Customer Reviews

HP H470wbt Officejet Mobile Printer

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The HP H470wbt is HP's answer to the "on the go" printer. If you haven't read the spec you will see this particular incarnation comes with a battery for on the road use. The battery is charged while on the printer much like a laptop.

The overall quality of print is passable but not top of the line nor a good choice if you want nice photo-quality prints.

However, if you need to print normal text or perhaps a page from the internet, it does fine. The pages come out at a fair pace (better than one would expect from a small printer) and the quality is acceptable.

The footprint is relatively small and if you plan to carry around with you, expect to use something like a backpack or camera style backpack for your laptop and the printer.

The blue tooth that comes with it works well enough. Just remember to install the blue tooth drivers then deal with Windows itself (in that order).

The one real caveat relates to small printer small ink cartridges. One has to realize to keep this unit small and consume little power, the cartridges are on the small side. Fortunately, they are easily found at various merchants and not an odd special cartridge(s). There is the option to get slightly larger ones but again, the larger ones are also fairly small in output.

Last on the not so good list - HP insists on some of their inkjets to use flimsy mechanisms for housing the ink cartridges. In this case they have some "wires" bent to work with the install assembly of the cartridges. This is asking for trouble sooner or later.

I have not ran enough paper through to experience any paper feed problems and thus, cannot comment on this. This is an important part and as those who have had laser printers and inkjets know this can be a problem that occurs over time.

Overall the unit is passable and in some respect very nice. I give it three stars rather than four because of the ink install assembly. The blue tooth, compactness, reasonable output are all to be appreciated.

The HP H470wbt Officejet Mobile Printer is a life saver. I am a commercial investment real estate broker and often need to redraft documents I carry the unit in my truck. One day recently I needed to redraft a document prior to the buyer leaving the country for a month, so I fired up the HP inserted paper and "viola" new documents. The color is good the black and white is nearly laser quality, the footprint is small and it's easy to connect and use. I highly recommend this unit for small jobs and road warriors who need print capability is a small package.

Set up easily - bluetooth has about a 15 foot range - the wifi is probably multi-room with a longer range. The printer takes up less space than most wired printers but isn't all that small. It's a lttle bulky and heavy for carrying around but the print quality is fine. Cost is a major drawback but if you want a small bluetooth or wifi, this is the way to go until something smaller and/or cheaper is available.

I needed a small mobile printer suitable for taking to Court and setting up right at the counsel table. This way, when a judge wants to read a case, or receive a short pleading, we can bang it out right away rather than have some poor devil from my office hop in a car to drive it over to us as in former times. Also, since this printer is color, we can occasionally use it to knock out a photo or whatnot as an exhibit when needed. The fact that it has a pretty beefy battery adds to the versatility of this nice accessory.

My H470wbt installed automatically and effortlessly on my Windows Vista notebook computer. It downloaded both the device driver and an update to the driver without prompting me one single time. It simply went about its business efficiently and unobtrusively. In fact, that is pretty much the theme of this friendly little device. It simply works and works well. It is very quiet too, so you won't draw any complaints from even the crankiest host.

The unit comes with a snappy leather case for transporting to and from Court or wherever.

The unit is intuitive enough that I have yet to crack the manual, although if/when I utilize its bluetooth capacity I suppose I will need to do that.

HP has produced a winner. Highly recommended

Good things about this printer :

Print Quality : I've printed lots of graphics and photos from my PDA. They all look very good. Documents print quickly.

Interfaces : The printer comes with a BlueTooth adapter. This works well, plug it in and go. If you want wireless printing, the WiFi adapter costs about $90. I spent a decent amount of time with HP tech support getting my wireless configured. I think this could've been done better but tech support was very good. There is also a USB cable, printing from a laptop via USB works well. *Note: You cannot use WiFi and BlueTooth at the same time - each requires an adapter and there is only one slot available for the adapters.

Portability : It's light weight for a color printer, but it's still heavy enough that I wouldn't want to carry it far. It comes with a nice leather case that fits snugly on the printer.

