Canon Pixma MG3620 Review
Our Verdict
Compare to Similar Products
![]() This Product
Canon Pixma MG3620 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Awards | ![]() | ![]() | |||
Price | $100 List Check Price at Amazon | $220 List $109.99 at Amazon | $120 List $119.99 at Amazon | $85 List $84.99 at Amazon | $125 List $89.99 at Amazon |
Overall Score ![]() |
|||||
Star Rating | |||||
Pros | Decent photo quality, small size and lightweight, decent text quality | Sturdy, well-built, awesome interface, strong all-around performance | Compact design, good printing speed and quality | Low purchase price, compact size, consistent performance | Small size, good graphic and photo quality for its price class |
Cons | No display screen, difficult to troubleshoot, costly to maintain, sluggish printing speeds | Lacks duplex scanning, proprietary ink only | Very limited connectivity (no WiFi or Ethernet and it doesn't come with a USB cable) | Expensive operating costs, manual duplex printing | Expensive operating cost, no duplex printing, inconsistent quality for print jobs, HP ink cartridges only |
Bottom Line | Don't be fooled by the low purchase price - this printer does a decent job, but maintenance comes at a cost | A strong all-around printer where photo and graphic printing, cost efficiency, user interface, and print speed all score high | This printer does a stellar job at high-speed monochrome document printing, but lacks connectivity options, making it less versatile and convenient | A very accessible entry cost and solid performance across the board make this printer a great pick, but its long-term operational costs offset some initial savings | A simple, small printer that excels at photos, but is costly to operate |
Rating Categories | Canon Pixma MG3620 | Epson Workforce Pro... | Brother HL-L2300D | HP DeskJet 2755e | HP DeskJet 4155e |
Text Quality (25%) | |||||
Operating Cost (25%) | |||||
Ease of Use (20%) | |||||
Graphics and Photos (15%) | |||||
Printing Speed (15%) | |||||
Specs | Canon Pixma MG3620 | Epson Workforce Pro... | Brother HL-L2300D | HP DeskJet 2755e | HP DeskJet 4155e |
Type | all-in-one inkjet | all-in-one inkjet | laser | all-in-one inkjet | all-in-one inkjet |
Capabilities | print, scan, copy | print, scan | print, scan, copy | print, scan, copy, fax | |
Resolution (Black) | 600 x 600 | 4800 x 2400 | 2400 x 600 | 1200 x 1200 | 1200 x 1200 |
Resolution (Color) | 4800 x 1200 | 4800 x 2400 | 2400 x 600 | 4800 x 1200 | 4800 x 1200 |
Supported Paper Sizes | 4 x 6, 5 x 7, Letter, Legal, U.S. #10 Envelopes | 3.5"x5", 4"x6", 5"x7", 8"x10", Letter, Legal, A4, A6, Half Letter, Executive, user-definable (3.5"–47.2"L), Oficio 9; 8.5"x13"; Mexico Oficio | Tray 1: A4; A5; A6; B5 (JIS); Oficio (216 x 340 mm); 16K (195 x 270 mm); 16K 16K (197 x 273 mm); Japanese Postcard; Double Japan Postcard Rotated; Envelope #10; Envelope Monarch; Envelope B5; Envelope C5; Envelope DL; Custom Size; 4 x 6 in; 5 x 8 in; Statement; Tray 2 & Tray 3: A4; A5; A6; B5 (JIS); Oficio (216 x 340 mm); 16K (195 x 270 mm); 16K (184 x 260 mm); 16K (197 x 273 mm); Custom Size; A5-R; 4 x 6 in; B6 (JIS) | Letter; legal; 4 x 6 in; 5 x 7 in; 8 x 10 in; No. 10 envelopes, Letter: 16 to 32 lb; HP envelopes: 20 to 24 lb; HP cards: up to 110 lb; HP 4 x 6 inch photo paper: up to 145 lb | Letter, Legal, Executive, A4, A5, A6, B5, B6 |
Dimensions (excludes extensions) | 17.7" x 12" x 6" | 16.7" x 15.3" x 10.9" | 16.54" x 15.35" x 12.72" | 16.7" x 12" x6" | 14.0" x 14.2" x 7.2" |
Weight (lbs) | 11.9 Ib | 22.5Ib | 27.78 lb | 7.7 Ib | 15Ib |
Paper Handling Input (sheets) | 100 sheets plain paper or 20 sheet 4 x 6″ photo paper | 250 sheets | 100-sheet tray 1, 250-sheet input tray 2; 50-sheet Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) | 60 | 250 sheets |
Monthly Duty Cycle | light-duty use (does not specify beyond this) | 33,000 | 10,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 |
2-Sided Printing | yes | yes | yes | yes (manual, no duplex printing) | yes (manual, no duplex printing) |
Ink Cost per Ream: B/W | $52.75 | $28.56 | $16.66 | $49.98 | $66.63 |
Ink Cost per Ream: Color | $69.42 | $13.40 | NA | $62.48 | $84.95 |
Estimated Lifetime Cost of Ownership | $921 | $583 | $410 | $872 | $1,174 |
Claimed Pages Per Minute | 8 | 25 (black) or 12 (color) | 27 | 7.5 (black) 5.5 (color) |
20 |
Measured Pages per Minute: Single-Sided B/W | 5 | 10 | 22 | 4 | 8 |
Connectivity | Hi-Speed USB PictBridge (Wireless LAN)10 Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b/g/n) | WiFi, Ethernet, USB 2.0 | USB 2.0 - no wireless connection | 1 Wireless 802.11a/b/g/n; 1 Hi-Speed USB 2.0 | 1 Wireless 802.11a/b/g/n with Bluetooth® 4.2; 1 Hi-Speed USB 2.0 |
Operating System Compatability | Windows:19 Windows® 10, Windows® 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows 7 SP1, Windows Vista® SP1, Vista SP2, Windows XP SP3 32-bit Mac:20 Mac OS® X v10.7.5 - 10.10 |
Windows® 10, Windows 8, 8.1 (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows Vista® (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows Server® 2003 SP27 — Windows Server 20197 Mac® OS X® 10.6.8 — macOS® 10.15.x8 | Windows Server® 2008 R2 Mac OS X 10.7.x, 10.8.x, 10.9.x Windows® XP Home Edition Windows® XP Professiona |
