B01CJNMRG0

(I promised I would update as I find more to report on this printer and I am back again at the end of August 2016 to let you know I found another reason to up my original low rating another star. This one is important. SEE UPDATE AT THE END)

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I have been using HP printers for a VERY long time. I have also had the opportunity to use a lot of different brands of printers over the years, and have always come back to HP. HP has had issues at times, but for me, it has been an excellent quality printer for the most part. However, once I tested out this printer, I can see that something has changed.

I have really tried to like this printer. I will do my best to make this review as brief as I can, but I will also try to outline the basic observations I have made with this printer. I plan to update more in the future as I continue to try to work with this, as it is something I am going to have to find a way to cope with. My current printer (HP Officejet K550 dtn) is on its way out and HP no longer supports it or sells printer heads for it.

WHAT IS THIS PRINTER LIKE?
First of all, you need to be sure you have the space to put this printer. It is rather large. If you have one of those compact computer desks with a retracting printer shelf, get ready to move the shelf way down almost to the bottom, keeping the bottom shelf for paper only. The top needs plenty of swing space to lift as well if you need to scan something.

The screen on the front of the printer is very clear and easy to use. It is self explanatory when you set it up, guiding you through all of the steps. The printer comes with ink, basic instructions and a CDROM to set up the software. You can also get it online. This printer uses either wi-fi from your in house router that you have with internet or you can use the cloud online. You can also connect via USB port to a desktop or laptop if desired.

PROBLEMS I HAVE ENCOUNTERED
I have not tried to print photos from cameras or anything like that due to regular printer quality being so low, I am just trying to make it look decent for regular printing needs. I will update should I try to use it for photos.

INK
First of all putting the ink into the unit was frustrating. I have never seen such rickety sockets for ink cartridges in all of my years using printers- even the really cheap ones that I didn’t like too much. This was ridiculous. There is a spring in the socket and the ink cartridge (which is also cheaply made) is supposed to press in and lock. The problem is that they don’t always want to stay locked in. I had a problem several times of ink cartridges popping back out and the printer would not run. I have NEVER had that kind of problem with any printer.

SOFTWARE
The driver is really annoying. I am frustrated most of the time trying to use it. This printer is designed to be used by smartphones, tablets, laptops and a desktop. I have tried it with all four of these and the results are frustrating at best. Using android, it is very difficult to control the print and how it will turn out. Many times the pages are cut off and are not fit to page, and are really lousy looking. The laptop and desktop are also frustrating when used for online printing. I know there has to be more control somewhere, but it is not anywhere as intuitive and easy to use as it has been in the past. I do not have this hard wired into USB at this point, so perhaps things would be different at that point, but I am being hopeful here.

PRINT QUALITY
Besides being goofy looking, half cut off and adjustments not being easy to use, I have also had trouble with the ink printed on the page. When it does print, the quality of the print is horrible. I mean HORRIBLE. This looks like some of the lousy quality bubble jet printers I have used in the distant past (not all were lousy, just the lousy ones). The ink looks faded, very blurry and not strong colors at all like the other HP printers I have in my house.

PAPER FEEDING
I have been spoiled. In the past HP printers have had a tendency to be fussy with paper feeding. Usually a year or two of feeding paper and then they really mess up. The current printer I have had for 8 years has had NO problems feeding paper. If something gets jammed on the rare occasion (Bent paper or something) it is a snap to fix and it still goes strong. This printer, however, is a different story. It feeds paper okay, but then it feeds through multiple papers, or halfway paper, etc. I am not impressed. I am using the exact same paper in my very old printer and it feeds through fine- it is not the paper.

THE BOTTOM LINE
I can no longer buy printer heads for my beloved K550 Officejet printer, the best HP printer I have ever had. I would rather use that in a moment. The ink is vivid, colorful, crisp, and fast. The HP Officejet Pro 8710 is such a disappointment in comparison that I have a hard time liking it. The software is not as easy to use as HP software in the past and I am not very happy with it. The printer itself is easy to set up although the ink cartridges seem cheap as well as the sockets they are supposed to be pressed into. I have had problems with printing being fit onto the pages, ink quality, as well as paper feeding.

I will continue to work with this printer, since I am stuck with it, but I am so far unimpressed. Perhaps I will find some more positive things about it to report and I will update should that happen. At this point, I don’t like to have to work so hard just to make a printer do what it is supposed to and has done without much effort in the past.

I am giving this two stars at this point, but it is open to change in the future should I have better experiences with this printer over time.

