Early Adopters Pick: October 2003. The wireless, networkable DeskJet 5850 is ready for five people to use, right out of the box, with Ethernet cable and network setup poster. Plus, it prints great-looking color documents, fast.
Achieving professional quality print results at up to 4,800 optimized dpi, the HP DeskJet 5850 offers a variety of connectivity options for today's modern workspace. Choose from 802.11b wireless support to eliminate the hassle of cables, or wired Ethernet support for up to five users.
The DeskJet 5850 offers three operating modes to deliver print jobs at up to 21 ppm black or 15 ppm color in draft mode, 7.7 ppm or 5 ppm in normal mode, or 0.9 ppm for black or color in best mode. The 5850 handles a wide variety of media types and sizes, and an optional paper tray expands the 150-sheet standard input capacity to 400 sheets total. It has eight built-in fonts (four each in landscape and portrait modes) and 16 MB built-in memory.
The HP DeskJet 5850 is PC and Mac compatible, and comes backed by a one-year warranty on parts and labor.
What's in the Box
HP DeskJet 5850 color inkjet printer, HP 56 black inkjet print cartridge (C6656AN), HP 57 tri-color inkjet print cartridge (C6657AN), 150-sheet paper tray, power cord and power supply, Ethernet cable, printer software for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems, reference guide, network guide and setup poster, resealable media pack; printer cables not included
1 terrible service
My wife and I wasted hours and hours trying to get HP service. HP has outsourced customer service to several developing countries, and each time we called, the representatives were unable to locate the record of our previous call. We were told time and again that we would be contacted by a "case manager" but that never happened. After weeks of trying, it became obvious that we need to discard the product (still under warrantee) and buy a new (non-HP) product ourselves.
2 Nice looking, shoddy networking capabilities
Although the output from the printer looks nice for the price, it has two important design faults if you want to use it over a network.
Firstly, It can't lease an IP address from a DHCP server like say a router. This means that if you connect it to a router and run the install, it probably won't work. You have to set your PC to a satic IP adress on the same subnet as the printer and manually set the IP of the printer before setting your PC back to the IP address it should have. If you're not Au fei with networking you wouldn't be able to do this as the info isn't in the manual and HP tech support wouldn't know a subnet from a piano.
The other problem is more serious as it cannot be worked around. WPA encryption doesn't work at all. WEP isn't secure enough so if you want to use this printer on a properly secured wireless network, you can't.
There are also a number of minor nigling problems like, it takes up to 20 minutes to negotiate a connection to a wired router.
One final note: never call HP tech support.
3 Easy to setup and use!
My Epson CX5400 bit the dust after a mere 7 months of use, so I decided to try HP. I had good luck with HP Printers in the past.
I chose the HP Deskjet 5850 for one main reason...wireless networking! I have a small apartment and two computers (PC and Mac), so the convenience of being able to place the printer in a more convenient spot, without wires hanging around, was a big plus. The cost for this printer was reasonable as well given the technology.
I don't understand why people on here had difficulty setting up the printer. I set it up on BOTH my PC and my Mac, and it took less than one hour. My guess is people don't follow the instructions on the poster and try to take shortcuts.
The printer works great. The print quality is very good, it is relatively quiet, and the speed is just fine for me.
I will highly recommend this printer to anyone who desires a cost-effective, WIRELESS solution!
4 problems printing PDF files
I am a Mac user running OS 10.3. when this printer first arrived about a month ago, its included software does not support USB connection to a Mac. this is a bad start considering how common the USB connection is. Finally, I downloaded the latest 2.5 version of the software but it still does not fully support printing the PDF filfes. I am scientist and many scientific papers are now published in PDF format. I cannot recommend this to anyone who needs to print PDF files on a regular basis.
5 WiFi setup was much easier than anticipated
I just received my HP 5850 WiFi printer and was a bit apprehensive about the setup after reading some of the negative reviews. I'm running a desktop on XP Pro and a laptop on the very flakey Windows ME which are connecting on a WiFi Linksys WRT54G Broadband Router. I carefully read the instructions that came with the printer and gathered all of my network configurations and WEP key. I shut down my ZoneAlarm firewall and proceeded with the installation. The initial stage of installation required that I hookup the printer and router with a provided Ethernet cable so the printer and software gather the necessary network settings. Once complete and the drivers and software were installed on my computer, I pulled the cable and to my complete amazement the WiFi worked right off. I was anticipating hours of troubleshooting but I was up and running. I then installed the drivers and software on the Windows Me laptop and it was running in no time. I started ZoneAlarm again and everything worked. You can set up the printer to use a provided USB or Ethernet cable if you don't want to use the WiFi. By using WiFi, I was able to eliminate a "A/B Box" and 3 printer cables, and my laptop is able to print from any location in the house.
