further down.

Against that, automatic duplex printing is included. The printer turns the paper over by itself and prints on both sides, which is a genuinely useful inclusion at this level rather than a token one. Connection is possible in more than one way: over USB directly to a computer, or wirelessly via Wi-Fi.

The omissions are just as instructive as the inclusions. There is no network socket, so a wired Ethernet connection is off the table, and there is no automatic document feeder for the scanner, which means multi-page scanning and copying is a manual, sheet-by-sheet job. The paper cassette holds 100 sheets, which is enough for everyday use, but there is no second tray, so switching between plain paper and photo paper means physically swapping the stack.

One pleasant surprise is the high maximum paper weight of 275 grams. The printer therefore copes without difficulty with heavier, better-quality photo paper, which is not something every budget machine manages. The display, by contrast, is no attraction at all: at 3.6 centimetres across the diagonal it is closer to a peephole than a control centre, and it constrains how much of the setup and maintenance work you would want to do at the machine itself rather than from a phone or computer.

In text printing the PIXMA TS6550i shows a solid hand. Letters sit cleanly on the paper and the contours are crisp enough for letters, correspondence and homework. This is the workload most buyers at this level will put through the machine most often, and it is handled without complaint.

Graphics printing is where the picture becomes both more colourful and more critical. Fine detail is drawn well and the contrasts are right, but the colours are not always accurate: the measured colour fidelity came in at 49 per cent, and the printer occasionally misjudges a tone as a result. Charts and diagrams do not always look as rich and as precise as they should, which matters if you are producing presentation material or coloured reference documents rather than plain text.

Photos are a different story entirely. Here the TS6550i genuinely comes alive. Colours look lively, gradations are rendered smoothly and detail is preserved. A slight graininess is visible and black tends a little towards the light side, but taken as a whole the printer delivers surprisingly attractive images for a machine in this class. Combined with the high supported paper weight, that makes occasional photo printing a realistic use for it rather than a compromise.

The scanner also does its job well. Colours and greyscales are captured very precisely, and the measured resolution of 1084 ppi is comfortably sufficient for both documents and photographs. The absence of an automatic document feeder remains the practical limitation here, not the image quality.

When it comes to print speed, the Canon puts in a real sprint. It has barely started before the first page appears: text printing is ready after a good four seconds. Six pages are finished in 25 seconds, which is brisk for a machine of this size and price bracket.

Graphics and photos do not slow it down unduly either. A small photo in the 10x15 centimetre format is finished in around 35 seconds, and an A4 photo print takes just under two minutes. For a compact three-in-one inkjet these are considerable figures, and speed is arguably the single most persuasive thing about the machine in daily use.

The TS6550i is easy on the wallet at the point of purchase, and then shows its second face in operation. Text printing is comparatively expensive per page for a machine of this type. Graphics are more reasonable, while photos land at the costly end. Against those per-page costs, the cartridges last for roughly 980 text pages, 331 graphics pages or 196 photos before replacement.

The structural disadvantage in colour printing is the cartridge design. The three primary colours — yellow, cyan and magenta — sit in a single shared cartridge, the Canon CL-586XL, rather than in separate tanks. If one colour runs out, the complete unit has to be replaced even though ink remains in the other two chambers. Black uses its own cartridge, the Canon PG-595XL, so the problem is much less pronounced if you print text only.

There is some mitigation available. You are not obliged to use the manufacturer's original cartridges; cheaper third-party alternatives will generally do the job, although quality and reliability can vary depending on the supplier. Even so, anyone who prints a great deal would be better served by an ink tank printer such as the Canon MAXIFY GX1050, accepting that machines of that kind carry a higher outlay at the outset.

Power consumption, by contrast, is a clear positive. Annual electricity use is a manageable 11.8 kilowatt hours, and standby draw is low at 1.3 watts, so the machine is undemanding when it is sitting idle between jobs.

The Canon makes itself heard in daily use. While printing it is clearly audible at 14.6 sone, and it does not stay entirely quiet while scanning either. That is worth bearing in mind if the printer will live in a shared room or a home office where someone else is working.

Setup, though, is uncomplicated, and operation becomes easy after a short period of familiarisation despite the tiny display. Printing from a smartphone works without any detours, which does a good deal to compensate for the limited on-device controls.

No frills and no grand experiments: the Canon PIXMA TS6550i concentrates on the essentials and handles them properly. Its speed and its accomplished photo reproduction are the standout qualities, while the compromises fall on convenience features and on running costs. What remains is an honest printer that delivers reliably in everyday use and that makes most sense for occasional users rather than for anyone with a heavy, sustained printing workload.