The build up to a Childs birthday can be one of the worst times of your life. You have to think of something to get them without spending more money on them then you did their siblings, and it's got to be something they want. And their birthday lists don't help either, I mean, it's either too expensive or impossible to get hold of, and my little daughter's birthday was much the same.
She wanted a digital camera (and of course all the ones she had listed where the high mega pixel cameras that cast £250+), and then my wife pointed out another problem after I had found a fairly good camera, for a reasonable price (only had 4 megapixels, but she wont notice), how is she going to print the photos? Obviously she could of used my photo printer I said, and then I was quickly reminded that she is only 10 years old, and it'll be a struggle enough to use the camera, let alone my printer, so that's was the problem I had to solve with less then £80… and so my search for the compact printer was on.
And I found one. Reduced in a sale, the Canon Selphy CP600 cost me £60, and it was definitely £60 well spent. On my daughters birthday I got to take over and try the thing out, and it was very good.
The Canon is designed to print photos up to 4 by 8 inches, and the speed of print was brilliant, about 70 seconds for a 4 by 6 inch borderless photo. In addition to offering good speed, it prints good looking output and comes with a rechargeable battery for full portability.
So of course I had to steal it and take it to work (as I do with all my children's gadgets) to have a good little play so I charge up the battery (it takes roughly 2hr 30mins to charge from flat) and I took along my camera, knowing that it should work with any PictBridge camera, and not only was I amazed by the speed of this little box, but also the simplicity.
Setup and use is easy and very simple - there are only a few print-time options that need to be selected such as bordered or borderless or print a date stamp. If you can work your digital camera, you can definitely work this printer.
Plus, the idea of making a portable on of these was brilliant. We took it on holiday with some of our mates, and 4 of us there with our digital cameras, each printing out any pictures that we thought looked brilliant right there and then, and what's more, the battery lasted the whole week holiday!
Average price for this little printer I think is around £110, and I tell you I haven't had a single trouble with it, and I know that, for any camera greater then 2 mega pixels the 300x300 dpi resolution produces good enough prints to rival most other compact printer, so if increased portability and simplicity is what you are after then this could be the perfect one for you.
More details
Reliability
Good
Design
Good
Range of extra features / functions
Satisfactory
Instruction manual
Satisfactory
Manufacturer Support
Satisfactory
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