Originally Posted by
maggie6872
Thank you all for your suggestions.
Someone PM'd me that they had a Pentax pocket jet that they really liked. Does anyone else have any opinion on the Pentax models? They are a bit pricey (but maybe I can find a used one somewhere?)
I don't have one, but I looked it up. It's a thermal printer, meaning that you need to use special paper (and cannot use plain paper), it's a monochrome printer (no color), and resolution is limited to 200 or 300 dpi depending on model, the same quality as you get from a fax machine. By comparison, the Canon IPv90 is 600 x 600 dpi for black printing and 4800 x 1200 dpi for color. Print speed is 12-16 pages per minute for the Canon versus 3 pages per minute for the Pentax. The Canon can print on all kinds of paper, including envelopes which, of course, the Pentax cannot.
Everything depends on your application. If you're looking for a casual printer that turns out monochrome fax-quality prints but is very, very small, the Pentax is worth considering. If, on the other hand, you're looking for a versatile printer that can do anything a good color-inkjet printer can do, you should look at the Canon.