Canon Pixma iP6700D

Canon's new PIXMA iP6700D photo printer is the successor to the company's iP6600D, one of the best products of 2006. The $349 iP6700D is first and foremost a photo printer. In our tests, it produced high-quality prints on photo paper; images were vibrant, but skin tones were a bit too bronzed.

The device is less adept at printing text. Unlike the Canon PIXMA iP5200R, it doesn't use pigment black ink; as a result, its text output wasn't as dark. We also saw fuzzy edges on some letters.

Like its predecessor, the iP6700D printed 3.2 full text pages per minute (ppm) and generated graphics at 1.5ppm -- no challenge to the iP5200R's marks of 8.7 and 2.9ppm. The iP6700D made a 5x7in photo in 45 seconds, sluggish next to other printers we have tested.

The iP6700D's stunning 3.5in colour pop-up display makes light work of menu navigation, image previews, and basic photo touch-ups without the need for a PC. Its infrared interface can receive images from some phones, and a $99 add-on provides wireless Bluetooth printing.

A direct-print port also lets you use a USB cable to print from a PictBridge-compatible digital camera (but unlike some competing models, not from a portable USB drive).

One notable new feature: the iP6700D incorporates what the company dubs the "Canon-to-Canon Direct Advantage". When you use the printer with select Canon cameras, you can touch-up photos, print a contact sheet, and more, all from the camera's controls. The printer's two media card slots read most common card formats.

The iP6700D adds support for several new paper sizes and Canon's Fine Art Photo Rag paper. The printer uses an underside cassette drawer and an upright sheet feeder that both hold up to 150 sheets of plain paper. An automatic-duplexer setting allows for double-sided prints.