A thermal printer may not be the best choice if you need to print high-quality color documents on the go. Thermal printing is still considered as the best technology for bar code printing because it produces accurate, high quality images with exact bar widths. There are several ways you can compare the quality of portable photo printers: resolution, speed (at this time anything under a minute is excellent), color quality, and the number of prints it can print between ink refills.
You'll also need speed and output quality comparable to what you would expect in a standard desktop printer, which immediately rules out printers that use special thermal paper. You may also experience inconsistent print quality, especially if you are using paper that is not made by or recommended by your portable printer’s manufacturer. There are portable printers that have the ability of just handling documents in black-and-white, or full color, or images that are of photographic quality, or even those that can produce high definition laser output.