Battery : the printer also comes with a rechargeable battery. I have not used it much. It fits into the back of the unit and does not stick out very far. If you are on the road a lot, this would be very convenient.

HP Solutions Center : This comes on the start up CD. It is a pain. Whenever you turn on your computer, it will take forever to start up because the HP software ties up your processor accessing your internet looking for updates. I went into start up processes on my PC and turned it off. It's a bit slow starting up now.

Pros: Compact little printer works great right out of the box. Bluetooth was a snap to get up and running. Supports SPP Bluetooth profile despite what the manual claims. Leather sleeve was a bit tight when I first put it on but that seems to have loosened up a bit. Overall the hardware looks great - just what I've come to expect from Chinese electronic imports these days.

Cons: I've been unable to get the HP Toolbox to work on any of my three XP-SP3 machines. HP support was no help at all - they suggested I download the driver from the HP web site and reinstall it (already tried that). No Toolbox means there's no way to align the print heads. The prints look good for now but I'm wondering how long that will last.

Comments: HP was a name to be trusted way back when. These days they can't even get a printer driver to work right.

Was really valuable to have on a recent business trip. Printed out over 100 pages with no problems. Good quality. Easy to operate. Nice carrying case. Only con is weight -- but manageable. Somewhat surprised that it must be taken out of your carry-on luggage when going through security at the airport. Would recommend to others.

BTW this is my first written review of any product that I have purchased on amazon.com And I have purchased many items here and have had zero problems. I find the reviews really helpful. Keep up the good work, staff of amazon.com!

My "ease of use" rating is only because of the lousy instructions and support. Great printer for my needs, but getting it installed for a Bluetooth connection was not explained well at all! I called HP which was of no help - when I say lousy support; reaching them was not the issue. They had me install and uninstall it 3 different ways that in the end were completely unnecessary; and it still didn't work.
Now that I've figured it out on my own, I'm happy with it... Other reviewers say that the range is not great. I'm a sales person who works on the road, so the printer will always be in close proximity to the computer - it's just one less cable to connect - or 2 less when on battery.
Would I buy it again? Yes

I've removed a star from the rating due to having to install the drivers twice before getting the HP toolbox to install on XP Pro SP3.

Also, there was no cigarette lighter adaptor in the box, but can use it on battery and we have a power converter so it can still be used in the car.

Update: 1/8/10 - Amazon sent another one and that's when I noticed that the power adaptor isn't even listed on the box, so it's an Amazon description error.

This is a nifty little printer. The print cartridges that fit this machine are the same as my 6310 All In One, 95 and 98, which is handy & there are lots of aftermarket manufacturers for this very common cartridge. Hubby has the printer with him & I don't recall which ones actually came with the unit, but the list of cartridges definitely included the above listed. I get months from black and I've never replaced the color yet. I print several times a day, but I tend to conserve ink by printing in fast draft or fast normal 99% of the time using black ink only.

The bluetooth works wonderfully and the battery will definitely come in handy. Is this as small as my previous Canon BJC85 which was stolen out of my luggage? No, but I don't think it will be as temperamental & has better print quality.

For the job it's built to do, it's going to perform admirably.

Keep in mind that this is a small travel printer. This printer carries convenience. If you are looking for a small printer to use as a primary, then this is not the one to purchase. However, if you are looking to be able to print while on the go, then here you go! This printer is wonderful for the job. I own one and I just love it. The wireless function is just the best because when you are on the go, the less wires and other stuff you have to haul around with you the better. My laptops, one HP mini running windows xp that I purchased the printer with and my main laptop, a HP Pavilion Entertainment PC, recognizes the wireless printer without a problem. So does my primary home built monster PC.

I just love this printer.

Its small footprint allows you to take it with you wherever you want to go, along with your tiny mini, and be able to surf the web, print, get everyting you need to get done.....done. It's not fast....but it's not slow either. The quality is good but not fantastic. You can print photos that look OK, but they will not be the same quality that you would get on a larger, faster ink jet printer. It really is not suppose to. Like I mentioned earlier, if you want that kind of quality, then this is not the printer to purchase. If you want to print on the run...then this printer is an excellent choice.