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Showing posts with label color printer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label color printer. Show all posts
Color Ink Cartridge for Ux2200 & Ux2700 Save 85% off
HP Photosmart B8550 Inkjet Photo Printer
- Inkjet printer produces lab-quality photos as large as 13 x 19-inches
- 125-sheet tray holds paper from 4 x 6-inches to 13 x 19-inches; includes specialized tray for three common photo sizes
- Up to 32 pages per minute for black-and-white draft-quality letters; 95 seconds for 13 x 19-inch color photos
- Five-ink system lets you replace only the colors you need; 2.4-inch color LCD lets you review, select, and enhance photos without your computer
- One-year limited hardware warranty; one-year of technical phone support
ѾѾѾѾ Recommended with warm fuzzies.
This printer joins my home office in addition to a Canon Pixma Pro9000 Professional Large Format Inkjet Printer (9995A001) large format photo printer and an older Epson RX500 All-in-One printer/scanner/copier. I tend to mainly use the Epson for low-color non-photo printing since it seems to be the most wasteful with ink usage (replacing its 6 ink cartridges is not cheap and the printer annoyingly always uses some of the 5 non-black color inks even if you are printing a black-and-white text-only page), with the HP B8550 and Canon Pro9000 being used exclusively for photo printing. I am a serious amateur photographer with way more DSLR cameras, lenses, and gear than can be justified given that I have never earned any income from my photography, but I enjoy printing everything from 4x6 photos to 13x19 enlargements. I frame the 13x19 photos and circulate displays of photos on walls around my house, as well as print photos for friends, so I suppose that is my "payback" for this hobby. My photography interests include people and pets, travel and vacation photos, nature photography and macro close-ups, and John Fielder-inspired wide-angle shots of landscapes and wilderness.
The B8550 printer''s size is typical for a large format printer. At 23 inches wide, it is overall smaller than my Canon Pro9000 since the Pro9000 also has a top-feed paper tray whereas the B8550 input and output trays both are in front of the printer. In fact, it is probably one of the smallest and lightest photo printers available that can print on 13x19 paper. But if you place this printer on your desk next to your computer, the footprint of this printer will likely occupy a large portion of your desk. My home office consists of one desk, one computer workstation table, four 2-drawer file cabinets, and several bookshelves. Both the Canon Pro9000 and HP B8550 printers now sit on separate 2-drawer file cabinets.
Like many printers, the B8550 does not include a USB cable (my Canon Pro9000 also did not include the USB cable, even though I think that it is lame for manufacturers to not include the cable with their printers). I actually had to combine a 10-foot A/B plug USB cable with another USB extension cable in order to place this printer on another 2-drawer file cabinet that was farther away from the USB hub sitting on my desk. When used with the optional HP bt500 Network adapter USB Bluetooth 2.0 EDR , you can connect this printer via Bluetooth. But I have not always been happy with the consistency of Bluetooth connections, and so I decided to use an extension USB cable instead. Another connectivity option that I considered was to use the HP Wireless Printing Upgrade Kit (Q6236A) , but judging from the widely varying opinions about that product, I also stayed away from that option.
I found that the top of the 23-inch-wide printer made for a convenient place to put 13x19 photos right after they are printed to ensure the inks are fully dry for a short period before further handling. And one nice aspect of 13x19-inch photo printouts is that they are very similar in size to the full-screen image that I preview on my 22-inch widescreen monitor. I also have to admit that after looking at my digital photos both on a 22-inch widescreen monitor and by selectively printing out 13x19 photos, I rarely print 4x6 or 5x7 photos anymore; 8x10 photos are now the smallest size that I print out.
ѾѾѾѾѾ Excellent 5-fuzzies feature ratings:
ѾѾѾѾѾ The HP B8550 is a quality printer with a variety of thoughtful features built into it that accentuate its usability for those looking for a mid-range large format photo printer. If your main interest is in printing lots of 4x6 photos or if you are just using a low-resolution digital camera with a tendency to take blurry photos, you may be just as happy using a less expensive photo printer since a 13x19 photo will accentuate the imperfections that were caused by a bad camera shot. Also, if you print more documents than photos, a photo printer like this should not be your only primary printer.
ѾѾѾѾѾ Unlike the Canon Pro9000, the B8550''s control panel includes a 2.4-inch color LCD display. It has a surprising variety of built-in functions. You can insert various memory cards into the printer and, just using the control panel without needing to access the computer, perform functions such as:
✸ Perform "Red Eye Removal" editing on your photos.
✸ Print out ruled notebook paper, graph paper, music paper, a task checklist, and even a fairly challenging maze.
✸ Clean and align the printhead.
✸ Print a "Printer Status Report" that shows the printer''s model and serial number, how many pages you have printed so far, and the date when you installed each of the 5 ink cartridges.
✸ Set language and country/region preferences for the displays.
✸ Create and assemble photo album pages, create panorama prints, create wallet and passport photos.
✸ View and edit photos that are on your memory card. Rotate, crop, resize, perform a "Photo Fix" adjustment (which I did not really ever find to be useful), adjust brightness on the photo, add a "Color Effect" of Black&White, Sepia, or Antique, perform a Print Preview, add a date stamp to the photo being printed.
