Canon IVY 2 Mini Photo Printer Review - PCMag

Zero ink (Zink) portable photo printers don't rather lucifer the representation prime of dye-sublimation models, but the output of the archetypal Canon IVY reviewed present successful June 2018 was mediocre adjacent compared to its Zink competitors. Canon's caller IVY 2 Mini Photo Printer produces amended small-format (2-by-3-inch) prints astatine likewise debased moving costs, making it a bully value, particularly with a existent discount from $129.99 to $99.99. Our lone existent ailment astir this IVY is that, adjacent with the discount, it lists for $30 much than the Kodak Step Instant Mobile Photo Printer that conscionable copped an Editors' Choice grant among Zink smartphone companions.

One Pass, Zero Ink

Instead of ink, Zink photograph printers usage peculiar insubstantial infused with colors released by the printer's exertion of heat, producing images successful a azygous pass. Canon says that with due storage, images from the IVY 2 should past for up to a century. By contrast, dye-sublimation oregon dye-sub devices similar the Polaroid Hi-Print 2x3 Pocket Photo Printer and the Kodak Mini 3 Retro Portable Printer instrumentality 4 passes to laic down cyan, magenta, and yellowish ink and a wide overgarment that helps colors basal retired and protects images from particulate and fingerprints.

As for the IVY 2 Mini, it comes successful 2 colors, achromatic and pink, arsenic shown below.

(Credit: Canon)

As I've pointed retired before, the size of these pouch photograph machines is determined chiefly by the size of their people media. The IVY 2 Mini, for instance, measures 0.8 by 3.3 by 4.7 inches and weighs 5.6 pounds, astir identical to the erstwhile IVY and adjacent to galore competitors. Like galore of them, this Canon uses 2-by-3-inch paper, arsenic bash the abovementioned Kodak Step and Polaroid Hi-Print, arsenic good arsenic the HP Sprocket (not to beryllium confused with the Sprocket Select, which uses 2.3-by-3.4-inch stock).

All pouch printers necessitate you to load consumables—just insubstantial for Zink printers, insubstantial and an ink cartridge for dye-subs. You load insubstantial into the IVY 2 Mini by sliding its lid backmost to uncover a media compartment.

(Credit: Canon)

Like its predecessor, the IVY 2 Mini holds 10 blank sheets. Printed photos exit via an output slot connected the near borderline of the machine. On the other borderline you'll find a USB-C larboard for charging the printer's battery, a charge-status LED, a reset pinhole, and the powerfulness button.

(Credit: Canon)

(Credit: Canon)

As mentioned, the Canon prints 2-by-3-inch photos with adhesive backs, arsenic good arsenic tiny circular stickers. (We'll instrumentality a person look astatine consumables and costs per people successful a minute.) Connectivity is constricted to the Bluetooth peer-to-peer wireless protocol, and the bundled bundle supports lone iOS oregon Android handheld devices. Neither this nor the archetypal IVY tin link to a laptop oregon desktop PC.

(Credit: Canon)

You can, however, entree respective unreality and societal media sites, including Facebook, Google Cloud, Instagram, and OneDrive. You brace the IVY 2 Mini to your telephone oregon tablet done the latter's Bluetooth power panel. Print solution is 313 by 512 dots per inch (dpi), and photos are borderless.

The Canon Mini Print App

Canon's Mini Print App is simply a full-featured people operator and photograph editing and enhancement program. With it, you tin people from your phone's photograph medium oregon your favourite unreality and societal media sites.

(Credit: Canon)

In summation to letting you harvest images, close flaws specified arsenic reddish eye, and set opposition and brightness, the app enables you to adhd text, decorative frames and borders, and different enhancements. A diagnostic unsocial to the Mini Print App is tiling oregon joining aggregate prints astatine their edges to make larger images oregon collages. To constitute these larger images, the bundle simply cuts the representation into 4 oregon 9 2-by-3-inch pieces that you instrumentality backmost unneurotic aft they print.

(Credit: Canon)

As I said astir the archetypal IVY (which offered lone four-tile images) backmost successful 2018, tiling is 1 diagnostic that helps the Canon basal retired from its competitors.

Testing the IVY 2 Mini: Reasonable Speed, Better-Looking Zink

Canon says printing a photograph with the IVY 2 Mini takes 50 seconds oregon less, which is successful enactment with the infinitesimal oregon little taken by astir each 2-by-3-inch (or thereabouts) pouch photograph printer I've tried lately. The archetypal IVY averaged 44 seconds per print, which is really a small faster than the 48 seconds I averaged with the caller model.

Frankly, thing nether 60 seconds is good for this category; 48 seconds is really comparatively quick, though the Kodak Mini 3 Retro wins the contention astatine 43 seconds per print. (I ran my tests from a Samsung Galaxy Note smartphone with the latest mentation of Android.) It's important to enactment that galore things, including the solution and size of the image, and the velocity of your telephone and its Bluetooth connection, tin impact a pouch printer's performance.

As mentioned, 1 of our gripes astir the archetypal Canon IVY was that its people prime wasn't up to snuff compared to its rivals astatine the time. Happily, the IVY 2 Mini delivers brighter and much aggravated hues, not to notation amended colour accuracy and improved detail. Zink exertion has improved importantly implicit the past fewer years; this Canon's representation quality, portion inactive not rather arsenic awesome arsenic prints from likewise sized dye-sublimation devices, is comparable to astir of its competitors'.

And arsenic I said, the unsocial tiling diagnostic allows you to make collages, larger images, oregon some by breaking an representation into 4 oregon 9 pieces. I don't cognize of different pouch photograph printer that tin bash that.

Affordable, Admirable Images

At this writing, the IVY 2 Mini's discounted terms of $99.99 included the printer, a USB Type-A-to-C charging cable, and 10 sheets of 2-by-3-inch, sticky-backed Zink paper. Since the printer hasn't been connected the marketplace long, I didn't find galore bundles containing further insubstantial and different scrapbook worldly specified arsenic the Kodak Step offers, though I did find a fewer bargains. For $12.99, you tin get 20 sheets with 2 circular stickers per sheet, and further 2-by-3-inch media—whether you bargain 20, 50, oregon 100 sheets astatine $9.99, $24.99, oregon $49.99 respectively—will outgo you 50 cents per photo. Shopping astir mightiness prevention you a fewer pennies; I recovered a 50-pack of insubstantial for $22.99 alternatively of $24.99, for instance.

(Credit: Canon)

Our lone gripe astir the 2018 Canon IVY Mini was that its prints showed understated oregon somewhat inaccurate colors and fuzzier details versus rivals from HP, Liene, Kodak, and others. When it comes to imaging, it's highly antithetic for Canon to miss the mark, adjacent by a little, truthful it's bully to spot the IVY 2 Mini drawback up to its competitors. That conscionable leaves the contented of the gadget's somewhat higher database price, which you whitethorn see is offset by its image-tiling option. Either way, you won't spell incorrect with the IVY 2 Mini if speedy small drawback prints from your telephone are what you're after.