The HP DeskJet 3820 color inkjet printer offers stunning photo-quality results with up to 4800 x 1200 optimized color dpi (on premium photo papers and 1200 x 1200 input dpi). It's also perfect for everyday color printing - at up to 10 pages per minute and rich black text at up to 12 pages per minute. Save time and money with smart features including print-cancel button, and on-screen ink-level indicator. Space-saving paper tray folds up for compact storage when not in use. Save photos and important documents longer using HP's specially developed inks and papers. Connect the way you want to with parallel and USB connectivity. Link multiple home computers to a single printer using optional HP Jetdirect wired and wireless print accessories.
The HP DeskJet 3820 offers a great combination of quality and price. Delivering crisp 600 dpi black printing at up to 12 ppm and clear 2,400 dpi in color at up to 10 ppm, the 3820 easily meets demanding home and home office printing needs.
USB and parallel connectivity provide convenient setup for both PC and Mac users, and the optional HP JetDirect print server supports home networking. Additional features include an easy one-touch print cancel button, HP PhotoREtIII color layering technology, intuitive driver software, and a low-ink indicator light with an onscreen ink-level indicator.
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 HP deny knowledge of worldwide problem
Yes, my printer failed in the way described in countless reviews. Two leds flashing, carriage stalled, no printing. In the USA H-P are replacing printers free of charge for the customer. However in the UK, H-P are denying any knowledge of this common problem (the ostrich approach to problems), and I was referred to extended warranty, who offered a refurbished printer at 25% more than I paid for the original item brand new (!) or a 15% off voucher for any H-P printer.
I declined both as I would really like to steer clear of H-P, and I urge others to avoid HP if possible. Now I'm off to buy a decent printer.
3 DJ 3820 IS defected and HP support can help you out!
There are far to many reviews of this printer to note if anyone has already said this but like many of you, this printer worked well until 8 months into using it. About a month ago, I contacted HP support to see if I could fix it and the technician gave me great news about this printer. Turns out that it is defective and as a result, I would be given a replacement free of charge. By the looks of things, it seems that many of you have the same problem and I think its only fair that one gets what one paid for. If you can, get a hold of HP. From my experiences they have the BEST customer service.
4 Good while it lasted--but a lemon
This printer was noisy but pretty effective while it worked for almost 2 years. Great photo quality and very user-friendly. However, it died after 23 months because of the cog problem that so many others experience, where the lights blink and the cartridges slam to the left. I got duped into buying a low cost (yet expensive cartridge) printer. My next printer will be definitely more than the $110 I paid for the 3820, and hopefully will last longer.
5 Don't Buy It
I have the same problem as everyone else - the broken cog, for which HP offers no easy, or cheap, or reliable solution. After 8 months, I now have to get a different printer. What am I to do with the ink cartridges I just installed and paid big bucks for? Use your hard-earned money to buy a dependable product.
6 Only lasted 1.5 years. Really dissapointed!!
I bought it new in 6/03 and in 12/04 the carriage return froze up and would no longer move. I called the HP help desk and was told it needed to be serviced so I decided to save my money and buy a new printer instead. It would probably cost me more to have it fixed than to get a new one. I am really dissapointed! I expected more from a product by HP. One note* When it did work, it had great print quality, but a little noisy.
7 Good printer, even if a bit flaky
As with all cost-efficient electronics, a low-cost printer is bound to have a few flaws. The HP 3820 has a few big ones, but there are plenty of positive aspects as well. First, and foremost, is the ink efficiency. The user control panel gives you a great variety of options to choose the ink levels used, color depth, saturation, and dry time. The 3820 also excels in its speed; for a small printer, the rate at which it prints both color and B/W is impressive.
Unfortunately, that's where the positive ends and the mediocre begins. First, the thing shakes like a sick dog. I have the printer on a hutch, and whenever it prints, the shaking is more-than-noticable. The signal time (the time it takes for the print document to reach the printer from the computer) is substantial, which negates the speedy page-per-minute rate. This printer malfunctioned about nine months after I purchased it. The tech support was tedius and took several hours to 'decide' that the problem warranted replacement. The new one hasn't died yet, but I suppose you get what you pay for.
The printer was relatively inexpensive, and if you're looking for a basic print unit to output an average of 2 to 4 pages per day, it's definitely worth it. However, don't expect great things; it doesn't profess to be a top-of-the-line printer, but it's great as a workhorse. Summary? Can be rickety, but it gets the job done, and does it well enough for most people's needs.
8 Broken Down
This printer worked alright for a little under 2 years, but now it is broken. Something mechanically is wrong with the printer and it cannot be fixed. I just purchased two new ink cartridges (30 bucks each) and now they are basically worthless. When this printer was working, its performance was acceptable, but a printer from hp lasting only about a year and a half is unacceptable. I would not recommend this product and would suggest a different brand than hp.
9 Don't buy it. It's junk.
I have two of them, unfortunately. And they are both broken. When they worked they gave terrific copies but then they started doing all kinds of weird things. Tried all the obvious and to no avail. CR really did themselves no favors when they rated this thing as a best buy. My old HP 687 worked like a champ for years and it was build like a tank. These new ones are build cheaply and they break, easily. I do not abuse my equipment. This is ridiculous. I do not plan to purchase HP products in the future and I would suggest anyone owning their stock to unload it. This company is going in the tank if this printer is indicative of their managment.
