Canon PIXMA TS6520 Review: A Compact All-in-One Worth the Money?

Quick Verdict

The Canon PIXMA TS6520 delivers solid print quality and genuine all-in-one convenience in a chassis that practically disappears on a cluttered desk. It's not the fastest inkjet on the market, and the lack of an automatic document feeder limits how useful it is for serious multi-page scanning jobs. But for home users, students and hybrid workers who need reliable colour printing, copying and scanning without buying a bulky office machine, the Canon PIXMA TS6520 is a practical choice that doesn't skimp on the features that actually matter. I'd give it a 4.3 out of 5 for the home-office context most buyers will use it in.

What Is the Canon PIXMA TS6520?

I unboxed the Canon PIXMA TS6520 on a quiet Tuesday morning, mostly to avoid the usual rush of cables and cables and more cables. The printer comes in a compact white chassis — minimal, clean lines, nothing shouting for attention. Canon clearly designed this machine for people whose workspaces are already crowded with a laptop, a monitor and all the usual desk clutter.

The TS6520 is an all-in-one inkjet: it prints, scans and copies. The 1.42-inch monochrome OLED panel sits on the front, and a surprisingly intuitive control panel sits just below it. The paper tray pulls out from the rear and holds up to 100 sheets, which is adequate for home use. Setup took me about 15 minutes, mostly because I took my time connecting it to dual-band WiFi rather than rushing through the prompts.

Key Features

• 2-cartridge hybrid ink system with sharp text and vivid colour output
• Dual-band WiFi (2.4GHz and 5GHz) for stable wireless printing
• Automatic duplex (2-sided) printing built in
• 1.42-inch monochrome OLED display for status and settings
• Borderless photo printing up to 8.5" x 11"
• Mobile printing via Canon PRINT app, Apple AirPrint and Mopria
• Compact flatbed scanner with lid for documents and photos

Hands-On Review

The first thing I printed was a set of boarding passes — small text, light backgrounds, the kind of print job where every smudge is obvious. The Canon PIXMA TS6520 handled them cleanly, with sharp characters and no bleeding even when I used standard copy paper rather than the pricier inkjet stock.

Photo printing is where the 2-cartridge hybrid ink system shows its strengths and its limits. Colours are vibrant on glossy photo paper, especially blues and greens, which tend to pop harder than on some competing models I've tested. But print a full-colour photograph on plain copy paper and you can see the difference immediately — the Canon PIXMA TS6520 is clearly built for photo paper, not as a replacement for a dedicated photo printer. That's not a criticism, just a boundary you should understand going in.

Duplex printing worked exactly as advertised. I ran a 10-page report through the automatic 2-sided cycle and the printer aligned the text correctly on every page without the usual slight offset you sometimes see on budget inkjets. By day three, I had stopped thinking about the printer entirely — which is really the best compliment you can give office equipment. It just works.

Wireless connectivity held up well over the two-week period. My home network is nothing special — a modest dual-band router serving two people working from home and a couple of streaming devices. The Canon PIXMA TS6520 stayed connected without requiring a single manual reconnection, even after the router did its occasional overnight restart. Print jobs from my phone via the Canon PRINT app appeared on the output tray within seconds of tapping print.

What surprised me was the OLED display. Monochrome and small, yes, but it shows exactly what you need — ink levels, current print job, WiFi status — without the cluttered submenus I've struggled with on some competing models. After the first week I stopped reaching for my laptop to check ink levels and just glanced at the front panel instead.

Who Should Buy It?

The Canon PIXMA TS6520 makes the most sense for:

• Home office users who need reliable printing, scanning and copying without a machine that dominates their desk
• Students and light home users printing a mix of documents, assignments and occasional photos
• Hybrid workers who print a few times a week rather than all day, every day
• Anyone upgrading from an older basic printer and wanting duplex printing and wireless without a significant footprint increase

Skip this printer if you regularly scan or copy stacks of multi-page documents — the flatbed-only design means you'll be lifting and repositioning every single sheet. And if your household prints 500+ pages per month, the running costs will nudge you toward a high-yield cartridge system or a laser printer instead.

Alternatives Worth Considering

If the Canon PIXMA TS6520 feels close but not quite right, here are two alternatives worth a look:

• Epson Expression Home XP-4200 — Offers a similar compact all-in-one package with a slightly larger display and optional high-yield cartridges. It trades some of the TS6520's photo vibrancy for a marginally lower price point.
• HP ENVY 6055 — HP's budget all-in-one comes in around the same price and includes smart-guided setup. It's a solid competitor, though the Canon PRINT app edges out HP Smart for daily use in my experience.
• Canon PIXMA G3520 MegaTank — If you print heavily and want to cut ongoing ink costs dramatically, Canon's tank-based system is a different category entirely — higher upfront cost, but dramatically lower cost per page.

FAQ

Final Verdict

The Canon PIXMA TS6520 earns its place in a home office or a shared living-space setup. It covers the essentials well — reliable wireless, automatic duplex, a clean interface and print quality that's perfectly adequate for both documents and photos on the right paper. The absence of an ADF is the main thing that limits its appeal for busier workflows, and the ink costs deserve attention if you're a heavy user.

For what it is — a compact, affordable, well-connected all-in-one — the Canon PIXMA TS6520 delivers exactly what it promises without unnecessary compromises. If your workspace is tight and your printing needs are everyday rather than enterprise-grade, this one deserves serious consideration.