Canon ImageCLASS D861

The Canon ImageCLASS D861 is a monochrome laser printer and copier first released in 2005 to increase the Canon presence in the multifunction market. There are many full multifunctions in the stable such as the MF3240, which prints, copies, scans and faxes, but only a few from any manufacturer are dedicated to just printing and copying.

The speed of copying is a respectable 18 pages per minute at a resolution of 1200 x 600 dpi. Printing is slightly slower at 16 pages per minute, but is still plenty quick enough for most office applications.

The quality of the print is precisely what you would expect from someone like Canon and worth the purchase price on its own. Text is printed precisely, with clean lines and clean, straight edges. The 256 grayscale tones are all reproduced evenly. Photographic reproduction weren’t the highlight of the test but they were easily good enough for company work.

Connection is by USB port, and the drivers are installed on each client machine. Once you have unpacked it, it’s quick to get everything up and running. There are enough buttons on the control panel to be able control everything and the little LCD screen is clear and easy to read. The paper drawer holds 250 sheets of paper and there is a 50 page multifunction feeder on the top. The D861 also uses the Canon instant-on technology. The toner is a special compound which needs no warming up. This means that it can be left on standby and be ready to print almost immediately.

Toner is readily available and easy to replace, with fresh ones lasting 2500 pages.. It uses the Canon single cartridge system which is where the drum, toner and developer are integrated into one cartridge. This lower costs and waste and is a successful implementation by Canon.

The D861 is a solid, if a little limited machine. It will print and copy to your heart’s content and will probably still be doing it long after others will have given up. The print and copy quality and speed is enough to keep most offices productive.