The Photosmart C7180 sits near the top of HP's consumer all-in-one photo printer line (only the 3310 all-in-one is more expensive). For AU$599, you get a machine that prints, scans, copies, and surprisingly, faxes. It's also network ready and wireless enabled, and it features a PictBridge port, a media card reader, built-in Bluetooth functionality, and generous support options. So what's the drawback? Unfortunately, the Photosmart C7180 is relatively slow at all of its tasks, and its text and graphics print quality leave a lot to be desired. It performs its primary task of printing photos with aplomb, however. The Canon Pixma MP950 costs the same and boasts faster performance with all tasks but photo printing, and it has superior print quality. On the downside, you'll lose the fax and networking features with the Canon, but you can easily network a USB printer through a router. If you require both office-oriented functions and great photos, consider getting a mono laser all-in-one, such as the Dell 1815dn and supplementing it with a stand-alone photo printer. You'll likely pay more, but you'll have the best of both worlds.
Design
The HP Photosmart C7180 is a big machine, and it requires a big chunk of desktop real estate. It measures 216mm wide, 465mm deep, and 392mm tall, and it weighs a hefty 11.8 kilograms. The scanner can accommodate up to A4-size originals. The printer lacks an automatic document feeder, more commonly found on office-oriented machines, so you won't be able to scan legal-size documents, nor can you perform batch copies or scans. The scanner lid detaches entirely so that you can scan or copy very thick originals. On the underside of the scanner lid, there's an attachment that holds slides and negatives for scanning. The padded platen protector detaches from the scanner lid to allow for slide and negative scanning.
On the front of the printer live four media card slots and a USB PictBridge port, which allow for PC-free printing. The media card slots accept most of the major card types -- such as CompactFlash (Types I and II), Secure Digital, MultiMediaCard, and Secure MultiMedia Card -- though you'll need an adaptor (not included) for a few cards. The Photosmart C7180 also has built-in Bluetooth, so you can print wirelessly from a Bluetooth-enabled PDA, phone, or camera. (Most printers allow you to plug in only a Bluetooth adaptor to the PictBridge port.)
The Photosmart C7180 has a three-in-one paper-handling system. The very bottom of the paper cartridge is the paper input tray, which can hold up to 100 sheets of plain paper. Adjustable paper guides help you keep different sizes of paper in order, and the guides extend to hold legal-size paper. Sitting atop the regular paper tray is a dedicated 4x6-photo paper tray, which can hold up to 20 sheets. Finally, the top of the cassette serves as the output tray, and an extension flap helps corral longer prints. Both input trays pull out partially for filling, and the output tray flips up to allow easier access to the input trays. We wish the printer had a second input option in the rear so that you could keep plain paper in the cassette, even while you were printing on specialty papers.
The printer's control panel is front mounted on a shelf that swivels through about 45 degrees, starting from a complete vertical (flush with the front side of the printer). Situated in the centre of the panel is a gorgeous, 3.6-inch colour LCD. On the left is an alphanumeric keypad; menu-launch buttons for copy, scan, and fax; and start buttons for each task. To the right of the LCD are menu-navigation buttons, including a back button, and zoom buttons for viewing an individual photo vs. an index view. Additional photo-centric buttons allow you turn photo fix on and off, make reprints, e-mail photos from a media card, and initiate film/slide scans.
Accessing the ink tanks on the Photosmart C7180 couldn't be easier. Simply lift the scanner portion of the printer, and you'll find six front-mounted tanks. In most printers, the tanks are directly attached to the print head, meaning the printer must be powered on to access them. Not so with the C7180. The C7180 employs a six-ink system: black, yellow, light cyan, cyan, light magenta, and magenta. Each tank has its own labelled spot so that you know where they go.
Setting up the Photosmart C7180 is an exercise in patience. The process is simple enough -- just insert the CD to install drivers and software -- but it takes a long time, requiring nearly 20 minutes to install on our machine. The printer supports both Mac and Windows operating systems and is networkable, so everyone on your network can share. Even better, it has built-in 802.11g wireless capability, a rarity for non-office-oriented printers. The set-up menu makes it easy to find available networks and to enter a password if the network you want to access is secured.
Features
One of the surprising features of the HP Photosmart C7180 is the inclusion of fax capability, which is normally reserved for office-oriented printers. The included user guide helps you set up the fax according to your equipment type -- DSL, regular phone line, and so forth -- and the way you want to handle incoming faxes with regard to answering machines and the like. Using the fax menu, you can change the resolution of your faxes, send a broadcast fax to multiple numbers, and set up a delayed fax. One feature we didn't see was the ability to hold and print incoming faxes at a later time, though this feature is more common on office-oriented all-in-ones.
