Canon I850

Canon has opted for a breadbin-style, two-tone casing that houses a large print head holding four individual wells. Although they are not keyed - and so can be dropped into the wrong slots - they are clearly labelled.

They are held in place by a sturdy clamp, on the top of which a slider selects paper or envelope as the output medium. We prefer Epson and HP's modeless operation, but there is nothing intrinsically wrong with this approach.

Two buttons on the casing advance the paper and control power while a single light blinks out status updates. The trays and supports fold neatly into the bodywork, presenting a very tidy appearance when not in use.

The I850 boasts an impressive 2picolitre drop size and a top resolution of 4,800 x 1,200dpi, which even outclasses professional photo printers such as Epson's A3 heavyweight, the Stylus Photo 2100.

By and large it pays off, too, with fine definition on our test image. Colours were also good, with skies a satisfying natural blue. Our wooded walkway scene was a little faded, but regular users will soon learn how to optimise their pictures for this device before sending them out to print.

Printing the photo in just one minute 57 seconds, it was blindingly fast. If it had featured in our December 2002 group test it would have wiped the floor in the speed stakes.

We spotted very minor feathering when printing text on photocopy paper using default settings, but even 2pt text remained legible. Large characters were solid and dark, giving the finished product a very professional feel.

At five per cent coverage the black cartridge is slated to last around 330 pages, which equates to a very reasonable 3.2p per page - not that far beyond the costs of laser printing.

In colour it's slightly higher, at 5.3p a page, but again this is clocked at five per cent coverage. A photo will obviously be far higher.

Contact: Canon 08705 143 723
www.canon.co.uk/bubblejet

Specifications:

• Thermal inkjet
• 150-sheet feeder
• 22ppm mono, 14ppm colour
• 4,800 x 1,200dpi
• Four cartridges
• Four colours
• USB and parallel interfaces
• 418 x 274 x 159mm (w x d x h)
• 4.8kg