So Far So Good!!

After a previous (bad and expensive) experience with a Hewlett Packard inkjet printer (and the ridiculous ink usage that goes with them) I was not in the market for another HP product. But after many frustrating weeks of looking in stores and reading reviews on the internet I ended up with another Hewlett Packard printer, the Photosmart D7260. My previous HP printer was a single cartridge ink jet type and was horrendous on ink usage so I was hoping for a improvement in the ink usage department with the D7260!

All I was looking for was my moneys worth for a printer that printed black and white letters and some colour graphics for the kids school projects. I was not interested in making my own colour prints because of the cost associated with it (ink usage) but I did try printing one and it was very good. I bought this unit basically because of price and a lack of confidence with other brands as well as not requiring a scanner or fax machine etc.

So far so good, as the printer prints documents fast and the quality is very good. The ink level indicators (on the computer screen or the printers built in LCD screen) are questionable as they have not moved one bit since I bought the unit which makes me think that all of a sudden one day they will indicate empty! I think it is misleading actually but we shall see! I was initially very sceptical of the six separate ink cartridges and especially their small size. But compared to the one multicolour cartridge I used in my previous inkjet printer, it seems to make more sense. Once again that is something that I will know more about with more use. The little LCD monitor on the top is a nice feature (for picture printing anyway). Initial set up of the printer was no issue for my PC, just follow the instructions. If you do not use the printer everyday (like us) make sure that you print out a test sheet maybe once a week or so to keep the ink moving in the cartridges, if that makes sense.


UPDATE: Sept 18 2009

My HPD7260 is still working well even though I have gone through several ink cartridges since my initial purchase (thanks to my kids who do not print preview their work before printing)!  When you buy cartridges try to buy them in complete sets as this should be cheaper than single cartridge purchases. I bought my ink cartridges at Costco and I found the price much cheaper than buying individual units. If you have kids like I do, remind them to use the proper settings to save on ink.
Depending on the quality of the printing required, select normal or draft quality in the Print Shortcuts box. Normal quality should be satisfactory for even resumes and cover letters. Also, if printing in black and white select the colour box and then the Print in Grayscale box and select Black print cartridge only. This prevents (supposedly) the printer from using the colour cartridges to create a black and white copy.

When it comes to printing my own pictures I have determined that after buying the special printing paper and the amount of ink used for the pictures it was cheaper to have my prints made at the local drug store or Walmart. You be the judge. Good luck.

Keep in mind that if thr printer has a missing cartridge or one that is empty then the printer will not allow you to print until all cartridges are in place and have ink in them. This was frustrating for me when I wanted to print in black and white but was not permitted because of an empty colour cartridge.