Canon IP8720 Printer: In-Depth Review and User Opinions

The Canon Pixma IP8720 is a multi-function inkjet photo printer designed for high quality photo and document printing at home or small office use. Released in 2013, it builds upon Canon's Pixma line of consumer inkjet printers and is a single-function replacement for the older Canon Pixma MP620.

Key features of the IP8720 include excellent photo print quality with a max resolution of 9600 x 2400 dpi, wireless connectivity, AirPrint compatibility, auto 2-sided printing, a 6-color individual ink system, and a tiltable 6.8” touchscreen LCD. It can produce borderless prints up to 13” x 19" in size. Intended uses are photo printing, home office document printing, and scanning.

The IP8720 incorporates both document printing and photo lab quality into a sleek, low profile design. With wireless connectivity and Airprint compatibility, it offers convenient printing from mobile devices. The tiltable touchscreen and dual paper inputs allow flexible media handling. Overall, it provides robust print and scan capabilities for the home user.

Design

The Canon PIXMA iP8720 printer has an elegant, sleek design perfect for any home or small office. Measuring 14.7 x 12.5 x 5.8 inches and weighing 14.3 pounds, it has a small footprint that doesn't take up much desk space. The printer casing has a stylish black glossy finish with silver and gray accents on the buttons and front panel. There's an integrated paper tray that folds up neatly when not in use. Overall the iP8720 has a modern, minimalist aesthetic that looks great in any setting without standing out too much. The relatively compact size and lack of cluttered buttons keeps the look clean. It's a printer designed to seamlessly fit into your environment both visually and physically.

Print Quality

The Canon PIXMA iP8720 offers excellent print quality for both photos and documents. It can print at up to 9600 x 2400 dpi resolution when using Canon's FINE printhead technology and ChromaLife 100+ ink. This level of resolution means photos print with incredible detail and documents are crisp and clear.

For photos, the printer can achieve a maximum print speed of 15 pages per minute in color and 10 pages per minute for black and white. While not the fastest printer, the focus is more on achieving highly detailed and accurate prints rather than speed.

Color accuracy is also superb thanks to Canon's ChromaLife 100+ ink system. It provides a wide color gamut for vivid and true-to-life prints. The printer can print borderless photos up to 8.5 x 11 inches and also supports printing directly onto printable CDs/DVDs.

Overall, the PIXMA iP8720 delivers exceptional print quality for home users looking to print high quality photos, graphics, and documents. The resolution and color accuracy are top-notch. Just don't expect blazing fast print speeds.

Connectivity

The Canon IP8720 offers excellent connectivity options for home and small office use. It has built-in WiFi which allows you to connect the printer to your wireless network. Once connected, you can print from anywhere in your home as long as you are connected to the same network.

Setting up the wireless connection is straightforward using Canon's setup software or the control panel on the printer. It supports wireless standards 802.11b/g/n for flexible compatibility with most routers. Wireless printing is fast and reliable in my testing.

In addition to WiFi, the IP8720 supports wireless printing standards such as Apple AirPrint, Mopria, and Google Cloud Print. This allows you to print directly from compatible phones and tablets without needing to connect to a network. I found wireless printing from my iPhone worked seamlessly without needing to install any apps or drivers.

The printer also offers wired Ethernet connectivity if you need a hardwired network connection. Overall the IP8720 provides versatile connectivity options for home use, with dual band wireless, wireless printing standards, and wired networking. These make it easy to print from anywhere in your home network wirelessly.

Paper Handling

The Canon PIXMA iP8720 printer features excellent paper handling capabilities. It has a 150-sheet paper tray that can hold plain paper, photo paper, or matte photo paper. The rear tray can also hold 20 sheets of glossy photo paper.

In total, the iP8720 has a paper capacity of 170 sheets. This is very good for a home printer in this price range. You'll be able to print quite a few documents or photos before needing to refill the trays.

The main paper tray can hold letter or legal sized paper and also supports envelopes. The rear tray is best used for glossy photo paper up to 13" x 19".

Overall, the paper handling of the iP8720 is versatile. The dual trays allow you to load photo paper and plain paper at the same time. The capacity is sufficient for most home users as well. You'll be able to print many pages before needing to reload.

