PRINTING TIPS

The many benefits of a MegaTank printer

Canon’s MegaTank printers enable you to print faster, more easily, with better quality and huge space and cost savings. Here’s all you need to know to choose a model that perfectly suits your needs.
A small office with a Canon MAXIFY GX5040 printer positioned in the middle compartment of a grey wall unit.

With super-low running costs and user-friendly features, Canon's MegaTank printers are perfect for busy home, office and student users. They utilise built-in, refillable ink tanks with exceptionally high-yield bottles rather than conventional cartridges. Capable of printing thousands of pages from a set of ink bottles, they will keep you printing for months or even years to come. This also means less plastic waste, as replacement inks won’t need to be ordered so frequently.

With a range of MegaTank printer models available, you can choose one that fits your needs and your budget. For use at home, whether you’re a student, a small business owner or a parent juggling the demands of homework, models from the PIXMA G Series offer high levels of efficiency, and, if printing speed is your priority, then the fastest PIXMA G3460 and PIXMA G2460 MegaTank models can save you time. The PIXMA G3460 comes with built-in Wi-Fi, as does the Cloud-ready PIXMA G3420, enabling you to print remotely from smart devices.

The PIXMA G2420, PIXMA G2460, PIXMA G3420, PIXMA G3460 and MAXIFY GX6040 are multifunction 3-in-1 printers, enabling you to print, copy and scan, while the MAXIFY GX7040 adds fax capabilities. But if you're just looking to benefit from the long-term cost savings afforded by a MegaTank printer, the streamlined PIXMA G1420 and new feature-packed Canon MAXIFY GX5040 give you a standalone printer without the scanning and copying facility.

Whether you're looking for an easy-to-use all-round printer for your family, a reliable device that can keep pace with your college deadlines, or a high-volume, low-cost printing option for your business, here are six reasons why a MegaTank printer will work for you.

1. High-quality, low-cost prints

A top view of the Canon PIXMA G3420 printer with papercraft sheets on the tabletop around it.

The Canon MegaTank range benefits from rich colours and produces exceptionally sharp prints, reproducing the smallest of details.

A top-down view of a PIXMA G640 printer surrounded by photo paper, printed photographs and a Canon camera.

Using six dye-based inks, the PIXMA G540 and PIXMA G640 MegaTank printers deliver immaculate photo quality, especially on glossy and luster paper, with sufficient capacity for 3,800 6x4-inch photo prints, 3,700 pages from the black bottle or 8,000 1 pages from the full set of ink bottles.

The entry-level MegaTank printers (PIXMA G3460, G2460, G3420, G2420 and G1420) are all capable of delivering up to 7,6001,2 pages from a single black ink bottle when used in economy mode, or up to 7,7001 pages from a full set of bottles. These MegaTank printers also offer a rear-feed paper capacity of 100 sheets, so you can spend more time working and less time restocking the printer.

Geared more to the home office, the Canon PIXMA G5040, G6040 and G7040 give you an output of up to 8,3003 pages in economy mode from the black ink, as well as auto two-sided printing and a high-capacity front and rear paper feed totalling 350 sheets of plain paper for those really productive environments. The G7040 additionally has a 35-sheet auto document feeder and standalone fax capabilities.

For a busy, multi-user office environment, the Canon MAXIFY GX range of MegaTank printers is the perfect fit. Models include the MAXIFY GX6040 and MAXIFY GX7040, which deliver business-quality mono and colour documents with an average saving of 85% on the total cost of ownership compared to the top 10 laser and inkjet printers4.

For those looking to increase productivity and lower costs even further, the GM2040 and GM4040 are 3-in-1 mono ink tank printers capable of producing an 18,000-page yield from three black ink bottles5.

The significant cost savings and productivity gains delivered by Canon's MegaTank printers are not at the expense of print quality. For document printing, most PIXMA MegaTank printers offer rich colours from the dye-based colour inks, and exceptionally sharp document printing is achieved with the dedicated pigment black ink. Even very small text and white characters on coloured backgrounds will maintain a high degree of clarity. The MAXIFY GX6040 and MAXIFY GX7040, by comparison, use pigment inks for all three colours as well as black, producing highly durable and high-quality business documents that are water, friction and marker resistant.

