There’s a universal moment of modern frustration we’ve all faced: the sudden, urgent need to print something. It might be a last-minute concert ticket, a shipping label for a return, or a child’s homework assignment due in ten minutes. In that moment, the trek to a local print shop feels like a journey across a desert. For years, my solution was an old, behemoth of a printer that was connected by a tangled mess of wires and required a specific laptop, a prayer, and about fifteen minutes of troubleshooting for every single page. The dream has always been simple: a compact, wireless printer that sits quietly in a corner until needed, ready to print from any device in the house without a fuss. This search for an affordable, straightforward solution is what leads many of us to consider devices like the Canon PIXMA TS3720 Wireless All-in-One Printer, a machine that promises simplicity and convenience in one small package.
- Print, Copy, Scan: The PIXMA TS3720 is a true colour printer scanner copier all in one that is compact, versatile and easy-to-use with a 60 sheet rear tray...
- Easy Setup Office Supplies: Get this wireless printer for home use up and running in just a few minutes with the streamlined and easy out-of-the-box setup...
What to Consider Before Buying a Home All-in-One Printer
A home printer is more than just a piece of office equipment; it’s a key solution for bridging the gap between our digital and physical worlds. It’s for immortalizing a favorite photo, producing a hard copy of an important contract, or scanning old family recipes. The main benefit of an all-in-one model is its versatility—it combines printing, scanning, and copying capabilities into a single footprint, saving valuable desk space and money. This consolidation is a godsend for home offices, dorm rooms, and small apartments where every square inch counts. It eliminates the need for multiple bulky devices, streamlining your workflow whether you’re managing household documents or running a small business from your living room.
The ideal customer for this type of product is someone facing the need for occasional, varied document handling. Think of students who need to print essays and scan textbook pages, families printing homework and photos, or the home-based professional who occasionally needs to copy invoices or scan receipts. It’s for the user who values convenience and a low initial investment. However, it might not be suitable for those who require high-volume, high-speed printing, such as a busy office environment, or professional photographers who demand pristine, gallery-quality photo prints. For those users, a dedicated laser printer or a professional photo printer would be a far more appropriate, albeit more expensive, alternative.
Before investing, consider these crucial points in detail:
- Dimensions & Space: A home printer needs to fit into your life, and that often means fitting into a small space. Measure your intended location—a bookshelf, a small desk, or a closet nook. The Canon PIXMA TS3720 Wireless All-in-One Printer is notably compact at approximately 17″ x 13″ x 5.7″, making it a strong contender for tight quarters.
- Capacity/Performance: Performance isn’t just about speed; it’s about suitability for your tasks. Consider print speed (measured in pages per minute or ppm), paper tray capacity, and, most importantly, the cost and yield of ink cartridges. A printer with a low upfront cost can become expensive over time if its ink is inefficient, a critical factor for anyone printing more than a few pages a month.
- Materials & Durability: Most budget-friendly home printers are constructed primarily from plastic. While this keeps them lightweight and affordable, it’s important to assess the build quality. Does it feel flimsy? Are the paper trays and scanner lid robust enough for regular use? A solid build can be the difference between a printer that lasts a decade and one that gives up after a year.
- Ease of Use & Maintenance: The setup process and day-to-day operation should be as painless as possible. Look for intuitive controls, a clear display screen, and straightforward wireless setup. Long-term maintenance involves replacing ink and clearing the occasional paper jam, so access to these components should be simple and uncomplicated.
Keeping these factors in mind, the Canon PIXMA TS3720 Wireless All-in-One Printer stands out in several areas, particularly for its compact design and all-in-one functionality. You can explore its detailed specifications and features here.
While this Canon model is a compelling choice for basic needs, it exists in a vast market of printing solutions. If your interests lean more towards specialized photo or sticker printing, a different class of device might be a better fit. For a broader look at all the top models in that niche, we highly recommend checking out our complete, in-depth guide:
- User-Friendly Portable Photo Printer for iPhone, Android & PC - Get beautiful and colourful memories with Liene 4x6 photo printer! After opening the entire...
