Canon Pixma iP100

The Canon Pixma iP100 gets good reviews as a portable inkjet printer: Although the price is high, you'll get good print quality and decent speed. Weighing about 5 pounds including adapter, it combines the speed and small size of a snapshot printer with the flexibility of a full-size unit. Unlike most of its competition, the Pixma iP100 can print photos in a range of sizes (from 2-by-3-inch to 8-by-10-inch shots), as well as documents. However, it can feed only a single sheet at a time so a large job could be time-consuming, and it can't print from memory cards like many other printers. Still, it can connect to computers, cameras and camera phones via USB, PictBridge, IrDA and, with the addition of a $50 adapter, Bluetooth.

Reviewers say the Pixma iP100 is easy to set up and use, and produces great-quality photos. A 4-by-6-inch photo takes about 50 seconds to print and costs roughly 26 cents. One professional reviewer says the printer is loud, but users generally don't find this to be a problem. If all you need to print is snapshots, however, you can get better value with the Epson PictureMate Charm (*Est. $150) or the budget-priced Canon Selphy CP800 (*Est. $80). But if you want a simple, compact printer for occasional documents and photos, the Pixma iP100 is a good choice.

The Canon Pixma iP100 hasn't been reviewed in as many professional sources as other photo printers, but it does get a fairly detailed write-up in Laptop magazine, which names it an Editors' Choice in the printer category. We also found more than 200 reviews from users at Amazon.com and BHPhotoVideo.com.