Hewlett-Packard makes fine printers for business, personal, and family uses and the HP DeskJet 612C color ink-jet printer is no exception. You get the crisp black text you'd expect from a printer and vibrant color printing created with HP's Color Layering Technology. It's also easy to install, making it a nice complement for any desktop or laptop arrangement.
The HP DeskJet 612C color ink-jet printer enables you to produce professional-looking letters and résumés on any stationery in a brisk five ppm for black and 2.5 ppm for color. Want to share snapshots with the extended family or copy avintage photo? With the addition of the optional HP photo cartridge, the printer can create color-photo-quality prints on HP photo paper by drawing upon HP's ColorSmart III technology, which layers colors in precise ink drops. The HP DeskJet 612C color ink-jet printer can jazz up everything from your business and personal projects to homemade invitations, announcements, and student reports.
1 This printer has caused me a great deal of stress...
Printer frequently wastes ink, paper and time by jamming... I have a shopping bag FULL of paper here that has been wasted by this printer.
2 Extremely noisy and ink cartridges too small
Others have mentioned that the ink cartridges are smaller (20 ml.) than other printers that use 42 ml. cartridges. Since the small cartridges cost the same as the large ones, you will lose the savings you made by buying this cheeper printer after you've bought only a few cartridges. I'm a student, and have bought maybe 12 cartridges in the last 2 years. At almost [$] a cartridge, the difference adds up fast. Also, if you are a person that likes to use a highlighter, the ink from these cartridges will smear when you use a highlighter over it...very messy looking. The ink from the HP 45 cartridges doesn't seem to smear like that, but you can't use that size with this printer. Your only choice for black ink is the HP 20 cartridge.
I don't think it is possible to emphasize enough the noise this thing makes. It's probably four times louder than other printers I've used. It has awakened family members sleeping in adjacent rooms, so if you were planning to use the printer at night, be aware that you'll have to save printing for the morning in order for others to sleep.
If you live alone (and not in an apartment), only plan to print a few pages every now and then, and are not a student, writer, or in business, this might be an ok printer for you. It is very easy to set up.
3 What's important to me in a printer?
The lack of paper jams is important to me in a printer. This one keeps it to a minimum. I won't say it hasn't happened, but not for ages. The print quality is excellent too. The two cartridges you need, though not cheap, last a good long while too (they run around $30 each, give or take a couple of bucks here and there). In summary, the lack of paper jams, the quality of printing and the availability of the cartridges (moreso now than two years ago) makes this a good buy.
4 Nothing but probs
Ok for regular black and white printing on paper. However, anything more than that and the printer frequently failed. Colors were not that good, photos - forget it and card stock, envelopes, etc., frequently jammed. Ink runs out without warning.
5 A Pretty Good Printer
This is the only printer I've ever had but I've had it for two years now without a single problem so I guess it's safe to say that the durability factor is up to par. The quality of color pictures print out with amazing clarity and the black ink hardly ever smears. My only complaint about the Hewlett Packard Deskjet 612c is how expensive the ink cartilages are compared to other more luxurious printers. I'm hardly complaining, though, because the price of this and the quality that comes with it is overall a very good deal. You'll definitely get your money's worth with this machine and I wouldn't trade it for any other... At least for this price.
6 Great for the price
I have had this printer for over a year and have had no problems. The ink products are very easy to find, especially online at hp.com. The cartridges have been renamed however, C6614A is now called HP 20 their basic black ink cartridge. This information is easy to find on the hp.com web site.
7 Great printer
I purchased the 612C over a year ago. It installed like a dream and has worked reliably and consistently ever since. Buy this printer its great.
8 Nice while it lasted
I have two problems with this printer. Number 1 is that my 612C work out and would not printer anymore after about only 6 months of use. I was well under the monthly duty for what this printer is expected to printer. The second is that the documentation that came with this product led me to believe that my printer was under warranty for an enitre year, but when I called HP to have it fixed I was told my warranty was expired, and that additional documentation was released showing only a 90 day warranty.
