Canon PIXMA MX366

Multifunction devices or MFDs are devices that can do it all print, scan, copy and sometimes, fax. MFDs are usually targeted at offices because they save on precious office space because this single device replaces possibly four devices. The PIXMA MX366 which has been sent to us for review is one of the latest ones in the Canon stable. Unlike traditional boring MFDs, this one looks pretty and is suitable even to adorn your living room in style. It also boasts of cheerful features such as printing from HD Movie frames, targeting the general home user more than an office. It is the standalone fax and ADF feature that reinstates that it is for office use as well.

The Canon PIXMA MX366.

Design And Features
The MX366 is reasonably compact and weighs just 5.6 Kg. With a silver and black plastic body with no sharp edges, it sure looks beautiful. The flaps are a little tacky, and so is the tray; we won't be surprised if any of these break over the course of time. The glossy finish means that it will catch dust and fingerprints become easily visible.

Based on thermal inkjet technology, the MX366 comes with two cartridges black and tri-colour. The cartridges can be installed only after opening the cartridge bay, which may not be convenient for most who would not want to stick their hands inside the bay.

The input tray, situated at the rear, can hold just 100 sheets of paper, which is just fine even for any SoHo or SMB.

The input tray.

The output tray is situated at the front. While the input tray is retractable and can be folded to conserve space while storing the device when not in use, the output tray lacks this functionality and often seems to be not able to hold the complete length of the paper once it gets deposited there after printing. It accepts paper face up and leading edge inside, while printed paper comes out face up and leading edge out.

The output tray.

The user-friendly control panel is situated on the right and has a 2-line. There is a soft power button with a backlit LED to the left of the display, while there is a fax section to the right. There are buttons to choose the Copy, Fax, or Scanfunctionality too. The convenient Scan button lets you scan directly to the PC through the Auto Scan mode, which automatically recognizes the document type and then makes the optimal scan and save settings. Dedicated buttons to copy Colour and Black allow you to make copies of your documents.

The control panel.

An ADF as well as a flatbed scanner capable of scanning A4 size documents is present in this device. An ADF scanner is useful and increases productivity because it saves you the time required to manually feed a bunch of documents for scanning, copying, or faxing. Instead, you can simply place this bunch of up to 30 sheets in the ADF tray and the rest will be automatically taken care of by the MX366. The hardware dpi of the scanner is 1200 x 2400 pretty high for any practical purpose.

The ADF (Automatic Document Feeder).

This MFD uses the USB 2.0 interface, which is the most common interface today. Even though it does boast of photo printing capabilities and has PictBridge, there is no memory card slot on this MFD, which is something that Canon should not have left out. It features only a soft power button, which means that the device is always consuming at least some electricity as long as it remains connected to the power mains.

The Super G3 colour fax lets you fax documents at 33.6 Kbps, which means an A4 page in just 3 seconds! It has memory to receive 50 pages of fax when unattended and can save up to 20 frequently used numbers for one-touch convenient access. It also has an RX Fax feature, which prompts the user to type in the recipient's fax number twice for confirmation and only sends the fax after the numbers match.

Software 
In addition to the drivers, the application CD came with many different software to take care of different needs.

The Canon Solution Menu EX is a control centre of sorts, where you can access all the applications bundled with the printer. Canon My Printer is also yet another control centre where you can diagnose and repair the printer, adjust printer settings, view printer status and do general troubleshooting.

The MP Navigator EX lets you not only scan or import documents and images, but also manage them. This is in fact a frontend to different applications such as OCR, image editor, email client, etc. Easy-PhotoPrint EX allows you to easily create albums, calendars and stickers using photos taken from a digital camera. It also lets you enhance photos and save the items you create.

Driver Interface
The printer driver interface has five pages. The first page in the printer driver interface is the Quick Setup page. This page has all the generally used options and settings from the other pages, thus almost making it not necessary for you to go to any of the other pages except when you want to tweak more.

The second page or Main page allows you to select print quality, paper size, colour intensity, greyscale/colour printing, etc. You can opt to adjust the colour settings manually to fine tune the results. The Page Setup page lets you to choose the paper size, orientation and layout in general. There is an option to specify Grayscale printing to save expensive colour ink when it is not necessary to print in colour.

Maintenance options are also aplenty, with not just print head alignment and cleaning options, there are options to clean the bottom plate and roller as well. There is even an option known as Quiet Mode an innovative feature that reduces the printer noise. The Auto Power button lets you set the idle time after which the printer will switch off, thus saving electricity. The option to power off the device straight from the PC is useful if it is placed far from the PC.

While printing, it shows you the printing progress with the print queue as well as the individual ink levels in cartridges. Before we forget to mention, this printer comes with Mac drivers as well.