- Easy to use; Connect to the Kodak Photo Printer app via Bluetooth on your Android or iOS device and enjoy printing instantly your favorite snaps at home,...
- Print and customize your photos directly from your smartphone devices via the Canon Mini Print App.(1)
First Impressions: Compact, Simple, and Ready for a Small Desk
Unboxing the Canon PIXMA TS3720 Wireless All-in-One Printer was a refreshingly simple affair. The packaging is light and well-organized, reflecting the printer’s own minimalist design. Inside the box, we found the printer unit itself, a power cord, a manual with a QR code for setup, and the two requisite starter ink cartridges: one for black (PG-285) and one for color (CL-286). There is no USB cable included, a clear signal that Canon intends for this device to be used primarily over Wi-Fi.
The first thing that struck us was its size. It’s genuinely compact and, at under 9 pounds, remarkably lightweight. The all-black plastic chassis feels standard for a budget device—not premium, but not alarmingly fragile either. It’s designed to be unobtrusive, easily fitting onto a crowded desk or shelf. The control panel is minimalist, featuring a small 1.5-inch segmented LCD screen and a few physical buttons. It’s a far cry from the large color touchscreens on higher-end models, but it seems sufficient for basic operations like making copies or checking network status. Setting it on the desk, it was immediately clear this printer was built for the modern home where space is at a premium.
Advantages
- Excellent value with a very low upfront cost
- Compact and lightweight design fits in small spaces
- All-in-one functionality (print, copy, scan) covers all basic home needs
- Simple wireless and mobile printing via the Canon PRINT app
Drawbacks
- Setup process can be frustrating and non-intuitive for some users
- Low ink cartridge yield leads to high long-term running costs
A Deep Dive into the Canon PIXMA TS3720’s Real-World Performance
A printer’s value is ultimately decided not by its spec sheet, but by how it performs day-to-day. We put the Canon PIXMA TS3720 Wireless All-in-One Printer through its paces, focusing on the core experiences that matter most to a home user: the initial setup, the quality of its output, the reliability of its wireless connection, and the true cost of keeping it running.
The Setup Gauntlet: From ‘Seamless’ to ‘Searching YouTube’
The setup experience for the Canon PIXMA TS3720 Wireless All-in-One Printer is perhaps its most polarizing aspect. The user reviews we analyzed were starkly divided, with some calling it a “quick and simple” 10-minute job and others describing a multi-hour ordeal. Our own experience fell somewhere in the middle, highlighting why this division exists. The primary setup method pushes you to scan a QR code and download the Canon PRINT app. For us, this process started smoothly. The app guided us through removing the packaging tape, plugging in the printer, and installing the two FINE ink cartridges. Getting the cartridges to click into place took a couple of tries, a minor hiccup echoed by some users.
The real challenge began with the Wi-Fi connection. The app attempts to automatically share your phone’s Wi-Fi credentials with the printer. In our case, this failed on the first two attempts. We had to resort to a manual connection process, which involves pressing the Wi-Fi button on the printer and navigating through a less-than-intuitive menu on the tiny LCD screen. It’s here where we understood the frustration. The instructions in the app can be vague, and the printer’s feedback is limited to cryptic codes on its small display. We can easily see why many users give up and search for a video tutorial online, which often clarifies the process in seconds. Once connected, however, it remained stable on our network. The takeaway is clear: if the automated setup works for you, it’s a breeze. If it doesn’t, be prepared for a bit of troubleshooting.
Everyday Performance: Examining Print, Copy, and Scan Quality
With the setup hurdles cleared, we focused on output. For standard black-and-white text documents—the bread and butter of home printing—the quality was perfectly acceptable. At its default setting, text was reasonably sharp and legible. We did notice some blurring on very small font sizes, confirming feedback from some users who found the quality “horrible” for detailed work. However, for school reports, recipes, or shipping labels, it’s more than adequate. The print speed of 7.7 ppm for black and white feels slow if you’re printing a 20-page document, but for the occasional one or two pages, it’s not a major issue.
