10 Best Mobile Printers to Buy in 2021

The growth in demand for compact printers has been spurred by the huge number of portable devices from which you can create, view, and modify documents.

With the demand for these devices rising, having a portable and easy-to-use printer is essential.

Top Mobile Printers Of 2021

There are a lot of portable printers on the market. Selecting a portable printer from the flooded market that suits your needs come to be quite a task. So here comes the best mobile printers on the market in 2021.

Canon PIXMA iP110

                                                                                Canon PIXMA iP110 printer

Weighing 4 pounds 5 ounces or roughly 5 pounds with the optional battery included, the iP110 is much lighter than its predecessor iP100. It is, however, the same size as its predecessor. This makes it extremely portable.

You can connect to the iP110 via Wi-Fi or a USB port. It supports wireless PictBridge for wireless printing from specific canon digital cameras.

Mobile printing is supported via Google Cloud Print, Twitter, Facebook, Dropbox, Google Drive, Apple AirPrint, and Pixma Printing Solutions. The printer, however, does not support essential printing features such as Wi-Fi Direct or Near Field Communication.

The printer is pretty decent with photos. It uses a five-ink imaging system. It uses the CYMK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) process colors with black pigmentation to darken texts and all dark areas of a document.

Though it is a bit slow, the printer also prints decent document pages too. The printer does a good job in producing quality output.

The printing speed of iP110 is impressive. When it comes to printing photos, the iP110 is among the fastest portable printer with an average of 1 minute 33 seconds for a 4 by 6-inch print. The only downside to this printer is that it has a cost per page.

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Epson Workforce WF-100

Epson Workforce WF-100

WF-100 measures 2.4 by 12.2 by 6.1 inches when closed and weighs 3.5 pounds making it the most lightweight and smallest portable printer on the market today ahead of its competitors like the iP110 and HP Officejet printers.

The lid folds up when opened to hold the papers and act like an input tray. There is an LCD in front of the paper feeder for navigation menus.

The printer can be powered by either AC adapter or inbuilt rechargeable batteries charged through an adapter or a USB cable.

The printer can connect to a computer via a Local Area Network, a USB port, Wi-Fi or through a peer-to-peer connection to a computer or a mobile phone.

It uses two ink cartridges; one for blank ink and the other one for cyan, magenta and yellow. It yields 250 pages for the black cartridge and 200 pages for the color cartridge which is higher than the iP110 but lower than the HP Officejet printers.

The Epson cost per page is 8.8 cents for black and 17.8 cents for colored which is relatively high.

The printing speed is 2.2 ppm, which falls between iP110 and Officejet.

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HP Officejet 250

HP Officejet’s all-in-one printer is a pretty good deal for a portable printer. The printer weighs 6.5 pounds which is as twice much as WF-100.

When closed, it measures 3.6 by 15 by 7.8 inches. The Officejet has a rare paper feeder that can hold up to 50 sheets of paper.

It, however, does not support automatic printing on both sides but supports manual duplexing controlled by its software. On the left side lies a touchscreen that can be adjusted by tilting. The screen displays various control options.

The printer can connect via a USB cable, Wi-Fi, and peer-to-peer to a mobile phone or a computer via Wi-Fi direct. It also offers Bluetooth connectivity.

The printing speed is at 9.4 ppm in printing text only. However, the printing speed lowers when switched from AC to battery power. The printing speed of photos is much faster than some of its competitors.

It takes 27 seconds to print a 4 by 6 photo. The running cost of Officejet 250 is typical of any other portable inkjet at 6 cents per black page and 15.6 pages per colored page.

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HP Sprocket photo printer

HP Sprocket is a sleek and trendy printer measuring just 0.9 by 3 by 4.5 inches and weighing just 6 ounces. Costing $104.97 on Amazon, the Sprocket is among one of the most lightweight and portable printers on the market.

Controls are minimal on the Sprocket as the power button is the only button on the printer.

The printer has a USB port for charging and an indicator light that blinks twice when a task is sent and glows red when there is an error.

Connectivity is confined to Bluetooth. The printer can connect to iOS or Android-based tablets or smartphones and the printing tasks and options are controlled from the HP Sprocket App, which is downloaded from the Google Play Store or iTunes App Store.

To connect to the printer, you must first pair the mobile device with the Sprocket before launching the HP Sprocket App.

The Sprocket’s printing speed is an average of 42 seconds per 2 by 3 print which is faster than Canon Selphy CP1200.

The print quality is okay for quick photos to be handed out to friends and families. It is not that special. It is ideal for personal use.

HP Officejet 200 Mobile Printer

The little printer is designed for convenience and productivity. It weighs 4.6 pounds and measures 2.7 by 14.3 by 7 inches.

It weighs 4.9 pounds with the battery weight included. It costs $149.99 on Amazon. The Officejet 200 has a 2-inch display with buttons and icons for control. A 50-paper feeder is located at the back of the printer.

Like HP Officejet 250, it lacks an automatic document feeder that allows printing on both sides but supports manual duplexing which is controlled by its software.