10 don't buy this printer!!!
hewlett packard sells it knowing it will become defective within a short period of time. they should market it as a "disposable printer" because that's what it is. they even tried to sell me a $30 warranty when i called for support. the warranty, it turns out, is for only two weeks, and doesn't cover parts or service. basically, they knew the printer was f!?*&d and wanted to milk me for a two week offer for phone support. what a bad company!
11 It's great until 90 days later!
Okay, so when I bought the printer I was thinking HP is good, this is middle of the line, it must be pretty good. And the printer did its job for the first year, despite the loud noises it makes. Then, one day, all of a sudden, the cradle went completely to the right and got stuck. It would not come back! I called up the HP Hotline and they told me "to pull as hard as possible" to get the thing back to the middle. I tried pulling and basically nothing happened except that I pulled off the white strip. They then informed me that the cradle sticking tends to "happen a lot" and that I should just go out and buy a new printer since my 90 day warranty was up. I think you can decide for yourself, but if you plan on using a printer more than 90 days, I would reccomend a different model.
12 Buyer Beware
This printer has been finicky from day one, and now it has quit entirely on me, with a sudden error reading of "Incompatible black ink cartridge". Not only have I always used the proper HP ink cartridges, this error came up out of the blue, without me so much as touching the cartridge, much less changing it. After searching HP's web site, nothing came up for this particular problem, and, the final blow, I just learned that free phone support is no longer offered for this product (at least not with a Mac operating system), rendering it a big, 2-year old heap of junk.
13 A Big Disappointment
Bought this printer because it wasn't bottom of the range and would seem to have the capability and pedigree to produce good quality prints over a reasonably long life.
Initially set up with parallel cable and worked fine, if slow. Got USB cable (not included) and plugged it in to PC - fried the USB on the motherboard (needed to be replaced), my USB scanner, USB hub and my USB cordless mouse. Would have got Digital Camera too had it been plugged in. After much wrangling with HP, they sent out a new (read reconditioned, actually had the bit which was jamming the carriage, supposedly a common fault, broken off) unit in exchange, under the 12 month warranty. This worked fine for a period of several months. Until recently. For no apparent reason, it started printing images and text diagonally, trapezoidally if you want to be exact. So the top line of a print starts at one side of the page and the print stretches over, line by line, until it finishes at the opposite side of the paper. Started on Win 98SE, now on XP Pro, same problem. Its going in the bin and I'll be buying a "cheap" model in which I will have more faith.
By the way, the prints, when it was working, were excellent and I was more than happy with that.
14 First printer I've ever had that broke
As with others, I bought the 3820 after Consumer Reports rated it a "Best Buy." Worked fine for about 1.5 years, now it is down with a "carriage stall." Repair flat rate is about the cost of a new printer. Since I have several ink cartridges left over, I was looking around to see if there was another one for sale. Unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess) I ran across these mediocre reviews. Now I guess I'll buy something else.
This is my first disapointment with HP products, I certainly feel a broken and unrepairable printer after just a year and a half is unacceptable.
Other than the fact that it was noisy and slow, for the price, text printing was very good and color printing was good. Oh, yeah, my back door broke off too. Clear shipping tape fixes that.
HP tech support and chat was very good walking me through the troubleshooting. Unfortunately, this was a fatal problem.
15 I must be in the minority
After going through all the reviews I was amazed to see so many who have had problems. Right after buying mine I saw a review about how a person had many jamming problems and wouldn't recommend this printer, so I was a little worried. But I have had the printer about a year and two months now and have had zero problems. No jamming, no problems with indicating the cartridges are empty when they are not, etc. My printer gets moved around to various places in the house as it is used with a laptop. I paid about $51.00 for it new and was pleased with how it performed over an older model HP we still have. This doesn't mean you should consider this product, but that there are a few that have done well.
16 worst MOFO printer made
i have had four hp printer in 8 years. i shoulda known!
paper jams (no paper in it) customer service sucks.
cartridges full, says they are empty. delete and reinstall driver, unplug cable, plug back in, etc. over and over, cartridges stick in one spot and you have to push them then they just eat paper and spit it out with no printing. was working along just find they it lost it's mind. has driven my husband crazy! DO NOT BUY HP ....I WILL NEVER BE THIS STUPID AGAIN. support can't even tell you what's wrong with their own product....duh..........
17 Broken down printer
This printer worked great ...until it broke about 26 months from new. this printer had only light use. Printer head stuck at the right side, power and cartridge light flashing. Printer cartridges were expensive, anyway, so I was glad to buy a Canon i350 printer- 3rd party cartridges are cheap and available at Staples. I know now that if saving money is important, don't shop by printer price- shop by cartridge price!
18 Great Printing--for about a year...
After purchasing this printer, I was very happy with the photo-prints and plain paper prints it made.
Then, about four months ago, it developed a loud, squealing noise when it picked up the paper. Last month, it started telling me the black cartridge was empty even though I had just replaced it with a new one. I followed the instructions to re-install it, and a few uses later the same problem reappared. At least, it kept on making excellent prints.
This week, it quit. It gave me an error saying there was a paper jam when there was not. The print cartridges are stuck to the right.
It quit in its 4th black ink cartridge. Other people appear to have similar experiences with this model.
At this point, I cannot recommend this printer.
