HP Photosmart C5180 All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Copier (#Q8220A)
This printer is great. I suppose the only con would be the slightly small paper tray. But it doesn't bother me that much. Otherwise this printer owns.
The C5180 is like most all-in-ones -- it saves a lot of desk space, but can't do everything equally well. It's best used as a home copier and printer. As a scanner, it's only average.
Using HP's new inexpensive 6 color "02" ink, it produces gorgeous photo prints when you use photo inkjet paper. Text on plain paper is a little soft and not as black as I'd like. You really need to use HP's new Advanced everyday paper and photo paper products to get good results.
The C5180 also installs a great suite of software for Mac OS X. It's the most Mac-like printer and scanner software I've used (I've also used Canon and Epson printers/scanners).
The only bad thing about this unit relates to the scanner. The noisy scanner produces so-so results, with a lot of noise at higher resolutions. The scanner doesn't have any descreening functions, so any magazine scans look crummy. The auto color correct is really aggresive and usually introduces more color problems than it solves. Unfortunately, you can't scan with Mac OS X's Image Capture - you have to use HPs scanner softare. It does have a neat feature than you can scan directly to a memory card, so no computer is needed. The included OCR software is mostly worthless. I couldn't get it translate any white text on a black background or normal type at small point sizes.
So in a nutshell:
PROS
-Inexpensive, individual ink cartridges
-Great photo prints with HP photo paper
-LCD makes printing directly from memory card very easy
-Ability to scan directly to memory card
-Compact size
-Great Mac-like software
-Terrific home copier
CONS
-So-so scan quality
-Scanner software missing features
-Noisy scanner mechanism
-Crummy OCR software
I bought the HP C5180 printer and experienced problems from the very beginning. This required me to spend countless hours on the phone with customer support. After wasting more than 6 hours of my time, I finally had a new printer sent to me. This took about a week to come, only to find out that this printer did not work either. I am still waiting on HP to send me yet another printer. For some reason, the first printer they sent me was a refurbished one when I paid for a brand new one. It took them two days to send me the first printer I ordered, but over a week to send me a replacement. I will never buy another HP product again. Not only are their products junk, but their customer support is ridiculous. If I have a problem with a product, the company should do everything they can to help me. HP takes their good old time in resolving the situation.
I have had good experiences with other hp PSC products so I thought this would be a good next step. It does have a large display with menu but it often is not clear how to accomplish what you want. I've wasted a lot of photo paper because I couldn't tell which paper tray it was going to use (letter or photo). It also spends an extraordinary amount of time doing "maintenance." I was better off with my HP PSC 2175.
When I purchased this printer I was concerned because of the mixed reviews I read on-line, but because of the amazon.com good price I bought it anyway. It has NOT been a disappointment. Installation was easy (although it did take a couple of minutes), the photos I have printed from a 7.1 MP digital camera look FANTASTIC, although the print time was a little slower than I expected. Print time of draft or normal B&Ws are very fast.
Overall extremely satisfied, including my purchase from amazon.com. [....]; installed and working.
While it may not be evident from the description, this printer may be connected via the network in addition to USB. This allows all PCs on the network to access the printer, scanner, and card readers, without having any particular machine turned on. (Note, however, that a network install probably slows the first page response somewhat.)
HP's install SW seems to have matured since my experiences with other HP printers. (I had dreaded the install, but had no problems with this.)
I also like the second tray for the 4X6. While I swore off making prints at home (due to the hassle, cost and quality) this feature and the results will probably have me making prints on this machine.
In all, I'm very impressed.
I am an avid scrapbooker & organizational nut. I purchased this because I was looking for something that would print nice photos, but would also multitask & free up space in my office by eliminating the need for a seperate scanner & copier. This was just the answer!
The prints, particularly in borderless 4 x 6, are just beautiful! I am very, very pleased with the results on HP Premium Plus High Gloss Paper. Totally blows my old Epson out of the water!
I am also amazed at the ink consumption. With my old printer, after just a few pages of scrapbooking, I'd have to replace ink cartridges. I have done 14+ 12x12 pages thus far - some included borderless high res. 8.5 x 11 photos & I have not even put a DENT in the ink.
As for the paper tray issue someone else spoke of - you just need to pay attention to the settings before you print. You need to select which tray you want to draw the paper from. Easy! :)
All in all - it's a great printer. I'm sure there are better, much more expensive printers out there -- but this does the trick for me. I'm one very satisfied customer!
I was looking for a printer/copier/scanner for my parents and this one seemd to be perfect for them. It was not expensive, easy to use and did not have a lot of buttons to confuse them.
The printer is excellent. The photo quality is incredible. I had gone to a number of local stores and printed sample photos from many different printer models and manufactures. The quality of this printer stacked up well against everything else out there. Photos look very smooth and have excellent color saturation. The text/graphics print quality and speed is very good. I have it set up in draft mode for "everyday" printing and it gets about 18 ppm and very legible print quality.
The copier is also very good. I have a very hard time distinguishing the original from the copy. It prints the copies very fast.
The only thing about the unit that is disappointing is the scanner. First of all, let me say that the scanner is not terrible, I was just a little disappointed with it compare to the rest of the machine. While it can scan text/graphics documents well, it does not do so good with photos. It tends to lose detail and alter the colors of the photo. This unfortunately makes the unit less than ideal for reprinting photos. Also, the scanner software for the PC is not user friendly and is kind of slow. (And I have a extremely fast computer.) It is just unfortunate that the scanner, in my opinion, falls show of the quality of my 5-year old Epson scanner I have.
If you want a printer with incredible photo quality output and the convenience of a copier without the need of a computer, then this is a good choice. As for the scanner, perhaps buying a dedicated scanner would be a prudent move to compensate for this unit's shortcomings.
Very suitable for home usage. I was planning to buy Hp Photosmart 3210 but it is very hard to find it in Turkey. I had some doubts about this product but after I start using it, my thoughts were changed. Highly recommended for home users.
(Tavsiye ederim gercekten ev kullan1m1 için iyi bir printer. Fiyat, performans ve özellik orani çok iyi.)
Pros
+ Price & performance.
+ Good photo printing quality.
+ Fast & high quality copy.
+ Compact size.
+ Direct scan to memory card.
+ Ethernet (Networking)
Cons
- Not good at photo scanning but good at text scanning.
- Noisy
- Small LCD
I was looking for this in a printer/scanner:
* all-in-one combo
* good Mac support
* built-in networking
* inexpensive
I just bought the C5180 and set it up last night. Wow, I am so impressed! Software on the Mac is indeed a dream. I previously owned an HP 960C and it was ok. I had a Canon LiDE scanner with horrible third-party Mac drivers that sucked up 95% of CPU resources while running. Awful.
I can't get over how tightly integrated the C5180 software is with the Mac. Using the help or troubleshooting buttons on the printer calls up the corresponding help files on the computer. The whole box reminds me of my iPod, all glossy white and grays. How Mac is that? I just want to give it a big hug.
I was also really pleased with the network setup. I got my Mac and my PC laptop setup on my home wireless network, both printing to this box in about an hour. That includes setup time of a D-Link G810 wireless bridge.
As to my fellow Mac user ("Motion Graphics Dude") who had a bad OCR experience, I had really great success with an OCR scan of black text on white paper. I'd estimate the accuracy to be about 90-95%.
As to the noise while scanning/printing... eh, who cares? I use the box maybe 10% of my computing time, so I can live with that.
Got this for $170 at Best Buy on sale. Worth every penny.
