Canon PIXMA G1220 Printer: In-Depth Review and User Opinions

The Canon PIXMA G1220 is an inkjet photo printer designed for home and small office use. Part of Canon's MegaTank line, it features large integrated ink tanks instead of disposable cartridges. This helps lower the cost per print while providing the convenience of not having to frequently replace ink.

With a sleek, compact design, the PIXMA G1220 can produce borderless photos up to 8.5” x 11” in size as well as documents in black or color. Key features include a flatbed scanner, auto 2-sided printing, and wireless connectivity. The printer aims to deliver photo lab quality results with a 9600 x 2400 dpi print resolution using Canon's 5-color ink system.

Overall, the Canon PIXMA G1220 provides the print quality and versatility of an inkjet photo printer in a budget-friendly package thanks to the high-capacity ink tank system. It's a solid option for photo printing and everyday document printing needs for home users.

Design

The Canon PIXMA G1220 has a sleek, compact design that fits nicely on a desk or shelf without taking up too much space. It measures 14.7 x 12.5 x 5.4 inches and weighs just 15 pounds, making it easy to move around as needed. Despite its small footprint, it has an attractive look with rounded edges and a matte black plastic exterior. The top opens to reveal a simple control panel with buttons for the main functions like copying, scanning and WiFi connectivity. There is no LCD display, helping keep costs down. Overall, the printer has a minimalist aesthetic that will blend into most home or office environments without drawing too much attention to itself. While made mostly of plastic, the G1220 still feels sturdy and durable. Its compact size and lightweight build make it a good option if you need to regularly reposition your printer or want one that takes up minimal desk space.

Print Quality

The Canon PIXMA G1220 produces prints at up to 4800 x 1200 dpi for both color and black text. This results in sharp, detailed prints with vivid colors and deep blacks.

The printer can print a 4 x 6 inch photo in just 39 seconds. For documents with a mixture of text and graphics, print speeds range from 8.8 ipm (black text) to 5 ipm (color graphics). While not the fastest printer, the print speeds are very reasonable for an inkjet aimed at home and home office use.

The printer utilizes Canon's unique FINE print head technology and their ink formulations to lay down droplets as small as 1 picoliter. This allows for excellent detail in photos while keeping graininess to a minimum. Blacks are especially dark and crisp thanks to the pigment black ink. The chroma optimizer also helps produce more vivid colors by smoothing out unevenness on the paper.

Overall print quality is excellent for both photos and everyday document printing. The high resolution and Canon's print technologies allow you to produce lab-quality photos at home.

Scan and Copy Features

The Canon PIXMA G1220 offers decent scan and copy capabilities for a home printer. It has an optical scan resolution of 1200 x 2400 dpi, which should be sufficient for scanning documents and photos.

The maximum scan area is 8.5 x 11.7 inches, allowing you to scan up to letter-sized originals. There is also an Auto Document Fix feature that automatically adjusts the scan settings to optimize text or photo images.

For copying, the Canon PIXMA G1220 can output black and white copies at speeds up to 10 pages per minute. This is fairly standard for an inkjet home printer. Copy resolution goes up to 600 x 600 dpi for black and white copies and 300 x 300 dpi for color.

Overall, the scanning and copying performance is good for general home and home office use. The scan resolution allows you to digitize documents and photos at decent quality levels. And the copy speed, while not extremely fast, is comparable to other consumer-grade inkjet printers.

Connectivity

The Canon PIXMA G1220 offers both wired and wireless connectivity options for printing from multiple devices.

Wired Connectivity

The printer has a standard USB 2.0 port that allows you to connect it directly to your computer using a USB cable. This offers a fast and reliable wired data connection for printing.

Wireless Connectivity

For wireless printing, the PIXMA G1220 is equipped with built-in Wi-Fi. It supports IEEE 802.11b/g/n standards and can connect to your home Wi-Fi network, allowing you to print from smartphones, tablets, and Wi-Fi enabled laptops and computers.

The printer also supports Canon's wireless printing standards for easy connectivity. This includes PictBridge for direct wireless printing from select Canon cameras, and the Canon Print app which lets you print from iOS and Android mobile devices. Setting up the wireless connection is straightforward using WPS or the Canon Print app.

Overall, the wired and wireless connectivity options on the Canon PIXMA G1220 provide flexibility and convenience when printing from multiple devices. The dual connectivity allows you to print seamlessly around the home or office network.