19 I give it 2 stars because
while it lasted it printed nice pictures clear and beautiful. Much better then my old Canon BJC-6000 which had stopped working after two years or so. But this printer the HP 3820 only lasted for about a year and 3 months then just recently died. It kept saying there was no ink and the print mechanism was jammed. Don't know how it could be jammed when it wasn't used recently. I understand the ink drying up but this? I didn't want to bother with it so now I'm in the process of looking for a new printer. After reading so many reviews about HP's quality I don't think I'll be buying an HP again any time soon.
20 Great for basic printing
I have had this printer for a year and a half. The noise level is a bit high and I have yet to figure out how to print photos. Otherwise it's been a great improvement from my old Canon. I haven't had anything break on the printer, I've replaced the black cartridge twice and the color once, and am ready for another black- I have two kiddos who print anything and everything and use all my ink! The ink is worth the price, IMO, as it seems to last at least 4 to 6 months with fair amounts of use.
Overall it's been a trustworthy machine.
21 horrible printer
driver problems from day one and hp makes me use a different driver that allows less features than the printer is capable of doing. I will never buy HP again. I have owned a few over the years, but this was the worst.
22 Excellent Piece Of JUNK!!
I was a satisfied HP customer since the old times of deskjet 550. I bought this unit a little over a year, used it sparingly, until the well famous "small cog" broke. I remember this happened while the 2nd black cartridge was half full ( HP, are you intentionally making this junk fail so I spend another $100 in another one of your printers in less than a year??). I called HP parts service and of course, NO FAIR SOLUTION - THE COG IS NOT SOLD. Their only "offer" was to send the printer back to HP, PLUS $59, and they would ship a "refurbished" one. So, are they keeping the cogs to make a final price of $159 for the printer? Since I REFUSE to buy a new printer, I wanted to make this junk at least pay off the ink cartridges until they empty themselves, so I found the website http://www.fixmybrokenprinter.co.uk/ where Mr. G will fix the broken cog for a very fair price. I'll make this machine sweat its price until it dies, and believe me, no more cheap HP printers after this one!! I'm done with HP!!
23 Piece of CRAP
I think the HP 3820 is the worst printer I have ever owned. It is noisy, slow, and I have had endless driver problems. Don't buy one, you can do a LOT better!
24 Piece of Crap.
Lasted for two black printer cartriges. Now it is a paper weight. Back door fell off long ago because the tabs broke, after the warranty expired of course, so I rebuilt the tabs myself using super glue and it worked fine again until it just decided it wouldn't accept new printer cartriges anymore. DO NOT BUY. This is a shoddily made product. Welcome to the new era at HPQ.
25 Just don't want one!
I bought my HP 3820 a few months ago. Like that other review stated, the 3820 makes all kinds of noises, and it keeps the user waiting forever before it finally-usually just starts spitting out strange characters rather than meaningful information. I tried to print an envelope for a resume about the third or fourth time that I used my 3820, but my 3820 could hardly even feed envelopes that were absolutely properly fed and properly aligned (and a correct paper size indicated by my Microsoft word processor). I have seven years of print operations experience, and I have used dozens of printers of all kinds in my total of more than 11 years of computer room and print operations experience, and I can assure you that I did absolutely nothing wrong to make this 3820 fail on printing envelopes. After I gave up on trying to get my 3820 to correctly print an envelope I cancelled the print, reset the printer, and then I tried to print something else on regular paper, but my printer has not been able to even feed a sheet of paper ever since it refused to correctly feed my envelopes. There is nothing blocking the feed, and I heard no noises indicating anything breaking or popping loose whenever the envelopes had previously gone thru it and come out printed all wrong. The printer now acts as if there is some variable that got turned on in its circuitry that is making it not want to feed from the tray, but I have tried resetting it in every way. This 3820 printer, in the few times that I got it to print before the envelope incident, never printed all that great of quality anyway, but now it is just a dead issue. This is my third and probably last HP printer period. I am also tired of having to reset printer cartridges that are designed to be difficult to refill (despite that I do have success refilling them with generic inks). (...)Should you see any good reviews anywhere by anyone wanting to sell you on one of these 3820 printers, then trust me, it is likely that what you are reading came from a person(s) just wanting to unload a worthless printer on you! Don't be someone else's sucker! The only reason that I gave this printer its ONE STAR rating is because there were no NEGATIVE STAR ratings from which I had to choose. Truthfully, YOU DO NOT WANT THIS PRINTER! I would stake my B.S. in computer science on it! As for the cartridge for this printer... you can find them empty online (...) (empties that have never ever been refilled), and then you can buy refill kits and refill them yourself (but don't try to fill the tanks based on the order of colors on the HP cartridges' labels, or you will have been steered into wasting your perfectly good empty cartrdges, because the colors are in the wrong order!!!) Just don't buy one!
26 I love this printer! Don't listen to the other reviews!
This is, in my opinion, one of the best printers ever(for its price range). I have a few other priner like lexmark and epson, but this HP beats them into the ground. I have had this printer for a long time now and have gone through a few cartridges. So far my "cog" has not broken, and my back door never broke. This printer NEVER gave me any trouble. Anyway, onto the printer. The 4800x1200 dpi is gorgeous. After reprinting a picture that had been developed from a regular film camera, the printed one actually looked better. It is pretty fast and the cartridges last a descent amount of time.
LISTEN TO ME PEOPLE!
I am not one of those people that says a printer is good after having just a few weeks. I have had this printer for more than an year. I don't know why people have problems with this printer, cause I didn't have any problems. Maybe it is cause I live in CANADA and maybe the shipment of printers that came here was better.
