Customer Reviews

HP PhotoSmart 8450 Inkjet Printer

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I picked the 8450 up after my Canon i950 died. I initially set it up in the kitchen so my wife could try it out. It's been 5 days now and the printer is still in the kitchen. With the media card slots and on board photo editing my wife has no need to use a computer. The red-eye removal works better than any software package I have ever used. The photos that print out are extremely close to that of dye-sublimation printers. The only cartridge that runs out the fastest is the Gray cartridge #100. The tri-color #97 and the photo color #99 are still reporting 3/4 full. This is after printing around (40) 4x6 photos and (15) 8.5 x 11 full page prints.

Definately use the HP Glossy paper. I originally printed on the leftover Canon Photo Paper Plus which was impressive. When I tried the HP Glossy paper, I was blown away by the difference. The Canon paper had a yellowish tinge to it which covered up the light pinks and blues, and the flesh tones looked a bit jaundiced. The HP paper brought out the colors as I have never seen before. Absolutely perfect right down to the subtle pinks in the flesh tones.

I purchased an HP8450 over the holidays to produce some photos as gifts. For years I worked in photography, and I consider myself a professional with professional standards. I had actually very seriously considered just getting an HP 7960 printer as they are now clearanced in the US and available for about $150. The 8450 still hovers at a premium price of around $250, though I bought mine on sale for $220. In the past I've owned lower-end HPs, two Epsons which, due to their heads clogging after two months, I vowed never to buy Epson again, despite some excellent output while they're working. The Canon's are supposedly excellent printers, but the models I looked at seemed to be lacking in onboard features and had some ergonomic problems (like "push and click" doors that wouldn't stay closed) that were bothersome enough for me to eliminate them as a choice. HP's former top-of-the-line photo printer, the 7960 has recieved unanimous, excellent reviews and it's now lowered price makes it a very attractive option. But heading down to Staples, I had the chance to lay my eyes on the 8450. It just looked so much more solid than the 7960 that I had to find out if it was going to offer any improvements in photo quality. There are some comparison photos available at Photo-i (an excellent review site based in the UK) showed there was some difference between the two printers http://www.photo-i.co.uk/Reviews/printers/HP%208450/page-3.htm . The 7960 looked a bit over-sharped, resulting in some jaggedness, as compared to the 8450's smooth (and somewhat off-putting) unfocused look. But as the reviewer points out here, these are huge blow-ups. For those who took away the same erroneous impression as I did, let me say that I've never seen crisper images from any photo printer I've owned than the 8450. They are really stunning. The pics from my Canon G2 have never looked better. Certainly better than any photo lab I've recently use (albeit generic services). Any fears of losing sharpness in gaining smoother prints were quickly abated when I began putting the 8450 through its paces. Now, how did the 7960 compare to the 8450? I think that's what's on a lot of people's mind considering which HP, at the moment. Honestly I could only do a rudimentary comparison at Staples, but it was enough to give me that final steer towards the 8450 (although it's superior build had already nudged me towards that precipice). The test anyone can run is using the HPs built-in sample photo -- one of those dreaded flower shots (why do manufacturers always insist on sticking flowers in my face. Are all photographers closet horticulturists?). I ran a printhead cleaning on both machines and then printed out the built-in test photo onto a sheet of HP Premium that had strayed nearby. Even from this little test, the 8450 appeared (to me) to best the 7960 in clarity. The stamin of the orchid was much better defined. All I can attribute this to might be the 8450 being a bit more precise in delivering its ink, resulting in better definition. Both samples looked very good, but the 8450 just shone more realistically. I studied the samples for 10 minutes, trying to give a reason for liking the 8450 print, whereas, at home, my wife picked up the two-side test print and immediately declared the 8450 the winner. Enuf said, I guess. I purchased the 8450 a half hour later. Eight prints later at home, I'm really in love with the printer. It's the FIRST time I haven't had to burn sheet after sheet of paper to get what I see on the screen. Almost true WYSIWYG color printing on my eMac 1.5ghz without any fudging with print settings. I think this is the printer's greatest strength. If you've ever tried getting acurate color from your computer screen to your prints, you know how hard is can be (plus a waste of ink and paper). The HP 8450 is the first printer I've ever owned that does it almost perfectly without any tinkering. It's absolutely simple to turn out a great prints straight out of the box. Great quality, combined with sturdy HP technology. A winning combination.

Side Notes: Inks ARE somewhat expensive. The gray HP 100 (about $25, and nearly impossible to find the cheaper) cartridge only let me print about 13 8x10 prints (and not heavy in black areas) before running out. I'm not very happy with this aspect of the printer. The other tri-colour cartridges have about 60% of their ink left, so be prepared to be buying additional gray cartridges. I really wish Hewlett Packard would put more ink into their supplies, it's not very fair to the consumer. It would cost them a few pennies, instead of multiple dollars for the customer.

It's for this reason I am giving an otherwise excellent product four stars.

Final Note: The HP software that comes with the printer is excellent under Mac OSX. Connectivity and ease is excellent. BUT... the additional HP printing software, namely the printing utility that lets you create "album pages", uses a terrible algorithm when resizing or rotating prints. I'd say you lose about 20% of your print quality; it's terribly noticable. If you want to resize or rotate your prints, you're much better off sticking with iPhoto.