While the basic photo-editing functions suffice for printing 4x6 photos without needing to use the computer, if you are printing larger photos (especially 13x19 photo paper), you really should be editing your photos from your computer where you can see a much larger screen since the 2.4-inch LCD display only allows rudimentary previews of photos similar to the 2.5-inch LCD on digital cameras. But it is nice to at least give the user the option to insert memory cards or a USB storage device into the printer and immediately start printing after performing some basic photo editing. You can also connect a PictBridge camera to the USB port on the front of the printer.
ѾѾѾѾѾ Installation and set-up of the B8550 printer hardware went smoothly. In addition to the included "Start Here" set-up instructions, when you first turn on the printer, the LCD screen also guides you, using short animated videos, through the installation of the printhead and ink cartridges, and the loading of the paper into the two trays, the "photo tray" that holds 4x6 and 5x7 photo paper and the "main tray" that holds the larger paper sizes on up to the 13x19 paper.
ѾѾѾѾ Good 4-fuzzies feature ratings:
ѾѾѾѾ Taking into account the mid-range price of this printer and the fact that it is one of the most inexpensive 13x19 photo printers, I would rate the print quality quite good. I selected various scenery and nature photographs that were taken using a Canon EOS 40D 10MP DSLR. On 4x6 photos, the B8550 output is pretty much identical to my Canon Pro9000. When comparing 13x19 photos using the best quality settings for both printers, however, my Canon Pro9000 does have better color quality, better color accuracy, and clarity than the B8550. But the differences are usually very subtle... which is a very pleasant surprise since I was comparing the output from the 4-ink-color (cyan-magenta-yellow-black) B8550 to the output from the 8-ink-color Pro9000. During these 13x19 photo comparisons, I was printing photos on the B8550 using both HP Advanced Glossy Photo Paper and HP Premium Plus Photo and Proofing Gloss paper. And the Pro9000 was printed using Canon papers. The Pro9000 is also about 40% more expensive than the HP B8550. Canon''s Pro9000 is also packaged with far better software (aimed at the pro or serious amateur photographer) compared with what is included with the B8550.
Even though HP advertises that their "Vivera inks offer instant-dry, smudge-resistant photos", I left one slight thumbprint on the very edge of one of my first 13x19 printouts using their recommended HP Advanced Glossy Photo Paper when I immediately picked up the sheet the moment it fully came out of the printer. But if I carefully lifted the just-printed photo from the bottom and let it sit by itself for a few minutes, the photo ink did admirably live up to the smudge-resistant claim as I was able to vigorously rub my thumb over dark areas of the photo without creating smudges.
ѾѾѾ Average not-good not-bad 3-fuzzies feature ratings:
ѾѾѾ The one aspect of the printer that I consider to be a mechanical design flaw is in the way the output tray and paper extender lock into place when raised up to a 45-degree angle. The output tray and paper extender are housed in one unit that sits above and covers the main paper input tray below it. To access the main paper input tray, you pivot the output tray up and it clicks into place at a raised 45-degree angle, allowing you access to place paper onto the main paper input tray. But the output tray is held at this 45-degree angle with such a loose grip that a slight bump of the printer can cause the output tray to slam back down hard to its horizontal position. This happened twice on my printer and, both times, the output tray swung back downward with such force that I had to check that the plastic hinge on the output tray did not break or crack. Luckily, the tray remained intact, but I learned the lesson not to leave the output tray propped up at its 45-degree angle for too long and to carefully lower it back down with my hand underneath it whenever I load new paper into the main paper input tray.
ѾѾ Bad 2-fuzzies feature ratings:
ѾѾ Towards the end of the B8550 printer set-up, you install the CD software which contains the printer driver along with various other software, some of which I considered useful and some of which I considered useless clutter that eats up disk space and system memory. The CD install gives you the option for either a "recommended" express installation or a more manual select-what-you-want custom installation. I selected the express installation, which turned out to be a bad, but manually correctable, decision. When I completed the CD installation, I was able to print my first photos in less than 30 minutes from the time that I initially took the printer out of the box.
But I was surprised by both the hundreds of megabytes of disk space used and the number of extra HP-specific processes now running on my Windows XP Task Manager (listed with their KB of memory usage):
ACDaemon.exe : 2180KB
ACService.exe : 2076KB
hpqbam08.exe : 3920KB
hpqgpc01.exe : 6692KB
hpqste08.exe : 8508KB
hpswp_clipbook.exe : 3624KB
hpwuSchd2.exe : 2200KB
hpqtra08.exe : 11744KB
By comparison, my Epson Status Monitor only consisted of one process running that used just a fraction of the memory that all those HP processes required:
E_S4I2K1.EXE 2712KB
So I started to consider what HP applications I wanted to keep and what I wanted to remove. My computer has 2 GB of memory and over 600 GB of disk space, but I do not want to clog this up with unused applications.
The "hpqtra08.exe" process is the HP Digital Imaging Monitor; I kept that.
The ACDaemon.exe/ACService.exe processes are involved in checking for updates for the ArcSoft Print Creations software. I have sometimes used previous ArcSoft software to mainly create greeting cards (especially during the end-of-year holidays), so I wanted to retain the ArcSoft software that was loaded during the CD installation. The B8550 printer also includes a "Creative Projects Guide" booklet that describe how you can use the included ArcSoft Print Creations software to create photo album pages, calendars, placemats, greeting cards, and frames. But the ACDaemon.exe/ACService.exe processes do not need to be always kept running and consuming memory since you can manually start it up. I shut those down so that they did not always remain running.