P.S.
The support from HP was great. The people who spoke to me where very respectful and helpful. I don't know why others say it was bad.
P.P.S.
I LOVE THIS PRINTER!
P.P.P.S.
Go to hell all the people that bad-mouth this printer!
27 Back door jammin
The printer is OK in most regards. The ink cartridge lasts a lot longer than Cannon printers I've had in the past. However, there is this door in the back that is built flimsily and I don't know what happened, but something broke on it and it won't stay closed. This causes paper jams galore. I had to remedy the problem with scotch tape. It works fine now with a permanent band-aid.
28 JUNK
I wish I had read these reviews before purchasing this printer. It worked for the first 6 months, and since then it has been 1 issue after another!!! Adding insult to injury, HP has been of NO assistance either. My final issue was the "cogs". If this is such a common problem why doesn't HP address it? On well, this product married with the terrible customer service has left me frustrated, and less that 1 year later, in search of a new printer.
29 3820 Buged
After a short time using my 3820 is refused to print with the Msg. that the black ink cartridge was empty. I went out and purchased a new HP brand cartridge and installed it...it continued to give me the same Msg. so I took the new cartridge back and exchanged it for another new one...same thing..refused to print with the message that the cartridge was no good. I'm about to throw it out...any comments or suggestions as to what I might due?
30 My cog broke...
...it's all about http://www.fixmybrokenprinter.com/ . That site deals with the cog failure that most everyone seems to complain about, myself included. Blinking lights, paper feeding, but no printing.
31 If its free okay but do not buy!
I got this printer with the purchase of an Apple Ibook. It worked great for about 6 months. Since then I have had nothing but jams, grindings noises, and finially failure. I am very disapointed with this HP product. I buy only Apple computers and have never had an issue with an HP printer until this one. I have had Epson and Canon printers that have not held up with my macs. It was cheap so I got some use out of it but would not advise anyone to buy it.
32 Great performance at a great price
I rather like this printer.
It gives great performance at a great price.
Unfortunately it does have a weak point (ie. the broken cog problem) but this can easily be solved using a simple modification and repair.
see http://www.fixmybrokenprinter.com for details.
33 THIS PRINTER WILL FAIL
Pros:
BEFORE IT FAILS, the 3820 provides decent quality printing for a reasonable price. The software is simple and effective: the drivers are simple and fast and the HP Printer Assistant (help system and toolbox) is quite good.
Cons:
THIS PRINTER WILL FAIL. DO NOT PURCHASE IT.
My 3820 failed after about 6 months of light use - roughly 500 prints, mostly black text, near the end of the first black cartridge, and shortly after the brief 3 month warranty had expired. This is apparently a very common problem with the 3820: a small cog in the self-cleaning mechanism fails, causing the printer to stop printing altogether - it makes a lot of noise, then slowly feeds paper through, but the print head doesn't move. This is actually common enough that there is a website dedicated to it (http://fixmybrokenprinter.co.uk/), run by a guy in the UK who specializes in remanufacturing the cog (which is not practical on such a cheap machine). Read the reviews on CNET to see many other users who have had the same problem I just described.
The bottom line is that if this failure occurs, you have to just buy a new printer. If you've already purchased ink cartridges, you will be stuck with them because new HP printers do not accept the cartridges used in the 3820. I bought the 3820 largely because Consumer Reports rated the 3820 a "Best Buy" in 2003 (and again the May 2004 issue). Given this problem, however, it seems that the 3820 is anything but a smart buy.
34 F@*! this printer
I see many of my fellow reviewers have already documented the problems with this printer in this lengthy forum, but I would just like my number included with the masses. I gave it one star b/c it lasted about a year and a half (apparently a ripe age for this one). This printer was the biggest disappointment with my HP Pavilion Computer package I bought August of 2002. It came free with the computer, so it seemed like a bargain- and if it's still goin for $140 it must have been (though i think that price is a bit obnoxious). However, I would have rather paid the extra $50 for a better model than suffered through all the "mechanical errors" and various paper jams i've received the past year or so. And now I think it finally broke the other day, even in spite of my motivated efforts to even fix it manually. HP is just another symbol of American tech hegemony selling cheap parts made in some foreign sweat shop for a nickel. Go to hell HP.
35 defective parts liability
I bought a Hewlett Packard 3820 Deskjet printer 1 1/2 years ago, and recently, a defective part was discovered in mine,and 5 other like models in the store that I purchased it. I was told that it could take a month to order this part. I have already been without a printer 3 weeks, so this is a great inconvenience and dissappointment in that I thought this a very well rated product. I realize that any warrenty on parts has run out, but a company that finds a major defective part in one of its products, I think, has a responsibility to the consumer to reach some kind of an agreement that is agreeable to both. The company I bought it from (a small computer store) shouldnt be liable for a problem of this kind.
36 NOT WORTH THE AGGRAVATION...
I purchased this printer in January 2003 when it was on sale at BEST BUY after seeing that Consumer Report gave it a good "best buy" rating in their February 2003 issue. While it worked good for about 3 months, it died one week after the 90 day warranty expired (what a surprise). After contacting HP Service Center they replaced the original unit with another HP 3820 on exchange. This second unit worked fine until last week when it did what everyone elses has done - indicated a paper jam that wasn't there, and a mechanical error with the cartridge cradle as the cradle itself seemed to freeze on the right side. This time HP offered nothing by way of their producing a pretty unreliable and flimsy unit overall as a remedy after we contacted them. When it worked, it did so pretty nicely (although it was a bit noisy and clunky) which validates the one star I gave it. Last week we replaced it with a Canon i560 from Amazon which so far has been way more quiet, prints just as nicely, and offers a much better warranty. Plus, if you expect on purchasing this HP unit and buying replacement cartridges in the future (which you obviously will) you better hope that President Bush appropraites some additional tax cuts ASAP to help offset their expense...They are EXPENSIVE!!!
