The best portable photo printers

The SELPHY QX20 makes the best-looking, toughest prints of any pocket printer we considered. It's a dye-sublimation printer: it lays down color in three passes and finishes with a clear protective coat, so prints come out dry, smudge-proof and water-resistant. PCMag poured coffee on one and wiped it clean. Every print has a sticky back, and it's the only printer here that does both square (2.7x2.7 inches) and card-size prints.

It isn't cheap to feed, at about 78 to 85¢ a print with Canon's own packs, and its card-size prints carry a white strip that can't be torn off, leaving an image about 2.1x2.8 inches. It connects over Wi-Fi rather than Bluetooth. If print quality matters most, it's still the one to get.

If you want real instant film, with its look and feel, the mini Link+ is Fujifilm's best phone printer yet. Digital Camera World found it the sharpest and most color-accurate Instax printer it has used, and it even prints legible large text, thanks to a new Design Print mode for graphics. Prints start developing about 15 seconds after you hit print, and the battery lasts about 100 prints, far longer than the others here.

Film is the most expensive way to print, from about 91¢ a shot in a twin pack on Amazon to $1.20 at Fujifilm's list price, and the image area is small. If the Link+ is more than you want to spend, the Instax mini Link 3 uses the same film and app for about $50 less.

The Hi-Print 2x3 is the one that actually disappears into a pocket: about an inch thick and 255 grams. RTINGS names it the best compact photo printer it has tested, for detailed dye-sub prints with a protective overcoat and a sticky back. A perforated strip tears off for a full borderless 2x3 print.

It's slow, at around 80 seconds a print, and its battery is rated for only 20 prints (Tech Advisor got about 10 printing back to back). Some owners report Bluetooth connection problems. Paper is cheaper on Amazon than at Polaroid, about 61¢ a print versus 70 to 85¢.

The IVY 2 is the journaling and scrapbooking pick. It uses Zink paper, which has its color built into the paper, so there's no ink to buy and every 2x3 print is a peel-and-stick sticker. Canon also sells pre-cut circle stickers, and its app can tile one photo across four or nine sheets for a larger collage.

At about 50¢ a print with Canon's 100-sheet pack, it's the cheapest to run. The trade-off is quality: Zink prints are softer and less accurate than dye-sub, and Digital Camera World lists image quality as its weakness. For stickers and planners, that rarely matters.