Likewise, the "hpwuSchd2.exe" process that kept running is the HP Software Update process that performs scheduled checks for new and updated HP software. But it does not need to be kept always running since I can just manually start it up from the Start menu on a periodic basis. So I used the Windows Registry Editor to delete its "HP Software Update" entry from: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE:SOFTWARE:Microsoft:Windows:CurrentVersion:Run
The included "HP Smart Web Printing" software lets you selectively gather and edit Web page content from your browser to output to the printer. The application is supposed to work by embedding itself inside your browser, and then you can click the "HP Smart Select" button that it adds to your browser''s toolbar, and you use your mouse to highlight Web page content that you wanted to collect into a "Clip Book", and from your browser''s "Clip Book", you can then print just the portions of various Web pages that you are interested in, instead of printing entire Web pages. A great concept... but I could not get this to work. My Firefox (version 3) browser refused to accept this software as a add-on plug-in, and it also did not work with my Internet Explorer 7 browser for some reason. In addition, at one point, I saw a Windows system error message announcing that the "hpswp_clipbook.exe" process had crashed. So I had enough of this and went into the Control Panel''s "Add or Remove Programs" and uninstalled the "HP Smart Web Printing".
"Shop for HP Supplies" is another program that the CD installs onto your computer and also places a shortcut for it on your desktop. But after trying it out, I found that it is only useful if you want to buy your ink cartridges and printer supplies at MSRP list price and do not ever shop around for the best price. When you click on its desktop icon, it accesses a Web page called "SureSupply Order supplies". But the ink cartridges were all offered at the (inflated) MSRP list price, and the only vendor options were either to purchase directly from HP, or from CDW or Staples online stores (Amazon was not an option listed on the Web page!) So I also uninstalled this program.
The printer''s CD also installs the "HP Customer Participation Program 11.0". This is just like the Microsoft Customer Participation Program, where this program will send back statistics of how you use HP products so HP can improve on its products based on the gathered statistics. It is an opt-in program. But I wanted to remove this program and, in doing so, freed up over 60 megabytes of disk space.
After I completed the printer CD installation, for some odd reason, my Internet Explorer 7 browser could no longer play embedded Flash content on Web pages, even though embedded Flash applications still worked on my Firefox browser. When accessing various Web pages that used Flash applications (including Amazon''s "Listen to Music Samples" Flash application), the Web page would display the Adobe Flash download link and the Web page''s embedded Flash application would not work. I presume that this was probably caused by the "HP Smart Web Printing" application embedding itself into my IE browser (and interfering with the browser''s Flash plugin) because my IE browser could display Flash content just prior to the installation of the printer CD. The problem persisted even after I uninstalled the "HP Smart Web Printing" application. I actually had to go to the Control Panel''s "Add or Remove Programs", uninstall both the "Adobe Flash Player ActiveX" and "Adobe Flash Player Plugin", and then re-install it from Adobe''s Web site in order to get my IE-7 Flash functionality working again.
So even though I would rate the actual printer hardware 5 stars, my CD installation experience gets a rating of 2 stars. The CD was installed on a Windows XP (Service Pack 3) system. Your mileage may vary with Vista, Mac, or your own flavor of Windows. A product review on printer hardware should not have to use so much verbiage to discuss its included software, but in this case, the amount of extraneous software that HP''s installation CD dumped onto my PC was excessive. And in the case of their "HP Smart Web Printing" software, that install also did not work and it did something to my IE browser to cause it to no longer play/display Flash content.
௫ Fuzzy Wuzzy''s Conclusion:
For the casual/amateur photographer who wants a very affordably-priced large format photo printer, this is a great printer! This printer is not perfect, and in particular, the color accuracy is better on my Canon Pro9000, but the Canon printer also costs a fair bit more. HP obviously had to make some compromises to keep the price low, but the beautiful print quality is superb. I printed out 13x19 photographs that included a close-up macro photo of a butterfly standing on top of a purple coneflower, a wide-angle shot of a picturesque canyon filled with surreal rock formations and lots of earthtone hues along the canyon walls, photos of serene mountain lakes with blue skies and swirling cirrus clouds overhead, etc, and they were all printed out in glorious color, rich in detail, with sharp line boundaries in areas of the photos where there was high contrast and lots of color/shape transitions. For constant 13x19 printing, this printer does drink up its ink pretty quickly. When printing 13x19''s that are heavily saturated with one or two main colors, I sometimes used up an ink cartridge after printing just 5 13x19''s.
Buy HP Photosmart B8550 Inkjet Photo Printer Now
I use this printer with Vista 64. I''m a web designer and have strong graphic artist skills (have been using Photoshop for over 15 years). I have several printers in the house but I wanted a printer that I felt that could generate decent prints and have a lower cost of ownership than my Epson printers.The HP B8550 got my attention because of the good reviews and the ink system. 5 inks with one a photo black and regular black and the option of bigger ink tanks for a good cost was what I was looking for. It''s almost impossible to get consistent cost per page numbers across different brands as that depends a great deal on what kind of cost you can find on the ink. If you can get great deals on ink for printer A and not for Printer B that alone can change your cost of ownership.