Color printing is a mixed bag. For documents with color charts or simple graphics, the output is vibrant and clear. The dye-based color inks do a good job. However, we cannot recommend this printer for serious photo printing. We printed a 4×6 photo on glossy paper, and while the colors were okay, the detail was lacking, and a slight banding was visible. This aligns with the 600×600 resolution and the simple two-cartridge system; it’s just not built for photographic fidelity. The scanner function, on the other hand, was a pleasant surprise. The flatbed scanner is easy to use and produced clear, accurate scans of documents and old photos, making it great for digital archiving. The copy function works as expected, essentially combining the scanner and printer for a one-touch duplication process.
The Double-Edged Sword: Wireless Freedom and Connection Woes
The headline feature of the Canon PIXMA TS3720 Wireless All-in-One Printer is its wireless capability, and when it works, it’s fantastic. The ability to send a document to print from a laptop in another room or directly from your phone while on the couch is genuinely convenient. The Canon PRINT app provides a decent hub for printing documents, photos, and initiating scans directly to your mobile device. We found the mobile printing experience to be quite seamless during our testing, with documents from our iPhone sending to the printer without any problems.
However, the chorus of user complaints about connectivity cannot be ignored. Reports of the printer frequently dropping off the network, requiring router or printer resets, and displaying frustrating error messages are widespread. While we didn’t experience constant drop-offs, we did encounter one instance where the printer appeared “offline” despite being connected to Wi-Fi, which was resolved by a simple restart. This suggests that the printer’s wireless radio may be sensitive to network congestion or distance from the router. For users in apartments with crowded airwaves or larger homes, this could become a significant source of frustration. The convenience of wireless printing is only valuable when it’s reliable, and for some owners, that reliability is a coin toss.
The Real Cost of Ownership: Ink Consumption and Cartridge Woes
Here we arrive at the classic budget inkjet printer dilemma: a low purchase price subsidized by expensive consumables. The Canon PIXMA TS3720 Wireless All-in-One Printer is no exception. A major red flag raised by numerous users is the state of the included “starter” cartridges, with many reporting that the printer showed low ink levels almost immediately after setup. While starter cartridges are always less full than replacements, the experience left many feeling short-changed. We also noted that after just a few test prints, including one color photo, our ink levels had visibly dropped in the software.
The two-cartridge system is another critical factor. It uses one black cartridge and one tri-color cartridge. This design is less efficient than printers with individual color tanks. If you print a lot of blue documents and run out of cyan ink, you have to replace the entire color cartridge, even if the magenta and yellow chambers are still full. User reports of getting only “50 pages max” from a color cartridge for colorful documents seem plausible, making the cost-per-page extremely high for anything other than black-and-white text. If you plan to print frequently, the ongoing cost of ink for this printer will quickly surpass its initial purchase price, making it a poor economic choice for heavy users. This is a machine designed and priced for those who print very, very rarely. For those who value this level of convenience and low initial cost, you can find the best offer for the printer here.
What Other Users Are Saying
Looking across a wide range of customer feedback, a clear picture of the Canon PIXMA TS3720 Wireless All-in-One Printer emerges. The sentiment is sharply divided, hinging almost entirely on user expectations and setup luck. On the positive side, many users echo the sentiment of one who called it, “Excellent value for money, good speed and quality and just the right size for my home office.” Another happy customer stated, “The printer and scanner both work great and installation was quick and simple. I highly recommend this product for its quality and great price.” These users were clearly looking for a basic, no-frills machine for light tasks and found that it delivered exactly as promised.
However, the negative feedback is specific and consistent. The most common complaint centers on the setup. As one frustrated user noted, “I can’t conceive a printer is this difficult to setup in 2024!!!” Another major issue is reliability and print quality, with one person stating, “I bought this to mainly print documents and the quality is just horrible. Letters are blurred and at a certain size it’s just unreadable.” These reviews highlight the gamble involved: for many, it’s a perfectly adequate budget printer, but for a significant minority, it becomes a source of technical frustration and disappointing results.
How Does the Canon PIXMA TS3720 Compare to the Alternatives?
