Canon Pixma MX515 Printer Review

Printer manufacturers have cottoned on to the fact that stylish printers are easier to sell. The new Canon Pixma MX515 exhibits these attributes; regardless of its size; being a little on the large side because of its 30 page automatic document feeder on the lid.

The Canon Pixma MX515 offers print, scan, and copy facilities and features 2.4 inch colour screen for viewing photographs from the memory card slot. As it is not a touch screen you need to navigate using the surrounding buttons. Fortunately the menus are fairly easy to understand and control using the control pad.

The paper feed tray (loaded at the base) holds 100 sheets of 70gm thickness A4 paper; but who uses 70gm? Therefore you can load approximately 80 sheets of 80gm standard thickness A4 media. Output paper is ejected above this tray.

As to be expected with a Canon scanner, the colours are accurate and the detail is fine. Sadly text print quality is not as good, ranging from particular poor on the fastest setting (which is fast), to slight imperfections on the slowest mode. Fortunately the MX 515 produces fine quality graphics and pleasing photographs.

Among the many features isPC free scanning (scan to USB memory card), auto duplex printing, fax facility, and Apple Airprint support enabling you to print from compatible mobile devices (iPad / iPhone etc). There is also support for the Easy Photoprint App for Android devices.

The Canon Pixma MX515 does not have a built-on print head. Instead the ink nozzles are located on the cartridges... PG-540 black and CL-541 colour Canon Fine Ink cartridges (ChromaLife Ink system). These are the same cartridges used in cheap base model Canon machines. Sadly they only contain a small quantity of ink will require frequent replacement if you are a regular user.

This new printer offers good value for money for moderate printer users, however heavy users will struggle with regular Ink replacement costs. Unfortunately brand new compatible cartridges will never become available due to the built-on print head technology. Fortunately however the PG-540 and CL-541 cartridges can be refilled successfully several times before the internal sponge and copper contacts wear out. There are already dedicated refill kits available, specially designed to help you perform the refilling task, containing all of the tools and instructions required. So if you decide to buy this printer we would encourage you to refill to save on landfill!

The Canon MX515 printer offers many features and benefits but let down by text print quality and small capacity ink cartridges (not cheap to run). We feel that there are better options currently available.