As a general rule Epson has the best photo printers and I have confirm this many times. Canon is usually second place and HP tends to be third in photos but first in text quality. After using the B8550 I can clearly say things are changing.
Good: This HP 5 ink printer (only 4 inks for Photos) took on my Epson 6 ink printers and matched it (And maybe even surpass in some cases). The photos looked great and the printer was fairly fast. Print quality is the final measurement of any printer and this printer did as expected (I had high expectations).
Bad: Oh, HP, when will you get your act together with your drivers? The Window drivers have no ICM profiles. The Mac versions do so this is just not acceptable and I was counting on them. In Photoshop the printer would forget settings and revert to older values (who does the QA for this stuff at HP?). Since I had no ICM profiles I could not let Photoshop control color reproduction and had to use the printer color logic. The saving grace is that since we have fewer inks fine tuning the default color profile was not hard. After like 20 small prints I had found a color combination that matched my monitor colors with great accuracy.
If HP ever gets updated Windows drivers with ICM profiles and that they remember changes better in Photoshop this would be a 5 star printer. The hardware and print quality is all there, all they need is to show better love on their drivers.
Get the XL inks, worth the extra money. The HP paper is very expensive. Consider paper from other brands and test. The difference in print quality is not much (if any) and the price difference can be significant.
Read Best Reviews of HP Photosmart B8550 Inkjet Photo Printer Here
I thought I got a deal on this printer at $, delivered, a few weeks ago. Now it''s available for slightly less. Friends, this is a deal. Look at the prices for the top-end photo printers from HP, Epson, or Canon and you''ll see that this model is a bargain.I will not attempt to duplicate the many excellent reviews already posted. I will just post a few comments:
1. This printer replaces my Deskjet 9650, which also printed up to 13x19. Three gripes:
--The Deskjet had a rear-feed slot for straight-through printing of heavy papers or cardstock. The B8550 lacks this feature. It''s not something I used often in the Deskjet, but it''s something you miss when it''s not there.
--You could specify a custom page length up to 50" on the Deskjet. On the B8550, it''s 44". Question to HP: Why? C''mon, HP, panoramas are pretty popular these days. Why the reduced page length in the printer driver?
--No "Banner" selection in the printer driver. If this setting were available, several programs (like Qimage, which I find invaluable) would allow printing panoramas well in excess of the maximum page length in the printer driver.
I just got interested in panoramas a month or two ago, which is why I mention the gripes above. In reality, I can probably live with a 13x44 maximum page size. But I''m always puzzled by printer-driver limitations like this.
On the upside:
1. Haven''t printed 13x19 yet (just received the paper), but prints on 8½x11 paper have knocked my socks off...and have elicited comments from others like, "Did you have this professionally printed?" A noticeable step up from the Deskjet 9650, for which I paid $ (on special) in 2004.
2. HP has done a great job of optimizing their printers for the paper they supply. Don''t curse them for this, as I used to do. Just go to your local Wal-Mart and buy the HP Advanced or Premium paper for about $0.50/sheet in 50-packs and use it. You can see the difference.
3. This printer is NOT an ink hog. Unlike most other HP printers, the printheads are NOT built into the ink cartridges. Instead, ink from the cartridges is pumped to the printheads...meaning that a good amount of the ink in the starter cartridges supplied with the printer will be used up by the time ink is pumped to the printheads--meaning that you will get "low ink" warnings very soon in your experience with this printer. Take my advice: order a full set of the 564XL cartridges the same day you order the printer.
4. The ink is not especially expensive. OEM cartridges are available on Amazon for FAR below retail...and even less than the $12.95 Walgreens charges to refill cartridges.
5. To those who complain about no cable being included, I must ask: Is this the first USB printer you have ever bought? Even if it is, every Staples & Wal-Mart on the planet carries the appropriate cable.
6. As clearly stated, this printer will print on 13x19 paper. If you open the box and discover that it''s much bigger than you expected, you are dangerously unobservant. Read the specs, here and on the excellent HP site.
7. Stay around during the software installation for this printer. You actually have to push a button & do a couple of things to complete the installation (test print, etc.)
8. I have no idea why a few reviewers report installation problems and/or poor print quality. I was getting great prints 30 minutes after setup & installation.
9. A basic test: Using the built-in card slots, print a photo directly from the printer. Print quality okay? If so, open the same photo on your computer and send it to the printer. Print quality NOT okay? Don''t blame the printer, please. Color management is screwed up somewhere in your software. GI,GO.
10. I was going to end by echoing other reviewers: if you only occasionally print larger than 4x6 and 8x10, you don''t need this 13x19 printer...but at less than $150, why not? Go for it.
Update, April 2010:
1. Still very happy with this printer and the quality prints it produces.
2. For photo printing, I have essentially switched over to the HP Advanced Photo Paper recommended for this printer. Packs of 8½x11 and 13x19 are readily available from Amazon at a good price. Note: the HP Advanced glossy paper is very much so. The "satin-matt" would be more appropriate for some subjects or display settings.
3. 13x19 prints have exceeded my expectations. One caveat: I do all of my photo printing from Qimage, a printing utility with some very sophisticated interpolation algorithms. When you''re printing large, it can make a noticeable difference.
4. Other papers: I have started making photo note cards using matte cardstock (coated for inkjet printing) from . I did not know that it was possible to get that level of quality on matte stock. The special size and thickness feeds reliably through the B8550.
