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HP Photo Printer Reviews: Reasons not to buy.
This is going to be a short section as I’ve stopped using Hewlett Packard printers in my work.
Initially I deleted the whole HP Photo Printer Reviews section, but I decided to add just one page to explain the absence. In reviews I think the why not? can be even more useful information than the why?
In a way it’s a sad situation, as HP make some excellent printers. I’ve used an excellent little hp Photosmart 8250 over the last few years, and an excellent hp Photosmart 7150 before that, but using HP printers now has way too many disadvantages for me to continue using them, or recommending them to anyone else.
Pros: HP printers use a completely different approach to Epson and Canon in the technology they use, which means results are different, producing much nicer colours in seascapes for instance, avoiding the oversaturated output you can find with Canon printers in particular. I have to make clear that my issues are only with HP desktop A4 printers. HP wide format professional printers are superb, and I would highly recommend them, but I have issues with the photo printers the keen amateur photographer this site is aimed at might consider.
Cons: The biggest downside of all inkjet printers is the cost of ink, which frankly is outrageous at times. HP cartridges have always been more expensive, but recently they’ve just gone too far.
I stopped using my hp Photosmart 8250, not when it ran out of ink, but when it refused to print because my cartridges were out of date. Turns out all my spare cartridges were out of date too. So even with a drawer full of sealed, unused cartridges, it insisted I go and buy new ones, at a ridiculous £ 10 for 5ml of ink. Not even Epson are that mean. So if you’re considering an hp printer, my advice is don’t do it.
HP: If you’re listening, you’ve gone too far. I quit.
Other Reasons you shouldn’t buy an hp printer:
The above is unfortunately not the only problem. HP printers only really produce good photo prints on HP paper, which is very good but expensive. Where, with a Canon or Epson photo printer many excellent photo papers work very well, only Kodak photo paper, or hp’s own work properly with hp printers. So problem number two is expensive paper, on top of the ridiculously expensive and short dated ink.
The last issue I have is with HP printer drivers. With them it’s really a case of making their drivers, which used to be a model of simplicity, the most complicated known to man. Do I really need a program running 24/7 just to check if you’ve issued a new and even more complicated driver? No I don’t. HP - a printer driver, is just that. Something that makes your printer work. End of. Please try to stay focused here. Yes they give you lots of control and the automatic paper type detection is brilliant, but they are sooooooo complicated. Far more so than for the equivalent Canon or Epson printer.
which if you’re looking for a photo printer, is where I would look.
Not HP.
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