Customer Reviews

HP PhotoSmart 7260 Inkjet Printer (Q3005A)

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

 

 

I love this printer!
I purchased it two months ago and I have already printed out more than 700 photos on it.

Assembly: I found the assembly very easy. HP provides you with a simple set of instructions that make sense.

Photo transfer to computer: HP's sofware is user friendly. The transfer of photos is very fast.

Printing: HP provides you with a number of options-quick prints, different sizes, album pages-all of which work. The speed depends on your computer to a certain degree. Mine come relatively quickly.

Support: HP support is friendly and on top of everything. At one point, I was using the wrong type of paper and my photos were blurry. I called them, they identified the problem almost immediately, and they didn't call me stupid!

Quality: Everyone has commented on the high quality of my photos. I am a camera buff and I frame my photos from my trips around my home. I can't tell the difference between these photos and the finest labs.

I received this printer On October 7, 2004. Initial results on my photo quality labels was impressive. But it didn't last. Soon the printer had problems pulling the paper into the printer and then alignment on my labels was off. Yesterday I printed some checks on cheque paper and the printing was not well aligned, i.e. crooked. I hope to return this item.

After going through so many bad printers within a year (hp 3420 & 3320) I use this photo smart printer mainly for photos which does an exceptional job. However, if you are going to use the color ink and photo ink together, avoid printing any black and white documents, it will take forever and prints in an off-black color. For me this is minor, you would expect that if you don't use a black cartridge in most photo printers. I have seperate printer for document printing.

I also have this printer for over a year and so far no problems, it does not "gulp" ink or give me much paper jams. You will be satisfied for the price you pay, reasonable fast borderless printing with professional quality and great card reader features. I highly recommend.

The Photosmart 7260 is a fabulous printer when it comes to print quality. When using the correct paper (I use the HP Premium Plus) you can get true photograph quality prints from your digital images. I really couldn't ask for better quality from that standpoint. The downside: I managed to get about 150 photos out of this printer before it decided to break on me. The mechanical gearing inside is loud and now gives me the most of my troubles. Often, the cartridges get stuck/jammed and a reset is required. Most recently, the printer color has gone bad and the printer prints images much more red than they should be and I have not been able to fix this even with the help of HP. The price is right, but with the troubles I've had over a year of ownership, I would consider other printers before this one.

I had a problem with the paper jamming on me also, until I realized it was a user malfunction, not the printer's fault. Now I have no problems with the printer at all. I haven't used it that much so far, but it does very well when I do use it.

If I was a company selling products like this I would get very frustrated at simple, impatient consumers blaming their problems on the product when a lot of the times it is simply user error.

Also, if one looks at the specs for this printer you would see it is not meant for heavy use. Says 1000 pages per month. We also have a 5550, not a photo printer as it has no memory card slots, but prints faster at the same resolution and is meant to be used up to 5000 pages per month.

The photosmart 7260 is a much quieter printer, and jerks around much less also. So far I'm happy with it. HP printers print heads are built into the ink cartridges, so if you have a problem with the print head you just have to replace the cartridge. I believe HP is the only brand that can make that claim, which may very well save you some money in the long run also.

This is one of the loudest printer I have ever bought. I bought this printer because it was a photo printer and I needed one. This printer is so loud. This printer also gets the paper jamed. I bought a Epson C84 inkjet printer and it is so quiet and fast. I recommend the Epson Stylus C84 instead of the Hp 7260 printer.

I've had the HP Photosmart 7260 for about one year and have experienced similar problems: Cradle sticking, Paper jamming, etc. Envelopes never print straight.
Last night the printer decided to no longer accept the ink cartridges (which are new) and the cradle is stuck. I expect a printer to last longer than this and was dissapointed given the repuation of HP.
This wouldn't be such a problem, but I operate a small home business relying on this printer and this is more than inconvenient. I wish these corporations could stand behind a product.

I've found this printer to be, overall, annoying and frustrating. The paper tray will not hold a large amount of paper, necessitating frequent refills. Print quality is decent, but banding appears when printing some pictures.

The HP software included with the printer is awful. It runs three (3) programs in the background, when only one would suffice. When ink is low, it is curteous enough to remind you to refill it EVERY SINGLE TIME you start the computer or attempt to print something. Turning the printer on and off is a hassle, as the button will only respond if the printer is not busy; this means that everytime it's locked up or confused (by no means a rare occasion), you must unplug the printer to reset it. Plugging it back in will automatically cause the printer to turn back on, whether you want it to or not. Turning the printer on means that the ink writer inside must move around pointlessly for a few minutes before you can print. If the printer happens to be folded up (one of the best features for those of us with small desks) and automatically turns on, the writer will bang up against the paper tray until you unfold it, as it isn't intelligent enough to sense when the tray is folded up inside.

I've had problems such as these with every HP I've had. Next time I'm going with a different brand.

I have owned the 7260 for roughly 2 years, I use it as the primary photo printer for my photography business and have not had the experience that everyone else seems to be having. I think the main problem is that people are purching the 7260 for use as a document printer, which it is not. The name is very descriptive of the printer's primary function: PHOTOsmart. I have a second printer (HP deskjet 3850) for dedicated document printing. I have printed hundreds of pages with this printer with very few problems.

The only trouble I have had is that the 7260 isn't recognized when plugged into my new workstation (a Compaq SR1630NX). I have to force it to recognize it using brute force and ignorance, but am able to get it to work.

I bought the 7200 about 6 months ago, and as I'm used to work heavily with my computer and the printer, so I can say I know a bit of writing reviews about it. And I have to say, I'd not buy other printer for a long time. The user guide is perfect, it prints very nicely, and its very light. Now I'm printing photos, and the results were very satisfying too. I recommend it.