Canon BJC 85
There's a convention in computing that newer products increase in numeric suffixes; version 6 is usually followed by version 7. This is obviously a convention that Canon's chosen to ignore with the BJC-85. The convention would state that it should be an upgrade on the BJC-55, but the reverse is true; the BJC-85 has older technology, a larger form factor and fewer inbuilt options.
The first clue that the BJC-85 is an older printer is in its connectivity options; unlike the BJC-55, the BJC-85 comes with a parallel port. The second clue is in the bundled software, which only supports up to Windows Me. For our test system, running Windows 2000, we had to download drivers from Canon's website, which was thankfully both uncomplicated -- no registration period -- and relatively quick; the entire driver is under 2.5MB.
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The BJC-85 does share the same ink cartridge types with the BJC-55, including the optional scanner head and neat cartridge carrying puck. Unlike the provided battery of the BJC-55, if you want to go totally portable with the BJC-85, you'll have to shell out for an external battery, which will set you back around AU$175. Physically the BJC-85 is about twice the size of the BJC-55. It comes in at a relatively light 1.4Kgs, whihc shouldn't break too many weight limits. Its sizes does give it some advantages as well. The entire lid of the printer flips up to form a paper feeder, something that costs extra on the BJC-55. While a larger printer does need more desk space, it's still not onerous, and does give the printing process stability; we didn't encounter the blank page feeding problem of the BJC-55 with the BJC-85.
Canon rates the BJC-85 and 55 at the same basic text speed of 5ppm. With its sheet feeder, we were able to assess the BJC-85 against our sample document in colour and black printing. With the black printer cartridge installed it managed a respectable 3ppm in standard quality mode. Installing the colour cartridge to deal with the small areas of colour in our test document revealed a significant bottleneck; speed dropped to around 1.4ppm.
As it shares the same ink cartridge types with the BJC-55, it's also possible to add the scanner head to add functionality.
Ultimately while the BJC-55 sells itself on its remarkably small size, the BJC-85 doesn't compare well to the HP Deskjet 450. If you were standardised on Canon printers, it wouldn't be a bad option, but otherwise we'd suggest the Deskjet 450 ahead of the BJC-85.
Canon BJC-55
Company: Canon Australia
Price: $429
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1800 021 167
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my BJC-55 just can't print in color with my Nokia 9210. I'm using Canon Bubblejet (BJ mode) driver.