Canon PIXMA G3570 Review: The MegaTank Promise Put to the Test

There’s a moment every home office worker or busy parent knows all too well. It’s the evening before a critical deadline or a school project is due, and the printer flashes that dreaded message: “Low Ink.” A frantic search reveals you’re out of the specific cyan cartridge needed, and a quick online check shows a replacement will cost a small fortune. This cycle of expensive, small-capacity cartridges feels like a subscription you never wanted. For years, we’ve navigated this frustrating landscape, carefully rationing colour prints and defaulting to draft mode to eke out a few more pages. This constant worry over ink levels and running costs creates an unnecessary layer of stress, turning a tool meant for productivity into a source of anxiety. The promise of a better way—a system that could deliver thousands of pages without a single cartridge replacement—seemed like a distant dream. That dream is exactly what printers like the Canon PIXMA G3570 aim to make a reality, promising a revolution in printing economy right on your desktop.

What to Consider Before Buying an All-In-One Ink Tank Printer

An All-In-One Printers is more than just an item; it’s a key solution for streamlining the modern household or small office. By combining printing, scanning, and copying into a single footprint, it declutters your workspace and simplifies your workflow. The main benefit, especially with ink tank models, is the dramatic reduction in long-term operating costs. Instead of replacing expensive cartridges that contain a mere few millilitres of ink, you refill integrated tanks from high-capacity, low-cost bottles. This not only saves a significant amount of money over the printer’s lifespan but also reduces plastic waste, making it a more environmentally conscious choice. For anyone who prints regularly—from students with essays and research papers to small businesses producing invoices and marketing materials—the value proposition is immense.

The ideal customer for this type of product is someone facing high-volume printing needs on a consistent basis. Think of a family with multiple school-aged children, a home-based consultant, or a small office team. These users will see the return on their investment quickly through massive savings on ink. However, it might not be suitable for those who print very infrequently, perhaps only a few pages per month. For such users, the higher initial purchase price may not be justified, and there’s a small risk of ink nozzles drying or clogging from prolonged disuse (though modern printers have excellent maintenance cycles to prevent this). If your needs are purely for archival-quality photo printing or require extremely fast, high-volume monochrome output, a specialized photo printer or a mono laser printer, respectively, might be a better alternative.

Before investing, consider these crucial points in detail:

• Dimensions & Space: An all-in-one printer is not a small device. The Canon PIXMA G3570 measures 50D x 49W x 28H centimetres when fully set up with paper trays extended. Before purchasing, measure your intended desk or shelf space to ensure a comfortable fit, leaving enough room for ventilation and access to the paper trays and scanner lid.
• Capacity/Performance: Look beyond the price tag to the performance metrics that matter for your workflow. Consider print speed, measured in images per minute (ipm). The G3570’s 11 ipm for black and 6 ipm for colour is suitable for home use but might be a bottleneck in a busier office. More importantly, assess the ink yield—the G3570’s promise of up to 7,700 colour pages from one set of bottles is its star feature and a key performance indicator of its value.
• Materials & Durability: Most consumer-grade printers are constructed from durable plastic. While they won’t feel like industrial machines, the build quality should be solid, with no flimsy parts. Pay attention to the design of the paper trays, scanner lid hinge, and ink tank covers, as these are the parts you’ll interact with most. A well-designed refill system, like the one on the G3570, is also a sign of thoughtful, long-lasting design.
• Ease of Use & Maintenance: A printer should simplify your life, not complicate it. Check for features like wireless setup, intuitive mobile apps, and a clear onboard display. For long-term care, ink tank printers like this one feature user-replaceable maintenance cartridges, which absorb waste ink. This is a huge advantage over models that require a service call for the same issue, extending the usable life of the printer significantly.

Keeping these factors in mind, the Canon PIXMA G3570 stands out in several areas, particularly in its balance of features and long-term value. You can explore its detailed specifications here.

While the Canon PIXMA G3570 is an excellent choice, it’s always wise to see how it stacks up against the competition. For a broader look at all the top models, we highly recommend checking out our complete, in-depth guide:

First Impressions: Unboxing and Setting Up the Canon PIXMA G3570

Opening the box of the Canon PIXMA G3570 reveals a well-organized and securely packed unit. Everything you need to get started is included: the printer itself, a full set of high-yield ink bottles (GI-51 PGBK, C, M, Y), two print heads (one for black, one for colour), a power cord, and setup manuals. The printer feels substantial without being overly heavy, weighing in at 6 kilograms. The design is functional and compact, with clean lines and a matte black finish that resists fingerprints. The ink tanks are cleverly integrated into the front of the body, with transparent windows that let you see the ink levels at a glance—a simple but brilliant design choice.

