HP PHOTOSMART 720XI

Reviewed by: rebelfish

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: Cheap cost, good quality pictures, AA Batteries,

Weaknesses: Horrible reliability! Poor battery indicator.

Overall Evaluation: The camera battery life indicator has just three levels, nominally 100%, 30%, and 10%. However, by the time the 30% is reached, the camera only has a few minutes of operating life left. This camera is the least reliable electronic product I have ever owned. Within the warrenty, four of my cameras had to be sent in for replacement. For the first one, the LCD screen would only display blue. Then the left arrow was stuck down. Then the zoom lense would not retract. Finally, all pictures that it took appeared as pitch black. The customer service of HP, in a saving grace, is sometimes phenominal. HP shipped a new camera promptly the first three times, and included a pre-paid shipping label for me to return my defective one. Other times it's horrible. The last time, however, after a series of shipping mysteries (and perhaps realizing there was a flaw in the 720), HP sent me the 935. HP is immensely disorganized about shipping and it took five tries and well over threeweeks to actually send out a replacement camera. (Not just for it to arrive--it took this long just for a camera to leave the HP service center!) To quote a technician: "It's not that the service centers receive just one camera at a time. We do this often."