The Canon Laser Shot LBP 3360 is expensive in this company at $530 - $156 more than the next most-expensive printer, the HP LaserJet P2014. For the cash you do get a decent range of features, but the quality of printing has been compromised.

It’s disappointing, with photos and gradients performing especially poorly. More conventional text documents didn’t fare much better, with scores barely better than average.

Printing from sleep mode is quick at 13 seconds, and photos are also churned out at a decent rate, although the cost of this speed is quality. Plain text speeds, though, were among the worst in the group, taking 2mins 30secs for 50 pages, and it stays down there with the DTP document as well.

An LCD screen on top of the unit allows access to menus for printer and network settings, although with seemingly no standard select button across the various submenus it may take a while to get used to. They’re sensibly designed for printing, though, with options for deleting documents and feeding paper easily accessible.

A manual feed slot is hidden behind a neat little door on the front of the LBP3360 for envelopes and single sheets. There’s also a built-in duplex unit, which is a welcome addition considering other printers in this class charge for an upgrade.

The Canon Laser Shot LBP 3360 is reasonably well-featured printer, and it’s also pretty quick in use. But despite these plus points, the quality simply isn’t up to scratch, and it’s too expensive.