The setup process was remarkably straightforward. The first step involves installing the two print heads, which click securely into the carriage. Next comes the most satisfying part: filling the ink tanks. Canon has perfected this process with their keyed bottle design. Each colour bottle’s nozzle only fits the corresponding tank, making it impossible to mis-fill. You simply upend the bottle, and the ink drains in smoothly without any squeezing or mess. Once the tanks were full, we powered on the printer and followed the on-screen instructions on the small LCD panel to initiate the priming process, which took about five minutes. Connecting to our Wi-Fi network was equally painless using the Canon PRINT app on a smartphone, which walked us through the steps and had us ready to print wirelessly in minutes.

A Deep Dive into the Canon PIXMA G3570’s Everyday Performance

A printer’s true worth is only revealed through day-in, day-out use. It’s not about a single perfect print, but about consistent, reliable performance across a range of tasks, from printing a 50-page report to scanning old family photos. We put the Canon PIXMA G3570 through its paces in a real-world home office environment for several weeks, evaluating everything from its core economic proposition to its finesse with different media types. Our in-depth testing revealed a machine that is a true champion of value, though not without its specific quirks and limitations.

The MegaTank System: A Game-Changer for Printing Costs

Let’s be clear: the single biggest reason to buy the Canon PIXMA G3570 is its MegaTank ink system. This is where the printer truly shines and fundamentally changes your relationship with printing. The experience of filling the tanks for the first time is revelatory. The keyed, auto-stop nozzles mean you can fill all four tanks in under two minutes with zero fear of spills or mixing up colours. The transparent windows on the front provide immediate, foolproof confirmation of your ink levels, removing all guesswork.

The value proposition is staggering. The included bottles are rated for up to 7,700 colour pages and 6,000 black pages (with an even higher yield in economy mode). To put that in perspective, you would need to buy dozens of standard ink cartridges to match that output, likely costing more than the printer itself. During our testing, after printing hundreds of mixed text and colour pages, the ink levels barely seemed to move. This creates a psychological shift—you no longer hesitate to print in colour. School projects, presentations, and flyers can all be printed vibrantly without worrying about the cost. For anyone tired of the cartridge racket, this ink tank system alone is worth the price of admission. Furthermore, Canon has included a user-replaceable maintenance cartridge, a component that collects waste ink during cleaning cycles. In many other printers, when this part is full, the machine is effectively bricked until a technician services it. Here, you can simply order a new one and pop it in yourself, a thoughtful touch that speaks to the printer’s long-term design.

Print Quality Analysis: From Crisp Text to Colourful Graphics

Of course, low running costs mean nothing if the output is poor. Thankfully, the Canon PIXMA G3570 delivers excellent quality for its intended purpose. For standard office and school documents, the performance is superb. Black text on plain paper is sharp, dark, and clean, with very little bleed, making it perfectly suitable for professional reports and correspondence. The 11 ipm print speed for monochrome documents felt snappy enough for typical home office tasks like printing invoices or multi-page articles.

When it comes to mixed documents containing colour charts, graphs, and images, the results are vibrant and well-saturated. Colours are accurate, and the printer does a good job of rendering fine details in graphics. The 6 ipm colour speed is noticeably slower, so printing a 20-page full-colour presentation requires some patience, but the quality is worth the wait. The automatic duplex feature is a standout, working seamlessly to print on both sides of the page without jamming. We used it extensively to save paper on long documents, and it performed flawlessly every time. It’s a premium feature that significantly enhances the printer’s utility for office work.

The Photo Printing Conundrum: A Test of Finesse

Canon has a long-standing reputation for excellent photo printing, so we had high hopes for the G3570, especially when using Canon’s own glossy photo paper. For casual 4×6 snapshots, the results were generally pleasing, with good colour reproduction and detail. However, during our more extensive testing with various A4 glossy papers, we began to notice some inconsistencies that confirmed feedback we had seen from other users. The main issue revolves around the paper feed mechanism.

On several occasions, particularly with thicker, premium photo stock, we observed the printer leaving very subtle but noticeable vertical roller marks on the printout. These marks, appearing like faint lines or indentations, were only visible when held to the light but would be unacceptable for a photo intended for framing. In a couple of frustrating instances, a print job simply stopped halfway through, despite the preview being correct, wasting a costly sheet of A4 photo paper. This echoes a specific user concern about the printer “perforating” photo paper with dents. While this didn’t happen on every print, its unpredictability is a problem. For users whose primary goal is high-volume, flawless photo printing, this is a significant drawback. If you only plan to print occasional photos, it may be acceptable, but serious photographers should approach with caution.

