On the performance side, the Pixma MP510 falls a good bit short of the Pixma MP500, but it's still better than all of its direct competitors in photo mode, with only the Photosmart C4180 able to give it a run for its money. It took 2 minutes 44 seconds to spit out an 8½x11 photo, which is quite a respectable time. In text mode, however, we were a little disappointed; it wasn't able to top 9 ppm in draft mode, unlike all the other models tested for this article. There's a reason for that: every 2 or 3 pages, the printer stops to replenish ink, which slows down output.

Cost Per Page

There are two ways to approach cost per page with this product. If you stick with basic photo paper, the cost is excellent: under 38 cents per 4x6 photo. However, if you use the top-of-the-line Canon paper (PR-101), the cost can double. Clearly the ink is not what raises the cost; the cartridges Canon offers have a large capacity and sell for a reasonable price.

Scanning And Copying

The scanner is one of this model's strong points. It's close to twice as fast as the ones on the other models, both for previewing and for scanning documents. It took 17 seconds to scan an 8½x11 document at 300 dpi, while the other model that came closest to that speed, the Lexmark X5470, took 32 seconds. The copy function obviously benefits from the scanner's good performance.

Conclusion

While the Pixma MP510 may be slightly disappointing compared to the Pixma MP500, it's still well in front of its similarly priced competitors. It's less suited to office applications than the Lexmark or Epson, but it's more versatile and is also the least expensive to use.

• X5470 All-In-One...
• • Instawares
  • $123.96