Every time the printer has been turned off it will take about a minute for the printer to find the WiFi connection and attach to the network after it has been turned on again. Don't panic if it takes a little while. The printer itself is a little slow compared to my old Deskjet 990 but the quality is good and photo printing is excellent. I was also able to use my two sided printing module off the Deskjet 990 on the new 5850.
6 Decent printing and very convenient
For this price, you can't beat this printer. I am thrilled to have a printer that doesn't have to be nestled close to my PC. I'm fortunate to have computer experience, but I cringe at the thought of regular PC users having to set up the wireless network. Chances are most people had very little problem; mine had to do with static/dynamic IP address configurations. This wasn't necessarily the printer's fault, but would make the wireless feature insignificant if it didn't work.
If you don't care about the wireless, I had no trouble with just plugging the printer directly into my router.
The printing quality is decent. Nothing to rave about, but nothing to complain about either.
7 Great Linux printer with USB, ethernet & WiFi interfaces
After a series of cheap, good-printing, refillable, but fragile, and clog-prone Epson 850 and 900 printers (and several hours trying to resusitate the print heads including disassembling the bloody things because the print heads are part of the printer, not part of the cartridge), I decided to try an HP again. My first inkjet was the 1st one HP ever made and it only recently stopped working, not because it broke, but because we could no longer find drivers for it. That and my trusty HPLJ 6MP which has churned continuously for several years seem to bode well for the 5850.
Also, I use Linux exclusively and according to Linuxprinting.org, it's a tossup between Epson and HP (Canon make some very nice machines - actually they look better-made than either Epson or HP, but they provide zero support for Linux, so they were discounted as soon as I realized that).
HP is now actually supporting Linux quite well with its hpijs project (hpijs.sourceforge.net), and with the Debian distro, all you need to do to install all the needed HP Inkjet drivers is:
apt-get update
apt-get install hpijs cupsomatic-ppd
(assuming you've already installed the CUPS print system, which is usually installed by default).
The printer itself unpacked and set up quite easily. It felt much better put together than my previous Epsons - heavier, made of more substantial material. The kicker for this printer was that it came with not only a USB port, but also a built-in Ethernet connection AND a WiFi connection (it autosenses which is active). For my old Epsons, the ethernet module was more than the cost of this entire printer! I tried all 3 of the interfaces and each worked perfectly as far as I could tell. Debian 'unstable' grokked the printer correctly via the USB port, even tho it was 'Off' ('Off' is standby, but the electronics are active) and it came up perfectly as USB Printer 1 in the CUPS config page.
The printer did a DHCP request (logged in /var/log/syslog) for an ethernet address and the built-in web server gave me some useful information, including ink levels. It would have been useful if there was an LCD panel that gave some additional info, but hitting the info button spat out 3 pages of all the info in all the languages you could have wished for.
Once that info was got, the CUPS config is simply:
Device: AppSocket/HP JetDirect
Device URI: socket://192.168.1.224:9100
(don't forget the ':9100' and don't forget to mod your firewall rules to allow local net traffic on port 9100)
The WiFi connection is really nice and it found my local WiFi net and DHCP'ed an address in the same way as above. However, it does take a while longer to come online when it has to do a DHCP request - I'll probably assign it a static IP number soon.
The printer also comes with driver software for Windows of course and Mac. My wife uses Mac OSX and the included software seemed to work transparently as well. She already has access to it via my netatalk/CAP printer <-> CUPS sustems, but the HP software allows her to print even if my server burps.
This also allows us to place the printer ANYWHERE in the house and be able to print to it - for example if the kids want to take it upstairs where they're working on a school project - now that it's set up, they can yank it and take it anywhere and when it powers up again, it's ready.
Print quality is very good - text is not quite as tight, nor as fast as the HP Laserjet 6MP that it will soon replace, but very good and it auto-senses high quality paper for photos. It's not quite a pro-quality photo-printer, but even with the non-photo color cartridge, it's pretty darn good. To test it, I printed an 8x10 of a 2048x1536 image on the glossy paper and it came out ... well, breathtaking. Not like a Cibachrome print, but damn decent and quite fast for that size (tho I don't look forward to buying new photo cartridges at $25 per). On the other hand, it does use a relatively standard HP cartridge that is available at the discount ink houses refurbished and even in bulk ink (which I used for my previous inkjets - at least the black ink).
