Canon TS5160 PIXMA Home review

The search for an available multifunction printer led DAVE BULLARD to the Canon TS5160 PIXMA Home. This is what he thinks of it.

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This review is a little different. Normally, when we review a product we are sent a sample from the manufacturer’s representatives. This time, though, we’re looking at a product we’ve just bought for the office – the Canon TS5160 PIXMA Home all-in-one inkjet printer.

The backstory is a common one in this pandemic era: Our old Canon printer, copier and scanner was on its last legs and we needed to replace it. So we did what any tech-heads would do – research the hell out of it, make an informed choice on a replacement, find the best price and buy it.

It’s that last task that proved problematic. As all of you will know, COVID and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have played havoc with the world’s supply chains, which meant that many of our first choices for a new printer were being advertised but were, in reality, nowhere to be found.

Eventually, pragmatism set in and we realised we needed to choose from those models that were physically available in-store at one of our local retailers. This led us to the Canon TS5160BK PIXMA Home multifunction printer, which we picked up from The Good Guys for $87 – a great price, as Australia Post had it for $115.

Why choose the Canon TS5160 PIXMA Home?

The first things you need to ask yourself when buying tech are: What do I need it for? and “What features do I need?”. So many consumers buy products that are waaaay more advanced or feature-packed – and thus more expensive – than they really need.

In our case, we wanted a multifunction printer that would print, scan and copy. The scanner needed to be good, as that’s its prime function in our small office – the design side of Deep Blue Media concentrates mostly on measuring and drawing real-estate floor plans. On the printer side, we very seldom print documents these days – probably between six and 12 pages a week – so we didn’t need a printer with blistering speed or a super-low cost per page. We also didn’t need the ability to print photos – although the TS5160 does that – as these days Officeworks will give you better-quality pics at a cheaper price. And copying? Just a nice feature to have.

A number of years ago an HP executive in Bangkok explained to me that all inkjet printers are designed to cost pretty much the same over their lifetimes, so companies split their offerings into two streams: one for low-volume use where the printer hardware is cheap but the inks are expensive; and high-volume models where the hardware is expensive – probably about five times more for much the same functionality – but the inks are cheap.

For the former, think of sub-$100 models like this Canon TS5160, which takes ink cartridges; for the latter, think of something like the newer-style ink-tank models, which have large ink reservoirs which you fill up once in a blue moon.

A clincher for buying this printer was its Wi-Fi capability, which means you can connect any printer, smartphone or tablet wirelessly.

Design and setup

The TS5160BK is a good-looking rectangular printer that measures 425 x 315 x 147mm. Our model is the matt black one (hence the BK after the model number). It’s also available in white, but we didn’t see that model for sale when we were searching.

It has a control panel on the front fascia, with buttons for Power, Home, Black or Colour copy and Stop. There’s also a menu control button cluster for controlling the options on the 2.5-inch display. Some of the more expensive models have a touchscreen, but this works just as well. The panel swivels up so you can see it from above.

Paper can be fed from either an integrated tray that slides in from the front – nice and neat – or from a top-loading feeder. It takes A4, A5, B5, Letter, Legal, Envelopes (DL,COM10), photo paper – 4×6-inch, 5×7-inch, 8×10-inch – and custom sizes.

The Canon TS5160 PIXMA Home printer takes two FINE ink cartridges – one colour (CMY) and one black (K).

Setup is done by downloading a Canon app for Mac or Windows PCs, by using a supplied setup CD (Windows only) or by installing the Canon PRINT smartphone app from the App Store or Google Play. When researching this printer before buying it, I noticed that some older people said they had trouble with the setup process. It’s actually quite straightforward but there are a number of steps, so it’s fine if you just take your time and follow the instructions.

In use

The TS5160 wakes up instantly for printing, takes a little while to process the data and prints fairly quickly. It’s not the fastest we’ve had, but it’s not unbearable, especially if you don’t print that often. The official Canon speed specs are: B&W paper, 13 pages per minute; colour paper, 6.8ppm; colour photos (4×6-inch borderless), 43 seconds. Printing resolution is 4800 x 1200dpi.

Like other Canon inkjet printers, after printing it runs a bit of maintenance. I’ve seen some users complain that this uses up more ink, but honestly, c’est la vie … if this stops the pipes and printheads drying out or getting clogged up, then so be it.

For scanning, we use the Mac’s built-in Image Capture application, and connecting to the new printer was as simple as choosing the Canon in the Devices or Shared menu and setting the parameters. The TS5160 scans up to 1200dpi resolution.

It warms up quickly, previews and scans quickly – and very quietly – and produces excellent results.

The bottom line

We’re very happy with the Canon TS5160 PIXMA Home all-in-one printer. As I said in the intro, its low purchase cost and higher ink cost suits us well as we’re occasional printers and frequent scanners. The document print quality is good – not amazing, but more than enough for footy tickets, school projects or presentations. It’s about what you’d expect from a multifunction inkjet of this price. What did surprise us, however, was the quality of its photo prints. They were sharp, with accurate colours and excellent blending of gradients. We haven’t had the unit long enough to attest to its ink cost.

Canon TS5160 PIXMA Home price

We paid $87 at The Good Guys

canon.com.au