Connectivity includes USB and Wi-Fi. It also supports direct peer-to-peer connection with a computer or mobile device through Wi-Fi Direct. It also allows for a Bluetooth connection that enables it to print from Android or iOS phones and tablets.

The printing speed is comparatively good. It is timed at 9.5 pages per minute in text printing only and 10 pages per minute for printing in black. The printing speed slows slightly when switched to the battery. The print quality is exceptional for an inkjet printer. Its output is better than most desktop printers on the market. The quality of photos from this printer is decent too.

Polaroid Zip photoprinter

All printers dedicated to photo printing are designed primarily for camera phones and their accessories.

Polaroid Zip Phototprinter comes close to providing comprehensive printing support for photo printing. Polaroid zip printers use thermal technology which means that their papers incorporate embedded dye crystals and the printer uses heat to activate crystals to form an image. It is small and lightweight enough to comfortably fit in a pocket. It measures 0.9 by 2.9 by 4.7 inches and weighs just 9 ounces. It is available in various colors.

Set up includes sliding the top off, dropping a stack of a sheet of photo paper in the tray, and putting the top back on. The battery also needs to be charged. You can charge the battery by connecting it to a power plug with the USB cable.

Connectivity is limited to Bluetooth. You will have to download the Polaroid Zip Application from Google Play or Apple App Store if you are using Android or iOS respectively.

The printing is fairly faster. It takes about 43 seconds to print a single photo. The only downside to this printer is the image quality of the photos. Colors tend to be dark in terms of hue, saturation, and brightness. This means that photos tend to be dull.

Epson PictureMate 400

Epson PictureMate 400 printer

Epson PictureMate is a low-cost dedicated photo printer. The printer measures 3.3 by 9.8 by 6.8 inches and weighs 4 pounds. It is smaller and lighter hence extremely portable.

The PictureMate printer can print from a range of devices including a PC, memory card, a USB memory key, a PictBridge camera, and an Android or iOS phone or tablet. Connectivity includes Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, and USB cables.

The setup process for PictureMate 400 is quite easy and straightforward. You just need to install the ink cartridge, insert some photo papers and you are ready to start printing.

Every time you load papers into the paper tray, the printer asks you to confirm the size and type so that it can automatically set the specifications.

The quality of image printouts from PictureMate 400 is impressive. The image is high quality, clear, and brightly colored. The printing speed of this printer is comparatively high. It takes about 50 seconds to print a 4 by 6-inch photo and slightly under 60 seconds to print a 5 by 7-inch photo.

The only downside to this printer is that it is not cheap in terms of cost per page. It takes about 50 cents per page when using this printer.

Canon Selphy CP1200 Wireless Compact Photo Printer

The printer is available in black, gold, or white colors. It measures 2.5 by 7.1 by 5.4 inches and weighs up to 2. 5 pounds but increases to 3.1 pounds after the addition of the power adapter.

The battery is sold separately at $89.99 and it is good for up to 54 prints per charge. When the battery is in place, it protrudes slightly from the sides of the printer.

On top of the printer lies a non-touch display that can be tilted for comfortable viewing and control.

On the front of the printer lies a media card slot for memory cards. There is also one USB mini-B port and one USB thumb drive slot. On the side lies a slot for a Kensington lock.

The printer can print from a computer, over a USB cable, a Mobile device or computer via Wi-Fi Direct or direct Wi-Fi connection, a media card, or a USB thumb drive ad directly from a PictBridge.

The overall quality of the print is good. It retains realistic-looking colors and maintains the details in both bright and dark areas. The running cost for a 4 by 6 inch print with canon is 33 cents per print which is considerably low.

9. Fujifilm Instax Share SP-3

Priced at $184 on Amazon, SP-3 looks slightly larger all around than its predecessor. It measures 5.1 by 4.6 by 1.8 and weighs 11.1 ounces. It can fit into a small bag with ease.

It can also be powered by a battery, with a micro USB for charging. This makes it very portable. The battery is rated for 160 prints per charge. The printer comes in black or white colors.

It has an LED display on the top that indicates the number of prints left in the paper tray. The power button is located at the top together with a film slot.

The printer relies heavily on smartphones and tablets for image printing. It doesn’t have a memory card slot and doesn’t connect to your PC as a USB printer.

It uses Instax Share App on Android and iOS. The printer broadcasts its own Wi-Fi network on which you can connect without a password.

10. Canon IP2820 printer

Canon IP2820 does not give the same compact form factor as its predecessor but weighs 5 pounds and measures just 16.8 x 9.3 x 5.3 inches, so it’s still plenty portable.

With features such as Quiet Mode, it’s perfect for printing anytime, anywhere without waking up the family or the guests in the hotel room next to you.

Additionally, if you’re a Canon camera user, you can sync a captured video with the IP2820 via the included Full HD Movie Print software and turn the results into fantastic-looking still photos.

There is a 60-sheet feeder that automatically feeds the printer with paper sheets. The printing speed is impressive as it prints 4 colored pages per minute and 8 black and white pages per minute.

One downside to this printer is that it lacks Wi-Fi connectivity. This means you cannot use your smartphone to print.