So overall, with only a few pages printed, I'm pretty happy and I'd be happy to rec HP, especially with their new advocacy and support of Linux.
8 An excellent, excellent, excellent printer.
I don't know why some of the users here had problems setting up this printer. While I admit that I have not tried the wireless feature yet, I was able to install and configure the software on two computers. Both are plugged into my Linksys router and have no problems sending jobs to the printer. I even left Service Pack 2's Windows Firewall enabled on one PC and the software still installed properly.
The printer is very quiet and with HP's 2-sided automatic print accessory installed duplex printing is an available option within the driver. I printed a 24-page video card review on 12 pages instead of 24. Very cool indeed. I highly recommed this printer to anyone looking for a solid, well-rounded printer. You get not only wired and wireless printing (up to 5 PCs) but duplex printing also. Can't go wrong with HP!!
9 Wireless networking works
I know different people will have different experiences, but I just wanted to say that setting up the wireless network was seamless. I have both Mac OS X and Windows XP Home machines. I turned off the firewall and anti-virus on the XP, followed the directions on the poster, and the XP immediately recognized the printer. Turned the security back on and it still worked fine. Then installed the software on my iBook and it immediately found the printer and printed without a problem. (I don't use WEP, but do use MAC filtering.)
I like the built-in web server and the print quality is more than I need.
10 wireless, fast, quiet
I think this is a great printer, and I also did notice how many of the bad reviews are from Mac users. Windows pc users, you can buy with confidence. I have WEP enabled and do MAC filtering on my wireless network, so I did have to go in and set up the MAC address on the network so the printer could get an IP address. Then I followed the instructions in the HP networking manual and set it up to use the WEP key. It works great. Fast paper pickup and good looking print even on fast normal setting. It's a definite step up from my previous Epson printer. And I love the ewb-based management capability. Another HP winner.
11 A Printer made for use over a network
I have always bought HP printers, knowing I'd get a quality product.
I networked my house last year and installed a print server to allow anyone on the network to print without a dedicated PC having to be switched on. It was okay but a lot of the function was lost, since the printer hadn't been designed for a network. When the old printer expired, I deliberately went looking for a deskjet printer DESIGNED to go onto a network at a price suitable for the home.
The HP 5850 was the only printer to meet my requirements. Configuring the printer was a walk in the park. I plugged it directly into the Ethernet port previously occupied by the now redundant print server, installed it onto my PC exactly as I had every previous printer and there it was.
My son, networked by wireless, when installing the printer onto his machine, mistakenly told it that the printer was wirelessly networked. The printer still installed first time and apparently his PC talks directly to the printer by wireless. My daughter's laptop (installed correctly by me) also worked first time.
Now, when I want to dump a dozen documents onto the printer, they queue up ON the printer rather than stopping the PC until the printer is free.
A couple of down points:
1. Set to duplex (courtesy of the optional extra duplexer), a vital function I'd lost by networking the previous printer, I find that the printer spends a long time waiting for one side to dry before turning the paper over. This may be down to the printer settings that need to be tweaked.
2. I find that the duplexer has a tendency to pop open, fail to turn the paper over and print both sides on one. Fixed with a couple of pieces of sticky tape out of sight round the back.
Overall, this exactly is the printer I wanted for a small home network and commend it to anyone who needs a reasonably-priced networked printer.
12 Massive headache for Mac users
Despite Apple's claim that the wireless HP 5850 color printer is "Apple-friendly," it took an entire Saturday on the phone with both HP and Apple to configure the printer for use with Airport Express. HP's instruction booklet is insanely complicated--a far cry from Apple's "Plug 'n' Play" ease of use--even for a computer savvy Ivy League grad. Under the best conditions, with optimal signal strength and a speedy internet connection, it can still take up to 3 minutes after turning on the printer for it to be ready to print. It made me rethink my insistence on wireless technology--what's a few cords compared to hours of headaches, troubleshooting, and waiting with fingers crossed?
13 Dead on Arrival
I purchased this printer because of several reasons:
1. My very positive experience with HP printers over tha past 10 years.
2. The ability of this model to be used either as a wireless printer, a network "wired" printer, or as a direct connection to my PC.
3. Its ability to print both normal black & white documents as well as photography.
Amazon was great as usual, with UPS ground getting it to me in less than a week!
