HP Deskjet 6940 Color Printer (C8970A#B1H) by Hewlett Packard
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List Price: Our Price: $95.50 You Save: $27.50 (22%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $69.99 (click here) Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of HP Deskjet 6940 Color Printer (C8970A#B1H)
Digital camera Review: Good Printer, Tech Support not so much
Summary: 4 Stars
I had two big requirements when I started looking for a new printer
1. I rarely print anything in color so the printer must be able to print with the color cartridge empty or removed.
2. It must support banner printing. I print a lot of banners, some 8 1/2 X 60 inches long. Most newer printers don't support banners.
HP Presales Support recommended the Deskjet 6940 as the printer that would meet my needs. After a little issue with banner printing that I had to solve myself, the printer has been great.
HP's after sales/tech support is pretty typical of what we're seeing these days. If you ask a question that isn't in their script, don't be surprised at the answer you get. I had issues with banner printing and the first support person told me "this printer does not support banner printing". I thought that was strange as the owner's manual states that it will.
My thoughts, the Deskjet 6940 is a good basic printer with not so great tech support.
Digital camera Review: Good cheap printer.
Summary: 4 Stars
Set this up on my network with ease. It works fine, I got it from the new and used section for about 65 bucks, not bad. Also, to save money I suggest the refurbished or refilled ink cartridges.. much cheaper.Digital camera Review: Good enough
Summary: 4 Stars
I needed a network color printer to supplement my laser on my linux home network. The 6940 fit the bill and the price was not too bad. Installation consisted of opening the box, removing some shipping tape, snapping the ink cartridges in, and plugging in an ethernet cable. That's it. I didn't even look at the instructions.
This printer makes pretty good photographic prints as well as standard paper color prints. It is pretty fast, the network feature works great, and the controls are simple. It's a slick product made by the premier inkjet printer manufacturer.
The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that the 96/97 ink cartridges cost a ridiculous $39.95 (here on Amazon, more elsewhere). This printer uses the typical "lose money on the printer, make money on the ink" approach. Fortunately, there are refurbished cartridges out there that are half the price of the factory models. HP has announced inkjet printers that use much cheaper cartridges, but this isn't one of them.
Digital camera Review: Good hardware + printing quality. Annoying software + bad network connectivity
Summary: 3 Stars
Pros:
- Good printing quality, reasonable cost.
- Works from XP, Mac OS X and Ubuntu Linux.
Cons:
- Horrible bloatware.
Does HP really really think I need to put 250+ MB aside for a printer driver? I know software is getting bigger, but how many programs need to be loaded every time your computer starts up, just to run a dumb printer? News to you, HP - it's my PC, not yours.
- Network connectivity didn't work very long at all.
When I first set it up, it was recognized on the network, including by my Mac. Then, 2 or 3 weeks later, it wasn't anymore, probably because the printer defaults to some ungodly weird IP address, as shown by the diagnostic print page. And there is no indication anywhere on the manual on how you can set that IP address or get it to grab one from DHCP.
I guess I should now call up HP customer service, be put on hold for 30 minutes just in order to be told how to set the network address. Nope, they couldn't print that on their manual, it would make it look too technical! At a guess, I probably need to run 2 or 3 HP startup programs to allow for autodiscovery. Or maybe run Windows Universal Plug and Play, which is a known security risk.
So I ended up just using it with an extra long USB cable which I plug in from my various computers as I need to. Not quite what I had in mind when I bought this "networked" printer.
Digital camera Review: Good network printer
Summary: 3 Stars
This HP printer is my family's shared network printer. It attaches directly to our network, not a computer like most printers. Therefore, it's easy to access from any computer on our family network (pc and apple computers). The first model we bought broke after a year or so .... the paper handler stopped moving the paper through properly. I got a replacement under my extended warranty for no charge. The replacement printer has been working fine for over a year now. Good for general printing. I've never used it for color photos, so can't comment on that. The real benefit of this printer is its networking capabilities, which works fine. I'd recommend it for low volume printing.