5. It''s a bit quirky to set up a special paper size AND the printer settings which you wish to use for that special paper. The first thing you have to do is name the special paper you''re setting up. As soon as you enter a name, the "Save" button lights up. The natural thing to do is click on it. DON''T. Don''t save ANYTHING until you have entered ALL of the printer settings you wish to use with this special paper size. If you do, the EXISTING printer settings--which probably aren''t what you want--will be saved and used with the special paper size you just set up. It took me 20 minutes and much cursing to figure this out.
6. Considering the price of 4x6 and 5x7 prints at photofinishers these days, I thought I''d never use the paper tray dedicated to these sizes. I was wrong. It''s very handy for test prints (and test strips, if your photo-printing software has that feature).
7. You will get an "out of paper" message if the stack of paper you''ve loaded is not absolutely all the way forward in the tray. I think that sometimes just the vibration of the printer is enough to shift the paper back just a bit. No biggie.
8. I repeat that this printer is not an ink hog. The XL cartridges are available at reasonable prices. Note that if you''re near a Staples store, you can recycle these or any other cartridges for $3 in Rewards after signing up for the program.
9. I considered buying a "true" professional photo printer from HP or Epson until I found out that a full inkset could run $240. This printer gives me knockout 13x19 prints, and that''s more than good enough for me.
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To be honest, this should be a 4.5 star review in light of some software issues, but the printer does such a fantastic job that I thought I should round the stars UP rather than down. I''m truly thrilled with this printer, and that''s that. If only HP could streamline their software, this would be a full 5 star review.I''ve printed at least 2 dozen prints -4x6, 5x7, 8.5x11, HP paper, Epson paper, Staples paper, etc. -and I have great difficulty determining that ANY of these did not come from a professional photo lab. In fact, I''d told a friend that I''d received this great printer, and when I presented him with a gorgeous 5x7 of a group of us, he asked me where I went to have my photo developed! The output is THAT good. The only output complaint I have is that every once in a while one gets some very shallow linear scratches to the glossy finish, but they are so incredibly small, you have to hold up the photos to a light at a specific angle. This is being very picky, and it''s truly a NON-ISSUE for me.
Some have claimed to have had problems with ink drying time, but I have not: prints are dry within 15-30 seconds, though I do let them sit for a minute or two just in case. I tried smearing the "wet" ink on one after 10 seconds, and there was no smearing, so, if one uses HP Advanced Photo paper, or any of the premium glossy papers I''ve tried, I do not forsee any such problems.
My biggest problems in terms of print output are of the software variety. I have not been able to determine whether this is an HP or a Corel issue (on the computer I have connected this printer to, I use either Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 or Jasc PSP 9, which is the basis for the Corel software, since Corel bought out Jasc and built their PSP series on this Jasc platform), but there are some differences in inch standards between these software packages and the HP printer software: I can edit pictures to print to a standard paper size (let''s say 5x7 here) and crop photos to either those exact dimensions or at least to preserve that particular aspect ratio, but when I then send the photo to this printer via the HP software, the preview shows gaps along the "borderless" photo preview on both of either the 5" or 7" sides. This is true of 4x6" photos as well. I have not been able to figure out which software is to blame for having dubious "inches," but I''ve created a work-around that I''ve found totally satisfying...
I do edit ALL photos I take with photo editing software before printing, so what I do to work around this problem is create the output crop to be a 5.1"x7.1" (aspect ratio preserved) photo. Then, I save the file to a SD/SDHC card, stick it into the printer directly, and then the photo is centered on the printer''s preview screen, and it prints perfectly along ALL borders. I know that this is not perhaps the solution a professional photographer would like, but for a amateur photographer like me who does some not-so-amateur digital photo processing, the output is astounding, and this workaround is not a significant problem.
I would be remiss, though, if I did not refer you to the truly exhaustive technical review on the sub-par HP software that the reviewer named "Bond... James Bond ''007.5''" wrote. It points out some software glitches and the resource-hog multi-process problems that do exist with the bundled HP software. As far as I''ve seen, all he writes is accurate. The issues are slightly different with the Vista 64-bit OS I''m using, but the differences are not significant enough to enumerate.
One bug that I have also found is in HP''s attempt to load its "HP Smart Web Printing 4.0" into all browsers. It is not compatible with Firefox 3.0.4, and it''s fairly easy to disable there; however, reading the problems "Bond" experienced trying to uninstall it from IE, I''m not looking forward to that operation.
The printer software interface is not all that user-friendly either. I''m used to Epson''s multi-tabbed affairs that have literally pages of options. HP seems at first to have the same approach, but, actually, some, but not all (!!!) of the tabs are mutually-exclusive: whichever tab you print from will be the set of options chosen. So, if you think you''ve set one option on one tab and move to another and print from it, that other tab''s setting may have just been negated. This will take some getting used to, and I can''t pretend I quite comprehend this interface yet, but I''ve simply been bypassing it by saving my edited photos to SDHC cards and printing them directly from the printer with WONDERFUL results.
These praises and complaints I''ve noted in my experience with this printer and its software are typical of what I''ve experienced with HP in the past (I am writing this on an HP Pavilion Media Center m8430f, so I know what I''m talking about) is that HP hardware tech is formidable and wonderful stuff -but their software? Not so much. Very much resource-hogging, non-necessary stuff that drags down your system and creates quite a few glitches.
