The Canon PIXMA TR4720 is a budget all-in-one printer. It's also available from Walmart as the Canon PIXMA TR4722. It uses a two-cartridge system and is compatible with Canon's PG-275 Black and CL-276 Tri-color ink cartridges. The scanner has an ADF but doesn't support duplex scanning. It has USB and Wi-Fi connectivity, supports Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service, and is compatible with Canon's mobile app.
This printer is part of Canon's PIXMA TR4700 series of all-in-ones. All variants are identical in feature and performance; the model number only changes depending on the region, retailer, and color of the printer.
Our Verdict
The Canon PIXMA TR4720 is okay as a family printer. It prints good looking photos with saturated colors and does an excellent job resolving fine details overall. Its scanner also has a decent feature-set, especially for an all-in-one in its class, as it comes with an ADF. That said, the scan quality is mediocre; the colors look blown out, and some finer details are missing. On the bright side, the flatbed hinges raise the lid slightly to accommodate thicker items like text. The biggest pain points are the cost-per-print and maintenance requirements. Page yields are terrible, so if you print a lot or regularly, you'll need to replace the cartridges frequently.
Documents look sharp and detailed.
- Decent connectivity options.
- Wide color range.
- Produces fine details in photos.
Very low page yields and high cost-per-print.
Slow document printing speeds.
- Requires a lot of maintenance.
Very slow ADF.
The Canon PIXMA TR4720 is marketed as a home office printer, but it performs poorly for this use. It uses cartridges with a very low page yield, prints very slowly, and takes a while to warm up to print the first page. Its ADF is also very slow, as the scanner pauses between pages. User maintenance isn't especially easy either, as accessing the printer's internals can be tricky, and it can be difficult to reach paper jams by yourself. On the bright side, printed documents look great and detailed, and there's fairly decent connectivity options, making the printer easily accessible.
Documents look sharp and detailed.
- Decent connectivity options.
Very low page yields and high cost-per-print.
Slow document printing speeds.
- Requires a lot of maintenance.
Very slow ADF.
The Canon PIXMA TR4722 is mediocre for student use. It incurs high ownership costs since you'll often have to buy new cartridges if you print regularly or in high volume. It also takes a while to warm up and print the first page, which isn't great if you need to print an essay quickly. The scanner's feature set is decent for the printer class, as it has an ADF. However, scans look mediocre, as the image looks overexposed, and the processing is too aggressive in trying to remove artifacts, as it removes fine details and watermarks, too. It supports a decent range of connectivity options, allowing you to easily print from your laptop, tablet, or smartphone.
Documents look sharp and detailed.
- Decent connectivity options.
- Feature-rich mobile app.
Very low page yields and high cost-per-print.
Slow document printing speeds.
- Requires a lot of maintenance.
Very slow ADF.
The Canon PIXMA TR4720 is poor for black-and-white printing. It has an awful black page yield, a high cost-per-print, and a slow printing speed. Maintenance requirements are high if you print often or in high-volume, and other tasks like removing paper jams can be burdensome, as accessing the printer's internals can be difficult. That said, print quality is great; text is legible, and fine details are present and mostly clear (although some print artifacts are visible around fine details).
Documents look sharp and detailed.
Very low page yields and high cost-per-print.
Slow document printing speeds.
- Requires a lot of maintenance.
The Canon PIXMA TR4722 is good for photo printing. It does an excellent job resolving fine details and can reproduce a fairly wide range of colors. This results in nice pictures with a lot of fine details. That said, though color accuracy is decent, the image skews warms, and pictures look a tad grainy. Also, expect high ownership costs if you print photos often, as it uses cartridges with a disappointingly low yield.
- Wide color range.
Supports a wide range of photo paper sizes.
- Produces fine details in photos.
- Requires a lot of maintenance.
The Canon TR4720 has decent color quality. Its color gamut is good, as it can reproduce dark shades and bright hues very well, resulting in detailed photos. Unfortunately, it struggles to reproduce lighter shades of blue and green, and there's some graining present throughout. Color accuracy doesn't fair quite as well, but it's still acceptable for casual use. A few colors are noticeably inaccurate, with dark shades of yellow, skin tones, and grays being the worst; this results in an overly warm appearance.
- Wide color range.
- Produces fine details in photos.
Colors are noticeably inaccurate, resulting in overly warm looking photos.
The Canon PIXMA TR4722 produces great documents. Text looks clear, and most fine details are present. That said, there's some grain and very minor print artifacts, particularly around fine details. Finally, there are some slight printhead alignment issues, resulting in banding.
Documents look sharp and detailed.
The scanner is okay on the Canon PIXMA TR4720. It has a reasonable feature-set, including an ADF and adjustable-hinges on the flatbed scanner to accommodate larger items like textbooks. However, its ADF is very slow, scanning just one page per minute. As for scan quality, it's mediocre. The image processing is overly aggressive in trying to remove artifacts, resulting in the loss of most fine details, and it also overexposes the image resulting in blown out colors.