The scan menu shows all the features we'd expect to see on an all-in-one in this price range. When scanning photos, you can scan to print or to storage, either to the PC or a media card. When scanning to a media card, you can save the file only as a JPEG. When scanning photos or documents to your computer, you can save it as a file; scan it to a number of different programs, including Word, PowerPoint, and Paint; or scan it into a viewer, such as HP's own Document Viewer or Photosmart Express (for manipulating photos). One feature we didn't find on the C7180 that we like is the ability to automatically scan the document into a number of formats, including JPEG, TIFF, or PDF. (The Pixma MP950 has this ability.) Aside from documents and photos, you can scan up to four slides or six negatives at once. The included negative scanner attachment makes it easy to know how to line up the negatives and slides correctly.
The copy features are typical and straightforward. You can make up to 50 copies at once, either by keying in the numbers directly on the keypad or by using the direction keys. You can also adjust the copy quality, reduce or enlarge, optimise for the type of original, and designate paper type and size.
Befitting the name, the Photosmart C7180 offers the most options when dealing with photos. As mentioned before, you can print directly from a PictBridge camera or memory cards, bypassing the PC. When previewing images on a memory card, you have the option of scrolling through them individually or zooming out to see a photo index view. You can scroll through the photos on the preview LCD and click OK for the ones you want to print; you can indicate how many prints you want of each image. When you're done selecting, you can select the size and the type of paper and verify your selections before printing. What this printer is missing is a feature like Canon's photo index print, which allows you to print an index of all the images on a card, bubble in the prints you want, make adjustments such as red-eye reduction, and choose the type and size of the paper. When you're through, you simply scan the index and the printer takes care of the rest. This is a much faster and less painful way to deal with memory cards that hold a lot of photos. That said, with a touch of a button on the C7180, you can attach photos to e-mail, make reprints, and enhance photos (red-eye reduction and enhanced lighting), so it's not without its charms.
Performance
The HP Photosmart C7180 is a photo-centric printer so we didn't expect fast text print speeds -- it printed text at 5.28 pages per minute. For comparison, the comparably priced photo-centric Canon MP950 and Canon MP800R printed text pages at 8.86ppm and 7.97ppm, respectively. Unfortunately, we were disappointed by its photo and scan speeds, too. The HP printed 4x6 photos at 0.89ppm, whereas the Canon MP800R printed photos at 1.84ppm (the MP950 was even slower than the HP). The HP C7180 was the slowest of the three at scanning: 3.94ppm for black-and-white scans and 3.97ppm for colour scans.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Colour scan speed | |
Greyscale scan speed | |
Photo speed | |
Text speed |
In terms of print quality, the Photosmart C7180 excelled at photo prints and did a nice job with scans, but its text and graphics prints left a lot to be desired. The text had a generally fuzzy quality to it, and the edges of the characters were very jagged, even to the naked eye. Also, the text never looked truly black, more like a very dark grey. The colour graphics prints suffered a similar sort of washed-out quality: none of the colours were saturated, and colour blocks revealed noticeable graininess. At least the gradients were mostly smooth. On the flip side, the 4x6 photo print looked great: details were sharp, colours were bright and vibrant, and skin tones looked true. The colour scan was also impressive, with true reproduction of colours and sharp details. The greyscale scan wasn't quite as good, but we still liked it for its sharpness. The only problem we noticed was a bit of compression in the dark end of the greyscale, which resulted in lost details in shadows.
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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Colour scan | |
Greyscale scan | |
Photo | |
Graphics on inkjet paper | |
Text on inkjet paper |
Note: Products in this test are for comparative purposes only and are not necessarily available in the Australian market.
Service and support
HP backs the Photosmart C7180 with a standard one-year warranty. The company's Web site has downloadable drivers, software, and manuals; e-mail tech support; online chat with tech support; FAQs; and a troubleshooting guide.
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darosbep
21/03/2008, 07:38 PM
rating
7/10
Overall great featured all in one
Pros: Good with XP and has stand alone functions
Cons: envelope printing ok once you get used to positioning it but dissapointing HP C7180 software not reliable yet for Vista which currently means falling back to MS Fax & Scan program
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angel
16/03/2008, 03:15 PM
rating
2/10
Its a bit of a fraud....it says it is for Windows XP and 2000, Vista and Macintosh systems but in reality it favours Vista. I have tried to connect it to my Computer and I have been trying for a whole week. I feel like going back to the store and getting my money back!