I got it out of the box, set it up according to the easy to understand directions, and powered it up...... everything was downhill vrom there! :-(
No matter how I hooked it up: wireless network, wired network, or direct connect to my PC, I ran into problems. After printing about half a page, the machine would "hang" and then stop. Even the stand alone tests didn't work.
After spending a couple of hours of this, I called tech support. After trying about 30 different set ups, re-installs, default resets, etc. it bacame apparant to me that the unit was probably a dud, although the tech support person didn't think so.
The mere fact that it couldn't even print out a "self test" option clearly indicated to me that the unit was a problem. In any event, after about 2 1/2 hours, which included the tech putting me on hold three times while "consulting" with another person, I indicated that I was going to return the unit and get another one.
What I did get to replace this is the HP Photosmart 7960, for about $60 more. Now this is one incredible printer!
14 If I paid money for this, I would be even more critical!
I got this printer as a result of a service plan - my Canon i550 malfunctioned (after sitting in my closet, unused, for 1.5 years - no wonder), and this HP5850 was the only printer in the appropriate price-range that the store could offer as a replacement. The HP5850 is the same resolution as the Canon i550, which was really the only important thing to me. I figured the wireless networking would be an added bonus.
Start with 5 stars and work our way down. I give this printer 5 stars for the quality of printing. I was pretty impressed with the speed and resolution capabilities of this printer. At medium speed and resolution, photos still look good. I would say that it's not too noisy compared to other printers, and it doesn't vibrate much more either. There are many printing options - you can select the paper, the printing quality, any adjustments (brightness, etc.). The cover is semi-transparent, which I like - you can see what the printer heads are up to on the inside and what part of the image is being printed. I tried this printer with regular white paper, and with matte photo paper - good results with both.
Subtract 1/2 star for the supposed networking capability. It is my good fortune that I didn't require any networking capabilities. I gave it a try anyway, because I do have a wireless network (AirPort Extreme, a Mac-based network). I couldn't set up the printer through my Mac or through my PC, the errors always had to do with inability to disable a firewall. I didn't poke around too much because I wouldn't use it wirelessly anyway. I didn't have any problems installing the HP driver, both Mac and PC versions, from the HP website.
Subtract 1.5 more stars for packaging, power supply, and general flimsiness. When I opened up the HP box, it was an image of hell - papers, plastics, stuffs everywhere! It wasn't conveniently organized at all, and there was just too much paperwork in there. I remember my Canon i550 being much more organized, with all the papers packaged into a plastic bag. The power supply is nightmarish - it is a big box with the plug right on it, so it will easily cover every outlet in your power strip, or hang off one end. The plastic from which the printer is made and its general construction is very flimsy. The cartridge cradle has this big pin in it that I was afraid I would break off, and the cover which snaps the cartridge into place felt like the cheapest piece of plastic ever. I predict that's the first thing that will break on this printer.
The bottom line is this: if this printer wasn't a "free" replacement, I would have already returned it. If I actually needed wireless connectively, I would have already returned it. If you don't need the wireless, save yourself some trouble and get a Canon, a much better printer manufacturer in my opinion. The Canon i860 and i960 are in a similar price range as the HP 5850 and will probably serve you very well with less hassle. I myself will be contacting my store to see if I can swap this HP 5850 for a Canon i960.
15 Nice printer but wireless setup was not easy
I have had my eye on this printer for a while now. Not only is it inexpensive ($149 MSRP), but it is also one of the only home networkable printers out there. When I saw Staples had it on sale this week for $99 I decided to wait no longer.
Setup of the wireless was a little bit of a headache. It took me a couple of hours. I think the probelm was with my home network's security settings. The solution I found was to totally reset my Linksys 54G wireless router to the factory defaults (no WEP or WAP security) and then install the printer. Following installing the printer in wireless mode, I then reset my my security settings to what I had before and set the printer to the same security settings.
I really like the embedded web server which lets you go to the printer's IP address to check on its ink status, connection, etc. Output quality is what you would expect from an HP inkjet (which is good).
I replaced my old Epson Color Stylus 640 with this printer and think that although the setup could have been more straightforward (or at least had more troubleshooting advice), it was worth the money paid.
16 perfect
This printer was ridiculously easy to install. I was printing the test page less than ten minutes after it was out of the box. Everything you need is in the box, including the CAT 5 cable for the initial setup. The directions were very straightforward. Stylish and quiet, HP hasn't let me down yet. I highly recommend this printer!
