Canon PIXMA TR8620a  Printer Review

The Canon PIXMA TR8620a feels well-built, although some areas, such as the output tray and rear input tray, feel flimsy. It has a good lid dampener that keeps the entire scanner up and slowly closes down by itself. This is nice to have, so you don't need to worry about the top of the printer slamming down if you're replacing the ink cartridges, for example. The scanner background also has foam, which helps scan uneven documents.

This printer has a few design quirks, however. For example, you need to lift the display panel to print; otherwise, you will receive an error message. You also need to lift the display panel to open the output tray extender.

This printer features a great touchscreen display. It's quite large and has really good viewing angles from all sides, and you can tilt the panel for better visibility if you are standing. The menu is responsive and easy to navigate, and it includes instructional videos that show you how to perform specific maintenance tasks, such as changing ink cartridges or loading paper. Luckily, it doesn't have the same issues as the Canon PIXMA TR8620, which has double-click and unresponsiveness issues.

This printer's page yields are acceptable. It uses a five-cartridge system: four dye-based color cartridges for photo and color printing and one pigment-based black cartridge dedicated to monochrome document printing. It gives low-ink warnings when it estimates the ink is running out, but you can still get a few full pages out afterward.

Like all inkjet printers, this model requires regular maintenance to operate smoothly. There are built-in tasks to prevent and resolve printhead clogging issues and banding caused by misalignment. There are also tasks to help you when cleaning specific printer parts, such as the rollers and the bottom plate. You can easily access paper jams and sheet rollers by removing the front paper tray, the back input tray, and then the rear cover, or you can remove the transport unit if there's paper stuck farther back.

The cartridges are also easy to access, but you must ensure the printer is turned on so that the cartridge carriage moves to the printer's center. When the printer is off, the carriage gets hidden in the sides of the printer, so you can't access it. The yield for these cartridges is around 200–300 pages, so if you print frequently, you'll likely be replacing the black cartridge regularly. Likewise, the paper trays only hold 100 regular pages, so you'll need to replace them every few days if you print often.

This is an inkjet printer, which means it can clog if left unused for an extended period. Inkjet printers use liquid ink that flows through extremely fine printhead nozzles. During extended periods of inactivity, this ink can evaporate, thicken, or dry out, potentially blocking the ink flow. Environmental factors such as dry air, dust, temperature fluctuations, or direct sunlight can accelerate clog formation. Clogs may cause missing lines, faded colors, or complete print failures. To reduce the risk, we recommend printing periodically and storing the printer in a cool, stable environment. If clogs occur, most inkjet printers include built-in maintenance routines to help clear the printheads, which are detailed in the Expected Maintenance test box of this review.

If you don't want to deal with unclogging, laser printers use a different system with dry toner and a drum instead of ink and printheads, which avoids this issue.

This printer uses cartridges with built-in printheads, but the ink volume is quite limited. That small supply is usually enough to clear lighter clogs through standard maintenance cycles. When it isn't, simply replacing the cartridge also replaces the printheads, giving you a straightforward way to restore print quality. This makes clogs very easy to manage. The downside is that relying on new cartridges for clog fixes can become expensive over time.

• User manuals
• 4x6 Photo Paper Plus Glossy II (3-sheet sample)
• Power cable
• RJ-11 Telephone/modem cables
• Canon starter cartridges
• 1x PGI-280 Black
• 1x CLI-281 Cyan
• 1x CLI-281 Magenta
• 1x CLI-281 Yellow
• 1x CLI-281 Black

The Canon TR8620a's cost per print is good. While the cartridges are relatively affordable, running costs can quickly add up if you print often, especially for color printing. If you don't want to worry about buying new ink, you can sign up for Canon's Auto Replenishment Service, which automatically orders and sends you ink or toner when the printer detects you're running low.

There are two adjustable paper trays: the front input tray holds 100 plain sheets, and the rear input tray holds either 100 plain sheets, 20 sheets of 4x6 photo paper, or 10 sheets of 5x7 photo paper. If you want a printer that can print photos much faster, check out the Epson Expression Photo XP-8800.

Black-and-white documents look good. Both black and white text is easy to read, and there's decent contrast between light and dark elements. However, fine elements like lines are hit and miss, as they sometimes appear grainy and lack detail. Larger blocks also have some graininess, but they're generally better than the finer elements.

Color documents look excellent. Colors are vibrant and saturated, and black-and-white text is clear and legible. There's good separation between contrasting color elements as well.

While you can't select A6 as a preset printing size, you can still print by setting a custom size. You can print custom sizes between 2.17" x 3.5" and 8.5" x 26.61" (55.2 mm x 88.9 mm and 215.9 mm x 675.89 mm).

The flatbed scanner has extendable lid hinges to accommodate slightly thicker items; thanks to this, you won't have to worry about seeing black bars on the sides of the page where the lid doesn't cover your scanned item.

The scan quality is acceptable. Black and color text is clear and legible for the most part. However, colors are oversaturated, and blocks of color appear overly grainy. Additionally, the image processing is overly aggressive and removes some finer details, such as the lines in a graph.

The color gamut is satisfactory on this printer. It's good at printing dark colors but struggles with light colors (especially blues and oranges). Transitions from one color to another look mostly smooth, but some areas have obvious graining, like the transition from green to yellow and red through to purple. However, these issues aren't too noticeable with printed photos, as the contrast between shades and tints produces great-looking photos with fine details and elements, like the parrot's feathers in the bird picture.

Color accuracy is good on this printer. You don't need to worry about your photos looking too different from the digital originals, as colors appear vibrant and natural for the most part.

This printer is great at reproducing small details when printing photos or other documents. Fine lines look clear and have lots of detail, and it's easy to make out objects in the foreground and background of photos.

This printer accepts SD cards, as well as various miniSD and microSD cards through the use of an adapter.

The Canon PIXMA TR8620a is compatible with the Canon PRINT app on Android and iOS. You can print a range of files from the app and use the Easy-PhotoPrint Editor to create collages, calendars, and more. You can also scan and copy from your phone and manage your ink subscription.

You need to manually install drivers on Windows to print and scan with the Canon PIXMA TR8620a, but this isn't necessary on macOS or Chrome OS. You can download the drivers here.