ADF-equipped scanner.
Adjustable hinges for accommodating thicker items.
Very slow ADF.
Scans look overexposed with blown-out colors.
The Canon PIXMA TR4722 prints documents very slowly, pushing just four black and two color pages per minute. Its photo printing time is much better, although still nothing special, as its on the longer side of the expected range for inkjet printers.
Slow document printing speeds.
This printer has high recurring costs. The page yields are extremely low, so while the cartridges aren't overly expensive, you'll need to buy replacements frequently if you print often or in high volume.
Very low page yields and high cost-per-print.
Performance Usages
Changelog
- Updated Nov 08, 2024:
We've updated this review for clarity and added text to the new performance usage boxes implemented after the initial review.
- Updated Jan 19, 2024: We've made minor-in-text adjustments to further clarify some important product details.
- Updated May 15, 2023: Added link to the Epson WorkForce WF-2930 in the Display Screen section of the review to provide an alternative with a larger screen.
- Updated Apr 12, 2023: Added link to the Epson WorkForce WF-2950 in the 'Scanner Features' section of the review to provide an alternative with better scan quality.
Check Price
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the Canon PIXMA TR4720 in black, but you can also get it in a white color scheme. This printer is part of the Canon PIXMA TR4700 series of all-in-one printers, which includes many variants. All variants have identical features and performance; the model number only changes depending on the region, retailer, and color of the printer.
| Model | Region/Retailer | Color |
|---|---|---|
| TR4720 | North America | Black/White |
| TR4722 | Walmart US | Black |
| TR4723 | Walmart Canada | White |
| TR4725 | Walmart Canada | Black |
| TR4750i | Europe/Middle East | Black/White |
| TR4751i | UK/Ireland | Black/White |
See our unit's label.
Compared To Other Printers
The Canon PIXMA TR4720 is an all-in-one color inkjet printer. While it supports automatic duplex printing, comes with an ADF (albeit an extremely slow one), and produces significantly better-looking photos than most other alternatives in its class, it isn't a particularly good value. It has extremely low page yields, even among other budget printers. Also, it takes a while to warm up before printing. Consider the Canon PIXMA MG3620 instead, as it yields vastly more prints and produces better-looking documents and photos while often costing less.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best home printers, the best printers for college students, and the best printers under $100.
The Epson Expression Home XP-4200 is better than the Canon PIXMA TR4720/TR4722 for most uses. The Epson yields more prints and is cheaper to maintain. The Canon produces better color documents but prints slower than the Epson. Although the Canon has a wider color range and is more color-accurate for photo printing, it isn't as good as the Epson when it comes to small details.
The Canon PIXMA TR4720/TR4722 and Epson WorkForce WF-2950 are both budget inkjet printers intended for home offices, though the Epson is a much better fit for that kind of use. The Epson uses cartridges with a substantially greater page yield, has a higher capacity ADF for its scanner, scans substantially faster, and offers superior scan quality. Conversely, the Canon prints slightly sharper-looking documents and is a marginally better fit for photo printing, as it reproduces most shades more faithfully than the Epson.
The Canon PIXMA TR4720/TR4722 is better than the Canon PIXMA TS3720/TS3722 overall. It produces better-looking black-and-white documents with much cleaner details like fine lines. Photos also look better owing to a wider color gamut, and you can print a wider range of photo sizes on the TR4720. While the TS3720 prints faster, the TR4720 pushes its first page out in just over half the time.
The Canon PIXMA TR4720/TR4722 is the updated version of the Canon PIXMA TR4520. The two printers perform very similarly. The TR4520 has a lower cost-per-print and a higher page yield for both black and color documents. On the other hand, the TR4720 has a slightly faster printing speed. Both printers have scanners with an automatic document feeder, but neither can perform duplex scanning.
Test Results
The Canon PIXMA TR4722's build quality is sub-par. Its body uses cheap-feeling plastic; some parts feel especially flimsy, like the output tray and scanner lid hinges. Design-wise, the paper input tray isn't removable, limiting your access to the printer's internals, and if you want to store paper in the printer, you need to keep both the input and output trays open. If you need to replace the cartridge in the middle of a print job, the output tray could also get in the way and make replacement difficult. Also, in the case of a paper jam, you need to tilt the printer forward to gain access to the sheet rollers; this is hard to accomplish without help, as it could require two sets of hands. On the bright side, the cable is detachable for easy replacement in case it gets damaged, and the cartridges have an easy-clip system that makes them easy to insert.
