Polaroid CZA-20011B PoGo Instant Mobile Printer (Black)

Polaroid CZA-20011B PoGo Instant Mobile Printer
  • Portable photo printer delivers full-bleed borderless images that are dry to the touch
  • Features automatic image quality optimization with water-resistant, tear-proof, smudge-proof and peel-off prints
  • Prints 2 x 3-inch borderless color images in under a minute
  • Wireless-capable Bluetooth hard drive interface; USB 2.0 hard drive interface
  • For use with digital cameras and select cell phones

I purchased the Polaroid PoGo today and have done a fair bit of "playing" with this compact little printer over the past couple of hours. In fact, I have already used the first package of 10 sheets of Zink (Zero Ink) paper that come with the printer. So my first recommendation is; if you are planning on buying a PoGo, I highly recommend getting extra paper so you can get through your "testing" phase without having to purchase more paper. However, don''t go crazy and buy too much, there are expiration dates on the paper which may affect your picture quality if you take to long to "expose" (print) them.

Connectivity:

I have tested the Bluetooth capabilities with my Motorola Q, Laptop Computer (Bluetooth enabled), my desk-top Windows Vista computer (with Radio Shack "Bluespoon" Bluetooth 2.0 adaptor added) and my PictBridge capable Canon Powershot A 640 camera (directly connected to PoGo via USB cable) and the printer worked like a charm in all of the above tests!

Speed of Printing:

Print time is about 1 minute per photo. There was no noticeable change in print speed with any of the tests I performed. Using the Bluetooth (wireless) connection or plugging in your USB cable directly from your camera did not seem to make any difference as to how fast the image printed.

Image Quality:

Not great...but not the worst I have seen either...The pictures I printed from my camera (via USB connection) looked better than my pictures from my cell phone, but this was likely due to the higher megapixel image created by my camera versus the 1 megapixel image from my cell phone. However, the "white balance" of both my camera and cell phone images were a little "off". The whites were extremely white (almost washed-out) and the dark (shadow areas) were very dark. So if you stay away from printing bright "beach / snow" images or dark "night" photographs you will be OK. Photos with lots of color (flowers, for example) looked pretty good when printed with the PoGo.

Cool things to do:

The adhesive on the back of the photo paper is a nice feature of this product. This makes it possible to add pictures to your hand written journals. You can stick them to business card magnets and put photos all over your refrigerator. You can make photo luggage tags, cards and much, much more.

If you don''t need the highest quality image, but want to do some fun, creative stuff with photographs I would definitely recommend the PoGo. If you are a photographer hoping that the PoGo would give you a quick "proof" of what your printed images will look like, then this printer is probably not for you, since the image quality is not as good as you could get with some standard ink jet printers.

Have fun...

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This is a fun little printer mainly for on-the-spot prints. Kids especially like getting prints instantly. The Bluetooth connection works well, as does PictBridge via USB cable directly to camera. The unit is small enough to fit in a jacket pocket you can take a picture of someone with your cell phone camera, send it to the printer wirelessly, and then magically hand them a print a few minutes later.

Now for the rough spots. While I really enjoy this printer, you should probably be aware of some hassles you may encounter (as I did). The battery life is not super-great it''s rated at 15 pictures, but if it''s cold outside you may find the battery dead until you warm the unit up again. The metal case doesn''t help matters in this regard. You can bring the charger with you, but be aware that the charger is about as big as the unit itself a minor annoyance.

Picture quality there''s a reason the prints are so small. The quality is somewhat marginal, but usable. Most people are impressed that the thing exists in the first place and don''t scrutinize the prints that much, so the quality is generally good enough. I attended a wedding and started printing lots of prints for an on-the-spot scrapbook. The printer started streaking badly on the prints. There is a cleaning process you can run, but it became quite a time-consuming hassle. Not to mention the waste each time a print was unusable.

I still give it four stars because it''s a fun product and usually works well. The Bluetooth connection is a great feature for cell phone pics. Just be aware that you may have some occasional hassles.

Update: I''ve discovered that I get consistently very good looking results by keeping the special blue cleaning/calibrating sheet that comes with each pack. I run the sheet through before using the printer each day (if it hasn''t been used that day), and also after every three prints. The colors come out nice and rich, and no streaks!

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I used to take my old Polaroid on every trip and give people a picture of themselves and while they were admiring it would snap another picture--they were always smiling in that second picture. Now I can do it again. I have only printed a few samples but am very happy with the quality (printed from my Canon SD900) and time to print. My only negative comment is that the charger is large and heavy. I am hoping I can find an extra battery as sometimes it is hard to find electricity for charging when traveling. I definitely recommend this product.

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The new PoGo mobil printer from Polaroid is a very nifty little gadget. While not a high end printer, this will serve the BBQ, sports, school, birthday party, college campus circles just fine. I also see vast almost unlimited potential for artists. Being an artist myself and a lover of traditional Polaroid film this new portable printer is a new step in the right direction for Polaroid. With no ink to speak of this ZINK, (zero ink) printer removes a very pricey aspect of home based printing. I found a pack of 30 prints for a mere $10 at Best Buy today. I was also the only one waiting to get one of these when the doors opened.

I already see that a digital camera/POGO printer is in the works. taking pictures with this thing is actually all that is lacking. The print size is small but i am sure Polaroid is just testing the waters. With their old technology cameras and film on the way out, it is nice to see a new, simple, clean technology replacing the old before it has even left the shelves. I do love traditional Polaroid film and hope they find a way to keep it around, even if only in a limited/artsy capacity.

The quality on these small prints is decent. Nothing spectacular though. Decent enough for casual prints. Nothing more.

Thoughts for future models:

* Larger Paper Models

* Built in Camera with a macro lens

* Cool Polaroid Special Effects (BW, Old film, Sepia, negative, borders, Etc.)

* Miniature Spy version

* I''m sure I will think of more after a few days.

So that is the skinny so far. great little product with room to grow.

First of all, this is really easy to use. I simply hooked it up to my camera, set my camera to browse photos and an option to print popped right up it couldn''t have been easier. The photos are pretty quick to develop and look great. I agree that the print quality is not perfect, but I actually like this you can get kind of neat effects (nothing dramatic, but the prints have a particular feel to them, just like classic polaroid pics). If you are looking for precise realism, this isn''t the printer for you. However, if you are looking for a fun way to give people a copy of the photo you just took or you want to create a collage or use these photos as part of an art project, etc., then I highly recommend the Pogo. I have thousands of photos stored on my computer but I almost never print them out because it seems like a hassle and gets expensive. However, I have already printed out 40 pogo pics and had a blast doing it!

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