HP Photosmart 3210 All-in-One Printer

• Color prints, copies, and scans
• Up to 31 color ppm print speed, 4,800 dpi resolution
• Print directly with 2.5-inch color display and memory card support
• 4-by-6-inch photo printing as fast as 14 seconds
• Built-in Ethernet, USB, and PictBridge interfaces; PC and Mac compatible

To start off, let me say that I am traditionally not a fan of HP''s products. I did, however, view this all-in-one as having some nicer features than some others and took a chance.

I feel that generally HP does well with hardware products and or designs but struggles with their software integration with their products. I feel this is the case here as well. I have had my 3210 for about 2 weeks and here are my experiences.

Pros:

i) Scanning resolution and overall quality is quite good.

ii) Printing quality is also good. I wasn''t planning on doing a ton of printing but based on experiences I will probably do more than anticipated because of the good results.

iii) Scanning and printing are both pretty quick. Marketed as the fastest picture printer all-in-one on the market... can''t compare with others but I suspect they are correct here.

iv) I was happy to find in my research that replacement ink cartridges are NOT terribly expensive and they are easy to replace and know if they are running low.

Cons:

i) Paper magazine is small so it doesn''t hold a lot -minor.

ii) Software install was more of a pain than I was expecting. Installation on WinXP SP1 was generally OK but on WinXP SP2 it was a struggle. Not HP''s fault, certainly, but they weren''t able to make the installation easier to prevent some of these isssues or frustrations. I hope they have a lot of tech support people available as this product sells.

iii) Network configuration was not as automated or straight forward as they could have been.

iv) Software interface isn''t as easy and fluid as it could be. I think that those who purchase this product that don''t have some comfort with computers will be on the phone with HP often.

Overall, I am pleased with the purchase thus far but still have some configuration to work through. In HP''s defense, I haven''t called or emailed their tech support -but I shouldn''t have to and my schedule makes this tough. Again, I feel the hardware implementation is quite good but their installation software and interface is lacking.

Buy HP Photosmart 3210 All-in-One Printer Now

After reading all the reviews here, and against my better judgment, I bought a 3210 because it had the exact features I was looking for in a multi-function device. My experience was light years apart from what the others have left on this site. Please understand that I carefully read the instructions and gave some thought to the process before connecting the printer to my network. Additionally, my system is clean and well maintained; i.e., I have no spyware, adware or viruses, and run weekly scans to keep it that way. Your mileage may differ.

Software install no issues. At 1.1GB it''s a big install, but I had no problems with it. The installer correctly detected my firewall and had me disable it after I detached my network from the Internet. After the required reboot, it finished installing without any hiccups. I also made sure to click on the "HP Software Update" within the HP Solution Center before doing anything further, installed the rest of the updates and rebooted. Again, no issues at all after making sure the software load was completely current.

Network configuration no issues. I have a custom configuration for my network; I setup the IP address on the 3210 manually and added the printer to my router and firewall *before* installing the software. During the installation process, the installer spotted the printer at the correct IP address that I had already given it and moved forward without any incident.

Paper pickup and out of paper notices no issues. I use GP Advantage Premium Ink Jet paper from CostCo and am having no issues whatsoever. Same thing with bulk Kodak photo paper from CostCo. Most inkjet printers have an issue with overfilling the paper tray, so I keep mine under filled. No problems with getting erroneous out of paper messages. The plain paper output looks acceptable in rough draft and stellar in high resolution; the photo paper output is just drop dead gorgeous in hi-res; neither paper exhibited any evidence of gouges.

PDF creation no issues. The software works as designed, without wasting any paper or creating gibberish. Black and white, gray or color, all the settings worked as I expected them to and created perfect PDF documents.

Hardware buttons no issues. All the buttons work like they should on the printer. Additionally, all the buttons within the software residing on the PC work as advertised as well.

Ink usage no issues. The ink usage is as I expect so far. With plain paper I use the draft mode on everything except for what others see; I never print photos of any kind on plain paper (plain paper is a sponge for printer ink). With photo paper I use a very glossy finish, which helps keep the ink usage down. I was quite surprised by the tiny containers of ink that are used in the printer, but nothing more than that. I''ll have a better idea how the 3210 ink usage compares to my old inkjet this next Christmas when I print out my annual calendar gifts to family members.

Noise no issues. Compared to many other printers and scanners I''ve used over the years, both HP and non-HP, the 3210 is *very* quiet. The sound rises when scanning really high DPI levels, but is whisper quiet at the default 300 DPI for low-res scans.

Overall impressions 5 stars. The printing is superb, the device is quiet, it has built-in networking, everything works as I expect for it to; what''s not to like? My experience has been unlike the others listed here don''t know why and I''ll continue to buy and recommend HP products.

