REASONS TO BUY
Fast printing
Bright colors for images
Great text quality
All in one capabilities
REASONS TO AVOID
Touchscreen hard to navigate
Bulky
Unintuitive interface
Canon Color imageCLASS MF656Cdw Review
Great for an office that is looking for an all-in-one, produces high quality text and images but wouldn't use this printer for printing photos
Credit: Canon
RELATED: Best Home Printers of 2024
Our Verdict
The Canon Color imageCLASS MF656Cdw is a versatile multifunction printer that offers strong document printing performance while keeping operating costs low, but struggles a bit with photos and graphics. It features a user-friendly 5-inch touchscreen and supports mobile printing options, which we found useful. While this model was great in some regards, we felt it was lacking in other key metrics. Check out our best home printer review to see how the rest of the models we tested compared to this one.
Compare to Similar Products
 This Product Canon Color imageCLASS MF656Cdw | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  Best Overall Home Printer |  Budget Document Printer | Best Budget All-in-One Printer |  Lowest Operating Costs | |
| Price | $450 List $349.00 at Amazon | $549 List | $160 List $159.99 at Amazon | $220 List $129.99 at Amazon | $280 List $179.99 at Amazon |
Overall Score  |
|||||
| Star Rating | |||||
| Bottom Line | Good for most home offices, but not for photo printing | All the speed and functionality required for a small office, or a demanding home office | A good document printer for home office use | A great budget-friendly printer that performs well in every metric and excels at affordable, high quality photo printing | Good but not great printing performance, with incredibly low operating costs |
| Rating Categories | Canon Color imageCL... | HP Color LaserJet P... | HP OfficeJet 8015e... | Epson Workforce Pro... | Epson EcoTank ET-2800 |
| Text Quality (25%) | |||||
| Graphics and Photos (25%) | |||||
| Operating Cost (25%) | |||||
| Ease of Use (15%) | |||||
| Printing Speed (10%) | |||||
| Specs | Canon Color imageCL... | HP Color LaserJet P... | HP OfficeJet 8015e... | Epson Workforce Pro... | Epson EcoTank ET-2800 |
| Type | All-in-one laser | Laser | All-in-one inkjet | All-in-one inkjet | All-in-one inkjet |
| Capabilities | Print, scan, copy, fax | Print, scan, copy, fax | Print, scan, copy | Print, scan, copy, fax | Print, scan, copy |
| Estimated Lifetime Cost of Ownership | $862 | $972 | $646 | $634 | $301 |
| Resolution (Black) | 1200 x 1200 dpi | 600 x 600 dpi | 1200 x 1200 dpi | 4800 x 1200 dpi | 5760 x 1440 dpi |
| Resolution (Color) | 1200 x 1200 dpi | 600 x 600 dpi | 4800 x 1200 dpi | 4800 x 1200 dpi | 5760 x 1440 dpi |
| Supported Paper Sizes | Standard Cassette / 1‐sheet Manual Feed Slot: 3" x 5" to 8.5" x 14" | Letter(8.5 x 11); Legal(8.5 x 14); Executive(7.2 x 10.5); Oficio 8.5x13(8.5 x 13); 4 x 6(4 x 6); 5 x 8(5 x 8); A4(8.3 x 11.7); A5(5.8 x 8.3); A6(4.1 x 5.8); B5(JIS)(7.2 x 10.1); B6(JIS)(5 x 7.2); 10x15cm (3.9 x 5.9); Oficio 216x340 mm(8.5 x 13.4); 16K 195x270mm(7.6 x 10.6); 16K 184x260mm(7.2 x 10.2); 16K 197x273mm(7.8 x 10.7); Postcard (JIS)(3.9 x 5.8); Double Postcard(JIS)(5.8 x 7.9); Envelope #10(4.1 x 9.5); Envelope Monarch(3.9 x 7.5); Envelope B5(6.9 x 9.8); Envelope C5(6.4 x 9); Envelope DL(4.3 x 8.7); A5-R(8.3 x 5.8); | Letter; Legal; Government Legal; Executive; Statement; 4 x 6 in; 5 x 7 in; 13 x 18 cm; 8 x 10 in; 10 x 15 cm; L; Photo 2L; Envelope( #10, Monarch, 5.5 bar); Card (4 x 6 in, 5 x 8 in) | 3.5 x 5", 4 x 6", 5 x 7", 8 x 10",8.5 x 11", 8.5 x 14", A4, A6, half letter, executive | 4 x 6", 5 x 7", A6, Half Letter, Letter, A4, Executive, Legal, User definable (from 2.2 x 3.4" to 8.5 x 47.2") |
| Measured Dimensions (excludes extensions) | 17.8" x 18.2" x 16.3" | 16.5" x 16.6" x 13.2" | 18.1" x 13.4" x 9.2" | 14.8" x 13.7" x 9.1" | 14.8" x 22.8" x 10.0" |
| Measured Weight | 48.5 lb | 41.2 lb | 18 lb | 15.0 lb | 9.3 Ib |
| Paper Handling Input | 250 Sheets standard cassette, 1 sheet manual feed slot | 250 Sheets | 225 Sheets | 250 Sheets | 100 Sheets plain paper, 20 sheets photo paper |
| Monthly Duty Cycle | Not specified | 40,000 Pages | 20,000 Pages | 5,000 Pages | Not specified |
| Auto 2-Sided Printing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Ink Cost per Ream: B/W | $26.40 | $26.67 | $34.98 | $28.56 | $1.55 |
| Ink Cost per Ream: Color | $31.60 | $34.40 | $22.21 | $23.94 | $0.93 |
| Claimed Pages Per Minute | 22 | 22 | 24 | 15 | 10 (black) 5 (color) |
| Measured Pages per Minute: Single-Sided B/W | 18 | 19 | 15 | 24 | 10 |
| Connectivity | USB 2.0 High‐Speed, 10/100/1000Base‐T/TX Ethernet (Network), Wi‐Fi 802.11b/g/n, Wi‐Fi Direct Connection | Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port; built-in Fast Ethernet 10/100/1000 Base-TX network port, 802.11n 2.4/5GHz wireless, Fax port, Front Host USB | 1 Wireless 802.11a/b/g/n | 100Mbps Ethernet, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, USB 2.0 | Hi-Speed USB Wi-Fi 4 (802.11 b/g/n)9 Wi-Fi Direct |