I am extremely impressed with this printer. It produces photo lab quality prints and reproduces print photos with the scanner with superb accuracy! The individual ink cartridges use little ink and last a very long time. The replacement cartridges are also very economical. It is wireless network ready! Simply connect it to the back of your wireless router and you'll be printing from your home or office network in mere minutes! Flawless and simple! A must buy!
I am a Mac user and have not had very good experiences with HP's software / drivers, so I was very skeptical of this machine when I brought it home. I had only purchased it because it was the only model in my price range that offered network connectivity. My skepticism was unwarranted...
- The HP software for Mac has dramatically improved. I unpacked and had the machine up a running on my network within 10 minutes. I was happy to see that all the supplied software is now a Universal binary (works natively on PowerPC or Intel).
- I tested out a 4x6 print using the supplied photo paper and was very impressed. The quality of the print is superior to what I get out of my local Kodak print kiosk.
- Standard document printing is good. Nothing particularly great nor bad.
- The only area in which I am not totally satisfied is in the scanning of images. The test images I scanned were very grainy. I need to play with the settings some more, but am not too happy with the results so far.
- The OCR scans are excellent. I scanned a full page document and achieved 100% accuracy!
Overall I am very happy with this purchase. I would highly recommend this all-in-one to any Mac user who is looking for a machine that provides a great set of features at a very reasonable price.
I've had this All-in-One for about a month. It's a great tool to have at home for casual use. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because the photo quality is not quite as perfect as commercial prints, but it is good. (Also, I don't have the world's greatest camera, so I'm sure that's part of it.) I recommended it to my mom because of it's quality and ease of use. I think it's a good buy.
can network without special adapters , ease of use , a real no brainer
We have four computers all now us the same printer. The pictures are getting better as we us it more. Colors great last printer colors were off.
The printer does an excellent job in printing both pictures and documents. My only complaints are that it seems to take a long time to complete its warm-up process. Also, it is noiser than my prior HP 932c. But, overall I am very pleased with its performance so far.
The HP C5180 was easy to install and it is simple to use. This item does not require technical knowledge to use or install.
Overall all in one works fine. excellent print quality. print and scanner is noisy. Scan quality is a bit less quality than my old epson. My beef is with the software, a real memory hog that took 40 to 50 minutes to install on our pc and laptop that are not really that outdated. Both sony, pentium IV, XP machines. Constant annoying popup alerts, both machines. Software failures, updates, feedback... I suggest installing the basic drivers required and not the hp software that takes up more than 250 megs if possible. If you are running on the ethernet, turn it on for use then off before you shut down pcs, all kinds of software hangups. Don't walk away from your machine when you shut down and assume it will, hp software will hang up shut down most of the time. They seriously need to rethink the software they package with these machines. If the purpose is to irritate the user they certainly succeeded here.
we love this printer! great design and style, easy to use scanner, prints with ease.
Just bought this printer a few weeks ago and it has performed beyond my expectations. It prints lab-quality photos right out of the box without having to hook it up to a computer. The ink and 4x6 photo paper is very inexpensive compared to my last inkjet printer. Best Buy sells a bundle of all 6 inks + 150 4x6 HP Advanced photo paper for $35. That puts the cost of photo prints to roughly 24 cents/print. Can't beat that anywhere else! The 'reprint' feature works great and will duplicate any photo using the scanner to any size you wish. You can't tell any difference between the two.
My only gripes are with the included software and scanner noise level. The scanner is not all that bad, but it is a bit louder than my old Canon scanner. The software seems a bit buggy. It's hard to explain, but there were some advertised functions in some of the programs that didn't do what they were designed to do. Oh... and the ink level window that pops up after printing a photo/document seems to be inaccurate. It will display 100% ink levels up until you are about to run out of ink. It will only start to go down once you have a few photos left to print before it completely runs out. You may want to have an extra set of inks laying around.
Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love this printer. In fact, I think I'm going to buy another one for my parents so they can finally utilize the digital camera I bought them for Xmas 2 years ago!
I have had the HP C5180 for 3 weeks and have had great success with it.
It was easy to install and the software loaded with no problems. The 4x6 printing of digital pictures has been outstanding. The copy feature on the front panel of the printer was easy to use and produced great results.
I would recommend this printer to anyone.
I got this all in one for Christmas, and I believe it is the best printer I have ever owned. The picture quality is absolutely great. The scanner is very nice also. The copy function works really well and the copies are very high quality in my opinion. It seems a little noisy, but that is acceptable. I believe it saves money on ink consumption over throwing away the three compartment type cartridges with some colors of ink remaining while one color is used up. I am very pleased with the performance of this all in one machine.
I bought this unit from Best Buy on 5 Jan this year, and from day one have had nothing but trouble trying to get the destination list to populate in the scan settings 'send to' function. I obviously have a black sheep here, because every other HP printer I have owned has been nothing but an ease to use. While this unit does everything else it is supposed to do, very nicely, the scan function will not work. I have been online with HP Total Care Tech support, 8 or 9 emails with tech support, and 2 hours on the phone with tech support to no avail. I am now in the process of trying to return it for one that works. Other than the one feature I want working, this is a nicely built unit, and performs the other functions very well.
Good luck with yours.
I love this printer. The print quality is uniformly excellent, the scanner works very well indeed (though a bit noisy), and the copier serves our (minimal) purposes perfectly. The scanning software may lack some features, but I recommend using a relatively inexpensive bit of MAC software called VueScan. It run this scanner perfectly. (I was using it with my older HP scanner.)
All in all, a very fine product that looks cool and works very well.
This printer was purchased to replace an older HP 2100 series all-in-one. Setup was extremely easy, and there were no problems associated with Windows software, however installation takes approximately 12 minutes to load from CD. Fairly long to load print drivers, in my opinion.
Printing 4x6 photo's using the printer's built in LCD screen & an SD card is easy & foolproof.
Print quality continues to improve with all of the newer HP printers, and this unit definitely excels at printing photos. Normal printing & copying tasks have produced satisfactory (not excellent) results thus far.
My one complaint....During initial setup & print cartridge alignment, this unit made more noise than any printer I've ever used, including sounds very similar to a spaceship invasion from the old sci-fi films of the 1950's.
Before we talk price you got to realize that HP includes FULL cartridges in the box, they also include a 16ml black cartridge which is 6ml bigger than the one you can actually buy at the store right now, those alone saves you initiate 60 bucks compared to the printers that includes only a couple of ml cb's in the box.
So as far as I am concerned that brings the actual printer price down to about $120 and that ladies and gentlemen is a outstanding offer.
I have not had any trouble scanning and it is far a better scanner than my old Lexmark, the ink is cheap because you only have to replace the color that runs out, it runs about $10 per color and $17 for 10ml black.
It fits great beside my flat screen on a small desk and I don't have to turn on my computer for the wife to print from her WiFi Laptop anymore.
It also has FULL featured Vista drivers, which is very rare at this point.
I conclude as Borat would say: HP CC5180! Success!!!
My HP printer (several years old) died suddenly. Since I use my printer/copier/scanner a lot, I did what I usually do: turned to Amazon to research printers and read reviews. The good reviews, Hewlett Packard's reputation for excellent products, and Amazon's FREE shipping helped me to decide on this particular model. (I don't know where Amazon ships from but I ordered it on Thurs. afternoon and it was in my house Monday. )
It is so user-friendly "a cave man" could follow the prompts successfully. One small feature which is going to be very handy: when you make a multiple page printing, it prints in reverse order (3,2,1)so it comes out of the printer is the right order(1,2,3)! This may be a small thing but it shows it was designed with customer convienence in mind.
Over-all it is sleek and easily cleaned, has a large black cartridge that can be refilled, has a lower profile than my old HP, and runs much quieter too. And it is FAST.