Pros: Not used it yet but bought it as i have hundred of black and white negatives which at our local shop are going to cost me 75 cents Australian each
Cons: To difficult to set up
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u124040
01/02/2008, 07:25 AM
rating
9/10
I bought this for the LAN connection. Any computer in the home can now print wirlessly to the wireless router that then sends the print job to the printer via my home LAN.
And it scanns and faxes well too.
No cables to laptops...hooray.
Who cares about the speed.
Pros: Better than Canon
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trueee
24/01/2008, 04:03 PM
rating
4/10
I feel very let down this all in one is one big rip off when it comes to ink cartrdges price and the amount you receive is 6ml or even less for the colour cartridges and does'nt allow you to print in black only so you run out of ink in acolour and your machine will not allow you to print in black only until you replace that "colour cartridge" very limiting and very disapointing fom someone that only purchased HP products for computer and business use will not be looking at another hp product in the same way again or purchasing one of their products WE as consumer should start weeding out scrooge companies when it comes to controling the usage of aproduct for only financial gain as I seethis is the only benefit to HP not the consumer
Pros: good unit for use until I found the cost and control limiting
Cons: need not say any more
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William
23/12/2007, 01:35 AM
rating
9/10
I am so impressed with this equipment. Well done HP - you have made a great contribution to the home user . My rating reflects the value for money.
Pros: The consumable costs are not bad at all and the cost of this all-in-one was a steal at $179 (after cashback). I can get rid of my fax machine/copier, old printer and my scanner and replace with one device eliminating extra power cables and saving space. The display window is great to work through. I took advantage of the wireless option - one less lan cable and the location of this printer is only dependent on a power source. Ours is very new but so far we are amazed at the quality and ease of use.The software that accompanies it is fantastic.
Cons: Bit cumbersome to setup . I hear these are entering end-of-sale so I wonder how that affects support and parts if required in the not too distant future.
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7180 fan
21/12/2007, 01:19 PM
rating
9/10
I picked this Multi-function up for $179 after $100 cash back. For that price this is a very choice piece of equipment. Contrary to what the review says, you CAN scan in different formats (tiff etc), you just need to select this through the software settings on your computer.
Pros: Easy to set up and packed with features.
Cons: None so far.
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harry66
24/11/2007, 03:09 AM
rating
9/10
Superb All-in-one device - much better than my previous Canon MPC600F - a doddle to get going!
Fed up with having to turn my PC on each time my daughter wanted to print in colour onto my Canon I decided to get a Networked printer. I just needed an ethernet port but the WiFi is a bonus in case I run out of ports on my router!
This HP just oozes quality. The driver + software was slow to install but worked perfectly on my two laptops and two desktops - detecting the ethernet connect printer without any problems.
I really dont undertand why so many magazines / websites keep pushing the quality of Canon printers. I cant see any difference and I would gladly sacrifice some print quality in return for the superior support HP compared to Canon. I have been so unhappy with Canon over the past few years -firstly they took ages to release a XP SP2 driver for my Canon Printer and now they refuse to release a Vista driver. Just as well I dont like Vista otherwise I would be extremely cheesed off!
Pros: Ease of setup, network detection, menus on the device, print quality
Cons: A bit slow to install software
Wished it had a Auto doc feeder - but can live without that!
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Handy Sandy
23/09/2007, 11:50 AM
rating
8/10
Most comments were, on the whole, better than most. Bought it yesterday for $299.99 plus tax at Best Buy on a price match.
Pros: So far, in trying each function but Fax, it has worked beyond expectation. I tried COSTCO 4x6 photo paper and the results were better than most I have seen from any printer. Text printing and scans were "Tops"
So far. at the price, it cannot be beat. Try it !!
Cons: Long set-up time and limited to 4x6 paper in the second photo tray.
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TIGER
08/07/2007, 07:15 PM
rating
10/10
VERY VERY IMPRESSED IN GENERAL...
Pros: EXCELLENT PRINTING,COPYING & PHOTOS ARE GREAT !!!
Cons: NONE THUS FAR...
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sewsoau
06/07/2007, 03:15 PM
rating
9/10
I think I would say I am an average user looking for a good result without too much fuss. Read and re-read reviews. Could have brought Canon but too big, could have bought Epson but no fax. C7180 had everything and fitted the limited space I had.
Pros: Excellent photos. Performs all tasks well. Lots of settings to choose to from to economise on ink and quality. Excellent control panel with beautiful screen and very intuitive. Quality look and feel.
Cons: Can misfeed paper occasionally and creases the backs of envelopes just slightly (maybe because of the front feed). Pros outweigh this little annoyance
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