There are so many other features I could comment on, but this review is waxing long. Suffice it to say that I''m absolutely thrilled with this printer, and I''d recommend it in an instant; however, I''d do so with the caveat that it''s probably best used as a stand-alone, not hooked up to any computer (to avoid the software issues), simply used to print photos one has edited on a non-connected computer and saved to SDHC media to print directly from the printer without software interaction. If that''s how one chooses to use this printer, I think they''ll have a 5-star experience!
However, if you want a lab quality print up to 13" x 19" then the HP B8550 is a masterpiece. The print quality is so remarkable that you literally could fire your photo lab and print all of your photos at home. This printer will quickly pay for itself and save you a lot of money on photo processing.
The physical set up of the printer is easy and intuitive. The print cartridge carrier slipped right in place and the print cartridges are color and shape coded to simplify installation. For some odd reason, HP doesn''t include a USB printer cable. This doesn''t make any sense to me at all because you have to have one to use the printer and they don''t cost that much money. Luckily, I had a spare cable or else I wouldn''t have been able to use the printer until making another trip to the store! So be sure to get a USB printer cable.
I use the printer with an Apple iMac G4 so my review of the software is Mac OSX specific. I haven''t tried the Windows software.
The Mac OSX software installed with ease and the printer was discovered and ready to print immediately. The software is smart enough to alert the user if an inappropriate paper size is selected a feature that is greatly appreciated! However, one must still remember to choose the correct paper size and appropriate print tray before printing. Given the cost of paper and ink for a specialty printer like this I can''t overemphasize the importance of this. The software won''t catch every user error. Check twice and print once!
Enjoy!
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i have been using this brand for some time now. epson has since changed the outside packaging of thier product. but, it it is the same quality inside. i am on the lookout for the old packaging on discount if anyone run across any. great product!! for great images!!Read Best Reviews of Premium Luster Photo Paper 8.5IN X 11IN 250 Sheets Here
Provides luster finish, high contrast, sharp detail. The better the printer, the better the print on this paper. The luster finish resists fingerprints and glare. I''ve printed on many different printer paper and this is the paper I buy over and over again.Want Premium Luster Photo Paper 8.5IN X 11IN 250 Sheets Discount?
This is the best paper on the market and the price is a great deal for the amount you get.
HP Super Heavyweight Plus Matte Paper Save 39% off
- HP Designjet Large Format Paper for Ink Jet Printers
- Engineered to work with HP Designjet print cartridges, ink systems, and HP Designjet printers to deliver sharper print quality
- The result - a total printing solution designed to fit your needs
- HP® Designjet Large Format Paper for Ink Jet Printers.
- To ensure the quality of your output from start to finish, rely on HP printing material for Designjet printers.
- HP''s specially coated papers are engineered to work with HP® Designjet print cartridges, ink systems, and HP® Designjet printers to deliver sharper print quality and colors that stay true and vivid.
- The result - a total printing solution designed to fit your needs.
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Ink 4 Cakes Canon Edible Ink Cartridges PGI 225 / CLI 226 Boxed
- 5 boxed edible ink cartridges 225/226
- Made by Ink4Cakes exclusively sold by MyKolors
- Latest micro chipguranteed quality Kosher Certified
- Commercial quality from Ink 4 Cake
- Made in USA Unlimited support email and phone 7 days per week
Buy Ink 4 Cakes Canon Edible Ink Cartridges PGI 225 / CLI 226 Boxed Now
Considering how much ink cost for printers, I find that this works very well. My prints come out very good.
HP C6058A 11X17 Premium Photo Paper Glossy (20-Sheets)
- Smooth, glossy finish
- Print impressive customized photos from your desktop
- Oversized sheet size
- 20 sheets included in box
- Designed for B-size printers
Pacon Reminiscence Card Stock (109121)
- For report covers, flyers, postcards and art projects.
- Use in laser printers.
- 65-lb. 8-1/2 x 11 acid-free sheets.
- Pack of 50 Sheets
Buy Pacon Reminiscence Card Stock (109121) Now
I ordered two packages of this paper to make Christmas cards. The information on Amazon AND the packaging of the paper itself both show white paper included, but neither pack I ordered contained white paper. So not only is there no white paper but there is also more black paper, which is useless to me for printing Christmas cards. The paper itself is nice enough but clearly not as advertised.Read Best Reviews of Pacon Reminiscence Card Stock (109121) Here
Description should say Black with other very dark colors, I don''t understand why the picture is very different from the product. I was very disappointed with the dark colors. I was going to return it, but the return shipping cost was to high. This was a complete waste of money and time.I thought I was getting something light colored but they are all dark colors. I won''t be returning it but I''m disappointed.
Epson Stylus Photo RX595 All-in-One Printer (C11C693201)
- Prints text documents at 38 pages per minute and standard 4 x 6 inch photos in 11 seconds
- Creates 5760-by-1440 dpi prints that are smudge, scratch, fade, and water resistant
- Auto Photo Correction with advanced face detection corrects overexposed shots
- Print PC-free using the 2.5-inch color LCD and multipurpose card slot compatible with memory cards, USB flash drives, and digital cameras
- 1-year limited manufacturer''s warranty
A quick history: Look for my detailed reviews of the Epson Stylus R200 Photo Printer and the Epson Stylus Photo 260 Inkjet Printer to see some basics about this line. I''ve owned a couple of other Epson printers prior to buying these for DVD printing -the ONLY reason to buy one.
