Canon Maxify GX3020 Review - PCMag

The Canon Maxify GX3020 offers an antithetic equilibrium of features. Most all-in-one printers (AIOs) that deficiency an automatic papers feeder (ADF) are entry-level models meant for light-duty printing. But the GX3020's $399.99 database terms is definitively not introduction level. Neither is its insubstantial capableness nor its debased moving cost, which are some suitable for heavy-duty printing successful aggregate settings: location positive location office, tiny office, oregon adjacent a idiosyncratic printer successful immoderate size office. You tin easy find less-expensive AIOs with ADFs that grip multi-page documents and legal-size pages, specified arsenic the Canon Pixma G7020. But if your superior request is low-cost printing, and you'd similar immoderate minimal quality to scan and copy, the GX3020 tin beryllium a bully fit.

Solid Printing, Minimal Scanning

The GX3020 prints, scans, and copies, which rules it retired if you request faxing also. Paper handling for printing includes automatic duplexing, on with the highest insubstantial capableness we've seen for immoderate inkjet AIO that's constricted to a flatbed for scanning. Almost each flatbed-only models connection a azygous 100- oregon 150-sheet tray. The GX3020 offers a 250-sheet drawer, a 100-sheet tray astatine the rear apical of the printer, and a single-sheet straight-through provender successful the backmost for heavyweight paper. The 100-sheet tray lets you support a 2nd benignant of insubstantial loaded astatine each times, arsenic good arsenic easy power to different benignant oregon size of insubstantial erstwhile needed, portion the 350-sheet capableness is capable to people up to 1,400 sheets per period and inactive support insubstantial refills down to astir erstwhile a week.

As mentioned, insubstantial handling for scanning and copying is constricted to manually placing pages connected a letter-size flatbed. As a constituent of comparison, the Canon G7020 offers an ADF that tin clasp up to 35 letter-size oregon 5 legal-size pages for easy scanning multi-page documents.

(Credit: Canon)

Physical setup is straightforward. The printer weighs 18.2 pounds, making it casual for 1 idiosyncratic to unpack and determination into place. Its compact size, astatine 8.6 by 15.8 by 16.4 inches (HWD), besides makes it tiny capable to stock a table with, truthful you tin easy scope the insubstantial tray oregon spot its 1.4-inch beforehand sheet power screen, arsenic good arsenic participate transcript and scan commands utilizing the surrounding buttons. Once successful place, you simply load insubstantial and determination the 4 bottles of ink—cyan, yellow, magenta, and black—into the tanks. As is typical, the ink bottles are keyed truthful each volition determination lone into the close tank. After you finish, the printer goes done a wholly automated alignment routine.

Software installation is adjacent easier. After connecting via USB cablegram oregon Wi-Fi, you download and tally the afloat automated setup regular from Canon's website. In my tests, the programme ran smoothly, uncovering the USB-connected printer and installing the operator for it, on with a scan utility. For mobile printing and scanning, you tin download a Canon app to your Android oregon iOS telephone oregon tablet, and you tin acceptable the printer to amusement a QR codification connected the printer's surface for easy connection. In my tests utilizing an Android telephone and a Wi-Fi Direct connection, the printing, scanning, and QR codification each worked without problems.

(Credit: Canon)

Very overmuch connected the positive side, the GX3020 delivers connected the committedness of immoderate tank-based printer, offering a notably debased moving outgo to warrant its precocious archetypal price. Canon says the ink that comes with the printer is capable to people 5,000 modular mono pages positive 5,000 modular colour pages, portion a afloat acceptable of replacement bottles volition people 6,000 mono pages astatine 0.14 cent per leafage positive 14,000 colour pages astatine 0.85 cent per page. As with immoderate printer, support successful caput that you shouldn't absorption excessively overmuch connected moving outgo alone. What matters much erstwhile you comparison printers is the full outgo of ownership—running outgo positive archetypal cost—as we sermon successful our usher to how to prevention wealth connected your adjacent printer.

Testing the Maxify GX3020: Speedy Enough, With Sterling Output Quality

The GX3020's people speeds connected our tests weren't awesome for the price, particularly erstwhile compared with less-expensive cartridge-ink-based contention similar the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4830, but it was comparable to different tank-based printers successful its terms range.

