Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 51-55 of 190
 Hardware very good, Software very poor June 12, 2008
Roger G. Brown (Mission Viejo, CA USA)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I purchased the C7280 to replaace an aging Epson scanner and a HP printer. I was always happy with the printer but as all things do it wore out. I am pleased with the hardware of the all-in-one, in fact I seemed to be excellent. However, the software downloaded off the internet from HP's site, Solution Center V10.0 was a disaster on my XP machine. Not only did several functions work very poorly (for instance, after scanning a document from the Solution Center and completing the operation the only way to scan another document is to close the Solution Center and reopen it because the Scan buttons are grayed out) but the worst thing was that with the HP Photosmart software installed on the machine it prevented me from being able to install some but not all unrelated products on my machine such as Photoshop Essentials 2.0.
I had a professional IT person spend 8+ hours trying to solve the install Photoshop program with no success. The next day I decided to return the HP C7280 to Amazon, uninstalled the Solution Center software and low and behold the Photoshop sovtware and an old copy of Clarisworks that also would not install now installed without a hitch.
I conclusion HP has done a diservice to it's customers by letting such imature software out of the house.
PS. I also have a Vista machine and did not seem to have the installation of Photoshop problems on it.
 A Terrific Value August 13, 2008
Boogaloo
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Because our Canon MP830 all-in-one has not been trouble free (required store warranty replacement), our new HP C7280 gets five stars for an outstanding value at $200 street, while meeting slightly different goals as a backup to our office needs.
Users seem to either love it or hate it. I'm in the 'love it' category, while those who hate it have good reasons. With the help of other reviewers, I've avoided the pitfalls and made my own discovery that the HP hardware is probably not the problem child. It works well with our combination XP and Vista machines in a wired/wireless home office network with the printer operating quite well under wireless, a major attraction.
One review says 'dump the install CD' and I wholeheartedly agree, just to avoid the chance it contains older problem drivers. Go to HP dot com instead and pull down the current FULL 198MB (!!!) package. For multiple machines, it's helpful to burn the zip package to CD to enable simultaneous installs in your network. Per machine, installation takes some time, so running it all simultaneously is helpful. When it gets toward final setup, handle it machine by machine to confirm success with each PC, separately.
Use CUSTOM install every time the option appears. This will prevent a lot of annoying HP bloatware from clogging your PC to include resource hogging and unnecessary system tray tasks eating your CPU. Deselect everything EXCEPT:
HP Photosmart Driver Software (greyed out to prevent deselect)
HP Imaging Device Functions
HP Solution Center
These three options are needed to get all printer features. Nothing else is required. I personally dislike Photosmart Essentials, suggest avoiding it, but that's up to you and won't otherwise cause problems. Definitely avoid all the other optional baggage in the install.
Our goal was multi-faceted and this printer met them all:
1. Very good photo print. My wife likes to print from memory card (yuk!) whereas I prefer editing software. CR says about 40 cents for a 4x6, which means you won't want to do this in bulk. But for instant gratification, it's very good! The Canon option we checked was the same cost. My wife also likes the dual paper and photo trays placed in the front. She does not like the Canon's rear mounted second tray.
2. I wanted auto-duplex printing. The HP software lets you set up all KINDS of user preferred setups, easily selectable at print time. Like it!
3. I really wanted a wireless connection, but was spooked by so many user complaints about the printer's wireless feature. Even a popular store rep said it didn't really have wireless, despite the 802.11g logo, because it doesn't have a rubber ducky antenna. Aw, c'mon. It works great and I have some thoughts about what's going on.
4. The Fax feature and auto document feeder came along for the ride. Both work well and the fax functions have proven superior to the Canon when sharing a single phone line with ADSL (fax line filter required), an answering machine and the printer. It works!! The Canon setup has NOT worked. As a result, my wife is eyeing 'my' HP and I see a fight on the horizon. This is the first time in memory I believe I know 'what' she is thinking and 'why' she is thinking it. Not good.