17 NOT REALLY WIRELESS . . .
This printer is very difficult to set up. Although we have tried for many hours, we have been unable to set up this printer in the wireless mode, even with the help of a computer expert. (It works when plugged into the wall). We bought this printer for it's wireless capacity, but it does not work. Would recommend not buying this printer, especially given the many people in these reviews who have reported the same problem!
18 DON'T BUY IT!
I swore I would never buy another HP printer after I had to return 3 of the 900 series. Each shredded paper. Because of the wireless component, I decided to buy the HP Deskjet 5850. It's a lousy printer. I have tried for many hours to set it up in wireless mode with my G4 Powerbook (OS X Panther). It simply won't work as a wireless printer. I note that many others (with both MacIntosh and Windows PCs) have had the same problem. I wish HP would get their act together. My advice: buy the Canon i860. The Canon i860 is top rated by Consumer Reports. I've had mine for over a year and it's performance has been spotless. Set up with my computer was simple.
19 The Image of the Future
Ok, we all know it--wireless is becoming more and more prevalent. Well, I've become a bit of a nut on the subject, and I happen to have had only the best experiences with HP (owning 2 of their printers, a calculator from them (6 years and still ticking), and none of their computers has yet truly died on me). Since my HP laptop came with wireless, and my wireless internet has been working wonderfully, I had only been using two plugs--the occasional power plug, and, the big nasty serial plug of an ancient HP printer. When it finally died, I decided to purchase this printer due to its wireless capabilities.
Initially, the wireless installation was a bit of a headache. My router was refusing to recognize the printer, and, therefore, my computer would not locate the printer. However, after resetting the printer, router, and restarting the computer, the installation went rather smoothly. The result? My printer is across the room from me, plugging into nothing but the power.
This printer is rather quite, especially when compared with the loud behemoths of old. It also prints rather quickly, and quite nicely. It also has the added benifit of having borderless printing, which finally allows professional-looking photos to be printed out. The only gripe I have, in fact, is small--it takes it about a minute after I turn it on to log onto my wireless network (denoted by a green light on the left turning on), and I cannot print until that little light is on. However, given that I can now print from any room in the house, this is certainly a small price to pay.
I would most certainly reccomend this printer to pretty much anyone. Have a wired network? Use the networking port. Want a standard hookup? It has a USB port. Configuring the printer is easy, too: you press the checkmark on the left, and it will print out its local IP address. Go to your Internet Explorer, type in the IP address, and it gives you a nice screen detailing ink levels, pages printed, and networking settings. Additionally, its supports WEP and WPA encryption, so I don't need to sacrifice my security to print. This printer has certainly weaned me from any more wired printers!
20 What do you do when your printer craps out? Get a new one!
I had some trouble with my HP 7150 printer yesterday, which I've had for something over a year, I think. I was tryiog to re-install the software, when the wizard automatically uninstalled the 7150 preparatory to the new re-install. I hadn't counted on that. I liked the 7150. I fed paper well, printed good quality, and although slow in best quality was as good as anything else I'd seen at a comparable price. I've had several of their printers, as well as a scanner since 1989, when I got my first computer.
I had lost the setup poster that came with it, and couldn't locate the driver, although I knew it was available on the internet, and the software CD didn't have it, nor did Windows list of available printers list the HP 7150 among their HP products.
So, I decided to go for a new one. They are not costly. I purchased the HP 5850. I've had several HP products since 1989, including laser printers, deskjet printers, scanners, and a digital camera (which I still have). I've generally been satisfied, except for one printer which crapped out on me.
The model 5850 loaded easily. The printed material that comes with it spent an inordinate amount of time explaining the setup installation of a wireless network and a wired ethernet network, including a colorful large poster, as well as a poster of the same size on installation for the Macintosh. Everything was explained in French and English (not Spanish, though, thank God!)
Everything got the grand treatment except a simple USB connection, but since the printer has a USB connector, and my CPU has several, I figured it out quickly. The printer prints nicely, with at least as good quality as my 7150, which I'll probably donate to a local high school, although I doubt it'll reduce our taxes any. The 6850 uses the same ink cartridges as my old 7150: 56 (black), 57 (tri-color), and 58 (photo), so saved on the cost of the two new cartridges I recently bought for about half a hundred (they included a black and tri-color with the model 5850, too.)
