HP PhotoSmart 7260 > Reviews > HP Photosmart 7260 Inkjet Printer Review

Author's product rating:   

Picture quality	Excellent
Printing speed	Fast
Colour sensitivity	Excellent
Ease of use	Awkward
Value For Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Small, Card Readers, Nice prints, Good Value
Disadvantages:	Paper jams, Lack of borderless A4 printing, costly cartridges

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Summary: Fast, Quiet, Small, Fantastic print quality with card readers but prone to printer jams, flimsy and Expensive to Run. Recommended!

Having seen HP's DeskJet 5150 recommended, I thought I'd check out the opposition, and found the new Photosmart 7260 uses the same print cartridges as its popular big brother. So I figured, same running costs, same print quality. Not having tried a 5150, I can't test my theory, but I can say I'm delighted with the print quality both for text and photos. This is much better than my old Lexmark 7200, and colours are more vibrant than the Canon i450, which I also tried. And for the same price as the 5150, you get card readers, and a smaller package. So I bought it as a general-purpose printer.

On the downside the construction is a little flimsy, and the in-tray will only take 100 sheets of A4. And you'll have to replace this with a specially supplied tray to print 15x10cm photos. But this is not a printer intending for printing off realms of text. However, I would recommend anyone using it for anything other than only photos to buy a black ink cartridge (£15/€24) to replace the supplied photo one to keep costs under control.

Installation was easy under XP, and did not require a reboot. However, it did not prompt me to calibrate the device (align the print heads) when installing print cartridges either on screen or in the otherwise useful Set-up Guide. Printer drivers are good, and include a preview option, printing multiple pages per sheet and a range of digital photography filters.

The Photosmart 7260 feeds smoothly and prints quietly, except in the fast draft mode. It detects mis-fed paper well, despite the build quality feeling rather flimsy. Whether its construction will stand the test of time (and toddlers) remains to be seen.

The card reader allows you to print pictures directly from any format card (except PCMCIA) or transfer them to your PC. However the additional USB port is a USB-B, so another special cable or adapter is needed to connect to your camera. So I have not tried to print directly from my Canon camera, but this function is only intended for HP cameras. And like many printers, it does not come with a USB cable.

The main drawback compared to some models is the inability to produce borderless A4 prints. Even 15x10cm photos require special paper with a 'tab'. And then there are the running costs...

It is based on the same ink cartridges as the popular HP5150, so printing costs should be similar, although I haven't calculated mine yet. I have seen figures for the 5150 of 3.1p (4.5c) per mono page, and 9.4p (13c) per colour page. It claims to produce 125 photos (10x15cm) from a photo cartridge, but presumably this would also use a colour cartridge up. This would put the ink costs at 34p (48c) per photo. Compatible and remanufactured cartridges are obtainable, but still quite hard to find, and nearly as expensive as original HP ones. And I've not tried refilling the cartridges yet. But you've got to try to deprive the printer manufacturers' of this income to discourage them from using this ridiculous marketing model. And then there's the paper costs... For borderless 6x4" photos, you'll need paper with a special tab. HP charge 30p/photo just for this.

Overall, I'm quite pleased with the HP Photosmart 7260 and would recommend it for light-moderate users wanting to print a mix of text and fantastic photos. And at £80 (€115), it's a bargain!

I first wrote this review for consumer-review and have also published it on Amazon.