Except for the brief use of a Dell 720 in my household that my daughter took up to school we have had excellent use of Hewlett Packard's HP722c printer for many, many hard years of labor in our home. We loved the machine but it finally died about a month ago. It was time to look for a new one.
I searched a few places looking at a multitude of offerings. To tell the truth, I didn't know if I should go for a more expensive unit or what. My decision making was put to a halt when one day my wife called from a store asking if she should get a printer. All I said was to get an HP product and that it should scan and copy too. She came home with the
HP PCS 1510 and it was purchased by price being well under $100. She was proudly told it came with a free USB connector.
Opening the Box I'll mention here that I have included much information as it pertains to my use of the PSC. Much more detail can be found in reference to specific specs under the
View Details above the review and under my title.
I wasn't eager to set this PSC up. In fact I was going to wait for my more computer savvy daughter to come home from college to help me hook it up and install it. I was pushed to do it sooner by my younger daughter who lives at home because she had school papers to do and having the printer home would make her chores easier. So I went for it.
The box wasn't all that heavy. The HP PSC 1510 happens to weigh just 11.2lbs. It's much lighter than my old HP 722. In a way I didn't like that but I was pleased with much more as time went on. The dimensions are 17.1"w x 11.4"l x 6.4"h and takes up about the same base space as my oldie. Now these dimensions they give are when the unit is closed up. The actual front to back user space is 23.1". This is because the paper tray must be extended out if you don't want finished copies spilling out onto the floor like the feather in the opening scenes of Forest Gump. More about that tray later.
The print on the box tells me that the unit is
Compact photo all-in-one Easily print, scan and copy using intuitive control panel and one touch buttons. It also promises that if I use HP ink cartridges I'll save money because they are designed for efficient ink usage. I have always used their cartridges and have never had a problem. I can't say I have saved money though.
I did find that the one touch buttons were easily used and the machine did everything for me, once it was set up.
The box also says,
Direct photo printing and more. This is something that I didn't even have to read about once I got the thing hooked up. I just took my wire from my
PictBridge-enabled camera and plugged it into the port on the front of the PSC and I was in business. I liked the simplicity of it.
The box also told me that the printer would give
True to Life photo quality. Though we will still have particular pictures done at our photo place due to better prices, I did find that this printer does a fine job making photos with or without borders.
The last thing in big print on the box was the note
Convenient copying without a PC. Though we always have the PC on and hooked up to the PSC it is nice to just lift up the cover of the PSC, put in what needs to be copied and simply hit the copy button. It works just like any simple copier and the quality was just fine for home use and so was the speed.
In the Box The contents of the box included the
1510 unit itself and
two cartridges a b&w and tri-colour.
The box and books made me very aware that a special
optional photo print cartridge that will optimize the quality of the colour photos can be purchased separately. Using this photo cartridge along with the tri colour print cartridge enhances the photos. The b&w must be taken out and then returned for simple copying and such each time. That I don't like.
Again we use an outside source for all the pictures we print so this wasn't overly important though we do on occasion print photos.
A
CD-Rom is included along with the
Set-up book and
User's Guide.
Finally you find the
Power Supply, Power Cord and
USB cable. I was surprised at how much lighter some of these cords were as compared to the old HP722c.
Set Up Book I LOVE THESE SET-UP BOOKS!! The box has it in both English and Spanish. Though my surname is Spanish, I chucked those instructions and went right to the English pamphlet. Don't ya just hate those combo booklets with one half in one language and the other in another, or worse the ones you have to turn upside down to read? I liked I could have one paper all in one language.
Anyways a nice large big print and easy to follow set-up book gets me through these things pretty easily and this one was excellent!
The very first thing on the top of the page states
Important: Do Not connect the USB cable until step 15 or the software may not install properly. This got me a bit nervous so the first thing I did was track down the the USB cable and marked it, DO NOT PLUG IN AS PER DIRECTIONS and then put it securely out of the way. I will at times look at something and just start putting it together as I see fit. I may have went and plugged that baby in to early if not for the warning.
