Customer Reviews

HP Deskjet D4160 Printer

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

First, I apologize to anyone who bought this based on my earlier review. I will now wait AT LEAST 6 months of heavy use and two or more complete ink cartridge changes with no problems in print quality before ever posting a review of another printer anywhere.

My original review noted how disappointed I was with an Epson printer I'd bought, which had multiple problems loading paper and maintaining print quality.

The HP D4160 performed well for the first three months or so, and impressed me up to that point. The trouble began a few months after I'd posted my original glowing review, with erratic color printing that caused me to have to clean the heads automatically every time I used it, wasting ink and paper every time. It also required multiple cleanings each time. The so-called "maintenance" software had options built into it for multiple cleanings, no doubt designed to use as much inkand paper as possible during the process.

When the second set of ink cartridges ran low (God only knows if they were really empty or if the software just "thought" they were) and I replaced them, the printer wouldn't recognize them, and after several attempts the whole thing just stopped working. Unable to figure out whether it was a hardware or software problem and not wishing to waste more time or money, I finally decided to scrap the printer and try yet another brand.

In researching the problem, I concluded that the HP software allegedly designed to run the printer was more aptly designed to shut it down at the earliest opportunity in order to force you to buy more ink. Unfortunately, the scheme involves dated chips and buggy software and after several unsuccessful tries to get the printer running smoothly, I just gave up.

HP now joins Epson on my list of new products to avoid. It's really sad that companies once "golden" now are more dedicated to contriving ways of milking their customers dry with software tricks and overpriced supplies. If they would simply make reasonably priced ink cartridges people would stop shopping for generics and they'd have a happy loyal consumer base.

Guess I'll have to try Brother or Canon next... somebody must still manufacture a printer that isn't programmed to quit prematurely in order to force you to buy another ink cartridge designed to expire asap in order to keep the money train moving.

I picked up this printer for $48.99 including shipping... this printer prints extremely fast and the ink isn't an sticker shocker around $21 and change at most locations. If you're looking for something reliable and cheap this is the printer for you. I print around 2000 pages per day because of my job 5 days and a week. I haven't had any problems at all crosses finger.

On the advice of a friend, I decided on this printer and I'm glad I took the advice!! Print quality is wonderful and it's software lets you do things to my photos that Photoshop couldn't. Easy set up and the cartridges are moderately priced.

The HP Deskjet D4160 Printer is an excellent product. It's very easy to install (although there are a few seemingly unnecessary steps in the process) and its print quality is excellent. Although I primarily use it for printing black-and-white review sheets, records and envelopes, I sometimes use it to print color pages as well. I haven't had any problems with it for any of my purposes. It prints pages quickly and does a wonderful job on envelopes as well. I cannot comment on photo printing since I do not use it for that.

Others have noted that there is a new version of this product available now. For small jobs, however, this printer is perfect. If you're like me and don't want to buy something that's capable of doing more than you'll ever need it for, this printer is the one for you. In summary: If you are looking for an easy-to-use, fast quality printer, check this HP Deskjet D4160 out.

I have used this for photos (8x10), envelopes, letters on statioinary. It is fast and good quality. As always I wish HP charged less for ink, but I like this printer a lot, especially for the price.

When I finally uprgaded from ME to XP last year, I couldn't get my Quicken (2001) software to recognize my old Epson C60 clunker (still works fine for everything else and non-Epson ink refills are cheap). So I read the Amazon reviews and bought the HP D4160.

A decent inexpensive printer for the average user (I use it primarily for printing text and checks...I still use the ol' Epson for Ink-Intense graphic stuff). Unlike the last reviewer, I had no trouble with the initial set up...BUT...after a few days of use, I started getting pop-up windows from HP advising me to download the latest driver 'upgrade' from their website. Which I did. And guess what? Quicken no longer recognized the HP! So I completely uninstalled the HP software, reverted my C drive, just to make sure, then re-installed the HP software from the disc. It has been fine ever since, but when HP advises me to download their latest upgrades, I just say no.

LF
NYC

I bought this printer to replace my old HP deskjet (an 800 series...), which had been faithful for the past 8 years. However, this 4160, from the start, was bad. First, like all the other review, it does use a ridiculious amount of ink. Second, the moment I installed it, it would constantly stall in the print queue, and would only print if I restarted the computer (as you can imagine, completely useless!). I called HP technical support, and after an hour on the phone, the said it was fixed (supposedly a firewall mix-up), but then the next day, same problem. I'm trashing it and buying a Canon, because on the HP website, there is an entire page dedicated to prints being stalled in the print queue...I suspect this is a common problem.

I went to my local OD to check out the D4160 and saw the New D4260. Whilst most of the specs (e.g. dimensions of printer, print speed) are identical, a Key difference is in the number of pages printed per cartridge. Note: The D4200 uses a different, newer kind of HP Ink (VIVERA HP INK) but it is supposedly capable of printing 3,000 pages per month vs 1,000 according to the info signs- that's a BIG improvement in my opinion especially since the new model only cost $10 more ! So be sure to check out the D4200 before you buy the D4160. Set-up was Easy although it took a lot longer than I thought it should (HP seems to add a lot of 'additional' software suites). I hooked it up to my new laptop which uses VISTA Premium and it had Zero Compatibility Issues. My only complaint about the D2000 is that the power cord is one foot shorter than it needs to be. I had to turn it sideways so the cord can sit flush to the floor. Btw, I wrote the review here since as of 5/12/07, Amazon did not yet carry this newer model...

Pros: Good print speeds and print quality, reasonably priced cartridges.

Cons: Will not print on Avery labels acceptably, can be noisy.

I bought this printer as an upgrade to my HP 930C. The print quality is comparable with a slight nod to the 4160. Print speed is noticiably faster just using the Normal setting, however the printer can be quite noisy during the cleaning cycle right before it prints. The ink cartridges a lot smaller than those on the 930C. The printer seems to use less ink so I hope to get the same number of pages per cartridge as I did with my old printer. For plain paper use this printer works great.

A big drawback for this printer is printing on Avery labels. The paper rollers slip on the label page and the labels print misaligned every time. HP recommends adjusting the print margins in your word processor to compensate, but the fix didn't work for me. I wasted a lot of labels and ink trying to get this to work. Because of this I can only give this printer 3 stars.

One last note, the printer now comes with a powerbrick. This allows HP to shrink the size of the printer, but it's still one more powerbrick sitting under my desk.

I purchased this printer after having gone through a few lower cost (but ultimately unsatisfactory because of the frequently needing to be replaced cartridge costs)printers. The HP is certainly reasonable in cost and more than adequate for the needs of a home computer person who doesn't print much or anything fancy. It is pretty fast and the print quality is very good, both in words as well as diagrams or pictures.
Easy to set up and worked well right out of the box.
A good buy.