Customer Reviews

HP OfficeJet 7310 All-in-One Printer

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(38)

 

 

My "real" rating would probably be 4.5 stars out of 5, but since I can't do that, I'll round up.

When my old printer died, I decided to look into an all-in-one since my scanner was getting up there in age and I had begun to notice how convenient having a fax machine in the house would be. I also wanted built-in two-sided printing (since I'd been spoiled with that feature on my last printer), and good print quality (especially photos). I also thought it would be nice to have each color in separate ink tanks so I wouldn't have to replace anything more than what I had used. With this printer I got everything I wanted except for the separate ink tanks.

I've been very impressed with the scan quality and copy quality. I have sent and received faxes with absolutely no problems. I've printed pages of great looking sharp text and impressive looking photos just using the default black and tri-color cartridges (i.e., without putting in the optional photo cartridge). The color LCD and the menu system it uses is great and easy to navigate.

If you're trying to decide between this printer and the 7410, I did some research and emailed HP to confirm what exactly the differences are. The only differences are:
1) The 7410 comes with the extra 250-sheet tray that attaches to the bottom of the printer and adds an extra inch or two to the total height of the printer.
2) On the machine itself, the 7410 has a 'collate' button and an option to collate within the 'copy' menu. HP also calls this 'reverse order printing' and they say it can be activated on the 7310 through the driver (although I have not done it). The same button on the 7310 is 'Lighter/Darker' and the 'collate' option is not in the copy menu.
3) While both printers have built in networking, only the 7410 has built-in wireless networking. This was not an issue for me since I already have a wireless router and I just ran an ethernet cable from my router to the printer. Now any computer that connects to the wireless router is able to print to the printer without having to go through another computer. The printer is basically its own device on the network and relies on nothing other than its network connection (i.e., no usb cables connected). If I had the 7410, the only difference is that I wouldn't have the ethernet cable coming from the router, but the functionality is the same.

I had no problems actually installing the software on any of our computers and have no problems using or accessing the printer from any computer on the network ("accessing" includes accessing any flash card in the media slots). There was a little complication with the software upsetting XP's Data Execution Prevention (DEP), but there is an update on HP's website that took care of that pretty easily.

My complaints:
- If you don't pull out the tray extender, anything you print will fall on the floor. This is kind of annoying if I'm printing from my laptop downstairs, go up to retrieve my print job, and find it all over the floor. Simple solution: If you just leave it pulled out (but not 'flipped' all the way out) it will still catch pretty much everything without having to deal with the thing jutting too far into space.
- As I mentioned before, I wish HP's ink cartridge system was different so that each ink color had its own cartridge that could be replaced as the individual color ran out. On a related note, I wish I could leave the photo cartridge in without having to swap out the black cartridge.

This is a great printer that is the first all-in-one that I have used that could perform all of its many functions really well. It is a little on the expensive side, but you get what you pay for. I have never regretted buying this printer.

We can all hope that software updates will eventually catch up because this is really a nice piece of hardware. The software when working is actually pretty solid, the problem of getting it to work of course exists. Plus it simply is way too bloated for what it does.

Below are some of the headaches I experienced getting to a workable environment with mulitple 2000/XP PCs and a network connection...

- No "Custom" install option. Not only is the full install huge - but there is no ability to pick and choose the various sub components. (e.g. I don't need OCR, but if I want to use Image Zone to print photos - I get it)

- Installer is slow and the multiple progress bars really don't illustrate "progress". Added annoyance of a bitrate field. Do I really care how fast my CD ROM drive is reading? Rather than adding this excess to the installer I would have appreciated better status from the actual software.

- Uninstaller doesn't even seem to know where it put its files. Rather than quickly deleting files and unregistering components, the installer does a full hard drive scan looking for files. This can take a really long time if you have a large harddrive with a lot of directories.

- The printer has a nice little web interface that allows you to do some basic configuration options. It even allows you to do some scanning to PDF via your browser. This interface could clearly be enhanced to provide resolution/color options as well as handle multi page scanning. It would also be nice to be able to browse the memory card files using this interface - this would allow several of the features to be used without intstalling any client sofware.

- Multi page scanning. One of the primary reasons I bought this computer was the sheet fed scanner feature over the network. I was almost completely disappointed on this front as all initial scanning attempts seem to be 1 page at a time - the manual even has a subtle implication here by specifically stating put documents on the glass top. Clearly the HP client software was written for use with a single sheet scanner as there are no software driven options available to the user to scan a stack of pages. FORTUNATELY - the printer is aware of its features. By using the "SCAN TO" option from the printer control panel you can initiate multi-page scanning and direct the results to go any PC running the client software package. This isn't too big of a drawback as you have to walk to the printer to put the pages to be scanned in anyway, although it still is a little frustrating that the software can't control all the capabilities.

- The installs worked perfectly on Windows 2000, but I encountered random scanning ability in Windows XP (NOTE: I wasn't at SP2 yet on this machine which may be related).

