Customer Reviews

HP Business Inkjet 1200D Color Printer

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

 

 

I've had the 1200D for about 6 months, about 4,000 pages.
So far it is FANTASTIC for my needs.
Ink cost about 2 cents per page instead of 10 cents, I'd estimate.
Perfect duplexing, very FAST, and NO quality issues or paper handling issues. Software is working well on older Win 2000 pro system. Easy installation on one computer. Software seems perfect.

I did have a one time setup issue getting it to network perfectly with 4 other computers on the home microsoft network. Had to change security sharing settings using a windows registry editor. I did it exactly according to HP support website. I found the instructions at the HP website when I searched "1200d network installation". Now it's perfect. (networking various operating systems, with 1200D attached to Win 2000 pro computer).

I started with the original "HP Deskjet" black & white on my first PC. Still use it at a remote site!! (14 years old?) It had "font cartridges"!! Still works perfectly with Windows XP laptop.
I had trouble with HP SOFTWARE on my HP "all in one" 2510. It works, but is VERY slow software on a NEWish Dell windows XP computer.
But overall their deskjet & officejet printers seem fantastic to me. I use about 1000 pages per month.
I had a photosmart 7550 that only lasted about 2-3 years before paper handling issues developed, but still, it's cost was pretty low to start with, and I had fantastic quality for 2 years of moderate heavy use.

That caused me to SHOP AROUND A TON before buying this 1200D. I was tempted to try Canon inkjet or an Oki color laser. But I'm very satisfied with this 1200D.

I bought the HP Business Inkjet 1200d out of frustration with dealing with my girlfriend's Lexmark. She doesn't do much printing, so the Lexmark cartridges died quickly with a full inkload. But at $70 per set of Lexmarks, the HP seemed more promising with it's separate printheads at $33 apiece, and ink tanks at similar costs. I wanted separate printheads, as I had been BADLY burned by a $400 Brother multifunction machine that used ONE four-color printhead that cost $200 to replace(at 60 days use).

After a year of low-volume use, the HP is working fine. So what did I expect? Well, I really expected to have some problems with ink coagulating due to the low useage. I insist that Girlfriend run at least a couple of pages every week. The HP is working fine.

The REAL story to this review is that I was really impressed with this machine. I didn't really want to fork out another $180 for one for myself. So I bought a couple of used HP 1100d's, the predecessor machine, on eBay. I've also posted my review of that machine here on Amazon. I use the crap out of my 1100d. They are virtually the same machine, but the 1200d supposedly resolves some software problems with the 1100d. After two sets of ink cartridges in my 1100d, I discovered Continuous Ink Systems on eBay. This system replaces the HP cartridge with an identical insert fed by external ink tanks through plastic tubing. No more expiring ink cartridges, and printing is almost like FREE. Just thought you should be aware of the true potential of these printers from someone who has used them for at least one year.

I bought two of these when they first came out in the fall of 2004. The fast print speed and ink volumes attracted me to this printer since I print approximately 2000 pages a month.
One of the two brand new units printed white streaks across the page right from the start. Other revewers have mentioned this problem on similar models. After speaking with customer service they agreed it was defective and exchanged it no hassle for a new one. Both units have performed flawlessly since.
The auto duplexer (2 sided printing) is a nice feature for small print jobs, but for large print jobs it's actually much faster to just manually turn the paper over. This printer is designed for high volume printing. It is nice to be able to replace individual ink cartriges when needed, instead of wasting unused ink with most typical tri-color cartriges. This printer is not the best for photos (and it doesn't claim to be), but does really well for most text and color applications like newsletters, etc. It does print quite fast, however the fastest print speeds advertised are in low quality draft mode.
If looking for another fast, high volume inkjet, I would not hesitate buying another one.