In my tests utilizing our modular testbed and a USB connection, the GX3020 came successful astatine 16.5ppm (40 seconds)—just a small abbreviated of its 18ppm rating—for monochrome substance utilizing our 12-page Microsoft Word record and not including the archetypal page. Adding the archetypal leafage backmost successful dropped the velocity to 13.1ppm (55 seconds).

The WF-4830 was notably faster successful some cases, portion the G7020 was slower, and the Epson WorkForce ST-C4100 SuperTank, our Editors' Choice prime among tank-based AIOs for this category, was fundamentally tied, though a small slower erstwhile not including the archetypal leafage and a small faster erstwhile adding it, owed to the GX3020's longer archetypal leafage retired (FPO) time.

(Credit: M. David Stone)

For our concern applications suite, which includes respective files of 1 to 4 pages, and besides adds graphics and colour to most, the WF-4830 was successful archetypal place, astatine 2:08 (12 ppm), acknowledgment to its accelerated people clip beyond the archetypal leafage swamping immoderate vantage the ST-C4100 had from offering the shortest FPO successful the group. However the ST-C4100's accelerated FPO clip earned it a coagulated 2nd place, astatine 3:21 (7.5 ppm), redeeming it a fewer seconds connected each record compared with the GX3020, which was successful 3rd place, astatine 3:40 (6.8ppm). The G7020 earned a convincing past spot successful the radical astatine 5:38 (4.4ppm).

Text prime was adjacent to top-tier for concern inkjets. Characters weren't rather arsenic crisp arsenic you would expect from a laser printer, but each the fonts successful our tests that are apt to beryllium utilized successful modular concern documents were well-formed, decently spaced, and highly readable astatine 5 points. All but 1 looked conscionable arsenic bully astatine 4 points. The nonaccomplishment of crispness compared with laser output was astir evident successful 2 fonts with dense strokes. Loops and the spaces betwixt characters successful some tended to capable in, making the substance hard to work astatine sizes smaller than 10 points for 1 font and 8 points for the other.

(Credit: Canon)

Graphics connected plain insubstantial with default settings delivered nicely shaded gradients and saturated color. The printer besides did an fantabulous occupation with bladed lines, including a single-pixel-wide enactment connected a achromatic background. However, though coagulated fills utilizing agleam colors were suitably smooth, I saw banding that varied from subtle to evident successful achromatic fills and acheronian colors. Photos connected the recommended photograph insubstantial were astatine the precocious extremity of drugstore quality.

On our h2o smudging tests, which dwell of putting a fewer drops of h2o connected output printed astatine slightest 24 hours earlier and mildly wiping it dry, some achromatic and colour ink showed lone the slightest smudging connected plain paper. On the recommended photograph paper, I saw lone a hint of a smudge for achromatic ink and nary for color, and didn't spot immoderate h2o stains aft drying. Text connected plain insubstantial smudged somewhat erstwhile utilizing a highlighter, but was inactive rather readable.

Verdict: A Good Choice If You Don't Scan oregon Copy Much

The cardinal differences successful capableness betwixt the GX3020 and the different AIOs mentioned present is that each 3 of the others adhd faxing and an ADF, and each tin scan astatine up to ineligible size. Between them, the WF-4830 offers the fastest performance, the lowest price, and the highest insubstantial capacity, with 2 250-sheet drawers. But arsenic the lone cartridge-based printer, it besides has the highest moving cost, which means the much you print, the much apt it is to beryllium the astir costly of the 4 successful the agelong run.

Among the 3 tank-based printers, the G7020 is the slightest expensive, but is besides the slowest and has the lowest insubstantial capacity. The ST-C4100 is the astir costly and offers lone 1 insubstantial tray, but it delivers overmuch the aforesaid people show arsenic the GX3020, portion adding an ADF and faxing, which makes it our existent top-pick inkjet AIO for this category.

Compared with each 3 different printers mentioned here, the GX3020's constricted scanning and copying makes it lone hardly an AIO. But it's little costly than the ST-C4100, matches it for performance, and offers 2 insubstantial trays. If what you request is simply a heavy-duty printer for a location oregon tiny bureau that tin besides grip occasional insignificant scanning and copying of up to letter-size originals, the Maxify GX3020 tin service nicely.