Canon PIXMA TR8620a: Specs, Features, Pros & Cons
This review measures the Canon PIXMA TR8620a against the full 24-spec sheet we track for printers, comparing it like for like with the 50 other models in our database. It earns a VS Score of 55 out of 100 — the weighted result of every verified specification measured against the class average.
On the spec sheet it is strongest in design and weakest in printing. Its clearest single advantage over the class average: a slightly higher input tray capacity — 200 sheets vs 182.02 sheets (avg). None of our retail partners currently lists the Canon PIXMA TR8620a, so availability may be limited; a missing price never affects the VS Score.
Category strengths
Where the Canon PIXMA TR8620a beats the average
- Has automatic document feeder ?
- Has automatic duplex printing ?
- Has touchscreen display ?
- Has ethernet ?
- Has color printing ?
- Has all-in-one ?
- Has fax ?
- A slightly higher input tray capacity ?200 sheets vs 182.02 sheets (avg)
- A higher print resolution ?4,800 dpi vs 4,041.94 dpi (avg)
- A lighter build ?7.89 kg vs 9.07 kg (avg)
Where the Canon PIXMA TR8620a trails the average
- A lower print speed (black) ?15 ppm vs 17.21 ppm (avg)
- A lower ADF capacity ?20 sheets vs 34.48 sheets (avg)
- A lower print speed (color) ?10 ppm vs 12.51 ppm (avg)
- No supertank / refillable ink ?
- No duplex scanning ?
Editor’s note
The TR8620a is what Canon's home-office line looks like one step before you leave cartridges behind: five individual inks, a proper 4.3-inch touchscreen, Ethernet alongside Wi-Fi, an SD card slot, dual 100-sheet paper sources, automatic duplex and a color fax. At 15 pages a minute in black and 10 in color it's respectably quick for its class, and unlike the cheaper TR4720, an empty cyan means replacing one small tank rather than a whole tri-color cartridge.
The five-ink design is also what makes it quietly good at photos for an office machine. The dye color set plus a dedicated photo-friendly black prints borderless up to Letter, handles square media, and turns out a 4×6 in about 37 seconds — a real perk if family printing shares the desk with work.
Two limitations define its ceiling. First, the document feeder is 20 sheets and single-sided, and two-sided scanning is a manual flip — this is light-duty office equipment, not workgroup gear. Second, cartridges: a full color set runs about $55, and if your volumes are steady, an Epson EcoTank or Canon's own MegaTank machines will beat it decisively on cost per page. One data quirk worth knowing: Canon's own spec table mislabels the paper inputs as output tray capacity — the 200-sheet figure on our page is the two input sources combined.
Canon has stopped selling it directly, so it now lives at retailers in the $150-200 range. At the lower end of that band I'd call it a strong buy for a busy household with mixed document-and-photo needs and modest monthly volume. High-volume printers should skip straight to a tank machine and never look back.
Specifications
Quality bars are generated automatically against 50 other printers.
Printing
Laser prints crisp text fast; inkjet handles photos and colour better.
Prints in colour, not just black and white.
Black-and-white pages per minute; higher is faster.
Colour pages per minute; higher is faster.
A higher dot density produces sharper prints.
Prints both sides of the page without manual flipping.
Refillable ink tanks cut the cost per page dramatically.
The maximum recommended pages per month.
Scanning & copying
Scans and copies as well as prints.
Feeds multi-page documents through the scanner unattended.
How many pages the document feeder holds at once.
Scans both sides of a page automatically.
Sends and receives faxes.
Paper handling
A larger tray needs refilling less often.
How many printed pages the output tray holds.
The largest paper format supported (e.g. Letter, Legal, A3).
Connectivity
Print wirelessly over the home network.
Connect devices directly without a router.
A wired network port for reliable office use.
A direct USB connection to a computer.
Print from iPhone, iPad and Mac without extra drivers.
Print and manage the printer from a phone app.
Design
An onboard touchscreen makes standalone tasks easier.
A lighter printer is easier to place and move.
How the VS Score works — and what it can’t tell you
Every measurable spec is scored against the average of all the printers we track: matching the class average scores 50, clearly beating it climbs towards 100, and each spec counts according to an editorial weight that reflects real-world impact — a battery-capacity gap moves the score far more than a colour-options list. The quality bars on the spec cards above show where this model sits inside the full range for its class, and the overall VS Score rolls every weighted result into one number.
Unknown values are never estimated. A spec this product doesn’t report simply drops out of its scoring — it isn’t penalised with a guess — but a thinner spec sheet does mean a score built on fewer data points, which is why completeness is disclosed under About this data.
Most importantly: a spec-sheet lead is not the same as a better product. Megapixels, gigahertz and benchmark points describe capacity, not experience — image processing, software optimisation, thermals, haptics and ergonomics decide how a device actually feels, and no table captures reliability or long-term support quality. Treat the VS Score as a structured summary of what can be measured, not a substitute for your own priorities.
About this data
- Specifications are compiled from each manufacturer’s official spec sheet, cross-checked against trusted specification databases, and normalised into one schema so identical things are compared identically.
- Specifications last verified August 21, 2026.
- Data completeness: 22 of the 24 specs in this category are verified (92%). Anything we could not verify is shown as Unknown — never estimated — and is excluded from the score.
- Prices and availability come from live retailer feeds via our shopping partners and refresh throughout the day; a missing price means no partner currently lists the product, not that it is discontinued.
- Want the full picture? Our editorial guidelines explain how we research products, weight the scores and stay independent.
- Spotted an error in a spec? Tell us and we will correct the sheet.
Printers with similar specs to the Canon PIXMA TR8620a
Ratings & reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to share your experience.
The bottom line
The Canon PIXMA TR8620a earns a VS Score of 55, a solid mid-pack result among the 51 printers we compare here.
- Who it’s for
- Busy households mixing documents and photos: five individual inks, a real touchscreen, Ethernet, SD slot, dual paper trays and color fax make it the most complete cartridge PIXMA for light office duty.
- Who should look elsewhere
- Steady-volume printers — a ~$55 color cartridge set loses badly to supertank economics — and anyone needing duplex scanning or a bigger ADF than 20 simplex sheets.
- The trade-off that matters
- Convenience inks versus running costs: individual tanks beat tri-color cartridges, but the whole cartridge model is the thing a tank printer retires.
- The main alternative
- Epson EcoTank ET-4903 — for steady volume its tank economics and ADF beat any cartridge machine; the TR8620a answers with a touchscreen, Ethernet and better photo output.
The VS Score is generated automatically from the weighted specifications above, measured against all other printers in our database. Treat it as a shortlisting guide — not a substitute for your own priorities.
