Canon Pixma MG6250 review

We’ve grown accustomed to a Pixma topping our A-List, and while for one that honour is currently held by HP, it depends on your needs. For features, efficiency and work documents, the HP Officejet Pro 8500A Plus is an unparalleled choice – but there’s still nothing that can touch Canon when it comes to consumer printing.

Take its photo output, for example. The MG6250 produces photos of unequalled quality and sharpness, with the extra dye-based photo black and grey inks contributing to rich colours, deep blacks and beautifully neutral monochrome prints. And it does all this remarkably quickly: a 6 x 4in best quality photo took only 44 seconds in our tests, with an A4 photo taking a minute longer.

Text is thicker than that produced by the HP, but its edges are just as defined and readable. Images and diagrams are bold, clear and with solid colour, making the MG6250 one of the best-quality printers we’ve tested. And its document speeds of 11.5ppm in mono and 6.1ppm in colour are well above average. In fact, when you include the excellent copy speeds and scan times, the MG6250 is an incredibly quick all-round device.

Where it falls down slightly is the quality of the scanner, which is good but not stellar. Colours are captured accurately, but scans are gloomy and fail to come close to the sharpness of those produced by the HP. That’s also why the MG6250’s copies aren’t as good as its prints: text was fine, but it produced a test photo entirely lacking the punch of the original.

It also isn’t a particularly cheap printer to run, but that’s the price you pay for that photo quality. With six inks to replace, costs work out at 2.9p for an A4 mono page and 8.7p for colour – although a 6 x 4in photo cost of 14.5p isn’t bad at all considering the quality.

The MG6250 can print directly to CDs via a supplied adapter, and up to 300gsm specialist media in its rear tray, while the main tray holds a healthy 150 sheets. And it can do all of this over wireless or a standard USB connection. The interface is a mix of a 3in screen and separate touch buttons that glow into life as required. They don’t give any tactile feedback, so navigating menus can feel odd, but menus are comprehensive and it’s very easy to get used to.

All of which makes the Canon Pixma MG6250 a fine all-round consumer all-in-one. Documents and photos arrive quickly and at top quality, and the whole package is a pleasure to use. Photo enthusiasts should look nowhere else.