Yes! I would buy another one.
Printer works fine. Easy to install across a home network. However, the software that drives the printer seems to be full of bugs. The printer driver causes the computer to continuously check the network connection, using up computer resources; and the printer driver causes windows xp shut down routine to hang up, with an error given as "windows is trying to close xxxhp program, program not responding". These bugs are just irritating and do not seem to effect the performance of the printer. Hp should have done a better job with the software.
At first I thought the scanner was not as good as my old Lexmark all in one, but upon using it more, I have decided that it actually does a better job of scanning. The "defects" that I saw were not defects but the better resolution etc of the scanner. It picks up defects in the original photo or document and shows them. A little photo editing and you can have an error free copy. Photo printing is better than any of the older HP or Lexmark printers I have had. All in all it is a great machine.
This all in one printer is fairly easy to use. It is a little noisy when it's calibrating and starting up, but the noise doesn't bother me much because I got a pretty good deal for it. I use it for occasional printing of documents, photos, and some scanning. Like I said before, it is great for home use. I probably wouldn't recommend it for home offices or businesses.
I absolutly love this printer with its networking capabilities!!
I needed a printer that would be compatible with (Windows Vista Home Premium) that came preinstalled on my new HP Notebook. My goal was to set up a wireless network in my home to give my wife the freedom of movement she needs while working on the computer.I DID MY RESEARCH THOROUGHLY!!
I read almost all of the reviews on numerous sites and decided to give the HP C5180 a try.Boy am I glad I did. The first thing I encountered in the box was an addendum stating "to use with Vista operating systems plese visit the HP web site" and it gave me the URL.I went to the website and it was very user friendly. I quickly located what I needed,downloaded the file and set up, including the network portion, was a breeze.I am new to HP products and relativley new to setting up my own stuff when it comes to computers,printers,routers etc....I honestly had no problem understanding and executing the directions given.I definetly recommend this printer for its ease of setup,print quality and stand alone printing abilities.
This is a prince amoung printers. My old printer gave up the ghost just as I was preparing for a big project. I had been looking at the HP printers and picked up this one. It installed like a dream on Windows XP (and the software has since be updated so when I get a computer with Vista - my new HP printer will be ready!!!). My poor old printer took 7-10 minutes to print out a single 8 1/2 X 11 shot. This HP took less than 30 seconds!!! Work that used to take hours and hours now takes less than a hour. I have read reviews that complain about the noise, and I could care less about the noise when you have something the performs beyond my wildest expectations. Another plus is that though it uses six cartridges, the whole pack if six costs what 1 cartridge did for my old printer. That translates into huge savings for me ink-jet cartridges. I am so impressed with this printer, that when I get ready to replace my current computer, I will be looking at Hewlett-Packard. Get one of these puppies. You'll love it!!!
The HP Photosmart C5180 will do the job for a full-featured moderately priced printer, if you don't need the FAX. The buttons are self-explanatory. The software received w/hardware did not support Vista when received. (Although, I was able to print and copy w/o.) They have since improved their download system, finally, so I was able to get the Vista Photosmart s/w without disconnecting the USB and erasing existing printer driver. The software looks quite straightforward for a non-techie. I am looking forward to playing w/it. I hope the reviewer whose paper was landing on the floor found the slide-out stopper that works great. The copier lid could use a slow close feature. I have to hold it up or else it slams shut. The paper try holds only 3/8" of paper. Use cheap paper. Lastly, make sure this printer sits on a solid surface. It creates quite a bit of "throw" when scanning and copying.
I am so glad I bought this printer because I love taking pictures and the "HP Photosmart C5180 All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Copier" prints out quality photos! All you do is plug in your flash card and choose the pictures you want to print and you are done! It gives size options, has a color control, and prints quite fast! As far as regular printing, it takes less than 30 seconds depending on how much ink it is using! GREAT printer! I highly reccomend it!
Speed and quality on scanning, printing, and copying is great, but it is a bit noisy when scanning. Printed a 4x6 from a 5x7, and it was perfect.
I purchased this all-in-one as a "family" gift for christmas simply because a new printer was necessary. Well, I got much more than I bargained for, literally. I have always favored HP products, and this machine simply does not disappoint. It has good quality printing, scanning and photos. But where it really shines is the fact that it accepts 4 different kinds of memory cards from digital cameras; AND has a preview screen separate from the computer screen for those times when you don't want to turn on the whole system just for a quick click of the family dog. It has many different quality settings, from the most professional right on down to ink-saving grainy draft preview. The one and only bad thing I can think of is that it shakes the table when it prints. This, however is partially due to the table not being all that sturdy. All in all, a great all-in-one!
With the HP Photosmart C5180 printer, Hewlett Packard has brought to market a very good multifunction device at a great price point. Although it doesn't seem to be part of the current HP product line any longer, it is still a great multifunction device that deserves your consideration if you are in the market for a new printer or multifunction device.
You get a lot of features packed into one unit. Along with the printer and scanner, there is also a set of memory card slots that will accept the most popular types of digital camera memory. The control panel features one touch access to many functions, including the copier functionality. A small color LCD lets you adjust printer settings, make copies, configure the onboard network interface and perform basic photo editing and printing functions. Unlike any other printer I've seen before, HP includes some document "templates" in the printer's memory. These templates let you make graph paper and ruled sheets of notebook paper. Finally, there is the included Ethernet interface, which lets you connect the Photosmart C5180 to a network and use it with multiple computers.
Out of the box setup was easy. Removing the packaging tape and inserting the ink cartridges for the first time is a very straightforward process. The inks click easily and positively into place.
When you've completed the basic setup and turned the unit on, you're ready to start installing the software and connecting the unit to your computer. HP provides two options for connectivity--you can use either USB or plug the device into an Ethernet network. I used the network connection. HP's software found the device immediately and configured it with no intervention on my part.
The included software bundle is available for PC and Macintosh computers. As an added bonus, the Macintosh version of the software is a universal binary--that is, it runs on both PowerPC and Intel Macintosh computers. HP's software selection is pretty well rounded. You get everything you need to organize and print photos, make scans and adjust the printer settings. I found the software easy to install and was able to use it well within twenty minutes of completing the installation.
If you use the network connection, the Photosmart C5180 has a basic management web page that can be used to quickly check ink levels and even perform an immediate scan that will show up as an image in your web browser.
Ink life is excellent and print quality is very good. Photographs printed on this printer using the special HP photo paper look just like professional prints and hold up well to being handled. Text documents are not quite as crisp as those coming from a laser printer, but they still look very sharp and clear. After printing several photos and over 200 pages of black text documents, the only cartridge that showed any drop in capacity is the black one. All the others still show as being completely full.
Unlike many printers, you won't break the bank on consumables. You can buy all six ink tanks and a 150-pack of small photo paper for about $36 USD. Ink can also be purchased by the color, at about $8 USD per color or $12 USD for the black ink. This helps offset the purchase price of this printer.
Unfortunately, there are some things that are not so great about the unit. For starters, the PC version of the software takes a long time to install. While the stability of the Intel version of the Macintosh software was nearly perfect, the PowerPC version didn't do nearly so well. I saw a lot of unexpected crashes or applications that disappeared outright, especially when managing photos on my PowerPC G4 Mac mini.
Some people have reported that the unit's scanner is not very good. The scanner does have an unfortunate tendency to produce "noisy" scans, especially with items that have a lot of dark colors. Photocopies made using the "black" copy button have a greenish cast to them. I was able to solve this problem by using the "color" button to copy black and white documents instead.
The printer also moves very swiftly. This isn't a problem as much as it is a notice of caution. You should place the unit only on a very sturdy table or desk, as it moves quickly enough in some printing modes that it could possibly fall off or break what you've placed it on.