Like its predecessors, the RX595 gives very good results on photographs, disappointing results on documents, and exceptional results on discs. The scanner works well, but it''s nothing spectacular.
Other than the scanner and ability to handle memory cards, this unit is almost identical to the R260. Because an interface was necessary to print photos from memory cards, there is a little window and a couple of buttons not found on the simpler printers. These are welcome, especially the more sophisticated and less annoying low ink indicator (which tells right in the window which colors are about to run out).
The printer cannot handle SmartMedia, which is a disappointment, but it does have the ability to plug in a generic USB card reader which does serve as a kludgy work-around.
Like the other printers in this line, there are several distinct drawbacks to this model:
1. Ink is expensive and cartridges drain fast. There are new high-capacity cartridges available, but I have found them to last only slightly longer than the standard kind. I haven''t measured it, but my gut tells me it''s probably not worth the extra money.
2. Ink handling remains crude. For example, you cannot clean the nozzles if even one color is running low. You still cannot print at all if even one color is empty. Colored inks are drained even when you print only in black. Powering on requires a lot of ink. It''s better to leave the power on all the time and let it go into sleep mode.
3. The printer is remarkably noisy. It''s mostly hollow, and that acts like a big drum, amplifying every little movement inside.
4. Flipping the disc feeder down causes some sort of reset inside the printer which takes 10 seconds or so to clear, during which time you better not try to insert the disc tray or it will get sucked in (and not in a good way)...
5. The software has all of the same quirks of previous models, including seemingly random reset cycles which can run from one to five minutes. This is most annoying. To get the least annoying experience, turn off the print monitor software which is included (and installs automatically). You lose the ability to see ink status, but you also rid yourself of the annoying status window which jumps in front of everything and sits there until the printing is complete.
The only reason I have this is to print on discs. And it does that remarkably well. Unfortunately, the included software is a rather crude tool, and hasn''t been upgraded at all for almost three years. This is inexcusable. Still, it works just well enough if you can live with its quirks.
This printer is just OK. Even with all its drawbacks, it''s still the best solution around for printing on discs, but for everything else you can do better.
UPDATE 10/20/09
10 months later and this printer is still functioning quite well.
I''ve discovered one other major drawback which I neglected to mention above. This printer MUST be used regularly (every day is best, at least once a week is the bare minimum) or the nozzles will dry out and be hopelessly clogged. The nozzle cleaning utility will restore partial operation, but it takes quite a few printed pages to get all the nozzles working again.
If you go more than a week between printing (on any type of media), you will be disappointed and frustrated by this printer.
Buy Epson Stylus Photo RX595 All-in-One Printer (C11C693201) Now
I recently bought a new laptop with Vista. When I bought my laptop, I took advantage of a promotion to receive a free Epson printer and bought the CX5000 which was free after the 79.99 rebate.I gave my husband my old RX500 and used the new CX5000. Mistake. The CX5000 did not print pictures near as nice as my old RX500 and the pictures had a matte finish even when printed on glossy paper. I also noticed that the CX5000 used ink like crazy! I told my husband to bring my old printer home and gave him the CX5000. He only uses it for text copies anyway. However, I could not get my old RX500 to work with Vista and set out to find a new all in one that I would like as much as my old one. I''m very picky and expected this to be a hard task.
Before looking for a new printer, I did find out that the CX series only has 4 cartridges. The RX series has 6 cartridges. I read about this printer on Epson''s site and read reviews of a few other Epson printers on Amazon and decided to give the RX595 a shot. It was on sale at Comp USA for $99 which is a pretty reasonable price. I took my SD card and some paper and went to try it out. I was extremely impressed with the quality of the prints straight from my card. The color was great, the picture did not look like it had a flat matte finish and they printed relatively fast and very quite too! I bought it and hoped that I would be just as satisfied once I got it home and unpacked.
I have not been disappointed. I find myself looking for things to print just so I can see how nice they look. I have also used the burn feature for printing labels to CD/DVD''s a few times and am pleased with those results as well. My ink levels are still almost full and I''ve printed at least 20 4x6''s and 2 8x10''s plus printed a few text pages.
This is a really great printer! It''s quite, fast, and prints beautiful pictures. The ability to burn a label on a CD/DVD is nice too. The only slight complaint that I have is that there does not seem to be a place to store the insert used to place the CD/DVD in when burning a label. Other than that, I could not be happier with this printer. It''s the best replacement I could have picked for "Old Faithful" my RX500.
Read Best Reviews of Epson Stylus Photo RX595 All-in-One Printer (C11C693201) Here
We LOVE this printer!! I have not seen an inkjet printer yet that performs like this one. We have had 2 HPs and one Lexmark over the past 5 years, and had just bought a Canon MX700 that we returned within 30 days due to poor print quality and issues with the fax. This Epson printer far exceeded our expectations and blew us away. The photo prints are beautiful and are as good as professional prints, it is truly lightning fast, comes with software that doesn''t crash or bog down your computer (pay attention, HP), is easy to install, robust, and intuitive to use. We are actually having a lot of fun with this and learning new things about it every day.I recommend getting the Epson paper. We tried the Canon 4x6 glossy paper for photos and although it was OK, the Epson paper was noticibly better. We bought glossy and ultra-glossy 4 x 6 paper, and in the printer box they throw in some full size 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of Epson glossy. It may be that it is manufactured to optimize their particular printers, but it really does make a difference. The photos retain a really glossy, professional look to them.
