An Inexpensive Way to Print Photos

During a recent trip to Office Depot, we found an HP 618 portable photo printer on clearance for $40. We decided to pick up this ink cartridge/photo paper combo to go along with it. This HP photo printer, as well as others over the past couple of years, use the same HP 110 ink cartridge and HP Advanced photo paper. This combo back contains 120 sheets of photo paper and enough ink to print 120 photos, give or take a few.

Similar manufacturers such as Canon and Epson also have small, photo-dedicated printers that also have similar combo packs. For example, the popular Epson Picturemate sells its refill packs for $28 that has the cartridge and the paper (100 prints). This HP Combo pack retails for $33 and will print 120 photos. Also, the cartridge and the paper can be purchases separately from each other in case you run out of one or the other.

The 110 Cartridge
The cartridge uses HP's latest Vivera Ink technology, which has a better photo color quality than previous HP inks. Like most HP cartridge, this cartridge has the printhead built into the cartridge. This has its benefits, the main one being that every time you replace the printhead, you are refreshing the most important parts of your printing system. This generally adds to the reliability and life of the printer. The cartridge is a tri-color cartridge (magenta, cyan, and yellow). To make black colors in your photos, all the colors are mixed.

I have generally found inks from HP to be reliable and high quality. According to HP, each of their ink cartridges are a brand-new, never before used cartridge and HP has ink patents that prevent companies from copying ink formulas and such. HP's website describes in small detail the ink purification process that they use in producing their ink. After all, ink is almost pure profit for them, why wouldn't they sink a little research and development into it?

Before I purchase a printer, I almost always check the prices of the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) ink, in this case HP Ink cartridges. HP explains on it's website that even the slightest impurities (as little as 0.001 percent) in ink can result in undesirable quality or clogged print-heads. Thus HP Vivera inks (used in 110 ink cartridges) use dye inks instead of pigment inks. Unlike pigment inks, dye inks dissolve completely in water and thus helps reduce printhead clogging. Also, Vivera inks are filtered to enhance the purity.

In my experience this 110 ink cartridge, I don't doubt that HP puts a lot of work into the development of their massively profitable ink. I've always had pleasing results with the quality and have never experienced a faulty ink cartridge with the 110 ink cartridge. Each cartridge package comes with an install-by date. Also, on the cartridge is a use-by date. The cartridge has enough ink to print 120 4x6 photos, provided all the ink runs out at the same time.

The Photo Paper
The photo paper itself is very similar in build to what you would expect to get from a photo kiosk at Wal-Mart or Walgreens. It has a slick pack and is a glossy media. It has mediocre fade resistance, but is water-resistance with HP pinters using either the 110 cartridge (in portable photo printers) or the 6-ink Vivera systems that modern HP printers use. I can not attest to whether or not the photos are water-resistant on other printer brands because both of my current printers are HP and I have not tested the water resistance on other brands.


Photos printed with this paper can be compared to the quality you would get from a photo kiosk. Colors, though occasionaly seem a little washed out when printed from my printers at home. I have had prints where the contrasts have been very poor and muddy. Likely, this is because automatically, less ink is used by the printer, being that this photo paper does not support high-resolution printing. If you try to print a high dpi photo (say like 4800dpi), you'll end up with a gooey print. The paper is not thick enough for high resolution prints and my HP printer will default to 600 dpi when printing with this paper. That being said, the pictures do not really appear grainy. On a relative's Canon printer, the colors appeared less washed out than they did on my HP. I should note, that at times, ink seems to slightly bleed through the paper around the edges of the photo paper, though this isn't a big deal for me.

The paper is instantly dry when used with my printer, and as such will be smudge-resistant as soon as it is printing. This is ideal for situations where you need to print a photo quickly to give to someone.

Overall
If you have an HP printer that uses this cartridge, then you definitely want to look into these photo value packs. The photos are decent quality, are waterproof, fast drying and smudge resistant. Cost per print will drop from about 39 cents per print to around 28 cents per print. These combo packs can be found in several retail stores and office supply stores. Where I live, Wal-Mart, Office Depot, Office Max, Best Buy, and Target all have these packs. Though not top of the line quality, it is overall a good value for printing your own photos at home.