More people are living and working remotely from an RV than ever before. These portable printers are perfect for RVers.
- 1 More people are living and working remotely from an RV than ever before. These portable printers are perfect for RVers.
- 2 Two Types of Portable Printers
- 3 7 Best Portable Printers for RVers
- 4 Best All-in-One Printer
- 5 Choosing the Printer that is Right for You
- 6 Mike and Jennifer’s Great Lakes Bundle – 2 ebooks!
While not everyone thinks about bringing a printer on the road with them, some people feel it’s a necessity. Whether you are working from the road or strictly traveling, you might want an easy way to print reservations, invoices, contracts, photos, or reports.
The good news is that just like other technology, printers have gotten smaller and more lightweight over the years. If a printer in your RV is a necessity, you can be sure to find a portable one that fits your needs on this list!
Two Types of Portable Printers
Do you want to be able to print pocket-sized photos from your smartphone? Or do you need a printer that can be used to copy, scan and print important documents for work? There are portable printers that can do it all!
Specific Task Printers
Did you know that there are printers nowadays that are made to work well with specific devices? Many of these devices are small, but focus only one a single task, like printing photos.
Many of these printers can print without the use of Wi-Fi. Some are made to only print 4×6 photos while others can print high-quality, letter-size documents.
Speaking of Wi-Fi, you may also want to check out How Much Internet Data Do I Need When Living Off-Grid.
Portable All-In-One Printers
If you are looking for a printer that is capable of doing it all, such as scan, copy, print, and is compact enough to travel, you are in luck! There are some travel printers that can do everything that once took several different devices to accomplish.
Typically, people who are Working Remotely from an RV will want this type of printer.
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7 Best Portable Printers for RVers
I have reviewed some of the best portable printers on the market. The following categories outline the best portable printers for RVers I’ve found.
Printers Only
If you only want to print crisp, clear documents and photos of your friends or family then one of these should suffice!
These devices can do a great job printing for you. If you need an all-in-one device that can also copy and scan, keep scrolling to my All-in-One section.
Canon Selphy CP1300 Wireless Compact Photo Printer
This wireless compact printer uses AirPrint technology to connect to your devices with ease. You can print directly from a USB or your camera’s memory card.
Your photos will print out instantly dry, but will look clear and crisp for up to 100 years! They will even be waterproof in case you accidentally spill something on them.
This portable design allows you to plug in or use the battery pack while on the go.
The print resolution offers up to 256 color levels per color (which equates to over 16 million colors). Paper size options are as follows: postcard, L size, card size, or square label.
It does require the use of the Canon Print Plugin to operate.
Canon Pixma TR150 Wireless Portable Printer
This wireless mobile printer allows you to easily print documents when you are on the go.
It is lightweight and compact, saving you precious space in your RV.
You can print high-quality, crisp documents and photos up to 8.5” x 11”.
The intuitive interface comes complete with a user-friendly 1.44-inch OLED display.
Print easily from your digital device using one of the wireless options: Apple AirPrint, Canon App print, Google Cloud Print, or Mopria Print Service.
You can also purchase (separately) an optional battery to use off-grid.
Brother PocketJet 7
This car-mounted printer is a great choice when you want to secure your portable printing devices.
It offers excellent direct thermal printing technology up to legal size, with a resolution of up to 300 dpi. It can print at a speed of 8 ppm.
Epson Workforce WF-110 Wireless Mobile Printer
This portable, light-weight printer comes complete with a built-in battery. It is small enough to easily fit into a briefcase or certain handbags.
The plastic casing comes textured for grip while opening. That may come in handy if you are printing while driving!
Print documents and 4” x 6” photos wirelessly. You can plug it into a USB port, or charge the printer with its built-in lithium-ion battery. The printer can hold up to 20 sheets of paper at once.
This device offers a print speed of up to 6.7 ISO ppm for black and white prints, and 3.81 ISO ppm for colored printing.
Its hands-free, voice-activated printing may come in handy when you have your hands full.
HP Sprocket Select
If you are looking for an excellent pocket-size printer for smaller size, fun photos, this is it!
This ink-free option can print wallet-size photos while out and about. It makes excellent novelty prints from a tablet or smartphone.
Fujifilm Instax Mini Link
If you only want to print fun photos while on the road, consider this little guy! The Fujifilm Instax Mini Link can print shots from your smartphone’s camera roll at the touch of a button.
The best part is that this device prints onto real instant film, not with paper and ink.
Best All-in-One Printer
Portable all-in-one printers are a little harder to come by. This one seems to be the best bang for your buck!
HP Tango X
This portable printer does it all! Print, copy and scan with this all-inclusive printer. While it is not a perfect device, it will provide you with great, low-cost snapshots.
It offers cloud-based, dual-network connectivity with voice-activated printing.
You can easily print photos from your smartphone for no charge using their HP Instant Ink app.
Choosing the Printer that is Right for You
Different portable printers do different things. The best approach to buying a portable printer is to figure out what you really need.
Many times, people buy devices because they are impressed by them. Then later they realize that they do not actually use the “cool” features they have.
Really consider your lifestyle and what you currently do or really want to be able to do. Then choose the device that is right for your needs.
Mike and Jennifer’s Great Lakes Bundle – 2 ebooks!
This bundle is our popular Upper Peninsula RV Adventure Guide PLUS our newest Adventure Guide – The Great Lakes Shoreline Tour! Both ebooks will give you plenty of ideas and resources to enjoy this part of the US.
The Great Lakes Shoreline Tour — One of our favorite RV trips has been driving the United States side of the five Great Lakes. It is a trip of over 4,000 miles and takes you to 8 states! And it’s filled with beautiful vistas, welcoming towns and villages, and fabulous places to camp, hike, and explore.
Upper Peninsula RV Adventure Guide — Whenever someone asks us, “Where is one of your favorite places in the US for RVing?” Our answer is unquestionably, in unison, “The UP of Michigan.” The “UP” means Upper Peninsula, of course.
March 31, 2022at12:30 pm, Henrietta Bagsley said:
I can use a larger 3 in 1 printer. Recommendations?
September 19, 2021at10:21 am, Marilyn Crady said:
I have been a “member” of your website for a couple of weeks now. I am really enjoying catching up on your previous articles/podcast and I’ll have to say…Each one addresses real needs/issues. One that has concerned me, is the loneliness of being on the road alone, as my husband is not a big fan of RVing. I am a very active person who enjoys traveling and seeing our beautiful country. Connecting with others who are on the road…is important- and I do not have fears about speaking with others and making new friends. I do know there are those who are, so that podcast/article was very timely. Then…I see this one on printers…I might even get my husband on the road if I can get him a printer that will work for him…to be able to work on the road and provide info for his customers….Gonna Try…lol…Thanks for the information.
September 19, 2021at10:19 am, Willie said:
We carry the Canon TR150 and it’s awesome! While we are retired and don’t work on the road, we do print National Park brochures and hiking maps all the time.
And one time we actually sold some property from a remote boondock site. We printed escrow documents on our Canon printer, signed them, used the TurboScan app on our phone to PDF the signed docs, then emailed them back to the bank.
A small color inkjet printer is the size of a book and stores very easily. They only cost about $100. Buy it, you won’t regret it,
September 19, 2021at10:10 am, Esther said:
On the subject to printers. I recommend an HP laser jet. Not color. The toner does not dry out. So no waste. It has AirPrint, direct and wifi printing. I got tired of replacing full color ink because they dried out. Thermal printers are subject to heat.