Best Reviewed
Printers
- Basic inkjet printer HP Deskjet 1000 *Est. $30
- Best family printer for documents, photos Canon Pixma iP4820 *Est. $80
- Wireless home-office printer HP Officejet 6000 Wireless *Est. $80
- Enthusiast photo printer Epson Stylus Photo R1900 *Est. $300
- Pro-quality photo printer Canon Pixma Pro9000 Mark II *Est. $445
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- Ethernet connectivity
- Auto-duplex printing
- High-quality black text printing
- Low power consumption
- Ink consumption
- Long warm-up times
- Photos print slowly
- Duplexer works slowly
- No PictBridge port or memory-card reader
The HP Officejet Pro 8000 inkjet printer is similar to the top-rated HP Officejet 6000 Wireless (*Est. $80) and the heavier-duty HP Officejet Pro 8000 Wireless (*Est. $110), only it can't receive commands wirelessly -- you must connect your computer via a cable to print. Otherwise, the Officejet Pro 8000 shares the same strengths and weaknesses as its office-oriented siblings. On the plus side, the Officejet Pro 8000 includes an auto duplexer so you can print on both sides of the paper, and testers say it does a beautiful job with black text. It cranks out eight to 12 black-text pages per minute in tests at normal quality, which experts say is pretty fast (although not as fast as HP's estimated 30-plus pages per minute in lower-quality draft mode). But photos print slowly (three minutes for an 8-by-10-inch photo in one test, or 100 seconds for a 4-by-6-inch photo), the duplexer works slowly and some home users say the printer takes a long time to warm up from a cold start or to get under way with a new print job. Others complain that this printer runs out of ink too quickly -- and Hewlett-Packard settled a class-action lawsuit over that issue for up to $5 million in late 2010. Although one expert source says the photo quality is fine, reviews prefer more photo-centric printers like the Canon Pixma iP4820 (*Est. $80) for faster, sharper, more vivid photos.
Two British sources -- Which? magazine and TrustedReviews.com -- test the HP Officejet Pro 8000 and compare it with other inkjet printers. ConsumerReports.org reports on a class-action lawsuit over the printer's heavy ink use, a complaint echoed by several users at Amazon.com. TopTenReviews.com ranks the HP Officejet Pro 8000 as its No. 1 printer, but without any testing to back it up.
Our Sources
1. Which? magazineDetails/Subscribe
The U.K.'s Which? magazine -- similar to ConsumerReports.org -- tests 148 printers, including the HP Officejet Pro 8000. Editors give each printer an overall score, with subscores for print quality and speed (while printing photos, graphics, black text and images with text), power consumption, ease of use, noise and more. Based on the ratings, editors name 33 Best Buys.
Review: Printers, Editors of Which? magazine
TrustedReviews.com in the U.K. reviews a lot of printers, but few have been able to equal the score given to the HP Officejet Pro 8000. After a full test, Simon Williams gives it high ratings (9 out of 10) for value, print quality and overall, with slightly lower scores for print speed and features. He does note that the printer comes with small ink cartridges that run out quickly, but he says the user can replace these with high-capacity tanks that are economical in the long run.
Review: HP Officejet Pro 8000 Review, Simon Williams, April 21, 2009
3. ConsumerReports.orgDetails/Subscribe
Hewlett-Packard agreed to pay up to $5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit claiming that HP inkjet printers said they were out of ink when they weren't, or used color inks when printing black-and-white pages, ConsumerReports.org says. A link shows all affected models, including the HP Officejet Pro 8000 Wireless.
Review: HP Inkjet Printer Lawsuit Reaches $5 Million Settlement, Daniel DiClerico, Nov. 17, 2010
4. Amazon.com
The HP Officejet Pro 8000 Wireless printer gets mixed reviews from users at Amazon.com. About 60 percent give it 4 or a perfect 5 stars, but about 20 percent give it the worst rating. Several complaints say the printer wastes ink or takes too long to warm up.
Review: HP Officejet Pro 8000, Contributors to Amazon.com
The HP Officejet Pro 8000 is the top-ranked inkjet printer on this website. However, the ratings are vague, and although each printer gets an individual write-up, it appears to be based solely on what's listed on the spec sheet (and one of those specs -- the number of sheets of paper the printer can hold -- is listed incorrectly here). No testing is mentioned.
Review: Inkjet Printer Review, Editors of TopTenReviews.com, As of May 2011
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