There were 16 steps to follow in this book. Each one taken separately was a snap. I already told you step one about not plugging in the USB. Next was to remove all tape and cardboard, easy enough. A third step to check out all the components was next and all was together. Step four was to do something that the manufacturer already had on the unit, an overlay panel that sticks on. I was wary at step five because that's where they said to plug in some wires. I was sure not to touch the UBC and did connect the power cord and adapter. Step 6 was to press the
ON button. That was easy. And step 7 was easy to. All I had to do was load plain white paper. I was then told to open the front access door in step 8. No prob. I'll mention here that this machine can take about 100 pieces of paper, no more. For our household use, that's plenty.
Going to step 9 I removed the tape from both cartridges and in step 10 and 11 inserted them as instructed. It was said to push the cartridge in firmly until it snaps into place. It does mean firm and it does "SNAP" into place. I liked that. I knew it was in properly by that "Snap" sound. Once I closed the access door the machine came to life and printed a sheet of paper with all kinds of coloured lines on it. I didn't know this was supposed to happen until I read the next step.
Step 12 I thought might be difficult when I read Align the print cartridges. There was nothing to it. All I had to do was take the paper that just came out of the machine and place it in the correct position on the top of the scanner/copier window. The picture in the Set-Up book shows exactly where to put the paper. I then had to press the
Scan button. Done!
Step 13. Turn on your computer. Step 14 choose the correct CD. There are two of them, one for Macintosh users and the other for Windows. I put in the CD and followed a few VERY simple directions on the screen and then on to step 15. I took the USB cable out of my safe, unwrapped it, took off the "Danger" label I pushed in and connected the cable.
Step 16 was to finish the software installation. That was easy just following some prompts on the computer screen.
I WAS DONE!! or at least I thought I was.
I tried the copier first. No Prob
I made a print from my computer. No Prob
I put in something to be scanned. I didn't see the finished scan on my PC screen and panicked. YIKES!! I had a problem with trying to hook up an HP scanner years ago. I thought I was in trouble again. I called the service number given in the User Guide after following a few brief instructions to get my serial number and a few other facts together.
I fellow in India took my call and after about ten minutes on the phone all was well. It was my fault. The scanner was working just fine. I just didn't know where to find the image. Duh! I told you I wanted to do the set up when my daughter was home.
Final Thoughts The set up was really easy. I like the big print set-up book. It makes dinosaurs like me seem pretty computer savvy, well at least in my own mind. Everything works as it should. I particularly like the convenience of the Pict-Bridge set-up even though I don't do much photo printing on this unit. it's good to be able to come home and go right to the PSC without going to the computer first.
My youngest daughter was able to get her reports done easily. That's really the reason we purchased this simpler unit rather than something that can print faster and sharper. This fit our needs of basic printing and copying. It's also good to have the scanner. There was a picture that I had wanted to use for my profile page on Epinions. I didn't have it in digital form so I took the picture out of the frame, placed it on the window and scanned. After a few steps elsewhere I now have the picture up on Epinions. I find that using the 1510 PSC is easy and the quality for an inexpensive unit very good.
One thing I do not like is the paper tray. It has to be folded out. We happen to have the printer in a narrow traffic area and the extended tray could get hit by and elbow or whatever. If the tray isn't extended the papers shoot out onto the floor, not good. The printer is quieter than our old reliable HP722 and it prints much faster. That makes me happy. I don't know just yet how often I will be changing out cartridges. As time goes on and I get a real feel for it, I'll add that to the review.
I do like anything placed on the letter size flatbed scanner to be photocopied can be done in B&W or colour.
I happen to like the low profile and sleek look of this HP1510. It looks smart and doesn't take up much space. I just hope it can give me five years plus like our older HP722c did.
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