The Canon PIXMA TR4720 requires a lot of maintenance. Like most inkjet printers, the printheads can clog if left unused for an extended period. If the printer clogs or the print quality degrades, a few maintenance tasks can help resolve the issue, like printhead nozzle checks, cleaning, deep cleaning, and alignment. There are also sheet roller and bottom plate cleaning routines if you notice smears. You'll have to replace the cartridges often if you print frequently or in high volume, as they have extremely low page yields. Unfortunately, accessing the cartridge bay can be tricky. First, before opening the door to access the cartridge bay, you need to open the input and output trays; however, having paper in the input tray will impede your access, preventing the front door from fully opening. The input tray only holds 100 sheets of paper; while this is more than the yield of either black or color cartridges, you can still expect to add paper frequently if you print a lot.
In case of a paper jam, you can access the sheet rollers via the ink cartridge bay by moving the cartridge holder out of the way. Alternatively, you can flip the printer onto its right side, then pinch two tabs to open the rear cover to access paper jams close to the rear. You can lift the button control panel to access any paper jams in the automatic document feeder.
See Canon's website for the user manual.
The display is bad. It's a two-line LCD that doesn't allow for tilt or swivel adjustments, so you must stand up and look down at the screen to see the displayed text properly. It's also hard to navigate through the printer's functions, as the display only shows a limited amount of text at one time.
This printer has an extremely low page yield, so you'll need to replace the cartridges often if you print a lot. Additionally, since the CL-276 is a tri-color cartridge, you'll need to replace the whole thing even if you only run out of one color. High-yield cartridges are available—the PG-275XL and CL-276XL cartridges have an advertised yield of 300 pages each. You can find value packs with two sets of XL cartridges, which may save you money.
There are two ways to use this printer's OCR function. Scanning directly from the printer using the 'Document' preset will produce a searchable PDF. You can also use the Canon IJ Scan Utility software and select the 'OCR' option; this outputs both a .txt file and a JPEG version of the document.
The scan quality is mediocre. While text is fairly crisp and legible, the scanner's image processing overexposes the image, resulting in blown-out colors. The image processing is also very aggressive in removing artifacts and grain from the page while using Default scan settings; as a result, it also removes fine details that should be preserved, like lines on a graph and background watermarks.
The scan resolution maxes out at 600 DPI by default when using the Canon IJ Scanning Utility software. You need to change the settings to the 'Advanced Mode' (found by clicking on the 'Scan Gear') to access the full 1200 DPI resolution. Just know that using the full scan resolution will create large files, requiring you to disable the thumbnail in the top-left corner of the ScanGear window.
- Setup instructions
- Power cord
- Fax cable
- PG-275 black starter cartridge
- CL-276 tri-color starter cartridge
The quality of black-and-white documents is great. Text looks clear, and most of the fine details are present. That said, some graining and print artifacts are present, particularly around fine details, and some slight printhead alignment issues result in banding. Finally, this printer struggles to reproduce contrast between darker shades like burnt sienna and dark purple when converting colors to grayscale.
The print quality of color documents is excellent. The text is sharp, and the colors look punchy without being oversaturated. Finer details, like the lines in the graph, are present but appear slightly grainy.
This printer is compatible with two Canon ink services. The first is called 'Auto Replenishment Service,' which uses the printer's built-in status monitoring to detect when you're low on ink and order more for you; you can read more about it on Canon's website. The second service is called 'PIXMA Print Plan,' a monthly subscription service with different tiers based on how many pages you print each month. You can check out Canon's website to read more about this service.
You can set custom print sizes from 4” x 6" (101.6 mm x 152.4 mm) to 8.5” x 26.6” (215.9 mm x 675.6 mm).
The Canon TR4720 has a fairly wide color gamut. The printer can reproduce most dark shades and bright hues well, although it struggles to reproduce lighter shades of blue and green. Color transitions are mostly smooth with minimal banding; however, there's some graining throughout; it's particularly noticeable in shades of green. Overall, the color gamut results in nicely detailed photos, as the saturated colors help to provide definition, like with the feathers in the parrot photo.
The color accuracy is adequate. A few colors are noticeably inaccurate, with dark shades of yellow, dark and light blue, skin tones, and grays being the least accurate. This negatively impacts the image quality, resulting in an overly warm appearance. Nevertheless, this level of color accuracy is still fine for casual use, like printing photos at home. If you want a printer with better color accuracy, check out the Canon PIXMA MG2522.
This printer is excellent at reproducing small details. While the color contrast helps to differentiate background details from foreground objects, the printer's halftone pattern produces some softness in the image, resulting in a loss of clarity.
This printer is compatible with the Canon PRINT Inkjet/SELPHY app. You can use the app to print documents and photos, initiate scans from the printer, or scan with your mobile device's camera. You can also print files from various cloud services and save scans directly to the cloud. Finally, you can set up and manage your ink subscription, purchase consumables, and monitor the printer's status.