One thing: In the setup, the wizard gave me three choices of driver to chose from. I was supposed to know (intuitively, I guess) which one was correct. They were all, seemingly, equally appropriate for the model 5800 series, and all had the .inf suffix. The first did not indicate the Windows series it was designed to work with, and had a 5800B indicated (?). Then, on the second was an 'Enu' prefix, and the third an 'Fra' prefix. No explanation or clue as to which one was appropriate.
I called my son. He said 'Don't use the first (highlighted) option.' The 'Enu' is for English, and the 'Fra' is French, not frogs legs. You'd think that HP would be kind enough to inform their customers of simple facts like that. And for people not on a network or ethernet, with just one computer--a common situation, I would think--a nice big, colorful, fat folder would be nice!
But, it seems to be a good printer.
For your information, I'm running Windows ME on a Gateway 60 Gig harddrive with a half-Gig of RAM on a fast machine a couple years old. I doubt any of it makes any difference except perhaps the Windows version.
Joseph (Joe) Pierre
author of Handguns and Freedomm...their care and maintenance
and other books
21 Works very well, but not easy to set up wireless
(Revised review September 12th, 2004)
After disconnecting my base station (802.1b), my wireless connection to the printer stopped working. I spent 2-3 hours trying to reconfigure the printer, and was about ready to smash it. Upon awaking the next morning, I tried once more to follow the directions on how to configure the printer for wireless printing. Here's what I found: since I have a password protecting my network, I have to enter a WEP Hexadecimal password for other users to connect, ie. my printer to connect itself to the network. All this time I was skipping this important step. A dialog box pops up and gives me the WEP Hex password, some series of numbers, letters, and characters. I copied this number down, and went back to configuring the printer. This time, I entered this number in the WEP field, and viola, the printer now works wirelessly! I am raising the scale to 4 stars now. Still, the set up procedure seems demanding, and I've used computers since 1985. Of course, I'm used to true plug and play on the Macintosh, so again, I think I may not know enough about wireless networking to really know if the set up procedure is more cumbersome or not. For me, it was very difficult.
However, the print quality is very good. I recommend this printer to anyone looking for a wireless solution that is Mac/PC friendly.
(Original review July 2004)
I bought this printer because of its wireless potential. And it works great, once it is set up. I run OS X, and I always argue that things works so well on the Mac, and they typically do. This printer set up, however, seems rediculous. Perhaps it is because I do not know enough about wireless networking. Apple uses the incredibly easy to use networking protocol Rendezvous, which in theory doesn't need any driver installed (or perhaps the driver is installed by Apple in the OS, and this one is not, yet.) At least that's my limited knowledge and experience with Rendezvous using an HP 4600 Color Laser at my work location. Just plug the ethernet cable into the printer and there it is in the Add Printer box. However, this printer required me not only to install a driver, but then follow a complicated set up procedure, plugging in a network cable, turning on/off the printer. When that didn't work, I tried several things, including restarting the computer Finally, I reinstallled the software, and then it worked. This seems rediculous. This is exactly the reason I do not use the Windows OS. Perhaps I do not know enough about wireless connectivity, and this may be the only way to set up a wireless printer to work with an 802 network. If true, then I appologize to Windows users and HP. If this is as easy as it gets, then there needs to be more thought put into the install process, because it sure wasn't easy at all.
Second, the printer seems loud. It runs like an Epson inkjet that this is replacing. When you go to print, there is an inordinate amount of clacking, and the paper feed is part of the problem.
Fortunately, the printer does work wirelessly, which is the only reason I will keep this. And I like the paper feed in front of the printer, as opposed to on top like Epson made in the past.
Perhaps after working with this printer for a few weeks I will up my rating, but for now, this gets 3 stars.
22 very frustrating
Like one of the other reviewers, I am returning mine after 2 weeks of countless hours on the phone with HP tech. support, whom could never fix the problem. The software had problems loading up, then it did not want to work with my router's encryption, and when it did finally work it was totally sporadic. One day it prints, the next day it does not.
I have a new compaq laptop with windows XP, I bought a new Linksys router since HP said it must be the problem, they were wrong. I even exchanged my HP 5850 for a different one and it did the same thing.
I have not seen any other wireless printers on the market so, like the other reviewer, I am going back to a regular printer with a print server!
I am starting to suspect it is not compatible with windows XP. But that is just an uneducated guess.
23 Easy to install? Wrong.
I'm writing this review after devoting my entire evening and most of this morning to trying to get this wireless printer set up on my network. During that time I also spent over 90 minutes on the phone with HP's customer service technicians (in India!) who ultimately were no help.
