Canon PIXMA MG2522 Printer Review

The Canon PIXMA MG2522 feels poorly built. Its plastic construction feels cheap and flimsy, with an output tray and scanner lid that bend easily. Changing the ink cartridges and removing paper jams can be challenging as you can only do so via the front panel above the output tray, which doesn't provide much room. You have to tuck in the output tray to open the panel fully, and the printer must be on when changing the cartridges. The output tray doesn't have a border to keep sheets from falling off. On the upside, the scanner has a foam backing to smooth out uneven sheets and extendable lid hinges to accommodate thicker items like textbooks. The power cord is removable, making it easy to replace if it gets damaged.

The Canon PIXMA MG2522 requires a lot of maintenance. Like most inkjet printers, the printheads can clog if left unused for an extended period. You can resolve clogging issues with the built-in printhead cleaning function. There are also other maintenance functions built-in, like printhead cleaning, printhead alignment, nozzle check, bottom plate cleaning, and roller cleaning. One benefit of the design is that the printheads are in the cartridges, so if you can't resolve the clogging issue with the built-in functions, you can simply buy a new cartridge. The ink cartridges don't last very long, so you'll have to replace them often anyway. You'll also have to refill the paper tray often because it only holds 60 sheets of paper. As mentioned in the build section, you can only access the cartridges and paper jams through the front panel, which may be hard for people with large hands as the opening is small. You can see the user's manual here.

The Canon PIXMA MG2522 doesn't have a display. It only has four LEDs to show the power status, errors (out of paper or other issues), and low ink levels (black and color).

The ink cartridges yield very few prints, meaning you'll have to replace them often. The printer comes with a PG-243 black and a CL-244 color ink cartridge, which contain 5.6 ml and 6.2 ml of ink, respectively. The printer is also compatible with the PG-245 and CL-246 cartridges, available in regular and XL sizes. The regular PG-245 contains 8 ml of black ink, and the CL-246 contains 9 ml of color ink. The XL PG-245 gives you 12 ml of black ink, and the XL CL-246 gives you 13 ml of color ink. We tested the yield using the regular PG-245 and CL-246 cartridges. The printer accepts third-party ink cartridges, but using them may void the manufacturer's warranty.

The Canon PIXMA MG2522 has mediocre scanner features. Its lack of an automatic feeder and duplex scanning capability means scanning multi-page and double-sided documents takes a long time. To use the optical character recognition feature, you need to scan the document as a PDF file that supports keyword search via Canon's 'My Image Garden' application. The character recognition feature works well; mistakes are mostly due to special characters. Check out the HP OfficeJet 8015e if you need a printer with an automatic document feeder.

The Canon MG2522 produces decent-quality scans. The scanner captures colors well and boosts the contrast slightly to make black text easier to read. However, the white text on a red background is harder to see, and some finer details, like the lines in the graphs, are very faint.

• Power cord
• USB-A to USB-B cable
• Setup CD-ROM
• User guide
• Two ink cartridges:
• 1x PG-243 Black ink cartridge
• 1x CL-244 Tri-Color ink cartridge

The Canon MG2522 prints black and white documents well. There are some vertical lines when printing in the Standard Quality mode as the printer overlaps the end of the previous line to avoid gaps, but they aren't present when printing in the High Quality mode. These lines are also hard to spot when printing the document in portrait mode, even in Standard Quality. The only other issue is that it has trouble simulating the color yellow, as seen in the title of the second page.

Color documents look great. The text looks crisp, and all the colors look good. There are some vertical lines, but again, they're only present when printing in the Standard Quality mode, not in the High Quality mode. They're also very faint (the sample document accentuates them) and aren't noticeable when printing in portrait mode, even in Standard Quality. Fine details, like the lines in the graphs, come through but aren't always easy to see.

Although you have to replace the ink cartridges often, the cost per print is reasonably low because the ink cartridges are relatively cheap. That said, it'll still add up if you print a lot. You'll easily spend more on replacement ink than the printer itself.

The Canon PIXMA MG2522 is very slow at printing black and color documents. Printing photos in the Standard Quality is quick, but High Quality takes a lot longer, around 2 minutes and 5 seconds. It can't perform duplex printing automatically, so you'll have to manually reinsert the sheets into the input tray when prompted. The input tray holds 60 plain sheets of paper or 20 sheets of 4" x 6" photo paper.

The Canon PIXMA MG2522 printer supports custom sizes ranging from 4" to 8.5" x 6" to 26.61".

The Canon PIXMA MG2522 has a decent color gamut. It prints bright warm colors well, like yellows, oranges, and reds; however, it struggles with cooler colors like blues and greens. It also has trouble with lighter shades and dark blues and greens. There's some grain when transitioning from one color to another, but almost no banding.

The Canon PIXMA MG2522's color accuracy is great. Most color inaccuracies are minor and hard to spot except for cyans, blues, and yellows.

The Canon PIXMA MG2522 prints small details well. There's a fair amount of dithering affecting the print quality, but you can still see the Tokyo Tower's general structure and the individual metal bars above.

You need to set a custom size to print 8" x 10" photos as there isn't a preset option.

If wireless connectivity is a must, check out the HP DeskJet 2855e/2852e.

The Canon PIXMA MG2522 isn't compatible with any mobile app.