9 No INK!
I have had this printer only 3 months. I don't print very much but now when I need ink, it's run out! Okkkkkkkk, I go shopping for an ink cart. Can I find one? Not a Black one! I have looked everywhere online and cannot find the black ink #c6614A ANYWHERE! And Although I did find a close match to the color cart. The desc. does not list the Deskjet 612C as a model that uses it. BEWARE BUYER! What good is a printer with NO INK?
10 Go away - It is not as cheap as you think
I started to hate HP because of this product. The black cartdriges for this printer only hold half the ink (20 ml) held by cartdriges for any other HP printer, but their cost is the same. Whatreally annoys me is that this was done on purpose by HP - there is a tiny plastic protuberance in the cartdrige slot of the 612 that just won't you let the plain 40 ml cartdrige in.
11 Hope It Doesn't Break
We have had excellent success with this printer. It has proven reliable and the quality has been impressive. My brother even e-mailed some photos he took in the Egypt with his digital camera. We printed them out using the 612C with surprising results for an Inkjet.
My only word of warning is from my experience with HP's warranty support. When having to call upon them to fulfill a warranty on another product, it turned into a nightmare. They argued about the problem, finally had me send the product to their repair facility where it sat unrepaired for over a month. It took two more phone calls to get any results, and even now I am still waiting for the return of the repaired product.
For the price, I would say this printer is a good addition to your home or office, as long as it never breaks.
12 It quits when the warranty quits!
I have a 600C series printer at home and it has been so frustrating. Just after 6 months of use, the black print would smear and we were told to buy new ink cartridges. I purchased new ones even thought the ones we had were not very old and it made not difference. We followed the directions for cleaning. No difference. We could only print in color, any black ink would smear. I tried HP printer paper, regular printer paper, copy paper, nothing helped. We cleaned and cleaned. At last it started to print clear again just about the time the warranty was to run out. A few weeks later it quit feeding paper. We have to feed one sheet at a time and sometimes try it several times before it takes it. Tried cleaning the rollers, no help. Here it is, a few months later and now it is smearing black ink again and not feeding the paper. I would not recommend the 600 color series to anyone. I have two HP540 inkjets at work and they are over 4 years old. No problems at all. I run an average of 50 pages a day on them. I just purchased an HP896Cse for work and so far no problems. Prints clear photo quality pictures. The warranty has not expired YET!
13 Consumer friendly
This printer was extremely easy to set up. In fact I needed to download the drivers from the internet because the computer it is working with has no cd rom drive, and was a bit skeptical about the outcome. The whole process, from getting the drivers from the HP internet site, to installing them, and setting up the printer was really smooth. Hell, my husband could have done it! (just kidding, dear) Color is fine also-it all depends on what your requirements are. For us it is all we need, and it beats the Canon products hands down. I am giving it four stars because I have not seen yet how long the cartridges last. Also buy the extra year warranty for 10.00 dollars. HP has a long-standing reputation for business computers and peripherals.
14 Not as bad as reviewed
I have this printer, because I received it "free" with a new computer purchase. I am a dedicated HP user for printers so I was happy the free one was an HP. I checked out the reviews and was horrified by the comments. However, I have now had this printer for 3 months and have had absolutely NO problems. Certainly it isn't as good as my older higher level HP, but you wouldn't expect it to be for the price. I put it with my older computer which is now my son's. He runs all sort of stuff on it, mostly in color (he's 5), and has had no problems...and it has had a lot of use. If you want something inexpensive, this should be fine.
15 Don't buy this printer
I purchased this printer in August 1999 (7 months ago) and I am disapointed. I have had problems with the software. It conflicted with my other installed printer drivers so I had to remove them. I also found the direct cable connection software which is part of Windows 98 would not work while the software was installed. Additionally, I have been disapointed with the cost and frequency of replacing cartriges. I would not recommend this printer. I have had other HP printers and in each case was satisfied.