Read Best Reviews of HP Photosmart 3210 All-in-One Printer Here

Being a fond believer in HP products, and a strong believer in doing my research before I buy something, I picked up a 3210 in December 05''. After the first 150 prints the printer stopped picking up the paper and it would say it was out or paper. I had to open the back of the printer and clean off the rollers to get it to work.

BUT!!! Then I talked to a local HP Sales representative in the store, and he stated that HP dropped one of their roller manufacturers for this reason. They were manufacturing a roller that would also leak fluid causing the paper pickup to slip. (They are a gray color if you open the back of the printer) HP has a new company that supplies new rollers (Black color) If you end up with a printer and after the first 100-1000 prints you are having this problem, check the color of the rollers. I am guessing they will be gray in color. In any case, if you are having this issue, make sure you call HP and talk to someone that knows of this issue. They will honor this issue, and you will receive a new printer. Not ALL gray rollers have this issue either! The tech department of HP are aware of the flaw. (why else would they drop the manufacturer :))

After my new printer, with the black rollers, I am up and running for over 5000 prints already. GO HP!!!!!

Want HP Photosmart 3210 All-in-One Printer Discount?

I purchased the HP 3210 to replace a six year old laser printer. I read several reviews before deciding on this model, but apparently I didn''t read closely enough.

Setup of the printer was a breeze, and for the first week or two things seemed to work flawlessly. Most of what I do at home is just some light document printing, which worked like a charm. I also played with the scanning, as well as the copying of a photo, which was really very cool. Again, it just worked great and I was pleased with the purchase.

Then after a couple of weeks I started getting an "Out of Paper" message on the display, despite the fact that the tray was full. I did all the usual stuff, pulled the tray out, reshuffled the paper, put it back in, and reset. The printer seemed to work OK again, until the next time I''d print a document.

Honestly I really didn''t pay that much attention to the issue until the other day when I was doing some research for my job and wanted to print out a 45 page document. A complete nightmare; I spent 2 hours of a Sunday afternoon just trying to get the output. It would print a page, then give me the error. I hit the OK button, it clicks and whirs a little, spits out another page, and then the same error.

This all happened while using HP''s premium Inkjet paper. I tried another brand of multi-purpose paper (20# weight instead of 24#) with equally poor results.

The problem has just gotten progressively worse, and I''m at a loss as to what to do. I purchased at Circuit City in early April so I doubt they will accept a return. My only recourse will probably be to contact HP, which I haven''t tried yet but will.

It is really a shame because, aside from this major problem, the printer is everything I need. The right size, functions, etc. Now I''m just hoping that I can recoup some of my investment.

I''m very disappointed and really expected more from HP. Obviously, and unfortunately, I cannot recommend this printer.

*****ADDENDUM*****

6/11/06: After writing the above review I contacted HP tech support regarding the "Out of Paper" problem. I was expecting this to be a nightmare but I was actually quite impressed with the hold time (less than 2 minutes) and customer service. Anyway, after describing the problem the HP rep acknowledged that this has been a documented issue with this model. Of course he put a postive spin on it and said "since this is a new printer and the technology is very precise, etc.). Bottom-line: By default the printer is set to "Automatic" paper size and "Automatic" paper type. The HP rep instructed me to change these settings to "Letter" and "Premium Inkjet Paper" respectively. Doing this did in fact seem to solve the problem. So in essence, the "Automatic" settings do not work on this printer (as obviously they should). However this "workaround" is acceptable. *If you do try this be sure to save the settings as turning off the printer will reset the defaults back to "Automatic" unless you have taken the extra step to save settings.

One last note: Even with these settings changes I did still receive the dreaded "Out of Paper" message when the tray got a little low (about 10-15 sheets left). Anyway, I''m going to work with it for a few days and see how it goes.

I still wish I''d bought the Canon Pixma MP800!

Just recently I have been looking for an all in one printer that can also print good quality photos. I have always bought HP printers so I went to the hp site and looked at what they offered and decided to buy the hp photosmart 3210. So I came to amazon and was surprised to get it at a really great price.

Anyway, after ordering I noticed many negative reviews here, mostly about paper feed problems. I was a little worried after reading so many bad reviews but I''m glad I bought it, it is a great printer. In one review I read something about hp having problems with the rollers which was causing the paper feed issue and that they dropped that company and started using new rollers which are black rather than gray. So the first thing I did when it arrived was open the back and check the roller color and they were black.

So far I have printed over 100 pages and havent had any paper feed problems. Software install was really simple and i didnt have any problems with it. The photo quality is great even on the normal quality setting. Also the ink doesnt seem to get used up that quick, as i said before, i have printed over 100 pages and about 20 photos and the ink levels havent really gone down at all.

I have recommended this printer to a friend and he has placed on order for it and i would recommend it for anyone else looking for a great all in one printer that can do great quality photos. It seems that HP has fixed the paper feed issue with the black rollers. If I have any problems with paper feed I will update my review.