37 HP makes printers easy to use.
I have owned this printer for over a year and am quite pleased with it's performance. Although I never claim to be a computer guru it seems to me that this printer easily sets up and prints beautiful photo quality pictures also. It has two types of inputs to allow either a USB connection or serial bus connection to a computer. I have in fact used both connections for two different computers connected to it at once with no problems at all. This is much easier to use than the Sharp Multifunction Interface piece of crud I had before.
38 I wanted to like this printer.
This printer is very different from most HP printers I have seen. It's not as high quality or reliable as I have come to expect them to be.
One of the things that some people complain about is how it vibrates - but that's only if you did not put the paper in far enough. This is not a problem with the printer.
However, the first time I tried to refill the ink cartridges (color and black and white) instead of paying an arm and a leg for a new set of cartridges I had major problems. First of all, it wouldn't print black. I reseated the cartridges. Then it wouldn't print magenta or yellow. I reseated the cartridges. Then it would print everything but cyan. Nothing seemed to make this problem go away.
After reseating a dozen times, I got it back to where it would print color but not black, and bought a new black ink cartridge (which was cheaper because HP MAKES INK CARTRIDGES THAT ARE HALF EMPTY BUT MORE THAN HALF AS EXPENSIVE AS FULL ONES, without marking them visibly). Anyway, the purchase of the new ink cartridge got it working again. When that black ink cartridge ran out, I refilled it and these problems did not repeat.
If this was the only problem with the printer, I wouldn't be leaving a 2-star review. Now the printer has a mechanical problem. No software manipulation can fix this problem, trust me I've tried (and I know a dozen Computer Science majors). The cartridge holder that slides back and forth when you print is stuck completely on the right side. It's as if it went too far to one side and couldn't come back. The error message says "Mechanism Error. The print cartridge cradle cannot move. Please check under the device's top cover for a paper jam or other obstruction." Of course, there is no paper jam or other obstruction.
This was the final straw with the printer, and I have yet to see how to resolve this problem. :( I will think again before buying HP, and will probably buy a Canon to replace it.
39 Noisy, unreliable, absolute junk
This is my 4th HP printer purchase.
I bought this and another 3820 for my daughter as UVA annointed it as their preferred printer. Mine conked out into its 2nd cartridge and my daughter tells me the students at UVA have problems with & hate theirs.
No more HP for me -- I had been willing to overpay for their cartridges as the printers were economical & reliable. $10 depreciation to $0 is a bit excessive (amortization of the printer alone -- no ink included)
40 I hope I can return the ink cartridges ;-)
I got this printer free w/ rebate with my computer package purchase in May 2003. It worked very well from day one. I used
cheapy Canon printers, and a HP photosmart before this one, and they were fine. The HP photosmart 1000 was built like a tank ( Compared to this one)but had a lot of problems with software running on a Window 98se. The 3820 was very noisy but worked great. (Notice the word- workED )
Today, after I stocked up on ink cartridges last week, there was a paper jam ( I don't remember the last time it had a paper jam, if ever) I checked the back and discovered the door was attached to the unit with 4 flimsy brittle plastic levers and 3 of them had broken off. The door would not stay in place, therefore causing paper to jam.
I am disapointed that HP could not design and engineered this to last longer, even for a cheap unit like this one. The 3820 was working flawlessly and disabled by 4 flimsy little knobs that could have been made a little thicker. MAYBE they indeed designed it this way!!!
I am thinking maybe I've been using HP too long, I am going to check out some Canon printers later today.
41 Works great for me... but only when it worked.
The first 6 months living with this printer were fine, I replaced a black cartridge and everything was fine. Until winter struck! Here is where things got very weird. I saw the lights were flashing rapidly one day, I pressed the power button and the lights went out. Things seemed fine for a while. The `flashing lights' happened more frequently and I found the source. Every time I touched my computer and got an electric shock (rub your feet on the carpet and touch a light switch)... the `flashing lights' would start again. A short time after I figured out this phenomenon the printer just stopped. A chat with HP's online help had a new printer coming my way, along with a new set of ink cartridges. Why would they have to send me a new set, well that's because they were stuck on the right side of the printer. No matter how hard I pulled on the cable or tried prying with my fingers could I move them.
Fast forward to next winter and the flashing lights start all over again. This is with the 2nd printer now. Once again the ink cartridges are stuck on the right side. This time the online help told me to bring the printer to `an approved' store for service, at my cost. Both printers were connected using a USB cable. On the first one I know I changed the black cartridge once, and on the second I refilled one then replaced it with a generic refill just days before it crapped out on me.
In general I was fairly pleased with the print quality, it was kind of noisy but not unbearable, I liked the fact that it would turn itself on when I sent something to print, the ink is pretty pricey, and I like the size of it. The 90 day warrantee is a joke, most of HP's other printers come with a 1 year warrantee, as well as other brands too. So do I actually try and get this one fixed (cheaply), or do I buy some other brand?