HP Technical Support could be a lot better. The first one of these units that I purchased was stuck in "manufacturing mode" and would not act normally. The representative that I spoke to was hard to understand, didn't seem to understand my problem and couldn't offer any advice to solve the problem other than returning the printer to HP for replacement. I returned it directly to the vendor instead. The replacement worked perfectly in every respect.
This unit uses print heads that are separate from the ink tanks. While ink is easily replenished, I saw no way of replacing the installed print heads. They look to be permanently installed, which suggests that if they ever fail or become clogged, you may be buying a new printer. Considering that HP builds printers that usually last a very long time, this comes across to me as a surprising decision on their part. Only time will tell for sure.
Finally, there are some features I would have liked to see in this unit. Topping the list would be a duplex printing module. Some of the higher Photosmart models can have this feature added. It seems like HP planned to offer this for the C5180 as well. The internal web page has a "duplexer installed" field, and the back door can be completely removed. Second to that would be the inclusion of a document feeder. Having network scanning functionality is very handy, but it gets a little tedious to get up, walk across the room and change the document on the scanner bed. Again, higher end models in the Photosmart lineup do include this feature.
All things considered, I find the HP Photosmart C5180 to be an overall good product. It has some areas where it needs improvement, but what product doesn't? I don't think you can go wrong with this product, as much of what it does is done very well.
After using the Printer, which is a nice unit, I had numerous Software related functions that did not work on the Printer. I called HP for some help but found their Tech Support to one of the worst.
I spoke with two (2) different techs who could not solve the problem and told me to contact Microsoft.
I spoke to Dell and Microsoft who both spent time trying to solve the problem and both agreed that the problem was strictly an HP problem.
I never solved the problem and returned the Printer to Amazon for credit.
I am now using a Dell printer with no problems.
Printer arrived in good shape and was easy to get installed. Have used it for 4x6 photos only so far and the images appear to be nice quality. Print speeds are not as fast as advertised for B&W. We are happy with the printerer and feel we paid a fair price.
I received this printer a few days ago and I am very impressed. 4 X 6 photos look awesome as if I had Walmart print them and the speed is very fast. I hook it up to my Airport Extreme Base Station (I use a Powerbook) and print wirelessly and had no problems at all. Scanner is a tad bit noisy but a lot quieter than my old HP All in one printer that just kicked the bucket.
The software is easy to use and understand. I never read the directions and I was scanning in pictures with in minutes. I also like the LCD display on the printer. Its nice to just "pop" in a memory card, and view the photos you want to print. It saves time when you don't have to download them to the computer then print them.
Overall I am vey pleased and I did my search on this printer and all of the reviews were very good. I was torn between Canon (I actually bought a Canon Pixma and returned it) and HP and I am glad I stuck with HP, always a trusted brand. And the price was about $40.00 dollars cheaper than any electronics store around.
Pros:
Excellent picture qualty
Fast printing
Easy setup
A lot of features
Easy to use and understand functions
Cons:
Scanner a litte noisy (quieter than my old HP)
When printing the printer shakes my table (old HP did the same)
I guess it is a little on the large side, but it doesn't bother me
I have owned several brand printers and found several to work very well, but I am very pleased with the quality of this one. I put a print in water overnight and it did not effect the picture at all. I tried it before with other brads and the ink washed off. Ink is a little exspensive, but if you buy the HP value pack it cuts your cost down. I intent to use only HP ink in this printer as I have a stack of printers that are clogged by useing generic ink.
This printer is great! Spits out 4x6 color photos in about 25 seconds that are top notch. The color screen makes it a snap to choose photos to print out without having to connect to a computer. Of course it's WAY cheaper to have your prints done at the store than at home but this makes pictures just as good as the store. Really like the 2 paper tray system that you can put in 8.5x11 and 4x6 photo paper and not have to switch.
Works with my powerbook great and I have it hooked up through my wireless router so I can print from anywhere in the house. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because I wish it had a fax built in. It would be a 5 easily then. On a side note, it's a pretty big printer so have lots of desk space available.
This printer is unique in that it has so many options, and is easy to use and does a beautiful job. It has replaced my old printer, plus my little 4x6 printer
I don't generally write reviews, but this printer has been working great for me and it is not an ink hog like my last Lexmark or Epson. I've had it now for two months and can't find any faults with it as of yet. It prints photos with ease, as well as general printing. I like the fact that it has separate trays for photo paper and everyday paper, too. The on-hand screen is very user friendly - my 9 year old can print photos without needing directions. I think anyone who buys this product will be very satisfied with their purchase.
I have always bought HP printers and have never had any problems. I thought I needed a new printer, so I read the reviews, and bought a Canon PIXMA MP450. What a waste of money! I didn't like rear paper feeding. It was extremely noisy. It pulled the paper in at a slight angle. The controls were confusing. Worst of all it sucked up ink like I've never experienced before. I was spending nearly $60 per month just on ink cartridges. It is now retired to my attic. I studied current HP printers and settled on the C5180 All-in-One. I love it. It is great to have a 4 x 6 photo tray, all the paper feeds from the front, printing quality is great and extremely fast. It does vibrate a bit while printing but I think it is because it's going so fast. Best of all, we've had it for two months and I have not bought any additonal ink. The black is down to 3/4 and the graphics for the 5 color cartridges haven't budged. Copying and scanning are fast and clear. Often the copy is better than the original It is easy to use and I am really happy with the choice. Put me down as a HP only user from here on out.
Had a real great experience buying from Amazon--better price then I could even buy locally and delivered to my house with no sales tax. Would definately reccommend this way to go to anyone.
The Photosmart C5180 has every feature that I would ever need in an all-in-one device. For the price, it's an excellent buy. If there was anything that I didn't like (and this is a nit), it frequently goes into a processing mode (not sure what it's doing or cleaning or calibrating). However, it doesn't take that long. In summary, easy to use (in all modes), good quality, and good price.
when they fix the following problems:
1) printing full page photos the HP PHOTO PAPER slips in the rollers and loses several lines at the very bottom of the page. Wait until they figure out how to engineer rollers (and you'd think HP would know this by now).
2) under Vista, if you network the printer it will acquire an IP address via DHCP. When you install the driver it finds the printer at that address. So far so good. Now, unplug the printer and plug it back in. It acquires a new (and very likely different) IP address. Think the driver knows that? No! You get that ever help Microsoft style error message, "Error Printing". Wait until HP discovers what the DYNAMIC in DHCP means, then maybe.
In all fairness the printer is still better than an Epson and the print quality is very good.
The quality of the print is good, but the printer is loud and does shake a lot in the process.
Bought this PCS to replace the HP 750xi that had bit the dust after 6+ years of service. Stayed with HP because of the reputation and the good years I'd had from the 750xi. The HP C1580 was very easy to install and set up. Had it up in no time. The quality of the printing and copying works great for me. I liked the ease of the picture printing, the picture quality was satisfactory. The scanning process seems a little more complicated that my previous machine. The noice it makes while preparing itself to print is a little obnoxious though.
This printer is working perfectly. Still haven't run out of ink...no idea how many prints I've done, though. The copies are FLAWLESS, the prints excellent, the scans beautiful, and the photos! I took a megapixel picture of a couple friends with my cell phone(!) and printed it with the sample photo paper they include and my friends were ASTONISHED that it came from my phone. It printed just like any photograph. You couldn't tell the difference! Very pleased with this printer. Highly recommended to any Joe Shmoe that wants a nice printer at a nice price.