Ink System

The Canon PIXMA G1220 uses Canon's MegaTank ink system, which features large-capacity ink tanks instead of standard ink cartridges. This allows you to print thousands of pages before needing to refill the tanks, significantly reducing ink costs compared to cartridge-based printers.

The G1220 comes with enough ink in the box to print up to 6,000 black pages or 7,700 color pages. Refill ink bottles are available in both black and color, with each color bottle containing enough ink to print approximately 1,400 color pages. Black refill bottles print up to 4,000 pages each.

This MegaTank system can save users up to 90% on ink costs compared to replacing standard ink cartridges. There's no guessing when you'll run out either - the printer has LCD screens on the ink tanks showing you the ink levels at a glance.

Overall, the high-capacity ink tanks make this an incredibly economical choice for anyone looking to print high volumes frequently. The savings on ink can offset the slightly higher upfront cost of the printer very quickly.

Paper Handling

The Canon PIXMA G1220 printer has solid paper handling capabilities for home and small office use. It has a 150-sheet plain paper input tray which should be sufficient for most light-duty printing tasks. The output tray can hold 50 sheets of paper.

There is no rear feed option for specialty papers like photo paper or envelopes. You'll need to load those into the main front tray, being careful not to mix them with plain paper to avoid jams. The lack of a rear specialty feed does limit the paper handling flexibility somewhat.

For scanning and copying, the G1220 can handle letter or legal sized originals thanks to the adjustable document feeder. There is no scanning or copying capability for larger formats like magazines or photos.

Overall the paper handling is very typical for an inkjet aimed at home and home office use. Power users may want more robust input and output capacity. But for basic printing, copying and scanning tasks, the Canon PIXMA G1220 should have sufficient paper handling to meet most needs.

Special Features

The Canon PIXMA G1220 stands out from other home printers thanks to its useful special features.

Auto Duplex Printing

The PIXMA G1220 offers automatic two-sided printing, also known as auto duplex printing. This allows you to easily print on both sides of the paper without having to manually flip the pages over. Double-sided printing can save paper and is more environmentally friendly.

Borderless Printing

With the PIXMA G1220, you can print borderless photos and documents. This creates a clean, professional look without any unsightly white margins around the edges. Borderless printing is ideal for printing photos at home.

Mobile Printing

The PIXMA G1220 allows you to print directly from your mobile devices using the Canon Print app or Apple AirPrint. You can print from your smartphone or tablet from anywhere in your home. This gives you flexibility and convenience to print on the go.

Pros and Cons

• Pros - No ink cartridges needed, ink tanks included in the box - Very low printing costs - Fast print speeds - Automatic two-sided printing - Large paper capacity - Supports wireless printing - Prints high quality photos - Scans and copies well - Compact, space-saving design

• Cons - Initial purchase price is higher than standard inkjet printers
  - No fax capability - Small display screen - No Ethernet port

The Canon PIXMA G1220 ink tank printer provides extremely low cost printing without cartridges. It includes enough ink in the box to print thousands of pages. Print speeds are fast and it handles two-sided printing automatically. With wireless connectivity and support for mobile printing, it offers convenience and flexibility. Photo print quality is excellent. The scanner and copier perform well for an inkjet. Downsides are the higher initial purchase cost compared to standard inkjets and lack of an Ethernet port or fax capability. Overall, the PIXMA G1220 is a great option for high volume, low cost home printing.

Conclusion

The Canon PIXMA G1220 is a capable multifunction printer for home offices and small businesses looking for an affordable inkjet with low running costs. Its MegaTank ink system helps drive down the cost per print significantly compared to standard ink cartridges.

Print quality is suitable for everyday documents and occasional photos, though the G1220 lags behind more expensive models when printing high-quality graphics or photos. Connectivity options like WiFi and wireless printing are easy to set up. The automatic document feeder scans and copies multipage originals efficiently.

Overall, the G1220 offers a solid balance of print quality, features and usability. For high-volume printing up to 3000 pages per month, the MegaTank system can save hundreds of dollars in ink costs over the life of the printer. The G1220 is a great option for cost-conscious buyers that don't need professional-level output.

In summary, the Canon PIXMA G1220 is recommended for home and small offices looking for an affordable inkjet with low running costs per page. The MegaTank system reduces ink expenses significantly, though print quality falls short of more premium models. For everyday printing needs, the G1220 delivers reliable performance and usability.