When I first saw this powerhouse printer on the shelves at CompUSA I couldn't believe they had replaced the 7960 printers already, but after further investigation, I found that this new model had some great improvements. Print quality is a bit better than last years models in that the colors seem more vibrant, and accurate to what the camera saw. The print speeds have jumped nicely, and the product itself feels more rugged. HP has thought of everything with this model. They included an Ethernet adapter in the unit to allow me to plug it right into my home network, and simplified the many options in the front of the printer for one touch printing, no PC necessary. The sales rep I spoke with also stated that they have found the new inks to last longer, so I won't be purchasing ink as often. He also said the pictures won't fade for over 100 years. I am very impressing with this printer! It has taking digital imaging to a new level at home.

I have been an HP fan for a long time. I picked up this printer a couple of days ago and so far, I have been very impressed. The Photosmart 8450 is an 8-ink printer just like the Photosmart 7960 which this printer replaces. I have owned a 7960 for over a year now and have been very happy with it. When I saw this model, I wasn't planning on replacing my current printer but the 8450 is network ready, a feature that I could really use. On first impressions, this printer is extremely well built, even more solid than it's predecessor. The photos that I printed off so far have been every bit as good if not better than the 7960 and in less time. The interface is very easy to use and it makes it simple to select multiple prints on a single page. No matter what type of digital camera you have, this printer will be compatible with it. It has card slots for all memory types as well as a PictBridge port for easy printing from a digital camera. I expect this printer will give me the same satisfaction as the one before.

My hubby got this for me for my birthday & I LOVE it!!! It is easy to use, fast & high qaulity. And one of my favorite parts is that the cartriges can be refilled with the refill kits from costco which saves TONS of $! I also love the fact that I can use it even if my computer is turned off.

The only problem I had was when installing the HP photo editing software on my HP computer! But is works fine with out it!

This is a great investment. I have asked people & they can't tell the differnce between the pics I printed, and the ones that I had printed else where! I have saved over $100 in the last 5 months just from printing my own instead of getting prints made at a store!

This printer is great. Photo quality is excellent. Set up and printing are easy - very straight forward. Price of the cartridges are ok - $25 range for each of the 3. Printing from your camera or memory card is a breeze. Editing functions using the LCD are also easy and straight forward. The only real con is the size. It's a bit bulky and takes up a lot of space. If your looking for a quality easy to use photo printer - this is it!

Update: After 2 months use, I have had some minor issues. One was a Microsoft compatibility issue with the printing software. The other the toner "contacts". When replacing cartridges, make sure you clean the contacts in the printer and on the toner cartridge. Still - a great printer and very happy with the quality of the photo's. Just made an 8 x 10 of daughter with Santa that came out great.

I have had this printer for over six months and during that time have printed countless absolutely beautiful photographs. The 8450 has excellent color saturation and resolution on gloss as well as semi-gloss paper. On semi-gloss the resolution is so sharp the pictures take on an almost surrealistic quality.

A few of the really great features of this printer:

>True network printer.
>The card readers on the printer can be used as virtual drives on computers with the printer software installed. This is a really great feature and removes the need to hook your camera or a seperate card reader up to your pc.
>Controls and LCD screen on the printer - no need for a computer at all.
>Optional duplex unit and high capacity paper tray. The duplexer is indespensible for two-sided printing.
>Works equally well with a PC or a Mac.

The 8450 also prints documents quickly and with ease. Haven't had any problems with paper handling or jamming. Documents are crisp, clean and professional looking. I have yet to have one come out smudged or to see the ink bleed like on some other injet printers.

Changing print cartriges and other maintenence is easy. The entire front of the printer lifts up and back, giving you access to the cartidges, rollers and a storage area for the gray/black cartridge that currently is not in use. (Use the gray for pictures, the black for documents.)

The only downside to this printer (if this is one) is it's size. This is a deceptively big printer, and will take up a good deal of real estate on the average desk. Even more reason why the built in nic is so important -- you can place this printer anywhere you have a network drop which gives you the flexibility of moving out the the way and not necessarily near your computer. Obviously, a network printer is much easier to share between multiple computers as well.

This is by far the best inkjet printer I have ever owned, and I cannot recommend this unit highly enough. There may be others out there that are as good, but none better. HP got everything right with this one.

The HP Photosmart 8450 is so easy to use a child could figure it out. Within 10 minutes of removing it from the box I was printing pictures of outstanding quality. I must admit this is the first photo copier I have ever owned, but I am really pleased with it so far. The editing features are easy to use. There's no need to even hook it up to a computer, everything can be done with the LED screen and your memory card. The only thing I don't like about the printer is it's size. It's quite a bit larger than the Canon I was looking at. Other than that I am thrilled with it and plan on giving it as a Christmas gift to my daughter-in-law.

I just got this printer 3 days ago. It started out great, I was printing pictures out of my digital camera and the printer does a good job with that. Here is my problem with this printer - I went from a HP DeskJet printer where I can print regular items: envelopes, letterhead, etc. I have a printing program (Printmaster) where I have letterheads, envelopes, cards, stuff like that saved and for some reason this printer's software has caused the margins to shrink quite a bit. It completely changed how all of my projects look so that I will have to fix them so that they look like they are supposed to. My real problem is this: printing envelopes - I can't get this printer to print envelopes. It talks about changing a setting to No. 10 envelope, but it doesn't change anything. All that setting did was make it so that the printer would accept No. 10 envelopes. It doesn't print anything. I was looking for an upgrade that included using my digital camera to print out 4x6" pictures, but this is not it. If you are just looking for a large machine to print pictures this is what you need. If you are looking for a printer that not only prints beautiful pictures, but also does the day to day stuff I don't recommend it.

This printer is so easy to use. It prints the best photos any size you want. You can print 4x6 using the paper tray, or you can print any other size you want on 8 1/2 x 11 paper. You can choose the format you want to use and it show you everything you do without using your PC. The quality is the best yet! The consumables cost much less than Epson!