Quantcast
PCWorld.com is upgrading some back-end systems. Some site features, such as user registration, may be temporarily unavailable.
Subscribe to magazine

NEW Reviews Beta Feedback

Get Printers updates
  • Print

Canon Pixma mini260

thumb 1
77

Good
  • Pros
  • Easy to use, quick printing
  • Built-in carrying handle
  • Cons
  • Prints tend to be pale
  • Needs adapter for xD-Picture Card

Canon Pixma Mini260 Review

by Paul Jasper

- Beautifully designed controls make printing snapshots on the $200 (as of 11/3/2006) Canon Pixma Mini260 both easy and fun. With its cream-colored plastic and built-in carrying handle, it looks a bit like a 1970s portable radio. The lid folds up to act as the paper tray, revealing the bright 2.5-inch color LCD, and the front flips down to become an undersize output tray.

Read Complete Review »

User Reviews for Canon Pixma mini260

  • Reviewed by: robhavemeyer

    Duration of ownership: 2 Days

    Strengths: Great Prints Excellent speed Innovative Navigation wheel Compact Easy to use OK editing features

    Weaknesses: Does not support tiff printing from a compact flash card No individual color saturation/brightness/contrast/sharpening editing features

    Overall Evaluation: I've only had the printer for 2 days and have yet to use it with Canons Pro Photo Paper... I've only used cheap stuff Overall I made the purchase to be able to print out quick photos of trips/snapshots etc. My blow up's I send out.. I had planned on purchasing the Epson picturemate because of their advertising. So I went to Best Buy and was ready to walk away with the box when I saw an Epson rep approaching...I thought good lets see what this Espon can do... So I asked to see a print sample.. Which he glady did, and what came out was uhhh only so-so... The banding issue that was mentioned in the Epson picturemate review is real !! And for me a deal breaker... I said $150 on sale for 4x6 prints with lines across them...?? So I proceeded to ask the nice fellow to print the same photo "from a flash card" in both the Epson and the Canon sort of "head to head" it was clear after reviewing both the Epson and the Canon the from a print quality standpoint the Canon wins hands down...The Canon had better color reproduction & clarity, plus no banding !!!.. The Epson guy agreed that the Canon was better !!! I shoot with a Canon Digital SLR in raw and use Photoshop CS2 for post processing. So I was initially worried about taking a shot from the card and printing to a photo printer without any post processing. However I must say that this little 260 did an fine job... Even upon close inspection its hard to see the ink drops. The photos do look very clean, crisp and look like they came from the photo lab... So far it has worked fine and I would highly recommend this printer to anyone !!

  • Reviewed by: Snowlock

    Duration of ownership:

    Strengths: it works well, prints quickly.

    Weaknesses: the black is still weird, even with this iteration.

    Overall Evaluation: These little 4x6 printers are rather neat. You can print out a photo relatively quickly and hand it to someone moments after taking it. Sadly the ink is still horribly overpriced. Other than that, they work nicely. The black on canon's printers always looks a bit off. It adds a 3d effect to the photo but not in a good way. The black is almost too dark and adds a weird element to photos with shadow. These printers aren't meant for photographers however and are more for family photos so I doubt most people will find it that objectionable. If you are looking for a high quality photo printer, it seems as if the full size ones work a bit better for some reason. go figure.

See all user reviews

People who looked at the Canon Pixma mini260 also looked at:

Latest Printers Playing in PCW Video

More Latest Printers Playing in PCW Video »

Latest Printers News, Reviews, How-To's

  • Internet-connected Printers While printers are important hardware devices, they really aren't all that exciting, and it's getting more difficult to figure out what makes each printer stand...
  • Get Better Prints No matter how much you enjoy taking digital photos and sharing them electronically, there's something special about photos that you hold in your hand. These...
  • Solve Inkjet Printer Problems Blurry details. Strange color. Unsightly blotches. Getting the best prints from your inkjet printer can be tricky. Most printers will warn you when ink levels...
  • HP Printer Connects Directly to the Web HP's Photosmart Premium TouchSmart Web All-in-One Printer can print news stories and directions directly from Web sites, but the execution could use more polish.
  • Printing 35mm Slide Scans When you scan and reprint photographs, chances are you'll retain their original size or only make modest adjustments. But when you scan, or order high resolution...

Best Prices on Canon Pixma mini260

Best Prices on Canon Pixma mini260

Best Prices on Ink & Toner

See all Ink & Toner

Best Prices on Paper

See all Paper