For outstanding colour photo output, the PIXMA G540 and PIXMA G640 feature six dye-based inks. They deliver optimum quality with an extended tonal range and colour gamut.

2. Easily refillable ink tanks

A woman pinning photo prints to a noticeboard. A Canon PIXMA G3420 printer is on the desk below.

Canon MegaTank printers use refillable ink tanks that are capable of printing thousands of pages, freeing you up to focus on other things.

Refillable ink bottles for Canon MegaTank printers.

Don't worry about spilling any ink – the bottles automatically stop filling when the tank is full.

Refilling the ink tanks of the MegaTank printers is a straightforward process that anyone can do at home or in an office. The integrated ink tanks are clearly visible at the front of the printer, so it's easy to keep track of ink levels. When they need topping up, you simply lift the easy-to-open colour coded caps and insert the ink bottles to inject the ink.

With their squeeze-free design, Canon's ink bottles make the refilling process clean and quick. MegaTank printers also benefit from uniquely shaped ink tank inlets. These inlets match the key-type nozzles on the newly designed ink bottles, eliminating the risk of injecting the wrong ink into the wrong tank by mistake. The specially designed bottles also automatically stop emptying when the tanks are full.

3. Fast printing speeds

The MAXIFY GX5040 printer on a neatly organised office desk with stationery, a monitor, keyboard and phone.

When you need speed but work in a small office without much available space, the MAXIFY GX5040 offers the same business-orientated benefits and rapid print speeds as the MAXIFY GX6040 and GX7040, but without a scanner and auto document feeder, making it particularly compact and sleek.

A Canon PIXMA G3420 printer being refilled with ink.

With all Canon MegaTank printers you can easily keep track of ink levels on the front of the printer.

The Canon PIXMA G3460 and PIXMA G2460 both achieve a printing speed of 10.86 ipm (images per minute) for monochrome documents, and 6.06 ipm for colour prints. They make a great option when you have to hit tight deadlines. For even more urgent jobs, the 4-in-1 PIXMA G7040 offers up to 136 ipm for black ink printing and 6.86 ipm for colour prints, and also features a 35-sheet Auto Document Feeder for users who need to copy and scan multi-page documents with ease.

Taking print speeds to the max, the MAXIFY GX6040 and MAXIFY GX7040 are capable of 246 ipm for mono and 15.56 ipm for colour, the latter also adding simultaneous, double-sided scanning and full fax facilities, for quick and easy scanning, photocopying and faxing of double-sided documents. If you just want print functionality, the space-saving MAXIFY GX5040 delivers the same speed and quality as the other two GX models, but without the built-in scanner or auto document feeder.

For day-to-day printing, the PIXMA G3420, PIXMA G2420 and PIXMA G1420, with their 9.16 ipm black ink print speeds and 56 ipm for colour, enable quick document turnaround.

All MegaTank printers are designed to keep downtime to an absolute minimum. They come with an easy-to-replace maintenance cartridge, which makes it less likely that you'll have to send your printer away for servicing. You can track the maintenance cartridge usage via your PC or laptop printer driver, or via the Canon PRINT app (PIXMA G3420 and PIXMA G3460) or the printer screen (all except PIXMA G1420). The printer will notify you if there is a maintenance issue, so any errors are simple to resolve.

4. Hassle-free wireless print technology

A Canon PIXMA G3420 printer on a desk next to a smartphone.

With the Canon PIXMA G3420 and PIXMA G3460, among others in the MegaTank range, you can wirelessly print from your smartphone or tablet, making it simple and time efficient when you're on a deadline.

Both the Canon PIXMA G3420 and PIXMA G3460, along with a number of other models from the MegaTank range, feature built-in Wi-Fi. It’s easy to get connected and start printing from a computer or mobile device at the touch of a button. The PIXMA G5040, G6040, G7040, GM4040 and GM2040, as well as the MAXIFY GX6040, GX7040 and GX5040 also have Ethernet for networked environments that need a high-speed, stable and secure connection.

