HP Officejet Pro 8500A Wireless e-All-in-One (CM755A#B1H) Review

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(More customer reviews)Received as part of the Amazon Vine reviewer program, the HP Officejet Pro 8500A is a wireless, all-in-one (printer, fax, scanner, copier, web) office tool. It uses the current touchscreen technology to offer the user a way to fax, scan, copy and print without the use of a computer directly attached to it.
SET-UP:
Once I unboxed this beast (it's quite a bit heavier and larger than my previous printer: HP Officejet 6310 All-in-One Printer), it took a few minutes to check the box contents and untape parts that were immobilized as part of packaging.
A very basic (10) step sheet with pictures and minimal directions directs you how to install the two print heads, four ink cartridges, the HP automatic two-sided printing accessory (duplexer) and load the paper. It also shows you for PC or Mac computers how to hook up the printer via a usb cord, ethernet (internet cord) or via a wireless home network (found in the Getting Started Guide).
Once you power up the printer it takes approximately 20 minutes to go through a series of checks prior to asking you if you want to 'update'. As I'd already established a wireless connection with the printer by following the prompts on the touchscreen and entering my home network's security code, I had it do an update which took about 5 minutes. All in all, the 25-30 minutes the all-in-one spent getting ready for use was no big deal. It took me about 45 minutes to get it set-up prior to that time, and I'm fairly savy about such things. The directions that come with it rely heavily on drawings and had to be referred to frequently - at least for me.
So a little over an hour into set-up I installed the software on my primary computer. This took about 10 minutes. Later I also went to the HP site and got the very basic drivers (a 64MB download) for the printer to install on 2 laptops (Vista 64-bit and Windows 7), 1 netbook (Windows XP) and 2 desktops (Vista 64-bit and Windows XP). All the computers installed the drivers quickly and easily, and once installed printed wirelessly off the 8500A. I was amazed with that one... no hic-ups with drivers?!
I also went to iTunes and got a free app: HP iPrint Photo. Once loaded on your iTouch or iPhone you can use it to send photos or documents to print to this printer, or any HP printer (I'm assuming other non-HP printers won't work with this app) connected to your network. It worked with both the 8500A and the 6300 (hardwired to my router).
Between the unboxing, untaping, installing of ink and printer heads, the all-in-one's auto set-up and software installation, getting this one up and running took about 1.5 hours. That's much longer than most printers I've wrestled with in the past, but I did take my time and gently worked each step.
The only device I did not get linked to the 8500A was my phone: Nokia E71 Unlocked Phone with 3.2 MP Camera, 3G, Media Player, GPS with Free Voice Navigation, Wi-Fi, and MicroSD Slot--U.S. Version with Warranty (White). I tried multiple times to get it to recognize the printer, but thus far, nothing. I'll continue to work on it.
FEATURES per the box:
+Printing speeds equivalent to laser printers (35ppm black and 34ppm color - max).
+Water resistant-inks.
+Wireless networking.
+35 page automatic document feeder (ADF)
+Automatic two-sided printing; saving time and paper
+4800 x 4800 dpi, 48-bit color scanning
+App printing via touchscreen - print directly from the web without a computer
+Printing from anywhere via mobile devices using HP ePrint (the printer has its own email addresss)
+Front panel usb port and memory card slots for digital cameras
+Fax to network folder, to PC and PC Fax Send.
++ Eco-friendly solution, offering 50% lower cost per page than other similar all-in-one printers.
"What does all this mean?" Ideally, if you buy this one you'll get a wireless printer, scanner, copier, fax machine, that may cost you a bit less to print the same number of pages with another printer and gives you laser printer quality and speed. At least in theory, but time will tell if that pans out.
What I liked about it...
+The machine is good-looking. Sleek, glossy black with a color touch screen.
+The touch screen itself is small, but responsive and quick.
+It can be placed anywhere in your home or office as long as your wireless network connection is adequate.
+The flatbed scanner allows for legal sized documents.