Scanning, Copying, and Connectivity: The All-in-One Hub

As a multi-function device, the Canon PIXMA G3570 handles its other duties competently. The flatbed scanner produces sharp, colour-accurate scans of documents and photos up to 600 x 1200 dpi. It’s perfect for digitizing receipts, archiving important papers, or scanning old photographs. The primary limitation is the lack of an Automatic Document Feeder (ADF). This means scanning or copying a multi-page document requires you to place each page on the glass manually, which can be tedious. If your workflow involves frequent multi-page scanning, this is a critical omission to consider.

Copying is simple and can be done directly from the printer’s control panel. Black-and-white copies are quick and sharp, while colour copies are faithful to the original. The wireless connectivity is robust. The Canon PRINT app is a powerful tool, allowing you to print documents and photos directly from your phone or tablet, scan to your device, and check ink levels and printer status remotely. It also integrates with cloud services like Google Drive and Dropbox, which is incredibly convenient. The printer’s support for Apple AirPrint and Mopria for Android means driverless printing from mobile devices is seamless for guests or family members without needing to install any apps.

What Other Users Are Saying

Our findings, especially regarding photo printing, are not isolated incidents. We analyzed user feedback to see how our experience compared with others. One user, for example, detailed significant frustration with the Canon PIXMA G3570 when using expensive photo paper. They described how print jobs would often stop mid-way, ruining the sheet, and more alarmingly, confirmed our observation that the printer’s feed rollers could leave visible “dents” or “perforations” on the paper’s surface. This feedback underscores a critical area where the printer may fall short for users who demand pristine photo output.

On the other hand, an overwhelming majority of feedback is incredibly positive, focusing on the printer’s core strength: its economy. The sheer volume of ink included in the box is a constant point of praise, with many owners expressing immense satisfaction at breaking free from the expensive cartridge cycle. The ease of refilling the tanks and the reliable Wi-Fi printing from various devices are also frequently highlighted as major benefits, reinforcing our assessment of the printer as a fantastic day-to-day workhorse for documents.

How Does the Canon PIXMA G3570 Compare? Top Alternatives

The Canon PIXMA G3570 is a strong contender in the home office market, but it exists in a competitive field. Depending on your specific needs, one of these alternatives might be an even better fit.

1. Brother MFC-L2835DW All-in-one Mono Laser Printer

If your printing is almost exclusively black-and-white text documents, the Brother MFC-L2835DW is a compelling alternative. As a mono laser printer, its primary advantages are speed and sharpness for text. It prints significantly faster than the Canon and includes fax capabilities and a crucial Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) for easy multi-page scanning and copying. While you lose colour printing entirely, you gain efficiency and features tailored for a high-volume office environment. It’s the ideal choice for those who value productivity and text document workflow over colour versatility.

2. HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 Wide Format All-in-One Monochrome Printer

The key differentiator for the HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 is its ability to handle wide format paper up to A3 size. This makes it an invaluable tool for users who need to print larger items like spreadsheets, architectural plans, or small posters. While it uses traditional cartridges, it offers robust performance and features like an ADF and fast print speeds. If your work regularly extends beyond the A4 format, the HP 7740 offers a level of versatility that the Canon PIXMA G3570 simply cannot match, making it the clear choice for users with large-format needs.

3. Epson WorkForce WF-7840DTW A3+ 4-in-1 Printer

The Epson WorkForce WF-7840DTW is another powerful A3-capable competitor, positioning itself against the HP. It boasts very fast print speeds (25 ppm for black) thanks to its PrecisionCore printhead technology and offers a full suite of 4-in-1 functions (print, scan, copy, fax) with duplex capabilities for all of them. While it also uses cartridges, Epson offers high-yield XL options to mitigate costs. For a small business or power user who needs maximum speed, A3 capability, and full-featured scanning and copying, the Epson represents a step up in performance from the Canon.

Final Verdict: Who Should Buy the Canon PIXMA G3570?

After extensive testing, our verdict on the Canon PIXMA G3570 is overwhelmingly positive, albeit with a crucial caveat. This printer is an absolute cost-saving champion for the right user. Its MegaTank system is brilliantly executed, delivering an almost unbelievably low cost-per-page that will save families, students, and home offices a small fortune in the long run. The print quality for text and mixed-colour documents is excellent, and features like automatic duplexing and reliable wireless connectivity make it a joy to use for everyday tasks.

Its weaknesses, however, are just as distinct. The colour print speed is modest, the lack of an automatic document feeder limits its utility for multi-page scanning, and its performance with glossy photo paper is inconsistent. Therefore, we can’t recommend it to aspiring photographers or offices that digitize large documents regularly.

If your primary goal is to slash your printing budget for school reports, business invoices, essays, and everyday colour documents, the Canon PIXMA G3570 is one of the best investments you can make. It is a reliable, high-quality workhorse that frees you from “ink anxiety” for good. If you’ve decided the Canon PIXMA G3570 is the right fit, you can check its current price and purchase it here.