User and Review Complaints
Wireless Networking - It works great for us, but my Cisco/Linksys router is naughty. During install, one XP machine failed to 'see' the printer. At that moment, I noted the router had, on its own, turned OFF its wireless function requiring a ROUTER reset. I gave the whole system a 'smoke' test with a 31mb TIF file scan and that failed to make it through. The printer software reported the failure and I have NEVER been able to send that size file or file group to any destination without the Linksys router 'choking' on the size. The next day, a small print failed for the same reason ... the router shut off its WLAN feature. So, some folks could well be experiencing 'router rash' thinking the fault is the printer. Many report recycling the printer restores wireless, therefore it must be printer fault, but I'm betting recycling the router will do the same thing. When the router WLAN is active, the printer runs like it should.
Text Print - some editors pan the HP as less than desireable, but I would not be embarrassed to mail a formal letter printed in fast-draft mode. It's quite adequate. This is not a laser printer. I suspect really cheap 20# paper can be an issue with the feeders and print quality, which is why I use decent 24# stuff with no problems.
Noise - the paper feed and auto-document feeder are noisier than typical with the ADF winning and the print carriage whining a little. Folks sensitive to noise might not like it, but I haven't found it objectionable. If you are sensitive to noise, well .... Some users report the printer going through lots of 'bump and grind' preparation routines ... my copy doesn't seem to do that, unreasonably.
Printer Shaking - Don't put this puppy on a flimsy, bouncy surface. It needs to go onto something firm. Especially in fast-draft mode, the fast moving print mechanism DOES develop momentum that becomes shake. It becomes less in higher quality print modes. On a good surface, it's not a problem and probably gets better if placed on top of something like a blotter pad cut to fit to dampen it even more, but I don't feel the need.
Bottom line - this printer is proving to be an excellent, nicely performing value for the money. I'm going to have to secretly bolt it down to keep my wife from moving it to her desk.
WIRELESS UPDATE - Dropped connections are not the printer's fault in our install. It's a combination of Windows (Vista in particular) and/or router rash. Vista drops the connection when it hibernates, requiring a Vista reboot. My two XP machines are holding the printer connection via wired and wireless without any trouble over days for two likely reasons ...
1. Installed a new Netgear router, providing compressed 108MB 802.11g wireless connects and it is not dropping connections like the Cisco-Linksys router. Nor does it choke on large files.
2. I use a 3rd party network managing program to overcome Vista's dislike of networks. It may be helping to hold the IP address registrations.
3. My sense is assigning a static IP to the printer does help to avoid rediscovery problems.
Works great with both Mac & PC.. But get updates first September 13, 2008
Mohammad Ali (Kuwait)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
It worked very well for me.
I am using it with Mac & Windows & no trouble with either and it is doing all the functions I need wireless, However there are two issues to consider seriously:
1. Make sure your operating system (Win or Mac) is updated & has all the fixes.
2. Do not install the driver from the CD that came with the product as the available driver from HP.COM is the latest & will consequently serve you better.
And last but not least, while hp offer you a basic "get you there" driver, if you want to enjoy wireless scanning & other features, I suggest installing the full package.
Finally about Color printing:
I read some inaccurate reviews about colors coming out wrong etc.
Color matching is an issue far from simple & before one blames the devices, one should check a number of much relevant factors.
An image that appears beautifully on my desktop's top-of-range monitor looks really sad on my laptop and looks further different on this printer and the simple reason is profiling in addition to hardware capability.
To explain this, I have a 7900 series photosmart in addition to this printer, I have used a profilig device (iphoto one) to calibrate both my monitor and the 7900 printer and as a result, what I see on the monitor is what I get out of the 7900 printer as when I want to print, I tell my editing software to keep these profiles in mind.
Using the same computer to print the same image on the 7280 gives me a very different result as I have not profiled the 7280 yet.
Setting a standard for the computer, monitor, printer is key to getting accurate results when it comes to getting accurate colors granted that your toners & everything else are healthy.
 HP 7200 Series All-in-One Printer November 1, 2007
Richard Delgado
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
As would be expected, this printer from HP works exceptionally well. It has great print quality, both black and color, and looks good too. I recommend this printer.
Rick
Engineering PhD required November 29, 2007
A. Dietrich (D.C.)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'll keep this brief. Machine doesn't work when on a VPN. Machine works very intermittantely on a network. I have had varying degrees of success regarding printing, scanning, faxing, and copying. Faxing and copying have the best success ration at 100%. Anything that involves machine to computer communication works very poorly and intermittantly. I have spent hours on the phone trying to troubleshoot with HP. Calls are handled out of India, but the technicians seem knowledgeable.
Be cautious when considering. You've been warned.
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