The Canon BJ-30 (currently around £20 on ebay)is one of the most durable little printers I have ever owned. Years ago I bought it and then when I moved house it was put in a box in the shed and I forgot about it (not because it wasn't a good little printer, but because I upgraded to a colour ... Read review
Advantages: portable, light, durable Disadvantages: slow and paper jams
The Canon BJ-30 (currently around £20 on ebay)is one of the most durable little printers I have ever owned. Years ago I bought it and then when I moved house it was put in a box in the shed and I forgot about it (not because it wasn't a good little printer, but because I upgraded to a colour printer and this is a black ink only number).
Recently, I bought a laptop to use when travelling (see my opinion on the Compaq Armada 74xx) and ... ...enough, there was my trust Canon BJ-30. I wiped off the inch of dust, plugged it in and hey presto - it came out with a printed sheet that was completely unreadable (well what did you expect really!) But here comes the nifty part (yes I did say nifty), on closer examination I found that the print head had got dirty and all I had to do was whip it off and purchase a new one. It was about £25 and called a BC-10e Print Head.
The Canon BJ-30 (currently around £20 on ebay)is one of the most durable little printers I have ever owned. Years ago I bought it and then when I moved house it was put in a box in the shed and I forgot about it (not because it wasn't a good little printer, but because I upgraded to a colour printer and this is a black ink only number).
Recently, I bought a laptop to use when travelling (see my opinion on the Compaq Armada 74xx) and started researching portable printers to go with it. As I searched all known sites for something small and affordable a few printers looked very, very familiar to me. Hey, didn't I have something like that in the shed?!
I rummaged through my hoard and sure enough, there was my trust Canon BJ-30. I wiped off the inch of dust, plugged it in and hey presto - it came out with a printed sheet that was completely unreadable (well what did you expect really!) But here comes the nifty part (yes I did say nifty), on closer examination I found that the print head had got dirty and all I had to do was whip it off and purchase a new one. It was about £25 and called a BC-10e Print Head.
The printer now works perfectly (aside from the occasional paper jam when auto loading the paper- make sure it is always well stacked with paper to avoid this) and I have been using it ever since (talk about durable).
The printer itself is around (LxWxH) 30x15x4cm and weighs 1.4kg. The design is compact and looks good. The print resolution is (HxV)720x360 dpi It is compatible with a wide range of software (Windows, Linux and Apple) It prints quietly and The loader holds about 30 sheets at a time.
The printer comes with the option of a rechargeable battery pack, making it truly portable. (The printer fits easily in my laptop bag along with my laptop, CDs and all my cables).
It is easy and cheap to use and maintain (a 3 pack of ink cartridges will only set you back around £6.50 incl. VAT) and the manual sets out clear instructions for how to do this.
It is not fast compared with newer printers; you have to be very patient with it. But the print quality is good and it is not heavy – which is great if you are like me and don't want to haul a huge load to work and back every day.
I would recommend this printer to people who are not in a hurry and want a simple, portable, inexpensive machine that will last and last and last. It is not easy to get hold of anymore but it is worth a search around the net for.
The BJ-30 is the smallest member of Canon's innovative Bubble Jet range, ideal for those on the move or the answer for occasional home use. The BJ-30 weighs only 1.4kg, giving a high speed print of 2.2 pages per minute, and offers a built in 'smoothing function' for a resolution of 720 x 360 dots per inch.
![Canon BCI-11 Black Ink Tank Cartridge for BJC50 70 80 Starwriter Jet 350C 550C BJ30 Ref BCI-11BK [Pack 3]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/126223898.jpg "Canon BCI-11 Black Ink Tank Cartridge for BJC50 70 80 Starwriter Jet 350C 550C BJ30 Ref BCI-11BK [Pack 3]")