We bought this unit for our new home-office. It arrived in record time, earlier than expected! What surprised us most was the size of the printer box. It was massive. The printer itself is huge as well, much larger than expected. But, we're getting a bang for the buck here...it's fabulous. You'd think we had a laserjet printer! Printing in black and white is crisp and clear, and the color imaging, brilliant. I was disappointed that the unit was not entirely colored in silver and black. Instead, it has chalky white unit and paper tray covers, which looks tacky with our office furniture. Also, the unit did not come with a printer cable, so plan on buying one (go with the USB cable if you can - better transmittal rates) for at least $26, depending on which one you choose. Otherwise, our concerns with the unit pale in comparison to how pleased we are with the purchase.

I needed a parallel port printer that could still perform decently at a moderate demand level, and I got exactly that. I had none of the dreaded HP installation software problems nor did I have the page cut-off problem mentioned by another reviewer. I am very pleased by the speed and quality of the output and the ink usage seems quite reasonable. Also, the printer machinery seems very solid.

I was excited about this printer. I ignored the negative reviews. I should have listened. This printer makes great copies but cannot seem to handle large files. I am a graphic designer and work with lots of large images. It cannot handle large PDF files and will just stop printing all jobs.

I mainly bought this printer because it has separate print heads and ink cartridges. Nice feature.

Also, the area that it prints on the page seems to be off. This isn't just in one program but all. It's skewed to the top so there's a disproportionate space at the bottom that it will not print on. Kind of like a polariod photo shape. Basically, this stupid thing will cut off my pages at the bottom so I have to scale everything down and so it is not positioned properly on the page. I haven't figured out how to fix this and welcome any suggestions. I have yet to call HP about it because i have no time but hopefully I'll get around to it.

Bottom line, it's a nice printer but has loads of problems. It's unreliable. If you're thinking of buying, I suggest looking into other printers.

This was a great all-round printer for two years -- fast black and white printing and lovely glossy photo printing -- just what I wanted. Then the color printing problems started. Tests showed yellow was not printing at all, and cyan was streaking badly -- even though the machine's own diagnostic utility said the cartridges were half full. I bought two new cartridges ($44 each) but when I installed them machine then then told me the magenta cartridge (which had not previously had any problems, and which was nearly completely full), needed to be replaced. It wouldn't even let me print a test page to see if the new blue and yellow cartridges had solved those problems!
I can't decide if I should buy the magenta cartridge (probably bringing my total of wasted $$ over $130) or if I should just toss the machine and get a DeskJet 2545 for $45 to print photos.

I recently purchased this printer because as a grad student I have been printing lots of papers and images. This printer has worked flawlessly and is very fast on draft mode. The duplexing feature is convenient, but is very slow.

That's the title of someone's feedback, and that's my feedback, too. It gave me every kind of trouble. More details soon; here is the result. After days of emails and 7 pages of fix-it instructions for my brand new 1200, HP finally said they would take back my new printer, give me a refurbished printer, if I paid them $35.00 -- and the refurbished printer would be out of warrenty.

Here are the faults: out of the box, this "business" printer is flimsy plastic; the USB doesn't connect without much tinkering; the open cover warning light comes on (with the covers taped down); the no-ink light comes on (for a new printer, with all cartridges seated hard); the network warning light comes on (but there is no network). Sometimes there is one warning light, sometimes two, and sometimes all of them come on, even the ones that couldn't apply.

Those times when I tinker enough to get all the warning lights off, those times that come after repeatedly pulling the power line and the USB cable, and I send output to the printer, then I get the message, 'Error - Printing'. There is no explanation anywhere. But there is no printing at all.

I got printing after 3 emails with 7 pages of instructions plus a web page for a download and install. But the margins can't be fixed, and it prints an extra blank page after each good one. And that is the final, good news.

Do you get the feeling that the hardware on the 1200 is junk, and the software is really bad?

HP Business Inkjet 1200DTN Color Printer problem after a lightly used 12 months the head alignment program from "settings" is permanently turned on. This causes a test pattern to print out after each printing job. Technical support couldn't care less--wouldn't even pretend to show interest.