“Hey, Jack,” Samuel said as he approached the edge of Amazon Lake. “Anything biting today?”

“Oh, yeah. They’re bitin’ like mad.” Jack glanced over his shoulder as he stood atop a large rock, holding a fishing rod with its line disappearing somewhere beneath the lake’s surface.

“What’d you get? Anything I’d be interested in?” Samuel made his way onto the same large rock, set his rod and box down, and began preparing his paper bait.

“Well, earlier this mornin’ I caught myself a Pentax.”

“What kind?”

“PocketJet3 Plus. Mobile printer with integrated USB and IrDA. Prints full pages and no ink or toner. Only bad thing is speed tops out at 3 pages per minute. Good machine, but I’m looking for speed, so I had to throw it back.”

“That’s a shame. I would have taken it.”

“Sorry, Sammy. If I had known you were comin’ down, I’d a kept if for ya.”

“That’s alright. Still no luck catching the big one yet, huh?”

“If you’re referring to the Canon Pixma ip100, then I guess you really mean ‘the small one’.”

“Good point … I guess so.”

Jack looked up at the bright blue sky. His eyes remained still yet indicated his thoughts were trailing off to another place, as if he were entering the most wonderful daydream imaginable. “You mean the mobile printer with 1,856 nozzles that eject ink droplets as small as 1 picoliter?”

Samuel was about to respond, but Jack continued.

“The one in which speeds can reach as high as 20 pages per minute black and 14 pages per minute, and a 4 x 6 borderless photo can be completed in 55 seconds? The one that’s PictBridge-compatible and has IrDa technology and an optional Bluetooth interface? The one that has an Auto Image Fix feature that can solve all your problems? And it’s all small enough to fit into almost any travel bag?”

“Yes, Jack.” Samuel waved his hand in front of Jack’s face in order to get him back to reality. “That one.”

“Oh!” Jack perked up and turned to Samuel with a smile. “Caught it about 15 minutes before you got here.” He pointed to a hidden spot behind the rock they stood on. “Got it right back there.”

“Figured there was a reason you were in such a good mood today.”

“I caught the Canon Pixma ip100, Sammy. That’s the biggest prize in this lake as far as printers go. I’ve been trying for months and I’ve finally done it!” A tear began to form in Jack’s eye.

“Congratulations, Jack.” Samuel patted him on the back. “Congratulations.”

The mobile printer being written about in this article is a little noisy. There’s no LCD screen or control panel, warm-up and think time are longer than usual, it whirls and clicks when you turn it on, it doesn’t come with a carrying case or a printer cable, and you must use ultra premium photo paper in order to get the highest print resolution possible. Does this sound like a printer you would want to own? Before you answer that question, let’s think about Cindy Crawford. Threw you for a loop there, didn’t I? Well, if you remember correctly, Cindy Crawford was one of the most beautiful models of all time. Perhaps you also remember that she had a mole right above her mouth. How did she pull this off? While the mole might have been a negative, the rest of her was so beautiful that people looked past it. Such is the case with the Canon Pixma ip100. While there will be some negatives, it’s still by far the most popular and best performing mobile printer on the market.

We’ve already gone over all the negatives for the ip100, but what about the positives? Print resolution can reach as high as 9600 x 2400 dots per inch, which is extraordinary for a mobile printer. Speed might not lead the industry, but it’s still pretty good. The ip100 can print up to 20 pages per minute black and 14 pages per minute color. A 4 x 6 borderless photo will take 55 seconds. If using glossy paper, a 3 x 5 print will take just shy of 1 minute and an 8 x 10 print will take approximately 4 minutes.

What about portability? The first thing you need to know is dimensions. The Canon Pixma ip100 is 12.7 x 2.4 x 7.2 inches. It’s also relatively light for a mobile printer, weighing in at 4.4 lbs. Overall, this printer is small enough to fit into many briefcases and almost all travel bags. You can also increase the ip100’s portability if you decide to purchase the optional car adapter or battery kit.

When it comes to positives for the ip100, the list can go on and on. If you’re interested in this model, warts and all, it can be found on Amazon for $199.98.