My configuration: Dell Inspiron laptop (Pentium II, 366Mhz, 128M memory, Windows XP); Netgear G router; Netgear G wireless adapter card; Motorola cable modem.
I couldn't even run the installation program on my computer. The first screen of the install wizard comes up on the screen but when I click "next", nothing happens. I had to call India so they could manually walk me through the installation process. Well, we got the printer "installed" but it's FAR from problem free...
Printer prints sporatically. Even now and then it will print a one page document but if I want to print another document I have to turn off my router, turn off the printer, turn off the computer and then turn everything back on in the same order. Then, sometimes, the printer will accept a print job. Longer documents won't print at all. HP's customer service is NO HELP whatsoever.
I see from other reviews that some people have no problems at all with the installation. To them I say, bravo. But if you're like me (and a few other disgruntled reviewers) and have problems with the installation, give it up, return the printer and get something more reliable. I like HP but this wireless printer isn't yet ready for prime time.
If this problem isn't fixed by the end of the day, I'm returned the printer and buying a regular (i.e., reliable) printer and a wireless print server.
What a waste of my time this printer has been. Save yourself the trouble.
24 Makes print servers obsolete
I bought this printer for my home network of 3 computers. Two are old desktops, running windows 98 and one is a wifi laptop running xp. The wifi laptop connected wirelessly with the printer with no problem, but I had trouble getting the printer software to run on the old desktops. When I tried to load the software on the desktops, I got this major error message saying I had to reset the printer to factory settings (whatever that means?!). The solution was that I had to hard wire the printer to the wireless router. That's not a problem, though since I don't need to move the printer around anyway. The beauty of this setup now is that all 3 computers can print off the same printer independently of each other, just as if you had a print server. And the laptop can be moved to anywhere in the house and still be print ready. I would highly recommend this product if you seek this kind of functionality. The only downside is the software is a little quirky, especially on old computers
25 Great wireless printer
I have both Mac and a PC, so I needed a printer that talked to both easily. This printer was the answer. My office arrangement would have required running wires to connect both pcs so the wireless solution was just what I needed.
The setup was a bit bumpy, but connecting a temporary network cable to the printer solved the problems and I was up an running wireless within an hour (which included unpacking the printer).
The printer works great and is quiet.
26 Great network printer with WiFi
I was looking for a new printer to replace the Epson that died on me after a short period of usage and decided to go back to HP. When browsing their mid-range printers I saw this wireless model. Having set up my wireless network this year and having my father on the same network and the chance of friends stopping by who might want to use the printer I thought that it would be perfect. This printer works as a plain USB printer (cable not included), or as a network printer. Using it as a network printer you have 2 choices. The first is to use the included ethernet cable and hook the printer up to your local network. The second is to turn the thing on and have it automatically detect your wireless network and jump on the network. I set it up with my powerbook and I have to say it was the easiest setup EVER. This printer is rendezvous enabled which is great for Mac OSX users. You just select the printer from the list when you go to print and you are DONE. There is nothing else to do, everything is ready to start printing! You can also set up the included software on the CD which installs HPs own custom drivers and autodetects the printer on the network for you. This probably works the same way on windows. Another cool thing is that the printer has web configuration. You can either figure out the IP and put it in the browser (and change it there too if you like) or on your Rendezvous enabled mac you can select it from the Rendezvous menu in safari where it shows up.
As for the the hardware side, this is an above average quality ink jet printer. The DPI (dots per inch, how much detail goes into what you print) on it is pretty good compared to some other printers in the same range, and the printing speed is also pretty good.
The paper feed is much better than top feed printers I have in the past which had trouble getting the paper aligned. You can also get an extra tray if you want to hold more paper. I think this would be a nice printer for a small office, or home network where you have several people with computers and/or notebooks.
So overall this is an low end network printer with wifi or a high end deskjet with wifi. Either way, I think this printer is a really great product
27 Great Printer, Easy to Install, Good print quality
I bought this printer 2 days ago. I have a Linksys wireless router at home (802.11G). I live in a relatively small apartment with no "office" space, and usually work on my laptop in the living room. So the wirless networking ability of this printer was really important to me since I can now hide the printer just about anywhere (it is in the closet of one of the bedrooms).
