Fuzzy photos - a thing of the past (HP Photosmart 145)

Member Name: mysteryshopper2

Product:	HP Photosmart 145
Date:	05/05/04 (323 review reads)
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Fuzzy wuzzy were 2 words, which sprung to mind every time I tried to print photos from my old photo printer (Epson Stylus C82), using my old digital camera. I saw more dots than on that yellow polka-dotted bikini from the 60?s generation. (NO! I don?t remember the original song & I never wore one either lol). As we were investing in a new, modern, digital cameral, it made sense to purchase a new photo printer at the same time. I wanted something, which would allow me to print photos that actually looked like photos.

After a lot of searching, I eventually settled on the HP Photosmart 145 printer. It is absolutely fantastic and so easy to use and with Curry?s special deal of £89 for the printer it was too good an offer to refuse.

First, let?s tackle the setup.

~ What's in the Box ~

HP Photosmart 145 compact printer, HP 57 tri-colour cartridge, power supply, manual, set-up poster, a complete bundle of photo and imaging software (PC and Mac), to let you edit images and even create custom photo slide shows, which can be saved to a CD HP media sample pack. The Photosmart 145 comes with just about everything you'll need to get started except a USB cable. It is backed by a one-year warranty.

The set up instructions are written is such a way that non-mechanical people, like me, can install the printer with our eyes shut. The CD prompts you from start to finish and takes about 5 minutes. Yes, I said FIVE minutes. It took longer for me to get the printer out of the box than it did to install it and hook it up lol.

~ Design ~

When I say this little new toy of mine is attractive I mean, it?s sleek, modern, light in weight with a nice smooth grey and black finish. It is shaped exactly like a compact loaf of bread, weighs less than 1.5kg (3lbs), and measures a mere 216 x 114 x 89mm (8.5 x 4.5 x 3.5 inches) - it would compliment any desk. This printer is designed for travel and I can even purchase an optiona
l car power adaptor & carry case. However, it doesn?t give a battery option so you?ll have to limit your on the spot printing to places within range of an electrical output. I can also print from a PC/Mac or from an HP Direct Print-compatible digital camera via the USB port in the back.

The front panel of the Photosmart 145 folds out to become an input tray, which holds a generous 20 sheets of 4x6 size photo paper. Because Hewlett Packard has no idea what kind of digital camera I have or what kind of memory card it takes, they created a bank of slots for a variety of memory cards, including CompactFlash Types I & II, MultiMediaCards, Secure Digital, SmartMedia, Sony Memory Sticks, and xD-Picture Cards, so I have no worries about compatibility - simply slip a digital camera memory card into the compatible card slot, choose the images, quantities and sizes you want to print using the convenient buttons and print. The 145 has a built in two line monochrome LCD on its top panel, which improves navigation and easily guides me through each task, but unfortunately, I can't preview photos on it. To see what's on my memory card, I need to print an index sheet - a minor hassle. Unfortunately the 145 offers no additional photo-editing functions.

~ Features ~

The Photosmart 145 handles most image adjustments through the included software or the printer drivers. The software package consists of HP's standard photo and image oriented applications. These are designed to integrate all of my HP digital-imaging devices. HP Director organises and provides access to all of the peripherals, i.e., scanners, digital cameras, and printers, through one easy-to-use interface. I can use the HP Photo and Imaging Gallery to create albums, email my photos, and handle basic editing such as cropping, resizing, and rotating the images. The HP Memories Disc (included in the package) allows me to save and share images to a disc in slide show, album, or archive
format, as well as create index pages and jewel case inserts ? very fancy lol.

The printer drivers are designed toward simple photo-adjustment tasks. Using a series of tabs, I can change basic settings, e.g., orientation/paper type, adjust the colour saturation, the brightness, and the tone ? just like any other printer. By selecting the main tab, I can use the more advanced HP Digital Photography options, e.g., I can remove red-eye, add flash, improve the focus, and smooth my images.

~ Performance ~

The Photosmart 145 photo printer delivers high 4,800 dpi resolutions images, in crisp detail, & vibrant colour, right to the palm of my hand. Producing 4-by-6-inch professional looking, true-to-life, borderless prints in approximately 90 seconds, which is quite slow compared to other photo printers available today. The photo quality is almost on par with, Supermarket prints from film. I notice when I print on HP photo paper the quality is far superior than when I use an alternative make of paper. The printing itself takes a while and I have to wait for the ink to dry, however, compared to dropping a film off and waiting to pick it up, this printer is far faster and more convenient.

~ Cartridges ~

I know by now, you?re probably wondering about the inkjet part of all this. The amount of ink you will use really depends on the work you do. It can?t be put any simpler.

The Photosmart 145 has a three-colour thermal inkjet which according to my hubby, (an IT bore, sorry, buff), is a rare breed in this age of six, seven, and eight colour printing. It accepts only one ink cartridge at a time, either the tricolour cartridge, which costs approx £20 to replace, or a £15 (approx) HP Photo Gray cartridge for printing black-and-white photos. The inkjets are a bit expensive but not much more than any other inkjet on the market. Friends, who have the same printer, told me not to use the refilled ones, as they are not proportioned
in colour ink the exact way that HP proportions their new inkjets ? eh? Basically it just means if you use a refill your colour will be slightly off (I think).

Changing the inkjets is a piece of cake. Just open the small panel on the right hand side of the printer and gently push out the inkjet. Snap the new one in and hey presto you?re good to go!

~ Some technical info (taken from owner?s manual) ~

Colour Best hp PhotoREt 3 colour layering technology, up to 4800 x 1200 optimised-dpi colour on photo papers when printing from a computer and 1200-input dpi

Colour Best photo quality - as fast as 140 sec; Normal photo quality - as fast as 90 sec

Print Resolution hp PhotoREt 3 colour layering technology

Paper handling up to 20 (9-mil photo paper), up to 26 (7-mil photo paper) compatible operating systems print technology hp thermal inkjet printing media types Paper (plain, hp photo, other photo)

Media size 105 x 148.5 mm, 100 x 148 mm, 89 x 127 mm, 89 x 140 mm photo papers; L-size photo paper

Standard Universal Serial Bus

External i/o port 1 USB port, 4 memory card slots
Standard 16MB

Maximum 16MB

Compatible with Microsoft Windows Me, 98, 2000 Professional, XP Home and Professional; Mac OS 9.1 or later, Mac OS X v10.1 through v10.2 on G3 processor or greater.

Print languages hp PCL Level 3 Enhanced

~ The bottom line ~

This little thing is one awesome printer and it?s one of the best purchases I?ve ever made. It?s so easy to use, no PC needed and that?s the best part. I love it. I really enjoy having printed photos again. My mum is happy again, she can get pictures of her Grandson at any time, and if she?s happy, then I am happy.

The HP Photosmart 145 makes taking digital pictures and sharing them more fun.

Thank you for reading :-)

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