Any decent HP photo printers?

GreenNinja67

GreenNinja67

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Terry
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The missus wants a colour printer but has stipulated it must be HP as she wants to be on the cartridge subscription to save ink money.

So, does anyone know if there's a good HP photo printer available as if she gets one (and the photo part works well) I'll chuck some money in.

Not bothered about mono as we have a B&W laser for that.

Thanks in advance.

Terry.
 
I've only ever had the misfortune to use one HP printer, which was an old cheap unit that got given to us by a relative who no longer needed it as one for my daughters to use for printing things for school.
Print quality was OK for that, but we quickly decided that it was cheaper to bin it and buy a Canon than buy replacement inks for it (cartridges were chipped, and even had an expiry date built in,so the printer would reject them regardless of how much ink might be left).
 
Faldrax said:
I've only ever had the misfortune to use one HP printer, which was an old cheap unit that got given to us by a relative who no longer needed it as one for my daughters to use for printing things for school.
Print quality was OK for that, but we quickly decided that it was cheaper to bin it and buy a Canon than buy replacement inks for it (cartridges were chipped, and even had an expiry date built in,so the printer would reject them regardless of how much ink might be left).
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Cheers Jonathan, I'd prefer a Pixma too but the missus has her heart set on the cheap subscription offer.
 
I recall many years ago a visiting speaker to our club who was probably one of the most well known amateur photographers in the country at that time but was also well known for being blunt. He was a very good printer and was sponsored by various paper companies etc. At one point he asked the audience of about 80 how many printed themselves. Probably about half the hands were raised. He then asked how many of those were using Epson printers and around 30 hands were raised. He then asked about Canon and about ten hands were raised. He paused for a moment then asked any others? One guy said he had an HP. The glaring speaker asked him why he was using an office printer for photography. The poor red-faced member tried to slide away. It seemed funny at the time and there was some truth in this but I am not condoning the speaker's attitude. Also HP probably have some good Photographic printers now.

Dave
 
For better than acceptable prints, 6 or more colours are better than 3. The best thing about the HP we had some years ago was that the print head was built in to the carts so a blockage was cured by replacing the cart rather than faffing with magic bullet or similar.
 
No recommendations but just to say that I had an HP Photosmart D6160 which gave good prints and lasted over 12 years.
I had to do some maintenance during the last couple of years as the paper feed rollers got smooth and the springs a bit weak. As it was front feeding only the paper had to bend at the rear of the printer and that is where the problem occured, especially with the heavier papers.
I have an HP Deskjet all in one at the moment which dates from before 2010 and is still going strong.
For photos though I use a Pixma which feeds the photo paper from the rear.
 
Well we've gone for an HP after all so we'll see just how bad the subscription is.

It's for printing home stuff really, no photos so don't need an all singing all dancing one.

HP Envy Photo 6432 I think.

£85 from Curry's.
 
GreenNinja67 said:
Well we've gone for an HP after all so we'll see just how bad the subscription is.

It's for printing home stuff really, no photos so don't need an all singing all dancing one.

HP Envy Photo 6432 I think.

£85 from Curry's.
Click to expand...


We have an Envy 5530 which produces Ok A4 prints for the house or just to give to other people (it is remarkable how others are so impressed and pleased. I did a couple of shots of my grandsons U8 football team and handed them out and the reaction was really warm. I think that it is that so many people take shots on the phones and never print and are impressed with a 7x5 , 8x10)

It doesn't work so well with papers other than Hp and we use the cheap Hp Everyday photo paper and tesco inkjet paper for none photos.
It is useless at using heavy paper. The Everyday paper is 200gms but that is really at its limit and 180 is a lot easier. I bought a sample pack of Marrutt paper, naively expecting to see how shots might look on different surfaces , but that was a waste of money as none will go through the rollers.

On the Everyday paper I need to feed each sheet separately and ensure that it is 'pushed' through so that the roller picks it up.
It is fine with copy paper.

We bought it a few years ago from John Lewis and we signed up for the subscription and we think that that works well.
We pay £1.99 per month and can print up to 50 sheets - but, importantly it does not matter what quality you want to print or b&w or colour or up to A4 - it just counts as a sheet.
If you dont use all 50 a month, some number rolls over ( I have never really understood how it happens)
I know the date of the month end and a few days before, if I have unused copies ( very often), I just print a few photos up to the 50 limit.
The printer is wireless and HP ask for it to be kept switched on so that they can monitor ink levels and when they anticipate that a cartridge is running low, they post another one. We have never been without ink.

Often I switch it off at night, even though they say that it uses little electricity, and if it stays off for a couple of days, they send an email to ask for it to be put back on. Really, I have no complaints about the system, it works well.
 
@superpippo

Cheers for taking the time to post this Alan.

We're quite happy with the printer so far and the output is ideal for my other half's colour labels for the garden market stuff.

I've only printed one photo on the very small photo paper included in the pack but it appears to be quite good.

She's still got to sign up for the ink subscription so I'll give her a nudge soon.

Terry.
 
I use an HP Tango..no real complaints other than it is useless at printing Black and White..awful in fact. Instant ink works well and has done for 4 years.
 
Philsheath said:
I use an HP Tango..no real complaints other than it is useless at printing Black and White..awful in fact. Instant ink works well and has done for 4 years.
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I've been researching the HP Tango - mostly as I was suckered into the free prints from phone with it - as a fun, home printer for the kids to print whatever and printing random photos for grandparents etc. without the "expensive ink" thoughts in the back of my mind. I came across this post, who also talks about the bad black and white but seems to have solved it.

He says you have to print from the computer not the app, and his settings are:

  • Paper Type: Photo Glossy Paper (glossy or lustre) or Presentation Matte (4).
  • Quality: Best.
  • Black and White: checked.
Click to expand...

He's using a Mac, not sure if that matters, but maybe helpful for you.
 
Ahhyes said:
I've been researching the HP Tango - mostly as I was suckered into the free prints from phone with it - as a fun, home printer for the kids to print whatever and printing random photos for grandparents etc. without the "expensive ink" thoughts in the back of my mind. I came across this post, who also talks about the bad black and white but seems to have solved it.

He says you have to print from the computer not the app, and his settings are:



He's using a Mac, not sure if that matters, but maybe helpful for you.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info, I too use a Mac and I’ve tried B/W from the app and from the desktop but also from LR, all give the same result, poor, it just seems to print the photo really really quick that you just know it can’t be good quality. Oh well colour it is.
 
Philsheath said:
Thanks for the info, I too use a Mac and I’ve tried B/W from the app and from the desktop but also from LR, all give the same result, poor, it just seems to print the photo really really quick that you just know it can’t be good quality. Oh well colour it is.
Click to expand...
Oh dear. I ordered one and have been testing it out printing some photos. On the whole I like it, don't think I've ever printed so many at home before!

With all the promos going on I managed to get 6 months free - perhaps not quite as good as a year or two ago but not bad. I hope HP doesn't wait too long to send new cartridges as the status says I'm pretty low already.

My iOS printed B&W do have the blue tint to them. For me, at least, it's not too bad as long as you don't put them beside a decent B&W photo. For friends and family, I don't think any of them will notice. At some stage I might try messing about to see if I can find ways to improve it.
 
This is a bit naughty of HP, taken from a recent Which report

It also found that 28 HP printers now use a system called "dynamic security" which recognises cartridges which use non-HP chips, and stops them from working.
 
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