Setting up the printer was a real breeze. In fact, I was a little bit sceptical in the beginning because the instructions seemed too easy. All I had to do was to connect the printer to my router, turn it on, and then install the software on my laptop. The software walked me through configring the printer so it could connect to the router (If you know how to connect your laptop to the router via your wireless card, you can connect the printer). The only glitch I had was that I had set up my router to only allow 802.11G, not 802.11B and G. The printer installation instructions do not mention this at all, so I had trouble connecting until I remembered to check my router configuration.
The printer works like a charm and is really quiet. I have not tried photo prints yet but the print quality of everything else is great. Also, the printer looks good. It is relatively low-key in its design and also has a low form-factor. And it looks like it is built from quality material and does not look cheap. Which is good, because it isn't exactly cheap.
28 Exactly what I needed!
I bought this printer after my 5 year old Deskjet 930C died. I wanted an inkjet that had built-in network connectivity for use in my home network. I considered the Epson C84N, but it does not have a duplex accessory and the network connectivity is by way of a bundled print server device. Then I found the HP 5850. It had the features that I was looking for. It can be connected via USB cable, wireless 802.11b, Ethernet cable, or all three at once if you wish.
The out of box experience was very good. Plugged in the power, inserted the ink carts, and connected it to my router with a CAT5 cable. The first time it is powered on with the ink carts installed it goes through a configuration that takes 2 or 3 minutes. After that, the printer easily found an IP address using DHCP. Installation of the software from the included CD was equally smooth on both of my Win XP Pro pcs, the software found the printer and was ready to use within a couple minutes. Best of all, the duplex accessory from my old 930C also fits the 5850, saving the expense of having to buy a new one.
Print quality is very good, and is quicker than my 930C. Picture quality is much better and that is with the normal tri-color cartridge, I have not yet tested using the photo cart.
Overall, I am extremely happy with this printer, it is a very nice upgrade from my previous inkjet and just the thing for those of us needing to easily share a printer on a small network.
29 Great printer but lots of work to set up
I got this printer because I am a doctoral student with a wireless laptop. I can go online wirelessly so I can use my laptop virtually anywhere in my apartment. I print lots of online articles and hated getting up to attach the printer everytime I wanted to print. So I jumped at buying this printer. I love it now but be prepared to do some work if youre not techie. I was able to piece together some information from the tech guy in my department at my univeristy and the tech guys at hp to finally get it working. Its amazing to be able to print to the printer in my office from my living room. I havent tried printing from very far away yet (i.e-my bedroom on the other side of my apt)but i'm happy with it now that the setup is over with.
30 WORST PIECE OF CRAP
This is by FAR the worst piece of crap that I have EVER bought, now I have to waste my time repackaging this piece of sh-t to send it back. I could not install this printer to my linksys, customer support sucks! All you get is some guy from india who knows less about the product than you do!
Seriously DO NOT buy this product! YOU WILL BE SORRY!
31 Great printer
I've waited a while to find a 802.11 wireless printer, and finally this arrived. I managed to get it set up very quickly on both my PC (running XP) and my iMac (running 10.3 aka Panther).
I am very happy with it - it prints, quickly and quietly (I have owned very noisy Epson and Canon printers in the past but this one is so quiet I didn't even hear it print the test page).
I haven't used it for photo printing so I can't comment on the quality of those prints. But if you want a general-purpose wireless printer, this one is a good choice. My only gripe is that the printer is quite big; if it was 25% smaller I'd give it five stars.
32 I hope you don't need support from HP!
I had some problems getting this printer to work on my Linksys wireless-B router. After hanging for hours on the phone to talk to an "expert", problem was still not solved. Failed to speak to anybody over there (yes, in India!) who's knowledge extended to 'how to start the setup.exe from the CD rom'. Very frustrating. Finally I started troubleshooting myself and found the problem. Because of the provided support (which is none) I would not recommend to buy this product. If you are a wireless network expert (or want to become one) give it a go. Oh yeah, printer does not work with your firewall on (Win XP), so you are exposed to hackers, etc.
33 Fair Printer
While this printer does an excellent job printing text, I was disappointed in the quality of photo printing. Item was purchased because of ad that stated photo quality printing. WELL IT'S NOT! Packing it up to return it now.
34 Great for a home with multiple Computers
I bought this printer beacuse I have several computers at home (both Mac and PC) and I needed something I could put in a shelf and print from whichever computer. It works GREAT!!!
It is easy to install and setup. The driver installation is easy on both platforms. And it is quite fast. No extra are cables needed just plug it to the power outlet and you are all set. It also has an ethernet port if you do not have wireless or prefer to have it plugged into your network hardware.