- Despite 700 megs of software, the imaging director software doesn't gracefully reconnect when the printer is taken offline or provide much in the way of status. It clearly was written assuming a USB connection and they hacked in the network capability. The result is the software often can hang and needs to be restarted if you power down the printer. This is particular problematic with a laptop where the printer isn't necessarily offline - but the laptop may not be on the network.

Ok - enough with the bad - I am after all keeping the printer. I found the solution to most of my problems...

HP offers a "HP Basic Feature software/driver" download from their support website. This is a software install designed for corporate network usage (~40MB). A simple command line setup call with your printer IP address and it puts the printer driver, TWAIN scanning driver, and network drive for card access on your PC - nothing more. Everything worked well in this mode and even handled power resets on the printer almost immediately. Too bad the boated client software doesn't use this same code base. With this setup you don't have the full blown Image Zone manipulation software or the Send To integration (see above), but you do have a solid network scanner/printer available. I have one full installation workstation and use this smaller client for all the other workstations.

I was looking for a multifunction device that could be both a home office printer and a network printer for other computers in the house, and this product from HP had more of the features I was seeking than any other I found. Unfortunately, it has been a chore to get it to work, and the first unit I received had to be exchanged because of a hardware problem. The good news is that HP tech support is generally pretty good at diagnosing and addressing these kinds of problems, but the bad news is that it is a real time sink to go through something like this. And still, if I do the 'typical' install of drivers and software, the process destroys my desktop's network drivers (apparently as it automatically uninstalls a scanning program that goes with my old HP Scanjet). If it all worked, it would be awesome, and the parts that do work are pretty neat. But they still need to get the bugs out of this, and I'm feeling like I was a little too quick to jump on this new product.

The sheet feeder on my machine was bad.
HP explained that the feeder (identified by its serial number) was from a bad lot.
They sent a replacement machine.
The sheet feeder failed on this one also.
HP explained that the feeder (identified by its serial number) was from the same bad lot.

There is something wrong here.

If you want a solid, reliable, full featured all-in-one for your home or small office, this is it. It prints fast and sharp, uses less ink than most, and scans well.

BUT - don't even begin to load the included software. It will crash and freeze your computer, and require countless hours to remove. It's a nightmare, and even HP tech support acknowledges that the software is unstable. If you're running a bare-bones system, you might have some success. But for most people, the included HP software will conflict with every other software and system component you own.

THE SOLUTION - go to hp.com, and download the BASIC FEATURE driver for the 7310. If you're going to network your printer (connecting it through your router or print server) BE SURE to download the network version. ONLY USE INTERNET EXPLORER for the download. It's also buggy with Firefox. And finally - turn off your FIREWALL during the install. The HP software is not good at detecting and working with firewalls. You can turn it back on cleanly after the install.

After learning all this the hard way, I just set up two PCs and one Mac all networked (it's even a mixed wired AND wireless network) to the 7310 seamlessly in 25 minutes. And it only took me 10 hours to learn. That said, now I'm relieved and happy. Hope this saves someone else a lot of headaches.

Still not convinced? MANY reviewers here complain about the software problems, and just live with them or give up. After loading the included (276Meg!) software, our system performance degraded by 20%, the software crashed daily, and boot times increased my minutes. Couldn't tolerate, so had to remove the software. That's when the work started, and you'll spend hours picking this stuff line by line out of your computer. HP tech support will tell you you're in trouble removing this. And you won't be able to load the BASIC version until the included version is weeded out. Seriously, don't even start this nightmare.

BECAUSE NOW, running th BASIC (just 34meg) version, printing literally starts the moment we hit "print" on any computer. THAT'S FAST! Had a lot of printers, and none of them so quick. Boots fast, runs stable, and prints almost immediately. You'll like it too.

I have owned this printer/scanner for more than a year. During that time, it was the source of endless frustration. First, the sparse positive is that it does as it advertises:

It scans.
It prints.
It faxes.
It makes copies.

However, every single thing it does, if it accomplishes it at all, has major caveats, including some that are so mind-numbingly frustrating, I could only recommend it to my enemies.

The software is nightmarish and like most other HP products, is never updated. It has a well-documented bug which causes machines to freeze on suspend, but while documented, it has never been fixed. The solution is to disable the software, or give up the ability to have your machine go to stand by.

Even if you keep the software, it fights you every step of the way. God knows what it's doing, but when it's running, it chews up about 5% or more of processor time by itself, while the machine is idle and the software is NOT in use.

All the software foibles aside, the machine itself manages a so-so fax, poor quality scans which are barely adequate for copying a document, but do no justice to a photo. The automatic document feeder jams with regularity and its use is actually slower than just feeding the documents yourself, because you are forced to clear jams constantly, and the way the document feeder works, the scans themselves often smear and distort. It is a uselessly broken feature.

The print quality is just average, or below average, and is slow.

But the reason I am ready to bury this thing is as follows: every couple of months, whether or not you use the ink cartridges, it will demand a new cartridge with a vague "cartridge error". I don't know if this is intentionally to force the user to buy new catridges, or if over time, the cartridges themselves clog up and must be replaced, but most recently, a new cartridge with *3* pages of print went belly-up after 2 months.

