Customer Reviews

HP Deskjet 6980 Color Printer (C8969A#B1H)

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I've had this printer for about 6 months and its been great. I'm not very technical but I got a wireless router going in the house for a laptop that we move around. I assumed getting this printer to work on the wireless network would be a problem, but the setup went fine using a wireless laptop (running the HP setup CD) and the printer hard wired into my ethernet connection per the instructions (they include the cord to do this). Once it was all lined up, I simply unplugged the printer from the ethernet and it worked great wirelessly. We have it tucked into a cabinet where it's hidden and the wireless laptop prints to it without a problem. One time it wasn't working so I pulled it out and ran throught the set up again with it plugged into the wall and its run fine wirelessly ever since. The print quality seems great also, but all we have printed are web pages and a few word documents.

Considering how long and difficult it was to set up and install this printer, it better be the best device ever invented! I have installed hard drives and loaded operating systems in less time with fewer headaches than setting up this printer.

I wanted this printer to work on my network which is wired and wireless, with a PC and a MAC. According to all my research, this was do-able. I did get it all to work, but it was a painful ordeal that took two days.

The documentation is terrible. It comes with about six manuals and pamphlets, and not one of them accurately represents any of the true set-up instructions, screen shots or procedures. With enough trial and error, you eventually figure out what works and what doesn't. You cannot allow any program of any type to run in the background while you are installing the software. Nothing. If you have automatic updates scheduled that you've forgotten about, they will crash the install. If you aren't disconnected from the Internet, you will crash the install. If you breathe wrong, you will crash the install. And crashing the install will require at least two re-boots to remove the software and start over. Even after you get the software installed, if it isn't configured EXACTLY EXACTLY EXACTLY right, it won't work, and no diagnostic will tell you what you did wrong. The only way to fix it is to un-install and start over.

OK, point made. My other complaint is that there is no output "catch tray" for printed copies. They just kind of fall out onto the desk or whatever. Dumb design.

The buttons on the front of the printer are not explained anywhere in the manuals that come with the printer. The only way to figure them out is to go online and look them up in the online documentation. Even that documentation is sorely lacking. It goes into great detail about the difference in the types of wireless frequencies, but doesn't tell you nearly enough about how to configure the communications parameters to work with your wireless router. Imagine looking up a recipe to bake a cake and halfway through, it starts telling you how flour is made.

It is indeed much quieter than my previous HP printer, and even has a "quiet mode" to mute it more. The envelope function appears to work better, although you do get an error message when you use it. Once you click through it, it prints fine, so I'm not exactly sure why the error message.

Is it a good printer worth the money? Too soon to tell. I'm still licking my wounds from setting it up.

I couldn't tell you what to chalk it up to, but I had none of the installation woes of some of the other users of this or the previous wi-fi model, the Deskjet 6840. Maybe it's that I wasn't connecting it to a full wireless network/router per se? Using the setup for the ad hoc wi-fi connection between just my laptop (ThinkPad, if that's relevant) and the printer, the instructions in the included setup guide worked flawlessly (and as another user noted, I didn't even have to turn off the firewall). Installation took no longer than my CD drive copying the files from the driver disc.

Printing wirelessly is pretty handy; a little slower than a wired connection, but the difference is almost negligible, and a full 8x10 photo print didn't seem like it took more than a minute or two. Print quality's about par for the course for the cheaper HP printers these days (this being HP's low-priced wi-fi printer, I guess) - it doesn't *WOW* you exactly, but images are nice and crisp, comparing favorably to my old DeskJet 940, not too grainy at all. I do, however, shudder to think 1. how little ink must be in these tiny ink cartridges (Vivera 96 and 97) and 2. how much replacements of these tiny cartridges will probably cost.

One oddity I did encounter in installation, though, was registering for product support. It kept trying to point me to an HP URL that apparently isn't there, giving me an error a few times until it gave up trying to connect, and suggested I visit the HP support site and register manually. Other than that, though, I've encountered no problems, and gotten pretty much exactly what I wanted: a fairly inexpensive printer that I can print to wirelessly, printing text documents and the occasional 8x10 photo of reasonably sharp quality. Overall, I'd recommend it.

(Update 6/8/06)
It's still working pretty nicely, but I figured I should note that when I close my laptop having been wirelessly connected to the printer and later reopen the laptop without the printer present or turned on, it seems like one or two of the computer's background operations pertaining to the 6980 crash occasionally. It doesn't result remotely in any sort of system instability, and I usually can still print without any issues, but I wasn't able to today. Opening the hpqtra08.exe file in C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\bin seemed to fix it, though.