42 It s okay machine
well i m using this printer about 1 year and it works really fine (i have Windows 2000).... Its cheap and it works so my advice is if u have Windowns 2000 you should buy this printer.
43 Good Printer, but only for 2 months....
Earlier this year, I purchased the HP Deskjet 3820 to go along with my new Gateway 500SE computer, which runs on the Windows XP operating system.
The good news:
Print quality is very good.
Software is easy to install.
Connecting the hardware is simple.
The bad news:
The printer only worked for about 2 months. All of a sudden, it wouldn't print anymore! I tried everything I could think of to get it going again (contacted the HP help desk, uninstalled and then reinstalled the printer software, fiddled with all the connections, etc.), but could not get the printer to work. I tried for 7 weeks (I'm a patient man), but to no avail.
I finally went out and purchased an Epson Stylus C82, and so far, so good.
44 DON'T BUY THE MISTAKE OF YOUR LIFE
At first i was happy with this crap, but then it was time to replace the black ink, and things went wrong.
Lights flashing ..paper jams...there was NO WAY to make it print again. The Technical Support Chat tried helping. but all in all no one knew what to do.
My advice: D O N T B U Y IT YOU WILL REGRET IT .
45 Worked pretty well - for a while
I have just joined the legions of HP Deskjet 3820 owner's whose machines just crapped out on them. I gave it a 3 out of 5 because it was inexpensive and it did work for almost a year.
On glossy paper, the print looks good. It is definitely not "professional" quality, but I have used it to produce brochures and flyers with good success.
The ink is expensive - although that is almost always the case with the inkjets - HUGE profit center for those guys.
All in all, for what you pay, I guess this printer is not a bad deal.
46 Unreliable
Almost from the day I got it, sometimes it would print and sometimes it wouldn't. Sometimes it prints a whole page, sometimes only half the page, sometimes a quarter of the page. Despite technical assistance on more than one occasion it continues to be completely unreliable.
47 One of the worst printers I have ever used!
This printer came free after a mail-in rebate and I guess you get what you pay for. With this printer you can not print business cards or on any paper other than light weight printer paper. It ALWAYS pulls in two or more sheets of paper and I must feed in one sheet at a time. It is more of a hassle than it is worth. :-) IT WAS FREE
48 PIECE OF JUNK
Very temperamental, quirky printer. DO NOT BUY IT. Once you have a paper jam, chances are it will never work again. I was always having to uninstall/re-install the software after it would spit out endless sheets filled with hieroglyphics! Another crappy product from HP. Check out other complaints at: www.fixyourownprinter.com
49 Stops working after ink runs out!
I had the same experience as other reviewers, after the first ink cartridge runs out, it stops working.
50 This printer is garbage
Stopped working when first black ink cartridge ran dry. Did some research on web and found this to be common problem. Called HP but 90 day warrenty had just expired. BUYER BEWARE.
51 It's the pits!
I've had 3 Epson's and now 2 hp's. This 3820 is absolutely the worst! It is terribly slow. HP advertises it to print 12ppm in B&W plain ordinary letter type media... How about one page in 70 seconds -- that's 1 minute and 20 seconds! HP's tech support suggested that I get a better quality USB connecting cable.. This I did and it improved it somewhat... but way too slow!
Bad choice...
Gene Rhodes
Seattle, WA
52 lord
I think that HP deskjet 3820 wil good solution from all people, because it's quality photo printing.A think that 3820 has very good relation price-quality.
53 Works well when it works
I bought this printer in June of 2003, and have had to return it for a replacement three times! First time it lost communication with the black ink cartridge, second time, the replacement started printing crooked and it made a lot of noise. It also ate a page of labels which was a pain to clean out. The third printer I received wouldn't print the whole document. Just a portion would be printed and sometimes it would just eject a blank page. The instant support over the web was manned by people who spoke broken English, but they were prompt and polite (to be fair). I think that HP is having trouble producing commodity items of this sort. Buyer beware!
54 Good printer, good price
I got this printer as part of a bundle deal when i bought my hp 752n pavillion computer. I've had it for 2 years now, and I love it. To start with, a printer lasting 2 years and still having good quality is incredible. One thing that many people seem to like is the ease of use of teh computer. There are threebuttons on the computer. One cancells the print job, one ejects paper, and one is a power button. Anotehr cool thing that it does, is that if you open the top while the computer is on, an arrow will slide to one of 5 choices, which will tell you whats happeing with the printer. It will either go to the smiley face (everything is good), Two ink buttons (no more black and white ink/no more color), Or two trouble buttons (I dont know what that means, becuase that has never happened to me!!! This printer is that good
55 Another Economical, Quality Printer From HP
A number of factors convinced me to get this printer: 1) I'm an HP printer loyalist, and I wanted to upgrade my reliable HP 842C, which still works great!; 2) The 3820 had a couple of features I found useful (a print-cancel button and ink cartridge ink-level indicators); 3) The 3820 was rated a "Best Buy" by Consumer Reports, and 4) last, but not least, the price.
The printer installed VERY easily. (It practically installed itself. About the most work I had to do was connect the cables!) The print quality is great! (For those who are having print-quality problems, did you calibrate your printer via the Printer Assistant software?) Speaking of the Printer Assistant software, that is VERY useful and informative! OK, the unit IS on the noisy side when going into print mode, but then so was my 842C. All that noisiness just seems to go with the territory with HP printers.