| Operating System Compatibility | Windows 11 / 10 / 8.1 / Windows Server 2012 / 2012 R2 / 2016 / 2019 / 2022, Mac OS X (10.11 or later) | Windows 11; Windows 10; Windows 8; Windows 8.1; Windows 7; Windows Vista; Windows Server; macOS 10.12 Sierra; macOS 10.13 High Sierra; macOS 10.14 Mojave; macOS 10.15 Catalina; Linux; UNIX | Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7,Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit, Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit (SP1), Windows Server 2012 64-bit, Windows Server 2012 R2 64-bit, Windows Server 2016, Chrome OS Windows XP and Windows Vista not supported | Windows 10 Windows 8, 8.1 (32-bit, 64-bit) Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit) Mac OS X 10.6 — macOS 10.13.x11 |
Windows 10, Windows 8, 8.1 (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows 7 (32- bit, 64-bit), Windows Vista (32-bit, 64-bit), Windows Server 10 2003 SP2 or later, 2008, 2008R2, 2012, 2012R2, 2016, 2019, 2016 Mac OS X 10.6.8 — macOS 10.15.x11 |
Show full specification detailsHide full specification details
Our Analysis and Test Results
Exceptional text quality and swift printing are the strong points for this printer, but it failed to rise to the top and impress our team overall.
Performance Comparison
This is a pricey model for perfect text clarity and less than perfect graphic and photo printing.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
Text Quality
This metric assesses the capability of each printer to produce high-quality text prints in black and white, while also ensuring a consistent high level of text resolution. The Canon Color imageCLASS MF656Cdw performed perfectly in our tests.
As you would expect from a perfect print, we observed zero blemishes, absolutely no smearing, no bleed-through, true blacks, and consistent text quality from print to print. In test procedures designed to measure text clarity, the Canon Color imageCLASS MF656Cdw produced solid bolds, pure blacks, and maintained great text definition across different fonts and font sizes.
In our microscope, you can see the exceptional text quality, with true blacks and sharp detail.
Credit: Lesley Robinson
Graphics and Photos
Unfortunately, graphics and photos are not where the Canon Color imageCLASS MF656Cdw shines. Photos lack a genuine borderless print, and the prints exhibited streakiness and pixelation. Pixelations primarily occurred at starkly contrasting colors, while darker hues blended together. Overall color accuracy was also unimpressive, with prints featuring brighter colors than in the originals. Considering the really exceptional products we've evaluated from Canon, we expected a bit more from this model.
Photo prints had an undesirable amount of pixelation along sharply contrasting sections of images.
Credit: Lesley Robinson
Operating Cost
The Canon Color imageCLASS MF656Cdw is neither expensive nor is it the most economical printer to operate. Its operational costs are on par with most printers. The cost per page of black and white ink is 5 cents, while the cost per page of color ink is 6 cents.
The toner cartridges are both economical as well as easy to access and replace on this model.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
Ease of Use
The Canon Color imageCLASS MF656Cdw does a decent job with regard to ease of use. The setup process was straightforward, although we did encounter an issue when opening the blue ink cartridge, resulting in a minor mess. The printer includes an LCD screen that guides users through the setup. On the digital front, the accompanying app was easy to navigate, albeit a bit slow. We found that operating the printer from either a smartphone or laptop was simple. Additionally, the live support chat feature on the website proved to be helpful when needed. We also found the 5-inch color touchscreen was easy to use, even for persons with larger hands.
The large screen on the MF656Cdw makes navigating menus and options a breeze.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
Printing Speed
The Canon Color imageCLASS MF656Cdw is pretty quick compared to most printers. It's able to print a full page photo in about 32 seconds, 10 page duplex documents in 13 seconds, and a 10 page simplex document in 18 seconds. To put that into perspective, this model is pretty fast, but with today's very fast printers, you probably wouldn't even notice that it is just a little faster than most.
This model supports duplex printing at a higher rate than most.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
Should You Buy the Canon Color imageCLASS MF656Cdw?
The Canon Color imageCLASS MF656Cdw was not our favorite printer. While this model is capable of printing near-perfect text documents consistently and quickly, it proved it lacks the ability to reproduce great graphics and photos. For a printer that will be used purely for document printing, it's an okay option, but better options exist.
What Other Printers Should You Consider?
Our favorite model overall was the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M283fdw, which is a versatile printer that is a snap to use, but it has a higher price tag. If you only need to print some quick documents here and there, consider the HP OfficeJet 8015e Wireless Color, which is exceptional at printing texts and graphics.
A good printer all-around, but graphic and photo prints could be better.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
—Lesley Robinson and Benjamin Hickok
You Might Also Like
