Printing perfection
Written: May 20 '04 (Updated Jul 13 '04)
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Pros: Great photo and general printer
Cons: Eats up ink fast
The Bottom Line: In most cases makes the photo lab obsolete.
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| Digger's Full Review: Hewlett Packard PhotoSmart 7550 InkJet Printer |
When I first bought this printer, I was having a hard time deciding if I even needed a new printer at all. I've been using a basic Canon BJ-250 printer for 3 years now, for basic text printing. I knew it was getting time to upgrade, even though the old reliable Canon, was performing as well as ever. Our local Lumberton Texas Walmart, was moving it's location. In the process of moving, they were selling off merchandise at big savings. And yes, the 7550 was among these "on sale" items. This printer retailed at one time for $300.00, but I believe recently went down to $199.00. At the sale price of $75.00 I could hardly pass up this offer! Funny, how you try and hash out in your head, whether something is worth getting or not, even when you know it's the bargain of a lifetime. My word, the cartridges are worth what I payed for the printer!
Well, first thing you do is install the included software, which is logically the thing you do before printing anything. What you get here, is the basic toolbox that comes with all HP printers. It lets you do things like aligning the print cartridges, cleaning the print heads, checking the level of ink in each individual cartridge. The imaging software included, is called HP director, it is very basic and not really useful at all. I highly recommend trying out other software. Kodak Easyshare is available for a free download on their web site. For a freebie, it's really not that bad, and is definitely better than whats supplied with the HP printer. The thing I find amazing about the Kodak software, is that it's free, very functional, and is offered by a competitor! For those that want something deeper, and with more features, I recommend Adobe Photoshop Elements 2. Walmart and Target are $58.00 on this one, and up until August, I believe there is a rebate. Check out Adobe for the particulars. Photoshop Elements 2, allows you to do multiple printing of different images on the same page, or as they refer to it as "print layouts". This is a must feature for anyone wanting to save on paper, which in the long run saves you lots of money. Kodak easyshare lets you do this as well. The installation of the print cartridges was very simple, just follow the instructions in the supplied manual. After they are installed you have to align the cartridges, something that is verified by printing a test page. This takes about 2 minutes. All that is required after this, is to connect the USB connection cable. I might want to add, you will not be able to connect this printer with anything but a USB cable. And no, it is not supplied with the printer. So make sure you get this cable.
Next step, start printing.
Hold on, let me back up a bit. This printer has an LCD preview screen on the top. Along with media slots to insert your memory cards. It accepts practically every type of media card on the market, except CD's. There is also an array of other useful buttons, on the top of the printer. These include rotate, brightness, zoom, size. As well as the standard cancel, which allows you to cancel any printing job. There is also an OK button, which is basically a verification button. This brings up a very important point, you do not need a computer to use this printer. I personally would not recommend this option. You really do need to enhance and touch up images, before the final printing is done. Once you have inserted the card into it's slot, the pictures come up on the LCD screen. They only process one at a time, you cant view multiple images on the screen. The loading process can be very slow. But the good news is, you can skip from the first to the last picture, simply by just hitting the back button instead of the forward. All that you need to do after choosing the image you want in the preview window, it push "Print". That's it. Ok, almost ready to print. Pay close attention to the next sentence. The sample paper they give you, says to place the photo paper with the gloss side facing up and the margin facing in. WRONG. The truth is, you put the paper in with the gloss side facing down and the margin facing you. Don't forget this important point, for it can cause great frustration. This also holds true for full sheets as well, minus the margin, (which only comes on HP paper anyway). If you put the paper in the wrong way, you will think your new printer is giving you lousy performance. When you finally do get everything right, you will be amazed at what comes out for the first time! I know I was. The print quality is nothing short of perfection. As good as any photo lab. I do not agree with reviewer, that stated the colors are not as vibrant as Canon's. I printed out some flower pictures, all the colors are true to life and very vibrant. This printer uses three cartridges, as does most photo printers. One black, on tri color, and one photo (which also has three colors in it). It is also referred to as 7 color printing. The extra photo cartridge, gives more latitude for perfecting colors and details. Everytime you start a printing job, a virtual picture animation of each individual cartridge pops up. It shows you roughly how much ink is left. It seems to be pretty accurate. At the present time, I'm running about half on the color cartridges, and a third down on the black. This printer seems to eat up ink fairly fast, especially the photo cartridge. I'm sure this being, because I use the printer primarily for photo's and not text. I definitely don't look forward to having to buy the replacements, they are expensive. You definitely will want to shop around a bit on this item. I have printed 5x7's, 8x10's, about a half a dozen 4x6's, and one contact sheet. If you go on vacation, and take lots of pictures, I would opt to get the images done at a lab. At this point, I think you would save money getting it done this way over home printing. I doubt you could print up photo's for 20 cents a piece, which seems to be the going rate for bulk printing at labs. Where you usually need to submit 50 or more. I know Walgreens offers this price, not too sure about the rest.
One thing you will find, if you get this printer, that when this sucker is doing it's thing, it shakes the table something fierce. You would think it's doing the rumba. But this does not interfere with the output of the print quality at all. I am planning on putting it down on the ground to avoid this shake. The more solid the base this printer sits on, the better.
Anyone in the market for a good photo printer, should not overlook the 7550. Check out the prices at Walmart, they stock it, and are very competitive. I'm not pushing Walmart, and I don't work there. But the fact is, they do stand behind their merchandise better than the rest. If anything is wrong with it, or your not satisfied, they will refund your money. Something the smaller stores will not do after a couple of weeks. I had a Panasonic portable stereo system, it starting acting up after 3 months, Walmart refunded my money with no questions asked. That's why I like dealing with them. There is nothing more frustrating, than having to haul back something to lord knows where, to get repaired.
I am not sure whether this printer supports USB 2? I certainly cant complain at the print speed regardless, it will take about 3 minutes for an 8x10 high resolution photo. Printing standard documents are lightning fast. Much faster than my Canon. If you take a bathroom break, a 6 page printout will be done by the time you come back. The print is sharp and clear, very close to laser output quality. It's really that good.
If you ask anybody about printers, most will be in agreement that HP make the best. I tend to agree with this statement. Each company has one specialty area. Canon's is their camera's, HP is printers. Well, wise and happy shopping.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 75.00
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
Digger
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Location: Lumberton, TX
Reviews written: 57
Trusted by: 3 members
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