Was looking forward to getting this all in one printer but very dissappointed so far. Very, very slow reaction time for printing or copying. Takes way to long to start the printing or copying process even after it has been on and warmed up for a while.
I shopped for a HP Printer that uses individual ink cartridges for each color. After looking at all printers available the HP-5180 met my needs the best. I am very pleased with the printer and the quick shipping.
Overall this is a good printer but I did have problems with installation. Printer is super fast once it set it's self up which takes much longer than my old HP printer. Also have had problems with certain size envelopes.
I'm not sure that I'd buy this device if I was going to attach it to a single computer. There might be better all-in-one's for the money. But if you want a Printer/Scanner/Copier/Memory Card Reader for your network at home, you'd have a tough time finding something better for the price.
I bought this because it had decent reviews and because it was network ready. I have not been disappointed. Previously, I had to either have a printer connected to one of the computers and shared, or I'd have to buy a router with a print server or a separate print server. This dropped onto the network without a hassle and was up and running after the software install. And when the network is rebooted, the printer is immediately available, without a hiccup. As the only "IT" support in the house, it makes my life easier.
While the installation process is time-consuming, it is mostly unattended. But once the software is on the various networked computers, then they can all access the device for any of the functions it supports; Scanning, Printing, Copying, and Memory Cards.
Scan and Print Quality is certainly good enough for most home use. It does more than an acceptable job for me, even on some of my more demanding graphics. And as a stand-alone Photo Printer, it again does an acceptable job.
Speed is fine, considering the home environment. It does sometimes take a bit of time when scanning and transferring, but not much. Just a bit longer than might be expected.
Obviously, if you're into ultra-high print quality, you're probably going to go with different technology altogether. But for home use this fits the needs of a small network very nicely.
The ONLY flaw I have found with the device so far is a minor problem with the software agent. As it requires a network sniffer to locate the printer (in case addresses change, etc.), the agent doesn't always shutdown cleanly when using a shared Windows XP computer and multiple people have been logged into it. Windows XP notes the issue and gives the software a chance to shutdown, after which it takes care of it automatically, so there's no real burden. It is just a bit annoying. Hopefully they will have a patch for the software that will address this.
This is the first photo printer I've ever owned and, yea, maybe it will print the photo in whatever seconds it says, but it takes soooooooo long to get to where it starts printing! I'm used to hearing the printer cranking just after clicking PRINT. If it's not the printer's fault, sorry, but if it is, thanks for the time to run and grab a cup of coffee from the kitchen!!
The photos ARE beautiful, I must say, but be sure to get premium paper for it! I wanted this one because I like the fact that when one color cartridge goes dry, I don't have to throw away the whole thing as in a tri-color cartridge. I do wish HP would make larger cartridges though!
Scanning is easy; printing normal docs..well, be sure the print settings are correct. I printed the coolest directions map to the La Brea tar pits on a 4x6 glossy by accident!! haha My grandson loved it :)
Decent product, and not too expensive. Works in Vista!!!! I'm having fun with it!
This product sounds like a space ship when starting out but it seems to do a good job. I like the individual ink fillers. A big saving over having to buy the whole refil.
Ravenous with ink. Requires no less than SIX ink cartridges, which seem to run out immediately. Will not run when it thinks its out of ink, even when its printing fine. Prints very slowly. A fussy old woman of a printer. If you're looking for a straight-forward, can-do printer, stay away from this prima-donna.
This printer is great. I suppose the only con would be the slightly small paper tray. But it doesn't bother me that much. Otherwise this printer owns.
The C5180 is like most all-in-ones -- it saves a lot of desk space, but can't do everything equally well. It's best used as a home copier and printer. As a scanner, it's only average.
Using HP's new inexpensive 6 color "02" ink, it produces gorgeous photo prints when you use photo inkjet paper. Text on plain paper is a little soft and not as black as I'd like. You really need to use HP's new Advanced everyday paper and photo paper products to get good results.
The C5180 also installs a great suite of software for Mac OS X. It's the most Mac-like printer and scanner software I've used (I've also used Canon and Epson printers/scanners).
The only bad thing about this unit relates to the scanner. The noisy scanner produces so-so results, with a lot of noise at higher resolutions. The scanner doesn't have any descreening functions, so any magazine scans look crummy. The auto color correct is really aggresive and usually introduces more color problems than it solves. Unfortunately, you can't scan with Mac OS X's Image Capture - you have to use HPs scanner softare. It does have a neat feature than you can scan directly to a memory card, so no computer is needed. The included OCR software is mostly worthless. I couldn't get it translate any white text on a black background or normal type at small point sizes.
So in a nutshell:
PROS
-Inexpensive, individual ink cartridges
-Great photo prints with HP photo paper
-LCD makes printing directly from memory card very easy
-Ability to scan directly to memory card
-Compact size
-Great Mac-like software
-Terrific home copier
CONS
-So-so scan quality
-Scanner software missing features
-Noisy scanner mechanism
-Crummy OCR software
I bought the HP C5180 printer and experienced problems from the very beginning. This required me to spend countless hours on the phone with customer support. After wasting more than 6 hours of my time, I finally had a new printer sent to me. This took about a week to come, only to find out that this printer did not work either. I am still waiting on HP to send me yet another printer. For some reason, the first printer they sent me was a refurbished one when I paid for a brand new one. It took them two days to send me the first printer I ordered, but over a week to send me a replacement. I will never buy another HP product again. Not only are their products junk, but their customer support is ridiculous. If I have a problem with a product, the company should do everything they can to help me. HP takes their good old time in resolving the situation.
Very suitable for home usage. I was planning to buy Hp Photosmart 3210 but it is very hard to find it in Turkey. I had some doubts about this product but after I start using it, my thoughts were changed. Highly recommended for home users.
(Tavsiye ederim gercekten ev kullan1m1 için iyi bir printer. Fiyat, performans ve özellik orani çok iyi.)
Pros
+ Price & performance.
+ Good photo printing quality.
+ Fast & high quality copy.
+ Compact size.
+ Direct scan to memory card.
+ Ethernet (Networking)
Cons
- Not good at photo scanning but good at text scanning.
- Noisy
- Small LCD
I was looking for this in a printer/scanner:
* all-in-one combo
* good Mac support
* built-in networking
* inexpensive
I just bought the C5180 and set it up last night. Wow, I am so impressed! Software on the Mac is indeed a dream. I previously owned an HP 960C and it was ok. I had a Canon LiDE scanner with horrible third-party Mac drivers that sucked up 95% of CPU resources while running. Awful.
I can't get over how tightly integrated the C5180 software is with the Mac. Using the help or troubleshooting buttons on the printer calls up the corresponding help files on the computer. The whole box reminds me of my iPod, all glossy white and grays. How Mac is that? I just want to give it a big hug.
I was also really pleased with the network setup. I got my Mac and my PC laptop setup on my home wireless network, both printing to this box in about an hour. That includes setup time of a D-Link G810 wireless bridge.
As to my fellow Mac user ("Motion Graphics Dude") who had a bad OCR experience, I had really great success with an OCR scan of black text on white paper. I'd estimate the accuracy to be about 90-95%.
As to the noise while scanning/printing... eh, who cares? I use the box maybe 10% of my computing time, so I can live with that.
Got this for $170 at Best Buy on sale. Worth every penny.
I am extremely impressed with this printer. It produces photo lab quality prints and reproduces print photos with the scanner with superb accuracy! The individual ink cartridges use little ink and last a very long time. The replacement cartridges are also very economical. It is wireless network ready! Simply connect it to the back of your wireless router and you'll be printing from your home or office network in mere minutes! Flawless and simple! A must buy!
