HP Deskjet D1660 Comments

They're STILL using combined cartridges? no thank-you. I've had three such HP printer over the past four years and they where both terrible! Having to throw away half-full combined cartridges. Driver software that requires two hours messing on the internet just to get working. External power supplies with non-standard power connector and last but not least; cartridges that 'expire'!? What a joke.

I refuse to buy any more 'basic' two-cartridge HP printers. I gave HP one last try, hoping that they could still make printers like their previous Laserjets. Thankfully the four-cartridge Officejet pro k850 was much more acceptable. It was more expensive, and it still has an external power supply despite its size, but at least it has a standard connector, I can fully use the ink I paid handsomely for and the cartridges don't play silly games (so far anyway).

All-in-all I would have to say that despite the 'recommended' award by Trusted Reviews, I would steer well clear of this and other 'value' HP printer and I recommend that others do the same.

Quote: "Few printer makers give any thought to how difficult it is to photograph a printer entirely clad in high-gloss black plastic, which reflects anything in its immediate surroundings and shows every fingerprint and dust particle."

May I suggest you invest in a can of Dulling Spray, such as this stuff: http://www.swkenyon.com/frame2.html

In my (very) short time assisting a commercial studio photographer we used a ton of the stuff.

I agree with blyndy about the tri-color cartridges.
I do have a question.
If HP bases its print speed on draft mode then are we to assume that their cartridges capacity is also based on draft mode? The reason I ask is that I have never been able to get close to hp’s stated cartridge capacity even using products with 4 separate cartridges. When you do a test of the product do you run the cartridge until empty or check the percentage or page count remaining after your test to verify approximate capacity?

That power connector looks downright dangerous.

And another "will never buy a printer that uses a tri-colour cartridge" here. I also advise friends and family against it - whilst the printers may be 50p cheaper, you spend many-fold over that in wasted ink when just one of your colours (blue in my experience) runs out.

Having recently cleaned out my aging DeskJet995c (I love the Bluetooth connection), I can attest to two things:
1) Inkjet printers waste a tonne (yes, the metric weight variety) of ink just next to where the heads park. I found a positive stalagmite of ink (obviously deposited as part of an over-zealous head cleaning procedure before each print).
2) Cleaning inkjet printers is nowhere near as hard as people make out and I was able to recover excellent results with minimum effort (just make sure you clean more than the printer heads, but also all the wipers blades and the little cups the heads sit in while at rest). You will then need to replace your printer far less often.

I've had numerous printers, Epson's, Canon's etc, but I must admit HP are the best.
But like some have pointed out, maybe stay away from Tri-Colour cartridge types. I've got an Officejet with 5 separate colour cartridges and one black. In the past both Epson & Canon every time I never used the printer for say a week, I would need go through the whole head cleaning process, wasting loads of ink etc. I can sometimes go months without using my Officejet and the first print that comes out is perfect every time.

i'm using only Hp Printers the last 10 years, i think is the king of printers, ok, there are some few models of canon which are really good quality. Regarding the above printer (d1660) we are talking for 29,99, actually the customers is payibg only the inks. Is the best quality entry level printer.

I've got an older similar version of this and as a person who never prints anything just the very odd letter or picture the total cost over about 5 years is about £40 (£30 for the printer and £10 for a new tricolour and a black together) it's been very good value indeed.
but I do agree that if you print a lot of colour then a separate ink printer would probably work out cheaper but if you print text a lot then a black ink in this should prove a lot cheaper.