Canon PG-275 Ink Cartridge Review: Honest Verdict

Quick Verdict

The Canon PG-275 ink cartridge is the genuine black ink option for several popular Canon Pixma home printer models. For users who print modest volumes of documents and the occasional photo, it delivers the sharp text and reliable performance Canon promises. That said, the 100-page yield is modest, and if you're running a busy home office, the ongoing cost adds up fast. I'd rate this cartridge a solid choice for light users but not for anyone printing more than a few hundred pages per month.

What Is the Canon PG-275?

The Canon PG-275 is a genuine black ink cartridge designed specifically for Canon's Pixma TS3520, TS3522, TR4720, TR4722, TS3720, and TS3722 inkjet printers. It's a standard-yield cartridge — Canon rates it at up to 100 pages per cartridge, which puts it in the light-duty category. The cartridge uses Canon's FINE (Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering) technology, meaning the print head has over 6,000 precision nozzles that deposit tiny droplets of ink to create sharp text and smooth photo gradients.

I picked up a pair of these cartridges to restock after my TR4720 started producing that telltale faint text that tells you the black ink is running low. The packaging is compact and easy to open — no excessive tape or frustrating blister packs. Installing the cartridge took under a minute, and the printer automatically recognized it without prompting any alignment or calibration cycles. That ease of setup is something I genuinely appreciate after dealing with third-party cartridges that sometimes require manual driver tweaking.

Key Features

• Compatible with TS3520, TS3522, TR4720, TR4722, TS3720, and TS3722 printers
• Standard-yield black ink rated up to 100 pages (ISO/IEC 24711)
• FINE technology with 6,000+ precision nozzles for sharp output
• Genuine Canon formulation for consistent, smudge-resistant text
• Easy pop-in installation with automatic printer recognition
• Color companion cartridge (CL-276) available separately
• Canon logo verification to avoid counterfeit or compatible imitations

Hands-On Review

I ran the PG-275 through a mix of real-world tasks over the course of two weeks. Most of my print jobs are standard — email printouts, a few spreadsheets, the occasional boarding pass. The black text came out crisp and dark, with no banding or feathering on standard copy paper. I did notice that printing dense paragraphs with small font sizes (8-9pt) showed slightly less definition than I'd like, but that's more a function of the printer's native resolution than the ink itself.

Photo printing is where I had to temper expectations. The PG-275 is a black ink cartridge — it doesn't do color. For the few 4x6 photos I printed, I relied on the CL-276 color cartridge alongside it. The results were decent for casual snapshots, though not gallery-quality. What surprised me was the color cartridge's ink consumption; it seems to burn through faster than the black when printing photos with heavy color fills. That's worth noting if you're buying ink for a photo-heavy workflow.

By the end of the two-week test period, I had printed roughly 65 pages and the ink indicator was sitting at about 60% remaining. Extrapolating that, the 100-page rating feels roughly accurate for my usage mix — mostly text with moderate coverage. What I didn't love: the cost. At typical retail pricing, you're looking at a cost-per-page that's noticeably higher than third-party alternatives that claim 200+ page yields. The trade-off is predictability — I haven't experienced a clogged print head or a misaligned cartridge with genuine Canon ink in the five years I've owned various Pixma models.

Who Should Buy It?

• Light home users who print under 50 pages per month and value hassle-free reliability over raw cost savings.
• Canon Pixma TS/TR owners who want a guaranteed-compatible cartridge without hunting for model numbers on third-party listings.
• Occasional photo printers who pair this with the CL-276 color cartridge for casual 4x6 snapshots.
• Warranty-conscious users who prefer genuine consumables to avoid any potential service complications.

Skip this if you're running a home office with significant print volumes — the 100-page yield will have you replacing cartridges constantly, and your annual ink spend will climb. In that case, look for high-yield XL variants or consider a printer with a more economical ink system.

Alternatives Worth Considering

• Canon PG-275XL High-Yield — if available for your model, the XL version delivers more pages per cartridge, reducing cost-per-page without switching brands.
• Third-party compatible black ink cartridges — options from established suppliers like EZPrint or Smart ink offer 200-300 page yields for roughly half the price per cartridge. Just verify they explicitly list your printer model as compatible.
• Canon Pixma G6020 MegaTank — if ink costs are your primary frustration, a bulk-ink printer has a higher upfront cost but drops your per-page expense to nearly nothing.

FAQ

Final Verdict

The Canon PG-275 ink cartridge does exactly what Canon promises: it delivers sharp black text, installs without drama, and plays well with the Pixma printers it's designed for. For light, occasional printing, the cost is reasonable enough. But the 100-page yield is the real story here — once you start printing regularly, the per-cartridge expense becomes harder to justify. I'd recommend this to anyone with a compatible TS or TR series printer who prioritizes reliability and print quality over minimizing consumable costs. If you're printing heavily, the math quickly favors higher-yield or third-party alternatives.