I've had this All-in-One for about a month. It's a great tool to have at home for casual use. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because the photo quality is not quite as perfect as commercial prints, but it is good. (Also, I don't have the world's greatest camera, so I'm sure that's part of it.) I recommended it to my mom because of it's quality and ease of use. I think it's a good buy.
I am a Mac user and have not had very good experiences with HP's software / drivers, so I was very skeptical of this machine when I brought it home. I had only purchased it because it was the only model in my price range that offered network connectivity. My skepticism was unwarranted...
- The HP software for Mac has dramatically improved. I unpacked and had the machine up a running on my network within 10 minutes. I was happy to see that all the supplied software is now a Universal binary (works natively on PowerPC or Intel).
- I tested out a 4x6 print using the supplied photo paper and was very impressed. The quality of the print is superior to what I get out of my local Kodak print kiosk.
- Standard document printing is good. Nothing particularly great nor bad.
- The only area in which I am not totally satisfied is in the scanning of images. The test images I scanned were very grainy. I need to play with the settings some more, but am not too happy with the results so far.
- The OCR scans are excellent. I scanned a full page document and achieved 100% accuracy!
Overall I am very happy with this purchase. I would highly recommend this all-in-one to any Mac user who is looking for a machine that provides a great set of features at a very reasonable price.
We have four computers all now us the same printer. The pictures are getting better as we us it more. Colors great last printer colors were off.
can network without special adapters , ease of use , a real no brainer
The HP C5180 was easy to install and it is simple to use. This item does not require technical knowledge to use or install.
Overall all in one works fine. excellent print quality. print and scanner is noisy. Scan quality is a bit less quality than my old epson. My beef is with the software, a real memory hog that took 40 to 50 minutes to install on our pc and laptop that are not really that outdated. Both sony, pentium IV, XP machines. Constant annoying popup alerts, both machines. Software failures, updates, feedback... I suggest installing the basic drivers required and not the hp software that takes up more than 250 megs if possible. If you are running on the ethernet, turn it on for use then off before you shut down pcs, all kinds of software hangups. Don't walk away from your machine when you shut down and assume it will, hp software will hang up shut down most of the time. They seriously need to rethink the software they package with these machines. If the purpose is to irritate the user they certainly succeeded here.
The printer does an excellent job in printing both pictures and documents. My only complaints are that it seems to take a long time to complete its warm-up process. Also, it is noiser than my prior HP 932c. But, overall I am very pleased with its performance so far.
we love this printer! great design and style, easy to use scanner, prints with ease.
Just bought this printer a few weeks ago and it has performed beyond my expectations. It prints lab-quality photos right out of the box without having to hook it up to a computer. The ink and 4x6 photo paper is very inexpensive compared to my last inkjet printer. Best Buy sells a bundle of all 6 inks + 150 4x6 HP Advanced photo paper for $35. That puts the cost of photo prints to roughly 24 cents/print. Can't beat that anywhere else! The 'reprint' feature works great and will duplicate any photo using the scanner to any size you wish. You can't tell any difference between the two.
My only gripes are with the included software and scanner noise level. The scanner is not all that bad, but it is a bit louder than my old Canon scanner. The software seems a bit buggy. It's hard to explain, but there were some advertised functions in some of the programs that didn't do what they were designed to do. Oh... and the ink level window that pops up after printing a photo/document seems to be inaccurate. It will display 100% ink levels up until you are about to run out of ink. It will only start to go down once you have a few photos left to print before it completely runs out. You may want to have an extra set of inks laying around.
Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love this printer. In fact, I think I'm going to buy another one for my parents so they can finally utilize the digital camera I bought them for Xmas 2 years ago!
I have had the HP C5180 for 3 weeks and have had great success with it.
It was easy to install and the software loaded with no problems. The 4x6 printing of digital pictures has been outstanding. The copy feature on the front panel of the printer was easy to use and produced great results.
I would recommend this printer to anyone.
I got this all in one for Christmas, and I believe it is the best printer I have ever owned. The picture quality is absolutely great. The scanner is very nice also. The copy function works really well and the copies are very high quality in my opinion. It seems a little noisy, but that is acceptable. I believe it saves money on ink consumption over throwing away the three compartment type cartridges with some colors of ink remaining while one color is used up. I am very pleased with the performance of this all in one machine.
I bought this unit from Best Buy on 5 Jan this year, and from day one have had nothing but trouble trying to get the destination list to populate in the scan settings 'send to' function. I obviously have a black sheep here, because every other HP printer I have owned has been nothing but an ease to use. While this unit does everything else it is supposed to do, very nicely, the scan function will not work. I have been online with HP Total Care Tech support, 8 or 9 emails with tech support, and 2 hours on the phone with tech support to no avail. I am now in the process of trying to return it for one that works. Other than the one feature I want working, this is a nicely built unit, and performs the other functions very well.
Good luck with yours.
This all in one printer is fairly easy to use. It is a little noisy when it's calibrating and starting up, but the noise doesn't bother me much because I got a pretty good deal for it. I use it for occasional printing of documents, photos, and some scanning. Like I said before, it is great for home use. I probably wouldn't recommend it for home offices or businesses.
At first I thought the scanner was not as good as my old Lexmark all in one, but upon using it more, I have decided that it actually does a better job of scanning. The "defects" that I saw were not defects but the better resolution etc of the scanner. It picks up defects in the original photo or document and shows them. A little photo editing and you can have an error free copy. Photo printing is better than any of the older HP or Lexmark printers I have had. All in all it is a great machine.
I absolutly love this printer with its networking capabilities!!
I needed a printer that would be compatible with (Windows Vista Home Premium) that came preinstalled on my new HP Notebook. My goal was to set up a wireless network in my home to give my wife the freedom of movement she needs while working on the computer.I DID MY RESEARCH THOROUGHLY!!
I read almost all of the reviews on numerous sites and decided to give the HP C5180 a try.Boy am I glad I did. The first thing I encountered in the box was an addendum stating "to use with Vista operating systems plese visit the HP web site" and it gave me the URL.I went to the website and it was very user friendly. I quickly located what I needed,downloaded the file and set up, including the network portion, was a breeze.I am new to HP products and relativley new to setting up my own stuff when it comes to computers,printers,routers etc....I honestly had no problem understanding and executing the directions given.I definetly recommend this printer for its ease of setup,print quality and stand alone printing abilities.
This is a prince amoung printers. My old printer gave up the ghost just as I was preparing for a big project. I had been looking at the HP printers and picked up this one. It installed like a dream on Windows XP (and the software has since be updated so when I get a computer with Vista - my new HP printer will be ready!!!). My poor old printer took 7-10 minutes to print out a single 8 1/2 X 11 shot. This HP took less than 30 seconds!!! Work that used to take hours and hours now takes less than a hour. I have read reviews that complain about the noise, and I could care less about the noise when you have something the performs beyond my wildest expectations. Another plus is that though it uses six cartridges, the whole pack if six costs what 1 cartridge did for my old printer. That translates into huge savings for me ink-jet cartridges. I am so impressed with this printer, that when I get ready to replace my current computer, I will be looking at Hewlett-Packard. Get one of these puppies. You'll love it!!!
The HP Photosmart C5180 will do the job for a full-featured moderately priced printer, if you don't need the FAX. The buttons are self-explanatory. The software received w/hardware did not support Vista when received. (Although, I was able to print and copy w/o.) They have since improved their download system, finally, so I was able to get the Vista Photosmart s/w without disconnecting the USB and erasing existing printer driver. The software looks quite straightforward for a non-techie. I am looking forward to playing w/it. I hope the reviewer whose paper was landing on the floor found the slide-out stopper that works great. The copier lid could use a slow close feature. I have to hold it up or else it slams shut. The paper try holds only 3/8" of paper. Use cheap paper. Lastly, make sure this printer sits on a solid surface. It creates quite a bit of "throw" when scanning and copying.