(Update 7/31/06)
Perhaps this printer isn't as good as I initially thought. In the intervening months, I've discovered many a little issue. If you use a laptop, and you open and close (hibernate) it with any regularity, the printer will just keep adding more and more memory-draining copies of the same two programs, and on multiple occasions, I've woken up to find that while I closed my laptop the previous night, it hasn't shut off due to a printer spooling program preventing it, regardless of whether or not the printer is even ON. To boot, many of the apparently vital background programs for the printer have a tendency to crash for no apparent reason. Beyond that, there have now been countless times where I've been in a rush to get something printed out (which is why I bought the printer in the first place: convenience in printing quickly from a laptop), and the print queue just hangs and hangs, never doing anything until I restart the print job (if I'm LUCKY). I'd really like to love this printer, but if I were shopping, I'd hold off. It seems like HP needs another couple of years to work the kinks out of their low-priced wi-fi printer models. Their software and drivers may be updated occasionally, but that hasn't solved any of the problems I've had yet. Cartridges are indeed small and pricey!

Oh, and just for reference, I'm using XP Home, ThinkPad T42 laptop, Intel wireless, used the ethernet cable for the intial connection.

What more can I say. The printer does what I want it to do. I DO NOT print photos with this printer. It is my general purpose home printer. It is very fast and 'seems' to sip the ink. The printer's internal webpage currently gives me a Total Page Count of 413 and I have 60% Black Ink Level and 50% Color Ink Level with included cartridges.

I installed the printer in my garage to free up my office desk space. (Office space recently shrank due to 95% of room being converted to a play room. Bah. ;-)

The 6980 worked good on my Windows XP PC using a Linksys wireless router with no security. (Yes... I ran it with no security. I played with MAC filter security and the 6980 worked but I don't think that's very good security.)

I recently installed Windows Vista and couldn't believe it when Vista auto-configured the printer's wireless connection. Recently, I enabled WPA2-AES security on my router. So, I connected the 6980 to my Linksys router with a Cat5 cable and accessed its "website" tool via the printer's new LAN IP. No problems. I configured its Wireless Network settings to use WPA2-AES and gave it the Passphrase I setup earlier on my router. After disconnecting the Cat5 cable, I refreshed Vista's Printer control panel and the printer re-appeared. I typed in its wireless IP in Internet Explorer and its internal website popped right up! I was very happy.

NOTE: The IP for the printer is different depending on whether it is connected via Wireless or Cat5 cable. At least it was for me. Check your OS's printer control panel to discover the IP. If anything in this review doesn't happen for you... you may want to read the Network Guide and Setup Guide located here:[...]

(Yes, the printer will make your cheapy pressboard desk wobble/vibrate while it prints. But you didn't buy a wireless printer to put it on your desk!)

PRINTER REVIEWED
HP Deskjet 6980 Color Printer (C8969A#B1H)

This printer is a great choice for a few reasons. The least reason to buy a printer is appearance, sure, but the stylish blue appearance on the HP 6980 makes it one of the best looking printers out there. Wireless setup is by far the best reason to chose this printer. I was a bit hesitant about how easy it would work, but the documentation in the box by HP (paper manuals) was very helpful. Just take the printer and the router, run an Ethernet cord between them, and run the software on your PC (PC doesn't need to be connected to it). Then it instructs you to remove the ethernet cable and in the end, only the power plug needs to be present. I have one Vista desktop and one Vista laptop currently set to this printer.

Some issues to note. It does in fact shake, as I guess many printers probably shake. I recommend placing this on a different desk/table from which you use for your desktop and/or laptop. It's only a minor inconvenience though. Even with my desktop on the same table, I still feel the shaking somewhat noticeably.

The CD in the package is essentially useless for Vista users. Now in the store, you might see it say "compatible with Vista" and it is, though not as simple as some people I'm sure have been misled to believe. You will need to download the software from the HP site. It's not hard, just a few clicks on the HP site will get you there. Download and then install on EACH PC with which you'd like the printer to work.

One other quick note. The printer allows you to print a report page showing the printer's status on your network and other relevant details as well as an IP address you can enter in the browser that shows details such as ink levels and allows some configuration. HP seems to know printers quite well. Highly recommended!

I've owned this printer for 8 months and have connected it 3 ways, wirelessly, via USB, and through the ethernet cable on both XP Professional SP1 and Vista Ultimate. This printer works best on XP. The CD that HP includes with this printer is fairly straightforward and works for XP Professional. I set up all 4 computers in my house with this CD using the wireless access point connection. Everything was fine. This printer prints quickly and accurately. The main network was an old PC that we never used. The problems started when we all bought new Dell Laptops with Vista Ultimate OS. Without the CD, set up was fairly simple: control panel, printers, add a printer. My Dell 1705 notebook was now serving as the main network. The problems started whenever I needed to reboot my wireless cable modem from Time Warner (RoadRunner). This caused the printer to go "offline" and I had to add a new port to the printer to get it "ready" or online again. This happened a number of times so I got fed up and decided to connect it via USB. That worked well for a few months until my wireless cable modem stopped working and we had to swap it for a new one. Once I installed the new wireless cable modem, the HP printer would flash blue whenever I tried to connect it wirelessly or via USB. The only way I could get the blue indicator on the printer to stop flashing and work was to connect the printer to the Network via the yellow ethernet cable. Fortunately, all the other Vista laptops in our home were able to connect and print. However, the printer kept going "offline" every couple of days on the main network computer. The only way to fix the problem was to delete the printer in the control panel and then add the printer. Fortunately, the other laptops on the network were not affected by this and continued to work. I then tried to get this printer to work again wirelessly or via USB, but this time I had the green light on the printer constantly flashing, preventing my main network computer from printing. So, I went back to the Ethernet connection and now things have finally stabilized for the past couple of weeks.

