Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program A little background: I already have two printers I use. My Epson R2400 is a great photo printer, but only a mediocre general purpose printer. My old HP LaserJet 4M still does the job, but it has some limitations. It's a big energy hog/space heater, so I don't leave it on, and it takes a while to warm up. It's black and white only. And the single feed tray no longer works. I thought this little HP inkjet might be a replacement for my general purpose printing, of which I don't do a lot. I was also intrigued by its Bluetooth capability; I don't print very often from my laptop, but Bluetooth would be a very convenient way to do it when I want to.
I first loaded up the software on my laptop, which took a while. HP is certainly not frugal in loading software. At one point the instructions were to just follow the "add printer" instructions in Windows (XP), which weren't entirely clear for adding a Bluetooth printer. I didn't have much trouble figuring it out, but I've been dealing with computers for a lot more years than I want to think about. HP's instructions could have been more helpful.
After that I was able to print using the Bluetooth connection. I then unplugged the printer, and printed using battery power. It all worked!
Next I loaded the software on my desktop, and set out to print via USB. There is, of course, no USB cable included. Never mind that USB connections on computers are 99% standard, they saved the few dimes including a cable would have cost. Fortunately I have a cable for nearly any occasion, including things nobody has used in twenty years, so I got it hooked up and printing.
The print quality is very good on the paper sample HP included, and almost as good on basic laser printer paper. It can't quite match a laser printer on fine lines and small fonts, but for most people it will suit their needs quite nicely.
As HP included the ability to print borderless photos, I had to test that capability. I printed a photo from Tuscany at 4x6 on both the HP and the R2400. To be fair, I used the stock settings for both, not the adjusted settings I normally use with the R2400. The HP did produce a decent picture. It wasn't up to the R2400's quality, but it's not an expensive photo printer. With some adjustments it could be pretty darn good. I wouldn't recommend getting one to use as a photo printer, but it is certainly capable of printing a photo now and then.
OK, let's talk its limitations. It has no paper capture tray, which is not surprising in a printer designed to be portable. And its dinky cartridges aren't going to print a lot of pages, especially with a lot of color.
This is a good, light duty printer that will work in a constrained space or as a portable printer. If you plan to do a lot of printing get a larger inkjet printer with separate cartridges for different colors, or a laser printer. If you want to print a lot of photos get a photo printer. But if you are looking for a printer that fits in a small space, can be moved around, and does a good job on the occasional page you need printed, this is a surprisingly good printer.
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