HP Photosmart C5180 All-In-One Printer (32 PPM, 4800x1200 DPI, Color, 64MB, PC/Mac)

HP Photosmart C5180 All-In-One

Photosmart C5180 All-In-One Printer (32 PPM, 4800x1200 DPI, Color, 64MB, PC/Mac) Review, by Paul Jasper December 20, 2006

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• Latest User Reviews 6 reviews
• Reviewed by: judithgail

  Duration of ownership: 2 Years

  Strengths: It worked well for 2 years.

  Weaknesses: When the yellow ink cartridge runs out, your computer will no longer work.

  Overall: If there was an evaluation lower than poor, I would give it that. I have had this printer for years. Had replaced all the other cartridges, but the yellow just ran out. I replaced it and it said it was empty. I bought another whole pack of all colors and replaced them all (with HP ink cartridges), but could never get it to work right. Then after about 10 pages of printing (in black only), it will quit printing at all. I have spent hours with tech support, who were helpful cosidering it wasn't under warranty, but could not fix the problem. The last one offered to sell me another HP printer for a "reduced" price. When I turned that down, he gave me a list of service places in my area to take the printer. I asked if they were going to pay to get it fixed because he told me it was a hardware malfunction. He said no, I'd have to pay. Even if it's 2 years old, I don't feel I should have to pay. Also, if you google this model and ink cartridge, you will find page upon page of people who have the identical problem with no solution. I wish I had known to look that up before I bought it. Do not buy this printer. I will never buy another HP product.

• Reviewed by: Ixander

  Duration of ownership: 6 Months

  Strengths: Excellent design, but...

  Weaknesses: The Hummer of ink consumption. Tiny, costly ink cartridges need constant replacement. Nearly useless as a result.

  Overall: As an owner of this lemon for several months now I must beg to differ with the generally good reviews. Design is good, but the product is practically useless in the end. The Vivera ink system uses six tiny cartridges at $18 for black and $10 each for color. After the first few print jobs they run out in staggered rotation so that every 40 printed pages or so you must replace at least one cartridge. My "Ink Low" signal is almost always on! Very costly and annoying. And an environmental disaster, given all the plastic. HP's Vivera ink models take the inkjet scam to a whole new level!

• Reviewed by: pennyandchris

  Duration of ownership: 1 Day

  Strengths: Uses HP's 6 ink printing engine which gives very good print quality Relatively compact Easy to set up (if you follow instructions)

  Weaknesses: Long winded (but easy) to set up in Vista Need to use HP's own software for best print quality(?)

  Overall: Bought this yesterday as replacement for my aged Epson C680. I wasn't going to get an all in one, but it was the same price as a D7160 printer, and I felt that the scan/copy might be useful for text documents. I have no ambition (yet) to scan all my old photo prints, so am not that fussed about print scanning quality. IF you follow the instructions, it sets up with no problems. Initial turn on and loading of ink was easy, and you just wait for the printer to do its self-priming/checking routine I was pleased to see that despite being an obsolete model (according to HP website) it now comes with a Vista installation disc. Software took a LONG time to load on the PC (possibly because it was also checking/removing and old version of HP Photosmart). When the test text sheet emerged it was nice and sharp, with good strong blacks where appropriate. I then tried a couple of 10x15cm prints. Quality straight from a (SD) memory card was very good, and I couldn't see any adjustment needed. When trying to print the same frame from the PC in Windows Picture Manager, it produced an acceptable print, but with less saturated colours. Using Photosmart on the PC to select the frame it went back to the same quality as the printer-driven print. The moral here seems to be that the printer needs the HP software to produce good results without tweaking. Next step will be to try printing from Photoshop Elements - my normal photo editing/printing programme of choice, and also possibly see how good the photo scanning actually is. Early days yet, but I'm very pleased with my purchase so far.

• Reviewed by: Tollman

  Duration of ownership: 3 Weeks

  Strengths: I find the photo quality very good. I use top quality letter paper and the print looks as good as any I have seen. People say the ink is pricey, not. You can buy single colors for $10 and a six pack with one of each for $ 35. I am paying $35 for a tri-color cartridge on my old one. Plus you can use the cartridge until it is dry if you don't mind the inconvenience. It is fairly quiet when printing, but makes a bit of noise while getting ready. I'm satisfied for my $$.

  Weaknesses: On a shaky surface it wiggles around a bit, but on a sturdy one it's fine. It has a lot of buttons that you have to figure out.

  Overall: I would buy it again. Every time I ask a person what type of printer to buy for a PC, they answer HP.

• Reviewed by: sills0608

  Duration of ownership: 5 Days

  Strengths: It is very user friendly and easy to print either pictures or text from.