While the Canon PIXMA TS3720 Wireless All-in-One Printer is a versatile home machine, the broader world of printing includes highly specialized devices. It’s crucial to choose the right tool for your primary need. Here’s how it stacks up against some very different, more specialized options.
1. HP Sprocket Studio Plus Photo Paper & Cartridges Bundle
- PHOTOS MADE TO LAST – Print quality photos that will last for years on tear-resistant, smudge-proof, waterproof paper.
- CUSTOMIZE YOUR CREATIONS – Add your own style to each photo by decorate it with stickers, frames, filters, and more before you print them out.
The HP Sprocket Studio Plus is not an all-in-one printer; it is a dedicated 4×6″ photo printer. If your main reason for wanting a printer is to create physical copies of your phone photos, the Sprocket is a far superior choice. It uses dye-sublimation technology to produce vibrant, waterproof, and smudge-proof prints that will significantly outclass anything the Canon TS3720 can produce on photo paper. While you lose the ability to scan, copy, or print standard documents, you gain professional-quality photo output in a portable package. This is the perfect alternative for the scrapbooker, family archivist, or anyone who values photo quality above all else.
2. Phomemo M02S 300dpi Bluetooth Mini Thermal Printer
- √ 300dpi HD Mobile Phone Printer- Phomemo M02S mini printer is a 300dpi printer. The image printing is more clear and high-definition. Mini size...
- √ What can you Use with M02S Printer- Pocket phone printer is good for printing black and white photos, text, memos. You can use it at home, school and...
The Phomemo M02S occupies another niche entirely. This is an inkless, thermal printer designed for creating small stickers, labels, journal entries, and lists. It prints only in monochrome on special thermal paper rolls. Its key advantages are its pocket-sized portability and zero ink costs. Compared to the Canon TS3720, it is completely useless for printing an 8.5×11″ document. However, for bullet journal enthusiasts, crafters, or anyone needing to print custom stickers or organizational labels on the fly, the Phomemo is an incredibly fun and useful tool that the Canon simply cannot replicate. It’s a choice of specialized fun versus general function.
3. co2CREA Hard Case for KODAK Dock Plus Printer and Accessories
- co2CREA hard travel case replacement for Kodak dock plus 4x6 portable printer instant photo printer. Hard EVA shell case is shockproof dustproof and water...
- This Kodak photo printer protection case perfect fit your Kodak dock plus 4x6 portable instant photo printer, This Kodak printer portable photo printer...
This product isn’t a printer at all, but an essential accessory that highlights a different aspect of the printing world: portability and protection. The co2CREA case is designed for the KODAK Dock Plus, another dedicated 4×6″ photo printer. Its inclusion here serves as a reminder that if your printing needs are mobile, protecting your specialized equipment is paramount. While the Canon TS3720 is designed to stay on a desk, devices like the KODAK Dock are meant to be taken to parties and events. A hard case like this is a necessary investment to protect it, a consideration that doesn’t apply to a stationary home printer. It underscores the different ecosystems and use cases in the world of printing.
Our Final Verdict on the Canon PIXMA TS3720 Wireless All-in-One Printer
After extensive testing and analysis, our verdict on the Canon PIXMA TS3720 Wireless All-in-One Printer is one of heavily-qualified recommendation. This is a machine purpose-built for a very specific user: the person who prints fewer than 20 pages a month and desperately needs a compact, wireless, all-in-one solution on a shoestring budget. For that user, it delivers. Its small footprint is a huge plus, its scanning and copying functions are solid, and its text print quality is adequate for non-professional tasks. It successfully solves the problem of needing an occasional hard copy without a huge upfront investment or sacrificing desk space.
However, this recommendation comes with strong caveats. Buyers must be prepared for a potentially frustrating setup process and should not expect high-quality photo prints. Most importantly, the long-term cost of its inefficient ink cartridges makes it a poor choice for anyone with even moderate printing needs. If you understand and accept these limitations, the TS3720 can be a valuable and affordable tool for your home.
If you’ve decided the Canon PIXMA TS3720 Wireless All-in-One Printer is the right fit for your light-duty needs, you can check its current price and purchase it here.
Last update on 2025-10-14 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API