The Canon PIXMA TR150 is the latest in a line of reliable printers from Canon. It's a portable device that works via WiFi, and it can connect to a range of devices, including home computers, laptops, tablets and even smartphones. As such, it's a diverse device with plenty of practical applications - from printing off holiday snaps when you're actually on holiday, to generating last minute print-outs when you're away from home on business.
You are able to buy it as a standalone printer or as a package deal which includes the battery pack, charged at around $100 when bought separately. Still, it's a great, smart little device, and one of the best compact printers you can buy today.
Canon PIXMA TR150: Features
The Canon PIXMA TR150 comes with a handful of useful features for anyone looking to create print-outs on the go. The best of these is the ability to print direct from tablet or smartphone, enabling you to simply access photos and instantly print them off, wherever you may be. There's a dedicated Canon PRINT app, but it's also capable of using AirPrint for Apple devices, and Mopira on Android.
It goes without saying, but the TR150 is fully compatible with Windows 11 too, so can connect to any laptop from recent years. You'll do most of your printing via WiFi, but there is an option for Wireless Direct printing, which takes longer, but does give you the flexibility to print wherever you are.
The printer also features a 1.44" display for messages and ink information. It's a neat little screen that provides all the information you could possibly need, and it doesn't occupy much space or spoil the overall aesthetic of the printer. Speaking of which, the Canon PIXMA TR150 is very compact: in a closed state it's 12.7"x7.3"x2.6", making it small enough to fit inside drawers and even larger items of travel luggage. It's 4.5 lbs too, which is light enough to carry. When folded, it's sturdy enough to withstand a few bumps, which is what you need in a wireless printer.
Obviously, when you take up the front tray and paper feeder it's larger, but is still suitable for smaller office spaces. If you're working from home and live in a smaller space like an apartment, or your home office is in a box room, this is a handy printer to have - even if its capabilities are limited for serious home printing. If you print regularly, you'll need an all in one printer instead.
While the Canon PIXMA TR150 is far from the noisiest printer out there - it's actually rather quiet - there is a quiet mode available if you need it. And, as we mentioned, it's capable of being fully cordless... but the basic model doesn't come with a battery pack (only a plug). If you want the battery pack, that's an extra $100. While not terrible value, we do feel that this printer is already on the expensive side AND it does lose some of its best features if you're constantly searching for a plug socket.
Canon PIXMA TR150: Print quality
The PIXMA TR150 is capable of printing up to 4800x1200 dpi, which is enough for photos from most phones and tablets, but not good enough for prints from DSLR or mirrorless cameras.
There are five print settings on offer - regular single-sided A4, borderless A4, First Print Out Time, Simplex, and black letter / document (essentially, colorless printing). That's fairly standard for modern compact printers and - again - this doesn't offer the same options as the dedicated home printers, but it is versatile enough for most travel and business-away-from-office needs. Because it's designed mainly for photos, there's no option to print double-sided, so you won't be able to save on paper.
This printer is fairly quick at printing too. Depending on settings you can get up to nine pages per minute (for black and white) and five per minute in full color. That compares well to other compact printers, and it's good that you don't sacrifice quality for speed here.
In terms of paper, you can use most of the standard types here, along with a few more specialist surfaces. It's compatible with glossy and matte photo paper, along with magnetic photo paper and recycled paper too. It's a very versatile printer. You can store up to 50 sheets of plain paper in the rear tray, but obviously that number gets smaller if you're using higher gsm paper or photo sheets. Again, this is plenty for smaller batches of holiday snaps or documents, but if you need volume, the PIXMA TR150 isn't suitable. Especially as the cost of Canon's official ink for this printer is expensive. This is another reason why it's a good photo printer, but not suitable for heavy home-office usage.
In our testing, the color – and more specifically color photo – prints were very impressive. We printed on glossy 10 x 15 sheets as well as full sized A4 glossy sheets. In both instances, the colors were rich and the dynamic range was well defined. In fact it was very difficult to spot any errors on the printer's part even when using that large A4 paper size. However, there was a little color dulling in some shots where the lighting was brighter. That said, the photo we tried to print was sent over WhatsApp, so it would have been compressed. Taking that into consideration, the end result was still impressive.
For both color and monochrome prints the speed was impressive with waits of less than half a minute even on those larger photos. Crucially, as mentioned before, all these were super quiet, far less noisy than larger printers, making this a very discreet way to print.
Printing from your smartphone or computer makes little difference once you're set up with the app or software. You can go via the Canon software, but we found it easier to just print directly from the photo in your device's gallery folder. You can then adjust to suit different paper types before hitting that print button, where the response over the same WiFi network is near instant.
We were left with the feeling that this would be a capable option for anyone using it professionally. Perhaps taking photos and printing them at a wedding, party or other event. It feels solid, fast and premium quality enough to keep up even with that level of print demand and quality necessity. All very impressive for the price which seemed high at first, but after use actually seems like a bargain for what you get.
Canon PIXMA TR150: Connectivity
The PIXMA TR150 is compatible with all routers that broadcast over a 2.4GHz and 5GHz range, so you'll likely be able to get a good connection wherever you are in relation to the wireless source. While it's very reliable, a handful of user reviews have complained of drop-outs during longer printing sessions.
You can control the printer via your smartphone, which is a nice touch, and it's compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant, allowing you limited voice control too. We wouldn't recommend this, as it's more of a gimmick than anything, although it can be useful if you regularly run the same printing routine at home.
Should you buy the Canon PIXMA TR150?
The Canon PIXMA TR150 is a great printer if you're mobile and wanting to generate physical copies of photos and work documents. It's small, light, and produces good quality print-outs across a variety of papers. There are so many ways to connect to devices, from home computers to tablets, and the connection is - for the most part - stable enough to print off batches of items. It costs about the same as the HP OfficeJet 200 Mobile, if you need a comparison. It's a little smaller but, for us, the print quality isn't quite as good.
The main drawback is the lack of included battery, for cord-free usage, and the fact that you pay more here for fewer features, when compared to regular home printers. Even with these minor issues, we'd definitely recommend the PIXMA TR150 if you need a reliable compact printer, and don't mind paying a little more to get it.
How does the Canon PIXMA TR150 compare to competitors?
The Canon PIXMA TR150 is quite a specific printer, offering that battery-based portability, compact size and the capability to print off high-resolution photos as well as black and white prints at speed and quietly. It ticks a lot of boxes. Can any other printer hope to compare?
There are plenty of other options out there. In fact, the HP OfficeJet All-in-One 250 has a very similar offering and performs similarly on all fronts. You have battery power – although not as good as the PIXMA – a compact build, and great connectivity. This model also offers a color OLED screen for controls, can be more affordable for ink and has the ability to print, copy and scan thanks to an automatic document feeder. For all that, you are looking at a larger and heavier printer though.
Another option is the Epson WorkForce WF110, which is a great option for business users. This is a print-only option and it does offer a color LCD display. Print costs are below average and the quality of the results is excellent. Although battery life is weaker than the others and print speeds are slower, you get great quality and a build that's robust.