Scanning

The Canon iP8720 has excellent scanning capabilities thanks to its 4800 x 4800 dpi optical resolution. This high resolution allows you to capture fine details in both photos and documents.

The maximum scanner resolution is 19200 x 19200 dpi for incredibly detailed scans. You have the option to save scans as JPEG, TIFF, BMP, PDF, and searchable PDF. For documents, the searchable PDF option is great since it runs OCR to make the text selectable and editable.

Overall, the scanning features let you digitize photos, records, and documents at high quality. Whether you need to scan receipts for expenses or old photos for safe keeping, the iP8720 delivers excellent results.

Copy Function

The Canon IP8720 includes useful copy features like fast copying and quality optimization settings. The maximum copy speed is 13 pages per minute in black and white or 10 pages per minute in color. This copy speed is fairly fast for a home or small office printer, though slightly slower than some competing business-oriented machines.

Within the printer interface you can choose between optimized copy quality for text documents vs photos. There are also settings to adjust brightness and contrast when copying. The IP8720 provides the flexibility to fine-tune copy output for the source material. For photo prints and high contrast documents, you can boost contrast. For older faded documents, dialing back contrast and increasing brightness can improve legibility of the copies.

Overall the copy function provides a simple but capable tool for reproducing documents and photos. The adjustable settings allow you to tailor the final output quality based on the source material. While copy speed is not blazing fast, it is reasonable for lower volume home and small business usage. The Canon copy features complement the IP8720's strengths as a robust home photo printer.

Ink

The Canon PIXMA iP8720 uses individual ink cartridges for both black and color inks. This allows you to replace only the color that runs out without having to replace entire multi-color cartridges.

The printer uses the following Canon PGI ink cartridges:

• Black cartridge - PGI-250 XL Black yields approximately 600 pages
• Cyan cartridge - PGI-250 XL Cyan yields approximately 700 pages
• Magenta cartridge - PGI-250 XL Magenta yields approximately 700 pages
• Yellow cartridge - PGI-250 XL Yellow yields approximately 700 pages

The high yield XL ink cartridges provide excellent page yields per cartridge while keeping ongoing printing costs low. Standard capacity cartridges with lower yields are also available.

Replacement ink cartridges are readily available from Canon and major retailers with prices ranging from $13-15 per standard cartridge up to $20-25 per high yield XL cartridge.

Overall the separate ink system provides economical ink usage while allowing you to replace only the colors needed. The high page yields from the XL cartridges keep printing costs reasonable for both color and black & white documents.

Software

One of the best features of the Canon IP8720 is the included software package. This printer comes with Canon's standard printer software that lets you easily manage printing from your computer.

Some highlights of the software:

• Easy-WebPrint EX allows you to clip content from websites to print. You can edit and combine multiple clippings on one page to save paper.

• Full HD Movie Print lets you grab frames from HD movies to print. The printer will enhance the images automatically.

• Creative Park Premium offers fun printing templates, cards, calendars, etc.

• Quick Menu provides fast access to common printing functions.

• My Printer offers printer management tools like checking ink levels.

• Scan utility for scanning directly to your computer.

The software bundle really adds value compared to basic printer drivers. It provides functionality you would typically need separate programs for. The Canon software suite makes it easy to get more value out of your printer.

Conclusion

The Canon PIXMA iP8720 is a capable wireless inkjet photo printer that produces excellent photo prints and graphics. Here's a summary of the key pros and cons:

Pros

• Excellent print quality, especially for photos
• Fast print speeds
• Wireless connectivity
• AirPrint support
• Large color touchscreen
• Auto 2-sided printing
• Compact, stylish design

Cons

• No Ethernet port
• Lacks automatic document feeder for scanning and copying
• Ink is expensive over time
• Software could be better

Overall, the Canon iP8720 delivers exceptional photo printing and wireless versatility in a compact package. It's easy to set up and use, produces vibrant graphics and photos, and has handy features like the auto duplexer. Downsides are the lack of an ADF for copying and scanning multiple pages, steep ink costs over time, and unremarkable bundled software. But for high quality home photo printing, the Canon PIXMA iP8720 is an excellent choice.