And here's the clincher: you can't use ANY other function until you replace the cartridge. How's that for holding you hostage? Spend $40-$50 on a new cartridge which you haven't really used or forget about sending that fax, or making that scan.

Avoid this unit. I have also used the 7410, which is no better. If you MUST have an all-in-one, I advise you look elsewhere.

This is the most expensive paperweight I have ever bought, but will be the most satisfying piece of trash I will ever throw away.

I returned my HP 6110 multifunctional printer to get this. Ha!! what a difference. Software setup is a breeze. It automatically uninstalled my old Hp drivers. I connected to the printer to the network router directly and installed the software . The software automatically picked up the location of the printer and the router seemlessly gave it an IP address. I installed on two desktops (3 and 4yr old runninb XP pro)and a laptop---no problem!!!

The best I liked about this machine is, I can put a compact flash card in the printer and access it from any computer. Even better, I setup the HP instant share and now I send my pictures to all my family and friends without having to download the pics to a computer. Seting up HP instant share takes time, however it is worth the time. Now I put the card in the printer, select the pics I want to share, select a destination (a group of email addresses that have to be setup with HP instant share) and hit send.

Print and scan quality are same as any high end HP printer/photo printer.

If you have a two-line phone system and a two-line answering machine, then this printer is not going to work for you if you need the fax feature. You don't learn this until you start to have problems. Then you read that the supplied telephone cable is a 2-wire cable and that your answering machine must be connected to the printer.

Considering the printer is called an "OfficeJet", it's not very office friendly! I am amazed! What were they thinking when they designed this product?

After using the printer for about five months, I guess it's time for me to write a review about my dear all-in-one. I will spare the details and give you an over-view.

First of all, we use this in a home-office environment. While we do print a quite a bit of stuff here and there, I am not sure how durable / efficient this unit will be if one is to print 100+ pages on a daily basis

- The hardware & console interface is great. All the basic copying, faxing functionality can be easily done, computer-free from the on-board panel in a clear, organized fashion. I want to get a lot done without booting up my PC and this unit does it well. This is great for guest and kids.
- We got a defective document feeder out of the box, and had to make couple calls to the customer service to get them to ship us a new one. While the customer service is not ideal, it is less painful than most
- Another reason we got this machine is the build-in networking. You can print to this machine any time you want without a computer. Since this thing have 64 MB of memory, you don't bump into any reset/buffer issue that some of the cheap print servers have.
- This brings us to the wireless/wire networking issue.... Chances are, if you have a wireless networking hub out there, you can free up one of the hardwire ports for your printer... Unless you can't stand the sight of a wire, and are willing to pay another extra $100 for it - you can't really take advantage of the build-in wireless network by moving this ~20 LB unit around.
- To be honest, today's inkjet printing and scanning technology is a bit beyond what the average homeowner needs, but this unit can do it! (and fast!) While this may not be the unit with the best print quality analytically speaking, it is up there. Sometimes, the difference is the specialty paper that one would be willing to spend money on.
- Read your manuals! Yes, this machine have a lots of functionality, and if you try to set it all up by your intuition - that's not going to happen. It took us a few try to figure out how the fax functionality works with our answer machine.
- Now the software - I hope that HP will come up with a better software update. Yes, it's big, ugly, and not very user-friendly - in spite of the cutesy, family friendly looking graphics. I tolerate it and it does get things done, but it is definitely the weakest part of the package. Come to think of it, the software also added extra seconds to boot up my computer for a boatload of stuff to initialize; I will have to look into this.
- Bottom line is, if you never fiddle around with your router's setting or never dare to touch your computer's control panel, I understand why one would have problem setting up this unit, so grab a friend to help you out if you are not tech savvy. It does take a bit of time to set things up the way you wanted, but the result / space saving is definitely worth it

I purchased this from Amazon in mid December. The printer as a whole is excellent. It will print, scan, or fax anything you can throw at it. Duplex (both sides) printing and scanning is great.

Overall, printer is worth it just for its stand alone features such as color copying, color faxings, and automatic sheet feeder. The included software leaves alot to be desired, and the software install is huge (700 megs!) and takes forever to install.

I Recommend.

UPDATED January, 20, 2006

I have been using this printer for months now and I am very pleased with it. As some have pointed out the auto document feeder makes some noise, yes, but its noise required to do its job! The scan speed is admirable for the price of machine. To get a faster automatic duplex scanner, you would have to spend near $500 for a SCANNER alone. The duplex printing is awesome.

I have only found one major software related problem, and that is with Adobe Acrobat 6. When you scan a large amount of paper, either single or double sided, Acrobat will only show the first page. Its a bug in Acrobat. I have talked to their people, and they fully admit it. The only solution is to use either Acrobat 5 or 7.

Ink consumption is good for an inkjet. It uses less than my HP DeskJet 5550.

I STILL highly recommend this machine!

UPDATED 10/30/2006

Had this printer for almost two years now, and other than paper and ink being replaced, I haven't had any problems. I scan weekly, using the duplex feature, which is great. The network feature is great, as I have about half a dozen machines printing to it, and each can scan, fax, do whatever, indepenently.