Windows 11; Windows 10; Windows 7; macOS 10.12 Sierra; macOS 10.14 Mojave; macOS 10.15 Catalina; macOS 11 Big Sur; Chrome OS | Windows 11; Windows 10; Windows 7; macOS 10.12 Sierra; macOS 10.14 Mojave; macOS 10.15 Catalina; macOS 11 Big Sur; Chrome OS |
Google Cloud Print | yes | yes | no | yes | yes |
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Canon Pixma MG3620 is an attractive package. On the one hand, its initial purchase price is extremely affordable, which will attract a lot of attention from potential buyers who just want a printer and don't care much about its performance. On the other hand, its low initial costs are a bit of a red herring, pulling consumers' attention away from the fact that cartridges are very expensive for the number of pages you're able to print per refill and its lifetime ownership costs are quite high, even compared to the most expensive printers on the market. It performs decently enough at its basic functions, but it's hard to say who might get the most value from this machine.
Performance Comparison
Text Quality
The MG3620 performed pretty averagely in this metric. We saw consistently good quality text, with occasional faintness and fuzziness when printing thinner fonts. Overall, not a bad performance for such an inexpensive printer. But you can get better text quality and all-around performance from several other top-ranking home printers in our lineup ultimately for much less money if you plan on keeping them around for a few years.
Operating Cost
This is the biggest drawback of the MG3620. Every 180 pages of black and white text prints cost about $19. That's $52.75 for a ream of slightly above-average quality text prints. For reference, the most cost-friendly printer in our lineup can print the same amount of pages for only $1.33 a ream, and it scores identically for text quality. That's nearly 40 times the cost for the same performance. The MG3620's color cost per ream isn't great either, at around $69.42.
While the initial purchase price is extremely low, the MG3620's estimated lifetime costs are some of the highest of the printers we tested, coming in at around $905 per three years of ownership. Even the most initially expensive printers in our lineup provide a better cost-to-value ratio if you plan on owning the machine for a few years.
Ease of Use
This is another area where the MG3620 struggled a bit. The initial setup is very simple; we had no complaints, but downloading the appropriate software is a time sink. The Canon website is easy to navigate, albeit slow. The real issue comes from the printer's lack of onboard display or lights to indicate what sort of error may be occurring. That means that anytime something goes wrong, you have to pull the manual out and consult the mobile app to try and decipher what's awry and how to fix it. So, while overall ease of setup and use is not terrible, there are some potentially serious time sinks to consider when owning this machine.
Graphics/Photos
The MG3620 performed fairly well in this metric. Its images have subtle striping, but otherwise, the color display is good, and there's a discernible array of textures. Business graphics look pretty good, with vibrant colors, sharp text, and only some faint striping here and there. Overall image resolution lacked a bit with decent clarity. There is some fuzz where the color display was inaccurate, and color quality suffered from faint pink tinting in lighter colors and obvious striping in darker ones. Overall, for a sub-$100 printer, the MG3620 does better than expected in this metric.
Printing Speed
The MG3620's performance wasn't very good, resulting in it receiving the lowest speed score in our lineup. While the print quality is okay, the MG3620 took its time to produce prints. A 9-page mixed photo and text document took about 3 minutes and 40 seconds to print. High-resolution photos took 88 seconds per, and it took nearly 5 minutes to print a 10-page duplex document and 2 minutes to print a 10-page simplex document.
Should You Buy the Canon Pixma MG3620?
The Canon Pixma MG3620 has one of the lowest initial purchase prices of any printer that we tested and performs decently. But its operating costs are extremely high, making it hard to recommend to anyone outside of individuals who rarely print anything.
What Other Printers Should You Consider?
Beyond its initial low purchase cost, many other printers in our lineup perform better over time, even for less money. If you don't need to print in color, the monochrome Brother HL-L2300D is a solid option at a very similar price point. But your money is likely better spent on the Brother MFC-J4335DW, a model that offers a great combination of value and performance.
Ad-free. Influence-free. Powered by Testing.
GearLab is founded on the principle of honest, objective, reviews. Our experts test thousands of products each year using thoughtful test plans that bring out key performance differences between competing products. And, to assure complete independence, we buy all the products we test ourselves. No cherry-picked units sent by manufacturers. No sponsored content. No ads. Just real, honest, side-by-side testing and comparison.
Learn More