We reviewed
three portable printers
that you can hook up to an ultraportable for a short print job if you're stuck in a hotel or an airport. These packable printers -- the Mannesmann Tally (Kent, WA, (206) 251-5524) MobileJet ($350), the Pentax Technologies (Broomfield, CO, (303) 460-1600) PocketJet ($529), and the Citizen America (Santa Monica, CA, (310) 453-0614) PN60 ($399) -- aren't built for speed or large-volume tasks, but they can get you out of a pinch if you need a hard copy of an invoice or a one-page document for an upcoming meeting.
Mannesmann Tally's MobileJet (4.6 pounds) is an ink-jet printer, and the smaller PocketJet (2.2 pounds) and PN60 (2.6 pounds) use variations of thermal-transfer technology to place ink on paper. The PocketJet is the most interesting because its direct thermal technology does
n't require ink cartridges, ribbons, or toner. The printer heats dye on special thermal paper supplied by Pentax. There is no toner to spill or inky ribbons to change, but the 8-cents-per-page cost of the paper can add up. The PN60 is the only one with color capabilities; its optional color print cartridge ($14.99 for a two-pack) replaces the printer's standard black-ink cartridge.
All three printers operate on both AC and battery power, and you can plug the MobileJet and the PN60 into a car's cigarette lighter with an optional adapter. The MobileJet is the most versatile printer because it doesn't require special paper and prints on envelopes, transparency film, and adhesive-backed labels. It is also the only one with a multiple-page feeder, so you don't have to feed the pages manually. The PocketJet pays a price for its unique printer technology: It doesn't print envelopes or adhesive-backed labels.
The PocketJet is the fastest printer on all but one of our
printer performanc
e tests
. It prints at speeds of three text pages per minute with a maximum resolution of 300 dots per inch. The slim, rectangular PocketJet produces letter- and legal-size output and hooks up to your computer via a serial or parallel port. It has full Printer Control Language 4 (PCL4) LaserJet IIP compatibility and includes seven Hewlett-Packard internal fonts. Although the PocketJet is a single-sheet-feed printer, testers liked the way it goes back on-line when it's time to feed through the next sheet of paper.
The PocketJet's rechargeable nicad battery supports 30 to 35 pages per charge and installs easily inside the printer's 11-inch-long chassis. The printer has three status indicators (power, data, and battery), and a density dial on the left side lets you set how dark or light you want the print job to be. The PocketJet produces quality text output and line drawings, but its output on our black-and-white photograph test was washy and unpresentable. However, its combination of speed and quality
on text output makes it a good choice for those who need to print forms or invoices in a hurry.
The Mannesmann Tally MobileJet is the heftiest portable in the test-bed, but it offers more features than the other printers. The bubble ink-jet printer supports resolutions of up to 300 dpi, and its cut-sheet feeder can hold up to 15 pages. You can purchase optional nicad and nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) battery packs, or you can load in 10 AA batteries to power the printer when a power conduit is not nearby. Ink cartridges are easy to install.
The MobileJet, which looks more like a desktop printer than the others do, is faster than the PN60 in our text performance tests, but it is the slowest printer in our font and graphics tests. Despite its slow performance, it prints a much crisper photographic image (although still kind of blotchy) than do the other two printers. It also prints better-quality output in our more graphically complex print-quality tests. The easy-to-use printer has a print speed of
2 pages per minute and a bidirectional parallel interface, and it is HP DeskJet Plus (PCL3+)-compatible.
The PN60 has a rectangular chassis similar to that of the PocketJet, and the thermal-transfer PN60 offers the highest-resolution setting at 360 dpi. It is the only printer available with an optional RS-422 serial interface for a Mac (it also has a standard parallel interface and an optional RS-232 serial interface). The printer has five built-in fonts and supports industry-standard IBM and Epson emulations.
The PN60 was the slowest printer we tested, taking about four times as long as the PocketJet to print the text and raw-text tests, but it was slightly faster than the MobileJet on the font and graphics tests. The PN60 received only a fair printer-quality rating, because it had trouble printing reverse type (black on white), and its output in the photograph test was an imperceptible blur of pixels. Testers also had some bones to pick with the PN60. They encountered frequent paper jams and fou
nd that you must manually guide the paper into the single-sheet feeder perfectly straight for it to catch. They also discovered that its tiny buttons are hard to push. Despite these criticisms, the PN60 is the only choice if you need to highlight documents with a splash of color.
Printers At A Glance
PRICE WEIGHT MAX. RESOLUTION
(LBS.) (DPI)
================================================================
Mannesmann Tally MobileJet $350 4.6 300
Pentax PocketJet $529 2.2 300
Citizen PN60 $399 2.6 360
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Hook up to an ultraportable with the Mannesmann Tally MobileJet (upper left), the Citizen PN60 (middle), and the Pentax PocketJet.
Printers to Go
