Cheap to buy, the Pixma MX360 is not particularly cheap to operate. A single cartridge delivers all three colors (cyan, magenta, and yellow) and costs $21 for a 244-page standard-yield unit, and $27 for a 346-page high-yield unit. At 8.6 and 7.7 cents per page, that's decently priced color at either capacity. Unfortunately, prices of $16 for a standard-yield black cartridge that delivers only 220 pages, and $22 for a high-yield black cartridge, sour the deal. Those prices work out to 7.26 cents per page (very expensive) and 5.5 cents per page (still expensive), respectively.

For light use in a home office, the Canon Pixma MX360 could be a good buy. It delivers the basics for a low initial investment, with black ink costs only slowly eating into the deal over time.