  Weaknesses: The photo quality is poor. It does not print clear, colorful pictures. The pictures appear to be flat in color.

  Overall: I found the photo print quality very poor. I was actually horrified when I printed the family Christmas pictures. The skin tones were off and seemed to blend in with the surroundings when pictures were taken indoors. The pictures taken outdoors were a little better but still did not have the sharp, crisp colors I have come to expect from an HP printer. My previous printer was an HP fax, scanner, printer that was about 6 years old and finally broke. I made the decision to stay with HP but that I did not need a fax feature. I was extremely satisfied with that printer and quality of photos that it printed. I thought that I would be able to get that same quality from this printer but boy was I wrong. Unfortunately I am going to be returning this printer and purchasing a Canon MP600. After reading alot of mmixed reviews I think I will get more of what I am looking for as far as photo quality. Oh well sorry HP.

• Reviewed by: 33larry33

  Duration of ownership: 2 Months

  Strengths: Easy to set up, great, photo quality printing, looks nice and is relatively quiet. Economical to use, great software.

  Weaknesses: None.

  Overall: I am a long time HP user at home. Found this unit to be easy to network, economical to operate and the photo quality printing is superb! Bought it at Staples on sale for an excellent price and would highly recommend it to others!

• Reviewed by: phillips43

  Strengths: Works good for about 2-3 years then breaks once warranty is done

  Weaknesses: Ink not recognized

  Overall: I have found many people with the same problem. The printer refuses to recognize the yellow ink once replaced. The company says its a hardware problem....meaning buy a new one. This is only three years old. I talked with the manager who said the printers typically only last four years!!!! What only four years!!! DO NOT BUY, it will save you the headache that I have had.

• Reviewed by: OShiTim

  Strengths: Networking; nice photo printing.

  Weaknesses: Tech support no help with multiple persistent problems. Unable to use for intended purposes.

  Overall: Have had several HP printers over the last decade, but severely regret this purchase. Have replaced it on warranty, uninstalled and reinstalled software but no improvement. Tech support not at all knowledgeable or well trained. Have spent over 12 hours on phone with techs and still having same problems including: (1) won't print a full page image. Ejects page without printing anything. (2) Pages inexplicably print alternating in portrait and landscape mode. Weird. (3) CD-Stomper CD label pages are ejected without printing. (4) "Moire" interference patterns occur on scans of book pages. Techs said they have never heard of "Moire". they had to be led to Wikipedia, and the C5100 Series Help screen to show what these undesirable patterns were. The techs, after conferring with "level 2" techs and supervisors, said there was nothing in the software to correct. I later found the option in an "advanced" menu to select "descreen" to correct this, as was referred to in the Help item. Still no answer to the other problems and am awaiting another call back from a higher level tech. I asked about an upgrade exchange and am waiting to hear from them. It's been a nightmare and tech support has been NO support.

• Reviewed by: FG

  Strengths: Outstanding output quality, great photoes printings.

  Weaknesses: Paper trays don't hold vast amounts of paper

  Overall: Great value - deceptively priced for all it does - good software suite by itself worth the price of admission. I am happy with my purchase, will buy another HP printer next time.

• Reviewed by: MakoShark

  Strengths: Phot printing, Document Printing, Versitility, Additional Photo Software

  Weaknesses: Lack of USB Cable, a lot of versitility to get to know

  Overall: I did a lot of research, read consumer reviews, and I just can't understand some of the negatives some folks have written. This printer has been nothing but super! I use a Canon A620 and have learned the autofix washes the picture out, but if you trust the camera and the printer the photos look as good as film. I've used HP Premium photo paper and Jet Print Photo Paper. Both looked great, but I accedently laid a few Jet Print photos on top of each other while wet and they stuck together. I can't wait to see the HP Premium Plus photo paper in action. Document printing is crisp and this printer in both B&W and color is faster than anything I've used in the past, including some laser printers. Though it was a long installation process, the only installation problem I experienced I attribute to my older laptop (4-5 yrs) and some issues I've been trying to correct. Sure it doesn't have a duplexer and no fax capability, but I really don't need those.

• Reviewed by: kuppusamy

  Strengths: Network ReadyAmazing photo qualityScan the photos with good quality

  Weaknesses: In my opinion the I didn't like the color, see the other HP printers, you will know it.Ink is Very expensive

  Overall: I bought this one and c6180 for my office and using this to print photos and scanning them as well. Very ideal for printing high quality photos, you can easly adjust the quality of the print by selecting the appropriate paper type in the printer settings. Most of the combination has been given pre-configured.The only issue is the ink cartridges are very expensive. And other things it looks kind of dull with the color. If you look at the other HP printers you will know it.I kinda like C6180, but this is also very good.