All in all, if you're looking for a quality printer at a VERY economical price (and you don't mind a little noisiness), you can't go wrong with the 3820! (If it were a little quieter, I would have given it five stars.)
56 I'm glad with this printer
I got the HP 3820 some weeks ago and I'm satisfied with it, fast printing, a pretty good quality, well, if you're thinking to prints 70% photos and 30% text, this is not your printer, get a HP Photosmart. At this moment, I rate this item with 5 stars , but...
yeah, has a litte of crack sounds (but I don't think it is too important), wait about 20 seconds before start to print, not too much ink, but I'm think it is enough.
Finally, how I said, I'm glad with it to print documents with a good quality and somes photos.
I choosed this printer and not the other options that I have:Epson C62, and any Canon model... by these reasons: 4 STARS.
57 It prints
You have to wonder exactly how you can manufacture plastic so thin, brittle and [poorly made]....but HP has got it down. This is my 4th hp printer and you just have to shake your head as each one is [worse] than the last. Remember when printers were well made, had metal in them?...oh well. But it prints, it will last a couple of years....You have to wonder what it is doing when you hit the print button. It whirls, cracks, makes a few R2D2 sounds and just when you think it wont print something happens and the paper moves. Sort of like sweating at an ATM machine. The price is right, although last week it was [less] and I noticed they raised it. Oh and don't forget to move the paper tab to the left. Took me forever to figure out how to get the paper in the thing.
58 For the price it's a very nice printer
I am a college student and recieved this printer for Christmas. I have been satisfied with the quality of the prints, but even more so with the speed of the printing. Pages fly through this printer and come out looking pretty good. It generates less noise than some other printers I have seen. I have nothing but good things to say about the easy installation and flawless performance.
59 My Experience With The Hp Deskjet 3820
I could write a book from all of the crazy times i've had with this thing! I bought it in April of 2003 from K-Marts. It was quick and easy to hook it up and install the software on the computer. But little did I know that this printer practically had a mind of it's own! After clicking "print" the printer starts making all these weird noises for about 1-2 minutes before it actually starts printing, seriously! There have been times where it would print extremly slow and then suddenly stop in the middle of the page and never resume printing. This must have been the early signs of it's "possession". One day when I tried to print a typical document it went totally psycho on me! First it made the ordinary noises but for about 5 minutes this time. Then it made a loud buzzing type sound and all the lights started flashing. The paper tray was full as well as the cartridges so I couldn't figure out what was wrong. But suddenly it started printing all sorts of symbols and hyrogliphics and wouldn't stop! I tried pushing all the buttons on the printer but it just kept printing. And strangly, my computer was frozen. I became agitated because it was wasting my paper and ink so I had to pull the plug of the printer and re-boot my computer. Once it was loaded a window popped-up on the desktop. It said there was an error and paper-jam in the printer. I plugged the printer back in and and the lights flashed for a minute. Then suddenly it took in a piece of paper and made a scrunching noise! This printer had just jammed it's self for no reason and told me ahead of time it was doing so! I opened the cover of the printer and sure enough the piece of paper was mangled in the back. I began successfully removing the paper with my hands when suddenly the cartriges started moving. I moved my hands out of the way and they began printing onto nothing. I unplugged it again and removed the piece of mangled paper. I plugged it back in and it started printing my document beautifully as if noting was wrong with it. But I know this printer has some serious issues.
60 Prints okay, but it needs to be reinstalled often
This printer came with a friend's HP Pavilion with XP Home. He's had it for about 6 months and we've reinstalled it about 6 times!! When it works it prints okay, but for whatever reason it just disappears from the computer. I haven't tracked down a new driver, so I don't know what the problem is. I normally recommend HP printers, but so far I'm not impressed with this thing.
61 What a piece of ...!
This is the first and last HP product I will ever purchase. this printer produces the worst quality prints I have ever seen. Colors and hues vary from the top of the page to the bottom and trying to print decent photos has turned out to be a waste of ink (which is overpriced), and glossy photo paper.
If you're looking for a new printer, my advice is to buy ANYTHING but HP.
needles to say, the rating of "1" is because there are no negative ratings available. this printer should have gone straight from the production line into a nearby dumpster.
62 Whew, a savior after taking back the Lexmark!
I was thrilled to open this printer up, install the software with great ease, hook it up, and have it actually work like a printer is supposed to work. It saved me, I do alot of printing at home and originally bought a Lexmark X125 and it was a 2 week nightmare, even crashed my computer! Even though I have only been using it a week, it has performed flawlessly except when using postage sticker paper. Best to only put one sheet in at a time, the rollers have trouble separating the pages, other than that, it works just fine. I hope it lasts at least a year (I will be happy since it was pretty cheap). I will update my review if the machine crashes on me within 3 months. I do recommend this machine at this point.
63 I'll never buy another Hewlett Packard
I purchased this printer 4 months ago and it completely stopped working. Since this product has only a 90 day warranty I am left with a choice between trashing it or paying $70 to HP to fix it, although they don't even know what's wrong with it yet. I couldn't even call their phone support for free since it was past its warranty, so I spent about 4 hours online with a technician who couldn't help me. Customer service overall was terrible. Printers from other companies in the same price range have 1 year warranties (Canon, Lexmark), had I known HP had only 90 days I would have never bought this printer.