I am so glad I bought this printer because I love taking pictures and the "HP Photosmart C5180 All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Copier" prints out quality photos! All you do is plug in your flash card and choose the pictures you want to print and you are done! It gives size options, has a color control, and prints quite fast! As far as regular printing, it takes less than 30 seconds depending on how much ink it is using! GREAT printer! I highly reccomend it!
I purchased this all-in-one as a "family" gift for christmas simply because a new printer was necessary. Well, I got much more than I bargained for, literally. I have always favored HP products, and this machine simply does not disappoint. It has good quality printing, scanning and photos. But where it really shines is the fact that it accepts 4 different kinds of memory cards from digital cameras; AND has a preview screen separate from the computer screen for those times when you don't want to turn on the whole system just for a quick click of the family dog. It has many different quality settings, from the most professional right on down to ink-saving grainy draft preview. The one and only bad thing I can think of is that it shakes the table when it prints. This, however is partially due to the table not being all that sturdy. All in all, a great all-in-one!
Speed and quality on scanning, printing, and copying is great, but it is a bit noisy when scanning. Printed a 4x6 from a 5x7, and it was perfect.
After using the Printer, which is a nice unit, I had numerous Software related functions that did not work on the Printer. I called HP for some help but found their Tech Support to one of the worst.
I spoke with two (2) different techs who could not solve the problem and told me to contact Microsoft.
I spoke to Dell and Microsoft who both spent time trying to solve the problem and both agreed that the problem was strictly an HP problem.
I never solved the problem and returned the Printer to Amazon for credit.
I am now using a Dell printer with no problems.
With the HP Photosmart C5180 printer, Hewlett Packard has brought to market a very good multifunction device at a great price point. Although it doesn't seem to be part of the current HP product line any longer, it is still a great multifunction device that deserves your consideration if you are in the market for a new printer or multifunction device.
You get a lot of features packed into one unit. Along with the printer and scanner, there is also a set of memory card slots that will accept the most popular types of digital camera memory. The control panel features one touch access to many functions, including the copier functionality. A small color LCD lets you adjust printer settings, make copies, configure the onboard network interface and perform basic photo editing and printing functions. Unlike any other printer I've seen before, HP includes some document "templates" in the printer's memory. These templates let you make graph paper and ruled sheets of notebook paper. Finally, there is the included Ethernet interface, which lets you connect the Photosmart C5180 to a network and use it with multiple computers.
Out of the box setup was easy. Removing the packaging tape and inserting the ink cartridges for the first time is a very straightforward process. The inks click easily and positively into place.
When you've completed the basic setup and turned the unit on, you're ready to start installing the software and connecting the unit to your computer. HP provides two options for connectivity--you can use either USB or plug the device into an Ethernet network. I used the network connection. HP's software found the device immediately and configured it with no intervention on my part.
The included software bundle is available for PC and Macintosh computers. As an added bonus, the Macintosh version of the software is a universal binary--that is, it runs on both PowerPC and Intel Macintosh computers. HP's software selection is pretty well rounded. You get everything you need to organize and print photos, make scans and adjust the printer settings. I found the software easy to install and was able to use it well within twenty minutes of completing the installation.
If you use the network connection, the Photosmart C5180 has a basic management web page that can be used to quickly check ink levels and even perform an immediate scan that will show up as an image in your web browser.
Ink life is excellent and print quality is very good. Photographs printed on this printer using the special HP photo paper look just like professional prints and hold up well to being handled. Text documents are not quite as crisp as those coming from a laser printer, but they still look very sharp and clear. After printing several photos and over 200 pages of black text documents, the only cartridge that showed any drop in capacity is the black one. All the others still show as being completely full.
Unlike many printers, you won't break the bank on consumables. You can buy all six ink tanks and a 150-pack of small photo paper for about $36 USD. Ink can also be purchased by the color, at about $8 USD per color or $12 USD for the black ink. This helps offset the purchase price of this printer.
Unfortunately, there are some things that are not so great about the unit. For starters, the PC version of the software takes a long time to install. While the stability of the Intel version of the Macintosh software was nearly perfect, the PowerPC version didn't do nearly so well. I saw a lot of unexpected crashes or applications that disappeared outright, especially when managing photos on my PowerPC G4 Mac mini.
Some people have reported that the unit's scanner is not very good. The scanner does have an unfortunate tendency to produce "noisy" scans, especially with items that have a lot of dark colors. Photocopies made using the "black" copy button have a greenish cast to them. I was able to solve this problem by using the "color" button to copy black and white documents instead.
The printer also moves very swiftly. This isn't a problem as much as it is a notice of caution. You should place the unit only on a very sturdy table or desk, as it moves quickly enough in some printing modes that it could possibly fall off or break what you've placed it on.
HP Technical Support could be a lot better. The first one of these units that I purchased was stuck in "manufacturing mode" and would not act normally. The representative that I spoke to was hard to understand, didn't seem to understand my problem and couldn't offer any advice to solve the problem other than returning the printer to HP for replacement. I returned it directly to the vendor instead. The replacement worked perfectly in every respect.
This unit uses print heads that are separate from the ink tanks. While ink is easily replenished, I saw no way of replacing the installed print heads. They look to be permanently installed, which suggests that if they ever fail or become clogged, you may be buying a new printer. Considering that HP builds printers that usually last a very long time, this comes across to me as a surprising decision on their part. Only time will tell for sure.
Finally, there are some features I would have liked to see in this unit. Topping the list would be a duplex printing module. Some of the higher Photosmart models can have this feature added. It seems like HP planned to offer this for the C5180 as well. The internal web page has a "duplexer installed" field, and the back door can be completely removed. Second to that would be the inclusion of a document feeder. Having network scanning functionality is very handy, but it gets a little tedious to get up, walk across the room and change the document on the scanner bed. Again, higher end models in the Photosmart lineup do include this feature.
All things considered, I find the HP Photosmart C5180 to be an overall good product. It has some areas where it needs improvement, but what product doesn't? I don't think you can go wrong with this product, as much of what it does is done very well.
Printer arrived in good shape and was easy to get installed. Have used it for 4x6 photos only so far and the images appear to be nice quality. Print speeds are not as fast as advertised for B&W. We are happy with the printerer and feel we paid a fair price.
This printer is unique in that it has so many options, and is easy to use and does a beautiful job. It has replaced my old printer, plus my little 4x6 printer
I have owned several brand printers and found several to work very well, but I am very pleased with the quality of this one. I put a print in water overnight and it did not effect the picture at all. I tried it before with other brads and the ink washed off. Ink is a little exspensive, but if you buy the HP value pack it cuts your cost down. I intent to use only HP ink in this printer as I have a stack of printers that are clogged by useing generic ink.
This printer is great! Spits out 4x6 color photos in about 25 seconds that are top notch. The color screen makes it a snap to choose photos to print out without having to connect to a computer. Of course it's WAY cheaper to have your prints done at the store than at home but this makes pictures just as good as the store. Really like the 2 paper tray system that you can put in 8.5x11 and 4x6 photo paper and not have to switch.
Works with my powerbook great and I have it hooked up through my wireless router so I can print from anywhere in the house. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because I wish it had a fax built in. It would be a 5 easily then. On a side note, it's a pretty big printer so have lots of desk space available.
I received this printer a few days ago and I am very impressed. 4 X 6 photos look awesome as if I had Walmart print them and the speed is very fast. I hook it up to my Airport Extreme Base Station (I use a Powerbook) and print wirelessly and had no problems at all. Scanner is a tad bit noisy but a lot quieter than my old HP All in one printer that just kicked the bucket.