+You can scan your ID - getting both sides at the same time on one page - very cool!
+The print quality is excellent.
+The print speed is fast.
+Connectivity with my iTouch via HP's app.
+Scanning is very quick and the quality is excellent.
+Printer drivers installed quickly and easily via HP.com download on all my computers running Vista 64-bit, XP Home and Windows 7 - without a hitch!
+You can copy or print without a PC attached and 'on', via the touch screen.
+Touchscreen animation will show you how to clear a paper jam, step-by-step. Had one...watched the little show and fixed it.
What I disliked about it...
- The machine took a long time to set-up for initial use, and it goes through a lot of checks (for about 30-60 seconds) before it can be used if powered off and turned back on.
- Makes a lot of noise while it's printing! Thankfully...it prints quickly, and it isn't as noisy while scanning, copying or faxing.
-The size is a bit bigger than I'd hoped for and it weighs about 25 pounds, but it does a lot and 'compact' was not one of its selling points.
- The printing of photos is nice, but leaves regular paper soggy. You need to use HP Premium Presentation Paper or HP Premium Photo Paper, glossy (100 sheets, 4 x 6-inch borderless) to get the right look and feel.
- Time will tell if ink costs are less or not, but to replace all the cartridges at one time will be a bit expensive. HP 940xl Black, Regular Capacity Cyan, Magenta, Yellow Not overly expensive when compared with other HP ink cartridges, so I wonder where the claim '50% lower cost per page' comes from?
-HP included software has some unnecessary stuff on it that loads on your computer if you're not aware enough of what to 'uncheck' to stop it before you install the software. HP is notorious for this type of thing and can be very irksome.
-The HP Apps installed on the machine are minimal at this time. You can print off daily news stories from Yahoo, weather reports, puzzles, recipes, etc..., but for me, at least right now, the apps are more fluff than substance. You have to go online to do your settings and establish an 'email address' for your printer, instead of using the touchscreen to do all of it. Sort of defeating the purpose of the screen and wireless capabilities - at least for setup.
-HP Apps failed to work every time. When I tried to get a daily summary for Yahoo, it couldn't retrieve the info. I went to the HP ePrintCenter online, and it said my printer was offline. I refreshed it and it still didn't work. I then turned off my printer and turned it back on. It was then recognized online and printed via the app within 5 seconds. This was after I had setup my account and HP said all was well. **A few bugs need to be worked out, but this is probably a network/software glitch and may be just with the Yahoo app.
My CONCLUSION:
It's a good e-All-in-One with cool web and file transfer possibilities, but a noisy printer. The cost is a bit high for a wireless all-in-one, but the web features and eco-friendly printing may be worth the price boost.
I'm excited to have a wireless printer that installed so easily on my home network and can be placed anywhere in my home. I love the scanner, and look forward to scanning old photos more quickly than my old scanner.
I also like the ability to send photos from my iTouch or iPhone to the printer wirelessly. The touchscreen was a great addition and it works well. It's a stand-alone device in many ways, and doesn't need to be tethered to a computer to copy or fax, which I like too.
Overall, the Officejet Pro 8500A Wireless e-All-in-One seems to be a solidly built office tool that will appeal to home office users and families who want its many functions and a lower cost per page.
NOTE RE: Nokia E71 phones, printing wirelessly...

After much research and little assistance I lucked out and figured out the right configuration for printing from the Nokia phone. In your 'printers' on your phone, set up a new printer using these settings.

Printer: any name...
Driver: HP Mobile Printing
Bearer: LPR
Access point: make sure this is whatever network name your wireless printer is currently using.
Host: this is to be set to your printer's IP address.
User: also known as 'hostname'.
Queue: I put in the name of my network (SSID).
Printer model: 'officejet' printers

I can't print using the Ovi store's HP iPrint Photo app, but the above stated worked for me on about a 3 second delay to the printer. This fix may also work for other Nokia smartphones and HP printers.



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