What is the difference between TR150 and TR160?

Updated June 18, 2026

Very little — and that honesty matters before you pay a premium for the newer number. The Canon PIXMA TR160 is the current successor to the discontinued TR150, with the same single-function portable core: This lightweight portable printer can fit into a bag or backpack with room to spare. The changes are minor — a refreshed panel, connectivity polish, and which battery bundle Canon sells. Choose on price and availability.

The pattern here is the opposite of most comparisons, and it is worth naming plainly. Usually two model numbers buy you a real gap — a faster engine, a bigger tray, a different ink system. The TR150 and TR160 do not. Canon inkjet printer specifications for the TR160 list it as the active portable in the line and show the TR150 retired from the current range, so the practical difference is which one you can still buy new. The printing hardware underneath is the same compact single-function machine, which is why a buyer should anchor the decision to price and stock, not to the model year.

TR160 — front

Bag-sized body

What stayed the same is the whole reason to buy either one. Both print, neither scans, and both lean on a 5-colour ink system that Canon says showcase sharp black text and vibrant details with rich color thanks to a 5-Color Hybrid Ink System. Both also offer router-free printing — WIRELESS DIRECT MODE - Connect your compatible device to the printer even without a wireless router. — the feature that makes a travel printer useful in a hotel room. None of that splits the two models apart.

The cost-of-ownership math reaches the same verdict from a different angle. A portable Canon runs on small, dear cartridges, and that running cost is identical on the TR150 and the TR160 — longtime PIXMA owners report the compact ink drains fast and costs a lot to replace, the exact pattern RTINGS independent printer testing flags when it scores cartridge machines on cost-per-print. Paying a premium for the newer model buys you availability and a panel refresh, not a cheaper page. If pages-per-pound is your worry, the answer is not a different portable — it is a desktop supertank that pours ink from bottles, which we line up in our best office inkjet printers roundup.

What is the difference between Canon PIXMA TR150 and TR160?

They are the same printer one generation apart. The TR160 is the current model and the TR150 is its discontinued predecessor — both are print-only portables with the same compact 5-colour ink and the same optional-battery design. The TR160 refreshes the OLED panel and connectivity; the printing core is identical, so there is no cost-per-page gap to weigh.

Honestly, the cleanest way to read this pair is as a quiet refresh, not a new product. A Reddit owner who tracked the line said the older portable was about as small as you can reasonably get while being able to print full A4/Letter pages at normal quality — a bar the TR160 holds rather than beats. The visible changes are the 1.44-inch monochrome OLED status panel and connectivity polish; according to Canon's specifications the engine, the 5-colour ink, and the footprint carry straight over. For a cross-shopper that means the decision rule is blunt: take whichever is cheaper and in stock, and do not pay extra expecting the higher number to print better. If you want a Canon that also scans and copies, step to a desktop model like the one in our Canon PIXMA TS6520 review.

Is the Canon PIXMA TR160 a good printer?

It is good at one job: portable document and photo printing in a bag-sized body. Owners confirm the portability, call print quality decent rather than exceptional, and warn the small body feels fragile and the ink is dear per page. As a travel printer it earns its place; as a household's main printer, a desktop supertank is far cheaper to feed.

Take the praise and the pushback together, because both are fair. On the plus side, one reviewer valued A printer that doesn't hog up space on my worktable. and another summed the output up as This is a nice compact printer that has decent quality printing. — decent, note, not gallery-grade. The catch a road buyer hits is power: Great printer but does not come with a battery., so true cordless use is an extra purchase on the TR160 exactly as it was on the TR150. I'd buy a TR160 only for genuine on-the-road printing; for a desk at home where running cost rules, a bottle-fed supertank like our Canon MegaTank G3290 review settles the cost question the portables never will.

OLED panel

Paper feed

Does the Canon TR160 scan?

No. The TR160 is print-only — no flatbed, no automatic document feeder, no copy function. That single-function design is what keeps it small enough to travel, and it is the same on the older TR150. If you need scan and copy in a portable, the TR160 is the wrong tool; a desktop all-in-one is the answer for scanning at home.

This trips up buyers who assume any modern printer scans, so it is worth stating clearly: neither portable has a scanner. Some owners are caught out by the manual too, which documents two-sided printing the hardware does not perform unaided — a reminder to read what the machine actually does, not what a buried page implies. The print-only core is a deliberate size trade, not a fault, and it applies equally to the TR150 and the TR160. A buyer who needs to scan contracts or copy forms should skip both and pick a desktop all-in-one; our guide to Canon inkjet printers maps which models add the flatbed and ADF a portable leaves out.

Top — no flatbed

Print path

What's the difference between laser and inkjet printers?

A laser fuses toner powder onto the page; an inkjet sprays liquid ink. Laser wins on fast, cheap mono text at volume but cannot go truly portable or print rich photos. Inkjets like the TR160 print colour and photos and shrink to bag size, at a higher cost per page on small cartridges. For travel printing the choice is moot — lasers are too big to carry.

The fork matters here because it explains why a portable is an inkjet at all. A laser's speed and low text cost come from a heated fuser and a toner drum — bulk that cannot fold into a bag, which rules it out for travel before price even enters. An inkjet's spray head shrinks, so every true portable, including both Canon models on this page, is an inkjet. The compromise is the one the owner record keeps flagging: small cartridges keep cost-per-page high. The TR160 even has portable rivals only within the inkjet camp — one owner noted that The only comparable other printer seems to be the Epson WorkForce WF-110 (slightly smaller in size). We weigh the laser-versus-inkjet decision in full in our type-versus-type tradeoffs analysis.

Bag-sized inkjet

Ports

Add it up and the TR150-versus-TR160 question answers itself: there is barely a printer to compare. The TR160 is the TR150 brought forward a generation — same print-only body, same compact ink, same optional battery, with a panel refresh and the advantage of still being sold new. No cost-per-page gap, no feature that reshapes the decision. So the right move is the unglamorous one: buy whichever is cheaper and in stock, and if your real problem is expensive pages rather than portability, stop shopping portables and buy a desktop supertank. That one distinction — travel printer versus cheap-to-feed home printer — settles every part of this comparison.