Customer Reviews

HP 1220C/PS DeskJet Printer

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Frustration has driven me to write another review, this time based solely on the "special" features of this printer.

As I said before, it still works fine on the regular stuff - letters, e-mail, documents, even envelopes, other than the problem with having to press the "resume" button to print them. That's what the 2 star rating is about. If you look beyond the mundane - it's a ZERO star rating or less.

Printing anything out of the ordinary has become a major pain, which seems to be getting worse as the printer gets older.

Any paper that is even slightly glossy is now slipping on the rollers - not all the time, but enough to drive you mad, especially when you need to print something in a hurry. The printer also gets quite upset when you try to cancel the print, even when you use the button designed for this purpose.

The paper wastage is tremendous after a job is spoilt due to the slippage, because not only do you lose the special paper you put in, but also a ton of regular paper, as the machine continues to spew out reams of gibberish in protest. Having to reboot the machine to solve a print error is totally ridiculous. This is a recurring problem with HP printers in my experience.

If you do most of your printing on cardboard, glossy paper, transparencies or other special paper, think twice before buying this printer, as it can send you stark staring crazy in a very short time.

I've had color printers since they first came out..... I've worked in IT Out Sourcing since the mid 70's and have worked with, used, set up and trouble shot thousands of printers of every make, brand and price range.... For many years, HP has been a great maker of printers... not always the best price, out always the most features, and not always the highest resolution... but a printer that did a great job, was dependable and had a great company willing to help you out with any problem..... When I brought this 1220C, I found out how far HP has come down in the printer world. The electronics for the cartridges misfires, a call to HP gets you a guy in India, that wants $25 to talk to you...(like talking is going to help bad wiring)... Oh,,, you've had this for 60 days... not our problem ! Back to Epson for me....

I have had my printer for about 4 years and it has been a true work horse. I work as a full time illustrator and I love the quality and color or the prints. I print a lot and it has been very faithful. I am only afraid it will stop working soon as I have used to so much, or that HP will stop supporting the ink. I love that it only has two cartridges one color and one black. I am not looking forward to having to buy a printer that uses 6-8 cartridges. You can buy extra large tanks of ink which I love since I print large format all the time.

Great printer!

Like many others I bought this printer because I wanted to make good A3 prints for display. For the first 6 months it worked without a hitch (Dell PC). After that it started misfeeding paper - especially shiny photo paper - which is exactly what I bought it to print!!
Now it will only grab the cheapest quality paper - anything with even a slight shine just will not go through. I have tried cleaning the rollers and all the 'fluffed up' areas inside the machine, but all to no avail.
This was not a cheap printer, and I have to say I would think long and hard before buying any printer from HP again.
It rates 2 stars, because it was OK in the beginning, and it will still print 'ordinary' paper, but nothing more because I now have to buy another printer to do my A3 photos!

I bought this printer because I needed 11x17 capability and it is doing great for that. However, trying to print on photo paper is an incredibly frustrating experience. The feed rollers appear to have difficulty pulling the paper in. 8 1/2 x 11 sheets will cut of the first inch or so and smaller, photo size cards will not print at all.

I am also using the 1220c with Mac OSX. I haven't had the problems mentioned in the other reviews. This machine still looks and performs great after a few years. As a graphic designer, it's important to have my proofs look nice. The 11x17 capability is an excellent feature. I have used the printer for everything from photos to school papers - envelopes, brochures, invoices... It's simply a reliable machine. For the features, it's not very expensive. Paired with some quality paper, you can produce some top-notch pieces.

After reading these reviews, I must say I have experienced none of the problems these people describe. It does not eat envelopes. It prints fast and well. Cartridges are expensive but I had it over a year before I needed one. I would still recommend it.

I do a lot of printing. I can no longer work with photo paper or thick paper, because I get to upset with this printer. I have turned down a lot of work , so this printer has made me lose money.
HP GIVE EVERYONE A REFUND THAT ASK, AND I'M ASKING.
DO NOT BUY IF YOU DON'T WANT TO PULL YOUR HAIR OUT.

I've read all of the assessments below, and I must say that they don't reflect my experience. Then again, I'm using it with the Mac OS. I use it primarily for large format printing of musical scores, which are quite graphics intensive. I also now do a lot of photo printing. With music layout, it has performed brilliantly, producing copy that I find to equal that from professional houses. I've also found the photo production to be very fine, though at the best setting it will perform slower than some prefer. (This doesn't bother me.) There is also an occasional paper slippage when using glossy. (This does bother me, but hasn't occurred with enough frequency to damn the machine.) I've had no problems with the computer communicating with the machine.

All told, a terrific machine. I'd buy it again.

Update 4/9/08: A fine machine has finally quit. One can only hope the newer HP printers are this sturdy. The software that comes with the new HP machines must certainly be better than the old.

This printer prints beautifully. The tragic thing about this printer is that a few months after buying it, it won't turn on anymore. If you go to cnet or the HP website, you will find that many people have experienced this. Unfortunately it happened to us right after the warranty ran out, so we were stuck with it. Not a good thing for a product with this price tag...