There is a new kind of ink for this printer (Claria ink). It creates beautiful prints, dries immediately, and best of all, lasts a lot longer than the last generation of Epson ink (we also have a CX9400 with fax, which is also great, but it has the DuraBrite ink which does not last as long).
In addition to printing, it has great scanning software that allows you to scan to pdf, among other things. There is also a web-to-page print software feature you can install that lets you print web pages without getting the right border and bottom cut off, which frequently happens.
Tips: Turn off anti-virus software before installing it. The first few prints/photos will not have the best quality while the printer is being primed. We saw some faint banding streaks on the first photos. However after cleaning the nozzles and running through another 8 10 prints, everything looked great.
Exceptionally impressive printer for this price, and a great value. I don''t think there''s anything else out there that compares with this.
Want Epson Stylus Photo RX595 All-in-One Printer (C11C693201) Discount?
I love this printer. It allows me to scan photos. Then I can take that same photo and make it as a cd cover. By being able to print directly onto cd-printable discs, I no longer lose my precious moments of my children and family. I now exactly what''s on the disc using the provided software to create great cd covers. We make dvd covers too. It''s the best printer for the price and you can print on cds or dvds that look professional. This photo printer also prints some amazing pictures too with the hidef claria ink. Installation was a breeze. Follow the directions and you can''t go wrong.I would definately recommend this printer to everyone who is looking for high quality photos and the added bonus of printing on cd or dvd that no other manufacturer can provide.
Breast Cancer Awareness PC Paper (AMP35145) Save 16% off
- Machine Compatibility - Laser, ink jet printers, copiers
- Paper Color - Pink
- Size - Letter
- Substance Weight - 20 lb.
- Sheet Quantity - 25 Sheets/Pack
Compatible Nu-Kote NR40 Ink Roller Black 6-Pack
I really have not had the time to try out the Chrony yet so I can''t really say much about this ink roller yet, time will tell and if I remember, I''ll be back to leave an honest review.
Avery Half-Fold Feather-Edge Greeting Cards for Inkjet Printers (3251)
- Feather edge lends a unique look to your creations
- Create cards for every occasion, including birthdays, graduations and Valentine''s Day
- Easy-to-use templates are available on avery website
- Easy-to-use templates are available on avery.com
Other reviews have pretty much described the paper; the "texture" is very thin lines about 1/32" apart embossed in the paper and runs the same direction as the fold in the card. The envelop is also textured and the lines run from left to right.
The feathering is on one end of the paper and on the envelop flap. Might note that we used eleven boxes and the paper size varied in length from box to box by as much as 1/4" but within given box, the paper was pretty uniform.
Print quality with our HP Officejet Pro L7680 printer was fine. However, when you read on the Avery package that this product was intended for single copy printing, believe it. Our printer would NOT reliably feed even a few copies automatically. The same is true with the envelops; they also had to be printed one at a time. AND we had to tuck the flap inside the envelop or a good percentage of the envelops would not feed through straight.
One final printing note: the printer had difficulty properly registering the paper when the feathered edge was fed in first. Perhaps 10 15% would print slightly crooked on the page, or too close to the feathered end or both. Never found a solution to that other than to rotate the page 180 degrees in Publisher and feed the paper the other direction.
All that said, overall we were pleased with the resulting invitations and will be using more of this card stock.
Buy Avery Half-Fold Feather-Edge Greeting Cards for Inkjet Printers (3251) Now
I am very pleased with my purchase.I couldn''t find this Feather Edge Greeting Card paper in the stores
or on line and I just love the look of the greeting cards made with
this card stock. This was also the first time that I got such a deal
on the price of this card stock and so I took advantage of the price
and purchased six boxes and I will do it again if they get more stock
in at the same price and the delivery was also very fast.
Read Best Reviews of Avery Half-Fold Feather-Edge Greeting Cards for Inkjet Printers (3251) Here
I live in a retirement community. I made one card and everyone liked it so much that I now have a job of making all the cards for our morning coffee group birthdays,and other important occasions.I contribute it to the beautiful paper.Polly
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Was so excited to try this product -as I really like the other textured cards I have purchased. I use them to create my personal stationery and the texture really conveys a special quality. However, the textured paper used for this product was an unfortunate choice, because it was a very thin stripe -a striated effect-which led to not only uneven printing ( using my HP7400), but also when writing on it with a rolling ball pen.Now--if they would change the paper to the one that is used for textured cards that don''t have the feathered edge and use it for these as well, then it would be a really great product!
Xerox Digital Color Xpressions+ 8 1/2 x 11 Inch 28 lb White Paper 500 Sheets (3R11545) Save 26% off
- White digital color office paper with a 98 GE brightness rating.
- Digitally optimized for both production and everyday office use to deliver premium color contrast and clear, crisp images.
- Colors cling to the smooth uniform surface, offering perfect reproduction on all forms of imaging equipment.
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