16 Spend more on a better printer
Don't even bother trying to get support. The printer works great for about a month and then starts sending all these weird technical messages and just won't print. I was told to uninstall the software and reload it to fix problems. It worked for two days and then starting sending messages again. Spend your money on a better printer, preferably not HP.
17 Great Buy
A friend recommended this printer, so I ignored the detracting reviews left by other Amazon customers. I'm glad I did; the printer was easy to set up and speedy. At this price, I am completely satisified with the product. This printer is fifty times better than the cheap Canon printer I purchased last year. For fifty dollars more than the Canon Colorjet, I've landed a good piece of hardware. Thanks Hewlett-Packard.
18 No Help, even if under warrenty
My husband and I bought this printer, we thought it was a goodeconomical choice for an at home printer, we were wrong. Two daysbefore it went off warrenty it would no longer print. My yellow resetbutton flashed, and no tech support was provided with this 612c model. However if we wanted to pay 2.50 a minute they could help us. I looked up the printer on Amazon customer reports and found someone else with the same problem, a faulty ink cartridge that came with the printer. I went and bought a new one for 30.00, popped it in and bingo the printer worked again. If this happens often I'm getting rid of it. Don't get me wrong It prints great, only if you can afford it, and I rarely use mine. That's why we bought A less expensive one. If it wasn't for Amazon reports we would have been out even more money. If you do a lot of printing, this printer is not for you!
19 no software warranty in spite of warranty promise on page 16
On page 16 of the owners manual for the deskjet 610C series, a 90 day software warranty is listed. Hewlett Packard states that this is a misprint and HP will not honor the software warranty. Any software help is fee based. The printer developed a software problem after 60 days and would not print.
20 Cheapest, but not necessarily the least expensive
If you are considering buying HP 612C because of its low price, you might want to consider the cost of ownership. Most HP printers use 40 ml black ink cartridges, but 610 and 612 use 20 ml cartridges. These smaller cartridges are actually a little bit more expensive than the 40 ml cartridges. So your ownership cost, even if your usage is light to moderate, is likely to be higher than that of some of the more expensive models.
About a month or so after purchasing, my HP 612C stopped working. The yellow light would flash and it will print nothing. The only support number that you can call (even under warranty period) are 900 numbers ($2.50 per minute) or one where you have to pay by credit card.
You can get e-mail support from HP website, but most of the time you get canned answers. One of the common problems with HP 612 is that the printer cartridge that ships with the printer develops problems. There is no documentation or other indication to say that this is the problem. This was what happened to my printer. By the number of questions that are asked at the e-mail support discussion site, this appears to be a one of the most common problem with this printer.
I have an older Deskjet 540 (5 years old) that works like a charm. So I was a little disappointed at the 612C reliability problems and the cartridge fiasco.
Denise.
21 Great quality for the price
I do a considerable amount of printing. My son has used this agreat deal for school projects, homework and the like. Results arealways good on a variety of papers from the plain cheap stuff to photo-grade to notecards. With the optional photo-quality cartridge and good photo paper (I have only used Kodak paper) I was very pleased with the results; however, the 800 series do seem to do better on photos. One downside is that the black cartridges for this model only hold half the ink of the other 600 series printers. Considering that I use black the most, this would have steered me to a different model had I know this before the fact. I have tried refilling cartridges, but really don't find it worth the effort--the quality just isn't as good either. I previously had two Epson Stylus printers and in comparison I am very happy with this HP, it strikes a good compromise between quality, ease of use and cost. In general, this is a very good home printer for your everyday printing needs.
22 pretty neat results for text and graphics
it gives very good results in printing text and graphics, and even greeting cards. haven't tried photographs yet.
the ink seems to dry up very fast on the paper(it's almost dry when it comes out). this results in minimal waiting times.
the printer software gives great animated on-screen demonstrations for placing the paper, specially while printing 2-sided and greeting cards.
the speed is more than adequate for normal household printing.
overall, good value for money.
