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78 of 84 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Think twice before buying, November 25, 2005
The K550 is a close cousin to the 2230 which it replaced (at least in my home) and the 2000C and 855C before that (both of which I owned and used for several years each). The 2000C still is my favorite -- best built and by far the most economical with ink. The 2000C got twice as many pages per cartridge as the 2230 which followed, and if initial results are an indicator, the 2230 gets nearly 2X pages/cartridge as the 2230. There's clearly a trend, and its heading south. I paid $210 for the printer, and 100 double-sided brochures later (one run), I just placed two orders for replacement ink cartridges totaling $200. Ka Ching! Music to HP's ears. (Amazon's not competitive on the ink cartridges, by the way.)
On the plus side, the form factor is improved -- same width as the 2230, but not as deep. Much better looking, if you care. Easier loading of ink cartridges, and easier-to-read individual LEDs over each cartridge rather than the hard-to-read LCD display of the 2230. (There's a reason HP wanted to make changing cartridges quicker and easier.) The tray holds more paper (100 sheets of blank brochure paper, about 92 pages after one side has been printed.) Flimsy tray, though.
Paper feed is improved. The whole machine operates much quieter than the 2000C or 2230.
Do the pluses make up for the minuses? Not for me. To date, it appears that I'll get 1/4 the page count per cartridge as my 2000C. However, 20% of the ink was gone after the heads were initially charged, so it's a bit difficult to know for sure. I've kept a spreadsheet of ink usage since the 2000C, and I print primarily one 2-sided brochure, so even though my evaluation is based on 8-10 years of printer ownership, my printing application has been quite consistent.
Print quality is better than earlier HPs, but not stunningly so. I've printed one 4x6 print, and it's not as good as an Epson R800 or PhotoStylus 2000 or 2200 (own them). Print speed definitely is faster, at least 2X over the 2230 and 4X over the 2000C for my brochure (matte brochure, normal print settings).
Print driver is less intuitive and user-friendly than the 2230, in my opinion. The software wizards at HP still can't manage to deliver a print driver that will cancel out a print job. Same as with the 2230 and 2000. Why doesn't HP ask us users for what we'd like to see in a printer driver? The printer appears to clean and recharge the heads as unnecessarily frequent as before (on job cancel for example). My opinion of HP's ability to design a print driver isn't fit to print.
Bottom line: what can your pocketbook afford for consumables? I made a mistake I shouldn't have made -- I believed HP's hype that the K550 was an advancement over the previous printer series in terms of lowered ink consumption and cost. Carla Fiorina may be gone, but her legacy lives on. You'd think after three previous HPs of the same series, I'd learn to be wary, but I thought, maybe just maybe this time ... Just like Charlie Brown punting the football, with Lucy the placeholder.
This printer could be just right for you, but so far I'm disappointed.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a former HPer's review, February 10, 2006
I have always been a big advocate of HP printers, as having worked in the printer division, I saw the quality produced (5 years ago perspective).
I was very excited in getting the new K550, as I have business needs that this printer should fulfill. Plus, a collegue at HP gave it big reviews.
However, there are 2 things I'm finding frustrating.
1) The printer driver on the CD-ROM and HP website (FULL VERSION- 150 MB size) was acting like a VIRUS on my PC! I uninstalled the driver, and reinstalled, and the same issue took place- taking 95% of my computer resources! So I loaded the MINIMUM VERSION- 100 MB size) and the driver seems to work fine, however I do see a few items missing in the driver display that were in the full version.
However, at least my PC is working again!
2) The paper pick-up feeder is grabbing 2 pages at a time, and in other times is blasting pages through without printing. (The latter may be a function of MS Word)
Due to this, I find myself praying each time that I send a document to the printer to print!!!! Why should I wonder if it will print properly!
I hope there is a fix to the driver issue and and maybe the pickup problem.
At least that's my perspective,
A former HP'er
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
An Inconvenient Truth, September 10, 2006
I only have my experience to share: out of the box, my K550 came with a defective black/yellow printhead. This printer, unlike the vast majority, uses separate printheads and ink cartridges. The theory goes that the printheads last far longer than the ink cartridges, and it should save the end user money by only replacing ink.
However, when you start with a bad printhead, you might just be out of luck. In addition, it is very difficult to find a local store that carries such an item in stock, without hunting it down. Major electronics and office supply retailers have told me that it is only available online, which is rather inconvenient if you consider the necessity of keeping basic printing in the office going.
I had a bad customer support experience with the company that manufactures this printer which included a non-English automated (yet good ol' fashioned) hang up after twenty minutes, and then another twenty minutes on hold with a real life person. Finally the online version of support was slow but friendly though ultimately unable to help.
Therefore, I cannot recommend this printer out of my own experience, as the defective black/yellow printhead, lack of local availability for parts, and poor customer service made for quite a poor (albeit shortlived) experience.
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