64 This printer works fine but drinks ink.
I purchased it yesterday for my office, and have printed a dozen checks and maybe a dozen other reports. The cartridges are about 2/3 full today. At this rate I will be replacing ink cartridges every week. What an absolute rip off! Now I know why the printer is inexpensive. Thay make their money off of the ink.
65 DO NOT PURCHASE
I bought this printer less than a month ago, and it recently STOPPED WORKING, and I am looking into returning the item. don't bother with HP products. go with Canon.
66 not as good as it claims
It is 12ppm for a blank page, but less than 3ppm for a page with text. It takes 20 to 50 seconds to print a pdf page or a tif page.
I used to have a HP laserjet 6L, which ran great for me. I took the advice of a BestBuy sales person that an inkjet print in the same quality as a laserjet. But they definitely do not match, even if they have the same dpi. You can see those tiny pixels in an inkjet printout.
The toner cost is also higher for an inkjet. 200 pages/$12 vs. 2500 pages/$60.
This printer shakes and creates a louder noise when it prints.
67 Terrific printer
I purchased this printer to keep in my dorm room (I'm currently a college student, in a relatively unfavorable dorm situation), and have overall been very, very pleased with it.
The dimensions of the printer are very friendly - it fits quite conveniently into many places, and the fold-up paper tray is a good idea. I've never had trouble with paper jams, sorting problems, or accidental multiple-sheet feeding that some run through jet printers often encounter.
The printer is very easy to install - plug & play on laptop running Windows XP Home Edition OS. No driver/IRQ conflicts, although be warned that it does not come with a connector cable, and you will have to purchase a USB/serial connector separately. The quality of the printing itself is great for the amount of money you're paying.
My only problems with this printer is that tt's extremely noisy (which is bad when you have to try and print for your 9:00 class while your roomie is still sleeping). ...I have had no problems with the physical integrity of the printer itself.
68 Mediocre
I made the mistake of buying this printer, and after fighting with jams, so-so print quality, and an indifferent customer service rep, I switched to a Canon S300. Now I have a nice printer.
69 Poor Quality
This printer is very cheaply made. After only a month, the snaps that keep the back door attached broke and since the rollers are attached to this piece, the printer could not print straight. I had to use duct tape to keep the thing together. It is poorly made and not worth the money. Don't waste your money on this printer.
70 Great Economy Printer
I work in IT. I recommend this printer for its price and for its quality. With 4800X1200 print resolution, the 3820 is able to print photo quality pictures at a text printer price. The ink cartridges are pretty big too (which is nice, because they are about $30 a piece). The newer HP printers use less ink than the older models. So long as your print isn't solid ink, it is pretty much dry coming off the rack. The paper tray folds in on itself, so when you are not using it, you can save some space.
Overall, this is a good little printer and well worth the money. It has good features and is relatively compact.
71 Paper jam everytime!!
I bought this printer a few weeks ago, and everytime I've used it, the paper either jams or comes out ripped in one corner!! I'm very frustrated with this printer and will probably take it back to the store I got it at.
72 Great Print Quality~some snags though
My second day with the printer. The display model in the store allowed you to print a test page, which looked awful, but I risked it and bought it anyway. Print quality is amazing! I've printed about 30 4 x 6's so far...one big snag though, no matter what I do, I can't get rid of large white borders around the 4 x 6's. This gives a polaroid look to them. Buy a printer that offers "borderless printing" instead.
73 Crisp Color Pictures
Hi! I've never used this printer, but anything that prints out brilliant color pictures is for me. An indcator that you need more ink is a special add-on feature.
It looks nice, it doesn't take up a lot of room and it prints faster than the one I have at home.
Without using it, if I had the [$] and some odd to pay for it I would. Sincerely yours, Julie
74 POOR QUALITY
I was not impressed with this new HP. They claim to have spent $2 Billion in development, well they did not spend it in QA or testing!. On my PC (ME OS) it would not print any picture larger than 100k and was very poor quality. ON-line support is a joke in that the goal is too blame someone else. Even tried dial-in service and after an hour a tech sent me a replacement. Disappointed in the new HP. Bought a Lexmark and have had no trouble and saved money too.
75 Great value for the price
I recently went to purchase a printer and was prepared to spend about ($$$) for a photo quality printer. Thank goodness an informed salesperson steered me toward this one. It does wonderful photographic prints on HP premium photo papers, but it also uses lots of ink which is expensive. However, similarly priced printers in other product lines use ink cartridges about one third the size of the 3820 yet the price is the same. So I suppose I shouldn't complain. I am very pleased with the quality of this inexpensive printer.
76 Newsletters are crisp and professional
I shopped online for days and finally visited a local retailer to break the tie. This is a great printer at a great price and it will do everything you want. With photo paper, output will be as crisp as the P1100 or the 1250. What I like is the option to go to 4800x1200 and use all sorts of media. My marketing materials look as professional as the ones I pay big bucks for. Of course this savings will now be offset by the cost of the ink, which I find to be a bit expensive.
77 Love It!
I recently bought this printer after much research. I purchased a laptop a month ago as I was having trouble with the old (5 year old)HP and my husband had misplaced the driver. I am using it with the old Compaq desktop with a parallel port and my new Toshiba laptop with the USB port. It was a little easier setting up with the laptop, but not a major problem with the desktop. It is much quieter than the old one and also faster. I am very pleased. This printer is not for anyone with a space problem. It is somewhat bulky, even though the paper tray folds up. I considered the 920 C but settled on this one as it is faster.
