HP Photosmart C5280 All-In-One Printer - 32 ppm, USB, 4800dpi, LCD Display

Amazon Customer Reviews

(3 out of 5)

Oops

What a right old carry on I had trying to install this old baby! After installing and un-installing this printer from the disc that came with it, I eventually had to trawl through the HP website to find the relevant drivers. The printer and copier seemed to work ok, but could I get it to scan? Could I heck as like. Anyway, after spending about 2 hours messing about, Bullseye...in the back of the net...Job done.

Now it's all sorted everything seems to be ok. It replaced a 7762 Photosmart pinter that became redundant after I bought a desk top (HP) with Vista on it. I'm not convinced the quality is any better, but it performs well, and is easy enough to use.

I can't say don't buy one, but be prepared for a long old slog in installing it if you do...just be patient!

(4 out of 5)

Good all-rounder for home use.

I read many many reviews about this item before buying it - alot saying it was noisy, slow printouts, feathered when printing black text etc. I have not found any of these comments to be a problem. It is fast enough for home printing, excellent at printing photos and only noisy when 'booting up'. The scanning is perhaps slightly loud but I've heard worse! I have not noticed any problems with printing text.
It is an excellent all-rounder with many little features and stylish to look at. It even prints CDs!
The only gripe I have (and the reason for not giving it 5 stars) is that I had a nightmare with the installation software. While there were points that I felt like returning the item, it was not because of the printer (which worked even without full installation software,) but just frustration. Having said that, HP were excellent at responding to my problems and perservered to resolve it. If you're after a decent home printer which does pretty much everything then buy this!

(5 out of 5)

great little machine

I've only had my photosmart for about a month or so, and haven't tried all the functions. But so far it's been doing a great job printing and copying in black and white and colour. Installing it was very easy, although it doesn't come with a USB cable which is a shame! It would have been nice to just plug and play. Instead you have to waste time getting the cable first.
My favourite feature is the 'copy to print' function for photos. You just put your photo on the glass tray, close the cover, push the button and photosmart makes a perfect copy of your photo, on photopaper.

(5 out of 5)

An excellent All-In-One printer.

My Epson U830 was giving trouble (printing red lines across the page) and after doing all the things listed in the book and on line I 'phoned Epson's help line, explained the problem and e-mailed them a sample. Their response? "Sorry, can't help as we haven't seen this before"! I was not impressed as the printer was only a couple of years old and had had only light, domestic use. Soooo, look for a replacement - anything other than Epson! The C5280 appeared to tick all the right boxes so I bought!
After a week of frustration in trying to install the thing and failing to get it to scan from the PC, I took it back and picked up a replacement (same model) and endured another few days of hair tearing and swearing as I still couldn't get it to install properly. The on-line help people kept suggesting things to try (I had already un-installed and re-installed the damn thing a dozen times and down-loaded the latest patches to no avail)Finally, I 'phoned a local "computer expert" who straight away asked if I had any other scanners installed - I had a 35mm film scanner! "Un-install that and try again" he said and BINGO! it installed just as it said on the box and it works really, really well! I am tickled pink with it. It is fast, very quiet while printing (lots of clattering when feeding paper!)and produces excellent prints and superb scans of docs and 'photos.
So, go ahead and grab one.You will not be disappointed but do remember - remove any other scanners first! (My 35mm one re-installed afterwards with no problems!) Hope this helps, RJ, North Wales.

(1 out of 5)

HP Slipping in Quality

I picked 2 of these printers up from my local wholesaler at £69.99 each, based on the previous reviews I'd read.. BIG MISTAKE!

The 1st, I attempted to install on my brand new Quad Core machine running Windows Vista. The installer wouldn't pick up the printer when I plugged it in, instead Windows reported that the device wasn't recognized, and had malfunctioned. I searched the Internet looking for possible solutions, all to no avail.

The 2nd, I tried installing on a Laptop running Windows XP SP2. Everything seemed to install correctly, and the test page printed fine. "Great!" I thought. Until it came to wanting to print a document, and it just wouldn't.. The print job seemingly wasn't even loading. Again, I looked for possible solutions online and nothing worked.

Both printers are now boxed up, waiting to be taken back. The printer itself looks very pleasing to the eye, but the drivers and hardware just don't live up to expectations.. I'm now looking for replacements, but everywhere I go I seem to be reading the same opinion that HP are slipping in quality. Great shame, because my 940c DeskJet is still running strong and is a fantastic printer!