If you're working remotely and need to share documents with colleagues in the office, or if you need a hard copy of study materials for an online course, then you can access a Wi-Fi-enabled MegaTank printer over the internet from a computer or a smart device, and print directly from popular Cloud services such as Google Drive, Google Classroom, Dropbox, Evernote and more.

Controlling all your printing and maintenance needs from your smartphone couldn't be easier with the help of the Canon PRINT app, and there are other Canon apps that offer multiple ways to get creative at home. The Creative Park app7 has everything from paper art and customisable greeting card designs to party decorations and 3D models, while the Easy-PhotoPrint Editor app enables you to turn your favourite photos into stylish prints or unique gifts, with templates for calendars, cards, posters and more.

Don't want to download an app? With the exception of the GM2040 and GM4040, MegaTank printers are compatible with Apple AirPrint and Mopria for Android, so users on the same network as their printer can simply connect and print via their smart device's in-built printing protocol.

5. Support for a wide range of media

A woman using a tablet to wirelessly print on a MegaTank printer.

Canon MegaTank printers work with a range of papers, including Iron-on transfers, and many such as the MAXIFY GX5040 can print plain paper banners over a metre long.

MegaTank printers can deliver high-quality documents and beautiful borderless photo prints8 in sizes up to A4 day in, day out – but they're much more versatile than that. The range supports a diverse selection of media sizes and types, ideal for business admin and much more, such as making business cards with matte and double-sided matte paper. The PIXMA G3460, G2460, G3420, G2420, G1420, G540 and G640, plus the MAXIFY GX6040, GX7040 and GX5040 can even produce 1.2-metre plain paper promotional banners. For home printing, MegaTank printers can make homework fun and provide hours of family entertainment.

6. User-friendly design

A MAXIFY GX7040 and MAXIFY GX6040 on a work surface next to a large stack of paper and printer ink.

From their compact, space-saving design to easy-to-navigate features, MegaTank printers such as the MAXIFY GX6040 and MAXIFY GX7040 are designed to be as user-friendly as possible.

Most of Canon's MegaTank printers9 feature a two-line LCD, which provides a greater level of detail about the printer settings. Not only does the screen make it easy to check the status of your printer and wireless settings as well as adjust print options directly on the printer, you can also check any maintenance requirements such as print head cleans. The screen also makes clearing errors simple by giving you clear instructions or codes that refer to the user manual for easy troubleshooting. The MAXIFY GX6040 and MAXIFY GX7040 also have larger touch screens for enhanced usability and management.

MegaTank printers have an automatic power off function to save energy when they're not being used and an Auto Power On option that enables you to start printing without having to press the power button first. This adds to their convenience, particularly if you need to print documents remotely to a Wi-Fi & Cloud-enabled model.


Written by Marcus Hawkins and Matthew Richards

  1. Page yield is the estimated value based on Canon individual test method using the ISO/IEC 24712 chart and continuous printing simulation with the replacement ink bottles after initial setup.
  2. The economy mode reduces the black ink consumption by lowering the density; 26% more pages than the standard mode can be printed.
  3. The economy mode reduces the black ink consumption by lowering the density; 38% more pages than the standard mode can be printed.
  4. Estimated average savings when printing 1,000 pages per month over 5 years based on the initial purchase cost of hardware plus the costs of ink or toner. The comparison models in the total cost of ownership (TCO) savings include the top 10 best-selling colour laser printers and top 10 best-selling inkjet printers according to the IDC EMEA Hardcopy Tracker (Data Q1 2020 – Q3 2020). See Canon website for more details.
  5. Page yield is the estimated value based on Canon individual test method using the ISO/IEC 19752 monochrome chart and continuous printing simulation with the replacement after initial setup. Page yield varies significantly depending on contents printed and other factors.
  6. A4 document print speed on plain paper is measured based on average of ESAT in Office Category Test of ISO/IEC 24734 standard.
  7. For supported models, visit https://ugp01.c-ij.com/ij/webmanual/WebPortal/PTA/pta_app_models.html?lng=en&type=non&app=cp. If your printer is not supported, check the Creative Park website.
  8. Except for the Canon PIXMA GM2040 and GM4040.
  9. The Canon PIXMA G1420, and GM2040 printers do not have an LCD.

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