The Canon imagePROGRAF TM-610M came out ahead of the HP DesignJet T850 MFP in 13 of 14 categories in a new head-to-head test by Keypoint Intelligence, the independent lab behind the BLI awards. The two 36-inch A0 multifunction printers were tested side by side at Keypoint's facility in Wokingham, and the Canon led on print, copy and scan quality, speed, banner and poster printing, ease of use and ink use. The one category where they finished level was direct print submission.

Canon Europe commissioned the test, which is normal for this kind of report, and Keypoint ran it to its own methods. Below we go through what the results show, including the handful of areas where the HP did better, so you can judge which printer fits the way your office works.

The TM-610M is one of the new printers in Canon's refreshed TM range. If you want to see how it sits alongside the other models, our guide to the six new TM-500 series printers covers the whole line-up.

How did the Canon TM-610M and HP T850 MFP compare on print quality?

The TM-610M produced the stronger print quality overall. On plain paper, Keypoint found darker, cleaner text, crisper 0.1-point fine lines, smoother halftone fills and less ink bleed than the HP. CAD drawings, GIS maps and photographic images all favoured the Canon, with better contrast and finer detail.

Colour range was close in default mode on plain paper. At the highest quality settings, the Canon's colour gamut was 5.5% larger on plain paper and 5.8% larger on matte coated paper. Copy quality followed the same pattern, with sharper text and more accurate logo colours from the Canon.

Which printer is faster?

Speed was the Canon's biggest lead. In a mixed job stream that mimics a typical large format workload, the TM-610M finished 56.4% faster in default mode, 42.3% faster in Standard/Normal mode and 80.4% faster at the highest quality setting.

For a five-page A0 print run, the Canon took 339.6 seconds against 761.3 seconds for the HP, so it was more than twice as fast. An A1 poster in default mode took 50.4 seconds on the Canon and 1 minute 29.4 seconds on the HP. The Canon was also quicker in every A1 and A0 first-copy test, by between 22% and 58% depending on the mode.

The one speed result that went the HP's way was first page out after a weekend switched off, where the HP was 9.4% quicker. From a ready state, the Canon was 41.6% faster.

How did they handle scanning?

Scanning is where the difference shows up in day-to-day use. The Canon was faster in every scan-to-PDF test, by between 36% and 75% depending on size, resolution and colour mode, with the biggest gains at 600 dpi.

It also coped far better with awkward originals. The TM-610M produced crease-free scans of a folded newspaper and a lightweight magazine. The HP jammed on the magazine in both orientations and left visible creases across the newspaper scan. On a CAD drawing printed on tracing paper, Canon's new Tracing Paper setting gave a clean white background, where the HP showed some shadowing around the lines.

The HP did hold on to slightly better shadow detail in some photographic scans, and it offers greyscale scanning, batch scanning into multi-page PDFs and TIFF files, none of which the Canon has.

What about banners and long print runs?

Keypoint tested a 106-inch banner on both machines. The Canon printed it in Fast mode with no quality issues. The HP could not complete it across several attempts, either feeding blank media or printing only the first few inches before cutting.

In a 50-sheet A0 run, the Canon stacked its prints neatly in the standard basket. Around half of the HP's prints stayed curled in the basket and the rest stacked unevenly, so someone would need to keep an eye on it during longer jobs.

Is the Canon TM-610M easier to use?

For most walk-up tasks, yes. The TM-610M has a 5-inch tiltable touch screen with home screens you can customise, compared with a 4.3-inch fixed screen on the HP. Its integrated scanner has a flatter, larger area to rest originals on, and it holds the original after scanning until you choose to eject it.

You can swap ink tanks mid-print, it detects the paper type when you load a roll, and it prints a barcode on part-used rolls so it remembers the media and how much is left next time. It also prints true borderless on roll paper, which we covered in the real cost of the white border. At 1,285mm wide, it takes up less floor space than the 1,407mm HP.

The HP has its own useful features: a 50-sheet A3 tray that works without unloading the roll, printing straight from a USB stick, and a lighter body at 60kg against 77kg for the Canon.

Which uses less ink and energy?

Ink use depended on the job. The Canon used 15.7% less ink on a poster and 31.2% less on a GIS map, both on matte coated paper. On an architectural plan on plain paper, the HP used less.

On energy, the HP draws less when printing, at 35W against 76W for the Canon. The Canon uses less on standby, at 2.2W against under 3.5W for the HP. Both printers contain at least 35% recycled plastic, and Canon also ships the TM-610M in EPS-free packaging.

Which A0 multifunction printer should you choose?

If your office scans a lot of folded, delicate or tracing-paper originals, prints posters and banners, or runs long A0 jobs, the Keypoint results point clearly to the Canon TM-610M. Faster scanning, stronger print quality and neater output add up over a working week.

The HP T850 MFP still makes sense where batch scanning, greyscale copying, TIFF files or a cut-sheet tray matter more to your workflow.

You can browse our current scan, copy and print multifunction printers and the wider Canon large format printer range, along with A0 plotter paper rolls for either machine. If you would like to talk through which printer suits your office, call us on 01296 393700 or get in touch with the team.