Canon Pixma TS8350 review: The pick of the bunch

There is a reason the Canon Pixma TS8350 is a stalwart of the mid-range multifunction market of printers and that's simply due to it being the best of its kind. This doesn't mean it's a flawless machine or the best printer around, but it does produce fantastic-looking prints for the price.

Canon Pixma TS8350 review: Setup

Canon's setup process is a simple thing; you start by navigating to ij.start.canon, where you'll enter the printer's name – Pixma TS series – and from there you pick the relevant model from the drop-down list.

You'll be guided through each step of the process with options to increase how detailed the instructions get, such as removing the packing tape that stops the components rattling around in transit. You can skip through it if you've got the experience, but there are lots of effective explainer videos and animations for those who need them.

For the hardware itself, the Pixma TS8350 is a stylish black box with a textured finish that has a classy sheen. The front is comprised of a 4.25in color touchscreen, which is embedded in a panel that tilts. This is very handy as it ensures you can see it whether you're sitting in front or standing above.

The rest of the unit is, sadly, a little flimsy with fold-out trays that feel very fragile. If your office is a peaceful place with gentle employees then the Pixma TS8350 is sturdy enough – but we would question its suitability for more livelier places of business.

Aside from build quality, however, the Canon Pixma TS8350 is an inkjet we recommend, largely due to the prints it produces. With its six cartridges – which include "photo blue" and a larger secondary black cartridge – it shoots out glorious finishes. Photos that are rich and bold, with deep blacks and crisp text.

Admittedly, we found it lost some of its depth when printing on both sides of a sheet, but beyond that the Pixma TS8350 is a true multifunctional workhorse that more than copes with any task you can chuck at it.

Canon Pixma TS8350 review: Is it worth it?

The overall cost of running the printer is surprisingly reasonable – as long as you opt for Canon's XXL cartridges. With these, the main color ink cartridges should print around 800 pages, with the black lasting 600. This works out to 3.4p per page for mono prints and 6.2p for color. It's pricier than ink tank printers like Epson's EcoTank ET-5880, but it isn't far off what you'd get from Epson or HP's subscription services; note you don't get the ecological benefit of recycling your cartridge, though. While Canon did offer a recycling service previously, it's currently suspended.

FAQs

The printer is relatively nippy. It takes 11 seconds to print its first page from the moment the Print button is pressed, which is among the fastest we’ve seen. Standard printing tasks were more middling, but it was incredibly quick at printing our batch of 6 x 4in photos (while also producing some outstanding-looking prints). It was similarly quick off the blocks when producing copies from its scanner, both in mono and colour.

With its superb colour prints and stylish curves, the Pixma TS8350 is clearly aimed at creative types, and it works with a good range of Canon’s interesting media consumables, from CD covers to vinyl nail art. Don’t be fooled, however, because this printer can cope as admirably with boring office jobs as it can with photos and entertaining craft projects. You need to look elsewhere if an automatic sheet feeder is essential to your copying jobs, but for a mid-priced printer this model is the pick of a colourful bunch.

Canon Pixma TS8350 specifications