UPDATE May 31, 2016
As I said I would, I have continued to try to work with this printer to see if I might be able to get more satisfactory results. I have printed out a photo which I had at the exact same time on two different printers so you can see the comparison. The HP Officejet Pro K550 has such amazing definition, contrast, etc, that I could print the photo on draft print and it would look perfect. This was done with regular ink printing on that printer. Again, I could have reduced it down to draft level and it still would look good.

The HP Officejet Pro 8710 has almost no contrast, very grayish black, and a red tone to the photo which is awful. The K550 photo is much more true to life. The HP 8710 is not at all the level of performance that I am used to with HP printers.

I will continue to work with the printer, but so far, I am disappointed. Should I have the need to attach it directly to my desktop instead of Wi-Fi, perhaps it would be different. For now, it is not great. If I can find solutions to my frustrations with this printer, I will update to let you know. For now, I am used to MUCH higher quality printing from HP printers.

JULY 11,2016 UPDATE
I wanted to amend my original rating to bump up my review one star. I have had the opportunity to use and interact with this printer a lot more and have found that there are some things that I have come to like about it that I didn’t get to use much before.

COPYING
The copying feature is really nice. The paper sits in the feed slot and makes the printer kick in to prepare to copy the page. All I do is pick what I want to copy (Document, Photo, ID) and then the machine pulls in the paper, scans, and copies it and returns it out of the other slot. The result is a lot better than the photo results were when printed and sent from the same computer desktop that I previously posted. That leads me to wonder if the problem is in the drivers for the printer or if it just seems to do better when scanning in itself as a unit. The results for simple lined diagrams, illustrations and print are nice and accurate, unlike my photo experiences so far.

INK
This ink is pigment based ink which is important if you are doing any kind of industrial labeling which needs to have permanency to it with those special labels.

FURTHER UPDATES COMING
I will continue to update as I have a chance to get to know this printer more as I interact with it over time. If I can find out how to adjust the problems I have been having with it, I will surely let you all know and change my rating accordingly. I am not one to give up so easily so if I can improve the way that it has performed so far, I will let you know and pass it on. It has potential to be a great all in one printer, and I hope perhaps I can find ways to get it to work better.

UPDATE JULY 24,2016 (THIS LOVE HATE RELATIONSHIP TAKES YET ANOTHER TURN)
I promised I would update as I found more out about this printer and I am about to explain why I updated and added yet another star to my originally low rated review.

Although I am still not thrilled with photo printing which is important to me that this printer does, it does do something else which is fantastic and has me thrilled to no end. I have had a need to print some high quality oil resistant labels. I could not afford to have them printed and wanted the creativity options to do my own. I came upon the Avery UltraDuty GHS Chemical Labels for Pigment Inkjet Printers, Waterproof, UV Resistant, 2″x4″,500Pk (60525) which sounded perfect for what I needed to do.

I designed labels which got me two out of each label on the sheet, but my stress was wondering how many labels would be wasted trying to make them line up as so many other printers have caused for me. Boy was I shocked when this printer printed them PERFECTLY like a CHAMP!

I LOVE this printer for these labels. It is a pigment based ink and causes the labels to be permanent and resistant to oils, water, etc. I could not be more happy.

SO, although this printer has frustrated me on a few things, it really is a champ on something I can not do with any other printer- print PERFECT labels that withstand water, oil, and corrosive materials without wasting labels with misprints. I could not be happier.

So, I have raised my rating to four stars as of July 24,2016. I still wished that it would print higher quality photos, but the labels make up for it and have earned it a higher rating.

Will add more should I find other things to report to you all!

UPDATE IN AUGUST 2016
I am still loving this printer for labels. Pretty soon I will be able to comment for you all on the instant ink aspect as I will be testing that part out as well coming soon. Since I have a need to print out all kinds of labels for my essential oils, creams, body products, and other soaps, I will be needing to replenish the ink more quickly. Will be updating once I have tested that facet of this printer.

Stay tuned for my love hate relationship with this printer. A REAL soap opera. (sorry, could not resist the pun there)

UPDATE February 2017 – AUTOSHIP INK COMMENTS
My autoship HP ink program started today. Yes, I have used this printer since I got it with the ORIGINAL print cartridges. The auto program gave me quite a few free months due to promotional pricing.

I was alerted today after installing my cartridges that they sent to me (within a few days of signing up) and true to their promise, they did not start counting my days until the cartridges were in fact installed.

I wanted to comment on that for anyone who wondered about it. I have the $9.99 program which allows for quite a few pages a month. I can go down if I like in the future.