HP technical support was clueless. All they did was have me disconnect the plugs from the outlet and then reconnect. They said that the USB connection gets corrupted with Vista OS and if you have too many wireless things going on with your network, it can cause the printer to go "offline". I found technical support to be better 8 months ago before it got outsourced to India.

One HP techie told me that it is best to make the main network computer for your printer to be one you never use. There is some truth to that, but my wife didn't want a big old dusty computer hanging around our house.

Documentation is terrible. None of the problems I had were addressed in the troubleshooting guide. Moreover, the only way I was able to replace an ink cartridge was to disconnect the adapter from the wall socket.

I would not use this printer to connect wirelessly via an access point if you use VOIP at home. One of the problems I had was that the IP address for the printer and my VOIP IP became the same and it was a nightmare to disentangle the two, while neither worked.

For now, everything is OK, but who knows how long that will last before the main network computer goes "offline" again.

Wireless is cool, but it can also cause lots of mysterious problems.

I got this printer about 5 months ago. We love this printer. The printing quality is good (normal printing + photo printing up to 8x10). Really love the wireless part of the printer. I installed this on 1 desktop machine (a 3-year-old cheap Dell Dimension), 7 laptops (1 HP, 2 Dell's, 1 Acer, 1 Compaq, 1 IBM, 1 Sony). The only failure is on the Sony VAIO (7 year old). All of them are running Window XP. The installation is not the easiest. On a couple of laptops, the installation script actually said that the install failed (ironically, one of them was my daughter's HP laptop). Funny thing is I am still able to print from these two machines. By the way, I had an el cheapo Dlink wireless B/G router. I have recently "upgraded" to another el cheapo Airlink wireless N router. The printer still works. I also read that some of the users are seeing excessive shaking from this printer. I do not notice it (it sits in a rarely used room). Also, the arm of the output "tray" needs to be totally extended or you will end up with bunch of papers on the floor (my dog would have a field day eating my wife's and kids' homework when this happened). The only odd thing I notice is that the printer queue does not resume when the machine is turned off and turned back on. I have to empty the queue and resubmit the jobs - not sure whether this is the printer's fault or the PC's fault.

This printer is extraordinarily bad, especially considering the price I paid for it. I bought it for the wireless printing capabilities, which work with some caveats.

First, I run windows XP on two wireless enabled laptops. I did not have any problems installing the printer on them, as some other people did, but I used a USB key drive, which made things easier (the setup wizard will copy your wireless network settings onto the drive, then you plug it into the usb port on the printer and it puts the printer online).

That said, the printer drivers are TERRIBLE. They never shut down when I restart windows, so I have to manually end program whenever I want to restart either of my computers. Additionally, the drivers don't connect to the printer all the time when printing wirelessly for some reason: for example, I just printed two pdf files via wireless; the first printed fine, but the second failed and I had to cancel and restart the print job.

The printer is also horrifically loud. When printing, it literally sounds as if plastic parts inside the printer are snapping continually. I don't know if I just got a bad model, but it sounds as if the thing is being molested whenever I need to print something. Ironically, there is a 'silent' mode button which does absolutely nothing.

The ink cartridges are low capacity, meaning you will have to swap out ink cartridges more often than other printers. The ink seems not to last as long as it should, even when one considers the cartridge's small size. Be prepared to buy cartridges often if you plan on using this printer to even a moderate extent.

In summary: DO NOT BUY THIS PRINTER. the wireless feature is not worth the money you'll shell out and the many cons this printer has

HP printers provide excellent quality, especially compared to the Dell I use at home. For the person who couldn't find the catch tray, pull the center part of the paper tray forward and tip it back. Voila -- a catch tray.

I really wanted a good quality printer that allowed easy wireless printing through my DSL router. This one fits the bill. Simply connect the printer directly to your router with the supplied ethernet cable and follow the instructions. It took about 20 minutes for the software to install but once it did I disconnected the ethernet cable, moved the printer to another room and I am happily printing from anywhere in the house. I haven't printed a ton of photos yet but the few I did print look beautiful. Black and white document prints are quick and look great too. You may be able to find a cheaper printer but if you want easy wireless high quality printing you can't go wrong here.