The software is easy to use and understand. I never read the directions and I was scanning in pictures with in minutes. I also like the LCD display on the printer. Its nice to just "pop" in a memory card, and view the photos you want to print. It saves time when you don't have to download them to the computer then print them.
Overall I am vey pleased and I did my search on this printer and all of the reviews were very good. I was torn between Canon (I actually bought a Canon Pixma and returned it) and HP and I am glad I stuck with HP, always a trusted brand. And the price was about $40.00 dollars cheaper than any electronics store around.
Pros:
Excellent picture qualty
Fast printing
Easy setup
A lot of features
Easy to use and understand functions
Cons:
Scanner a litte noisy (quieter than my old HP)
When printing the printer shakes my table (old HP did the same)
I guess it is a little on the large side, but it doesn't bother me
I don't generally write reviews, but this printer has been working great for me and it is not an ink hog like my last Lexmark or Epson. I've had it now for two months and can't find any faults with it as of yet. It prints photos with ease, as well as general printing. I like the fact that it has separate trays for photo paper and everyday paper, too. The on-hand screen is very user friendly - my 9 year old can print photos without needing directions. I think anyone who buys this product will be very satisfied with their purchase.
Had a real great experience buying from Amazon--better price then I could even buy locally and delivered to my house with no sales tax. Would definately reccommend this way to go to anyone.
The Photosmart C5180 has every feature that I would ever need in an all-in-one device. For the price, it's an excellent buy. If there was anything that I didn't like (and this is a nit), it frequently goes into a processing mode (not sure what it's doing or cleaning or calibrating). However, it doesn't take that long. In summary, easy to use (in all modes), good quality, and good price.
I have always bought HP printers and have never had any problems. I thought I needed a new printer, so I read the reviews, and bought a Canon PIXMA MP450. What a waste of money! I didn't like rear paper feeding. It was extremely noisy. It pulled the paper in at a slight angle. The controls were confusing. Worst of all it sucked up ink like I've never experienced before. I was spending nearly $60 per month just on ink cartridges. It is now retired to my attic. I studied current HP printers and settled on the C5180 All-in-One. I love it. It is great to have a 4 x 6 photo tray, all the paper feeds from the front, printing quality is great and extremely fast. It does vibrate a bit while printing but I think it is because it's going so fast. Best of all, we've had it for two months and I have not bought any additonal ink. The black is down to 3/4 and the graphics for the 5 color cartridges haven't budged. Copying and scanning are fast and clear. Often the copy is better than the original It is easy to use and I am really happy with the choice. Put me down as a HP only user from here on out.
when they fix the following problems:
1) printing full page photos the HP PHOTO PAPER slips in the rollers and loses several lines at the very bottom of the page. Wait until they figure out how to engineer rollers (and you'd think HP would know this by now).
2) under Vista, if you network the printer it will acquire an IP address via DHCP. When you install the driver it finds the printer at that address. So far so good. Now, unplug the printer and plug it back in. It acquires a new (and very likely different) IP address. Think the driver knows that? No! You get that ever help Microsoft style error message, "Error Printing". Wait until HP discovers what the DYNAMIC in DHCP means, then maybe.
In all fairness the printer is still better than an Epson and the print quality is very good.
This printer is working perfectly. Still haven't run out of ink...no idea how many prints I've done, though. The copies are FLAWLESS, the prints excellent, the scans beautiful, and the photos! I took a megapixel picture of a couple friends with my cell phone(!) and printed it with the sample photo paper they include and my friends were ASTONISHED that it came from my phone. It printed just like any photograph. You couldn't tell the difference! Very pleased with this printer. Highly recommended to any Joe Shmoe that wants a nice printer at a nice price.
The quality of the print is good, but the printer is loud and does shake a lot in the process.
I shopped for a HP Printer that uses individual ink cartridges for each color. After looking at all printers available the HP-5180 met my needs the best. I am very pleased with the printer and the quick shipping.
Bought this PCS to replace the HP 750xi that had bit the dust after 6+ years of service. Stayed with HP because of the reputation and the good years I'd had from the 750xi. The HP C1580 was very easy to install and set up. Had it up in no time. The quality of the printing and copying works great for me. I liked the ease of the picture printing, the picture quality was satisfactory. The scanning process seems a little more complicated that my previous machine. The noice it makes while preparing itself to print is a little obnoxious though.
Was looking forward to getting this all in one printer but very dissappointed so far. Very, very slow reaction time for printing or copying. Takes way to long to start the printing or copying process even after it has been on and warmed up for a while.
I'm not sure that I'd buy this device if I was going to attach it to a single computer. There might be better all-in-one's for the money. But if you want a Printer/Scanner/Copier/Memory Card Reader for your network at home, you'd have a tough time finding something better for the price.
I bought this because it had decent reviews and because it was network ready. I have not been disappointed. Previously, I had to either have a printer connected to one of the computers and shared, or I'd have to buy a router with a print server or a separate print server. This dropped onto the network without a hassle and was up and running after the software install. And when the network is rebooted, the printer is immediately available, without a hiccup. As the only "IT" support in the house, it makes my life easier.
While the installation process is time-consuming, it is mostly unattended. But once the software is on the various networked computers, then they can all access the device for any of the functions it supports; Scanning, Printing, Copying, and Memory Cards.
Scan and Print Quality is certainly good enough for most home use. It does more than an acceptable job for me, even on some of my more demanding graphics. And as a stand-alone Photo Printer, it again does an acceptable job.
Speed is fine, considering the home environment. It does sometimes take a bit of time when scanning and transferring, but not much. Just a bit longer than might be expected.
Obviously, if you're into ultra-high print quality, you're probably going to go with different technology altogether. But for home use this fits the needs of a small network very nicely.
The ONLY flaw I have found with the device so far is a minor problem with the software agent. As it requires a network sniffer to locate the printer (in case addresses change, etc.), the agent doesn't always shutdown cleanly when using a shared Windows XP computer and multiple people have been logged into it. Windows XP notes the issue and gives the software a chance to shutdown, after which it takes care of it automatically, so there's no real burden. It is just a bit annoying. Hopefully they will have a patch for the software that will address this.
Overall this is a good printer but I did have problems with installation. Printer is super fast once it set it's self up which takes much longer than my old HP printer. Also have had problems with certain size envelopes.
This product sounds like a space ship when starting out but it seems to do a good job. I like the individual ink fillers. A big saving over having to buy the whole refil.
This is the first photo printer I've ever owned and, yea, maybe it will print the photo in whatever seconds it says, but it takes soooooooo long to get to where it starts printing! I'm used to hearing the printer cranking just after clicking PRINT. If it's not the printer's fault, sorry, but if it is, thanks for the time to run and grab a cup of coffee from the kitchen!!
The photos ARE beautiful, I must say, but be sure to get premium paper for it! I wanted this one because I like the fact that when one color cartridge goes dry, I don't have to throw away the whole thing as in a tri-color cartridge. I do wish HP would make larger cartridges though!
Scanning is easy; printing normal docs..well, be sure the print settings are correct. I printed the coolest directions map to the La Brea tar pits on a 4x6 glossy by accident!! haha My grandson loved it :)
Decent product, and not too expensive. Works in Vista!!!! I'm having fun with it!
Ravenous with ink. Requires no less than SIX ink cartridges, which seem to run out immediately. Will not run when it thinks its out of ink, even when its printing fine. Prints very slowly. A fussy old woman of a printer. If you're looking for a straight-forward, can-do printer, stay away from this prima-donna.