This printer purchase has been a total nightmare. The product I ordered from Amazon and whomever fulfilled it has caused a massive headache that no one seems to want to take ownership of. So the OfficeJet Pro 8710 I ordered requires HP954 only ink refills. They do not sell HP954 in the USA, it is only for Latin American countries. So, they US equivalent, HP952 gets an incompatible cartridge error on my device. I try calling HP Support and I always get a message to hang up and go online for answer. They solution is to check for correct ink cartridges. Why do they sell these units in the US if you cannot get correct cartridges. I am now out of time with Amazon to apparently help. So I have no way of getting the correct ink cartridges to work and no support. I am now going to be wary of any printer that uses proprietary ink and sells units with different ink model numbers all over the world. Shame on Amazon for letting this happen on thier watch.

Would not work right out of the box. Would not recognize the printer ink that was packed with it. I had purchased an extra set of ink, but it would not recognize that either. Clearly a defective unit. I found it flimsy overall and cheaply made. I returned this one and ordered the HP 8720 for a little higher cost, and the 8720 seems far superior, both in construction and in features.

I got this HP 8710 for use in my office. I do only a moderate amount of printing, but do more scanning and rely on a networked device to send jobs to and from the computer automatically. Overall I like this copier pretty well.
It has a pretty big footprint, so keep that in mind for space issues. It’s about 18 inches front to back, 20 inches across, and 12 inches tall – noticeably bigger than my last multipurpose printer with comparable features. It’s not much to look at, with a rather pedestrian matte black finish & basic design that prioritizes function over looks. I am much more interested in performance, so the plain aesthetics don’t bother me at all.
Connecting the printer to our network was straightforward. The color touch screen on the printer is easily readable and very responsive. I was able to get it connected and up & running wireless with my laptop without any problems. Print & scan jobs can be controlled remotely from a computer or directly through the printer screen, providing flexible interaction between the printer and other devices.
HP promotes this as “Instant Ink” ready, which is simply a plan where you subscribe to HP for ink purchases and the printer sends them data to tell them when to send you ink. Interestingly, the optional Instant Ink subscription plan (which I am not participating in) does not charge for ink by the cartridge, but by a monthly subscription fee that varies depending upon how many pages you print. It is designed to save higher volume users the most, so those like me doing light work might not be interested. It’s a novel idea – you won’t need to shop for ink and you won’t run out since the printer alerts HP to send ink before it runs out – that provides a high degree of convenience. How much you might save is very dependent upon your usage, so do your homework.
The print quality is good. I compared black & white text documents from this printer against those from our office’s really nice and much-more-expensive Konica Minolta color copier and the HP performed fine. The difference is evident, with the HP producing slightly softer text with a touch less crispness around the lettering and a slightly less deep black, but given the huge difference in price I am more than satisfied. Documents with pictures compared even more favorably, with the HP’s slightly softer results providing a more pleasing image in certain cases. Overall, the print quality is fine.
Print speeds are also perfectly acceptable. Text documents speed through very quickly and are the unit’s best performing task. Documents with images aren’t quite as snappy, with noticeably slower but still reasonable print times. I do a lot of scanning, so that is an important function for me. The scan speeds are pretty good, and the automatic document feeder has not fouled on me so far in my testing and use doing single and double-sided scan jobs. The unit isn’t overly loud, but the scanner makes more of a ‘buzzing’ sound compared to the traditional scanner ‘hum’ that I’m used to. Scanned images look good.
My initial impression is that this is a perfectly capable all-in-one. I don’t necessarily see it outdoing the competition in any particular area, but I also haven’t found any deficiencies so far. If you want a stylish looking printer, keep looking. If you want a good all-around multi-function printer, this one should do nicely. Cons include the homely styling, slower print times on documents with images, and beefy size. Pros include a very responsive touch screen, trouble free wireless setup and performance, fast text printing, and – for the right users – a unique ink subscription plan that provides convenience and might save money for those doing higher print volumes than I am.
I didn’t try to cover every function (I haven’t sent a fax in ages), but if you have questions I’ll do my best to answer. Thanks!

For the money there is no faster good printer on the market.

Printer was set up in our local non-profit animal shelter, Ethernet connected to Router with 2 computers. It replaced an older 8600 that had the Ethernet port physically damaged, since new cartridges were needed for the 8600 it proved prudent/cost-effective to just replace the printer.

Love it easy setup and high quality print

Good value, quiet and efficient. Fast ship.