HP PSC 2410 Continues Some of the Lines Weaknesses but is Decent Overall
Written: Nov 27 '03
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Pros: Price, LCD, Fax Capabilities, Average to Above Average Photo Printing.
Cons: Color Vibrancy is a little duller than competition.
The Bottom Line: At the $200-250 price range, this is a good deal overall with a few flaws. It should be fine for the regular consumer but watch out for ink costs.
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| yusakugo's Full Review: Hewlett Packard PhotoSmart PSC2410 Thermal Inkjet ... |
I'm always a sucker for newer models of stuff I own (my long history of frequently updating my Palm PDAs and printers every few months)... the PSC 2410 is no exception. A model that does everything my older PSC 2210 model does and with a full color LCD as well. All for the same price as my old 2210 unit! I'm in!
Price? A Steal for Me!
It retails at $299 in Staples, OfficeMax, OfficeDepot, etc... I paid $219 after an Officemax coupon of $50 off $250, a $40 OfficeMax Gift Certificate with free shipping but I add sales tax. I also had a 2% rebate through ebates.com and will get another $40 OfficeMax Gift Check and a $50 mail-in rebate from HP (with a new notebook/laptop purchase). Please read my epinions article The Art of Buying... Getting your money's worth! for tips on saving additional money via internet shopping for electronics.
By the way, if you're reading this on Thankgiving 2003, CostCo is selling the unit for 219 during the Black Friday weekend! This is with a $50 coupon given at CostCo. The $50 mail-in rebate with a purchase of a digital camera over $250 or a computer also applies on top of this!
The Short Take
Overall, the PSC 2410 doesn't provide any real surprises among the 2xxx PSC lineup. The 2410 does continue a few weaknesses from the line. It is an overall reliable machine that is an above average computer printer, fax machine, copier, and scanner, but it doesn’t excel in the photo printing department like other high end models from Epson and Canon models (the Canon S900 in my collection is an almost completely dedicated photo inkjet printer). Regardless, the majority of people would find the 2410 photo output more than acceptable especially on High and Professional Quality Photo papers. Text printing remains above average just like many of HP's inkjet models, and it is a quality scanner although I'm still not particular fond of the Director software used to access the scanner features. I felt that many adjustments had to be made after the scan with the default settings.
With the advantages of the 2410, there still are several limitations as well. Since the unit has similar dimensions to previous 2xxx models, you cannot scan or copy originals greater than 8.5x11 in size. You also lack the ability to add an automatic document feeder. Also, when scanning or copying, the 2410 (A limitation that has existed since the first PSC 2xxx model) will miss about a 1/4 inch border of the page around the whole page! The PSC 2410 consumes ink at a high clip... so you should be aware of this particular expense. By the way, I haven't found any reliable remanufactured third party ink cartridges as of yet for this particular printer engine.
Pros:
1) MRSP of $299
2) Flatbed scanner capable of 1200x2400 dpi scans at 48-bit color
3) Decent size for a multifunction device
4) 1200x1200 dpi printing (1200x4800 dpi max on photo paper)
5) Direct printing from flash memory
6) Accepts Compact Flash Type I and II, SmartMedia, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Secure Digital/MultiMedia Card, and x-D memory card slots on front lower right corner of machine.
7) Uses the standard no. 56, 57, and 58 ink cartridges from HP.
8) USB only connection.
9) Direct copier functions with features such as enlarge/shrink functions
10) B&W and color fax capabilities
11) LCD for previewing images
Cons:
1) Ink expenses very high
2) Poor multi-page scanning capabilities
3) Selection of images through a proof sheet for printing on 2410 wastes alot of precious ink but the picture preview quality is better than viewing through the LCD.
4) Tendency to pick up multiple sheets of photo paper when printing. Poor handling of thick paper types.
5) No reliable cheap third-party alternative to HP inks. Refilling cartridges also unreliable.
6) Originals for scans and copies are limited to 8.5 x 11
7) Odd problem of missing scanning/copying 1/4 inch border around the edge of page.
8) You need to buy the USB cable!
The Nuts and Bolts of the 2410.
The PSC 2410 is 19 x 15.4 x 9.3 in weighing about 18.36 lbs... okay, not exactly the same exact size as older 2xxx models but rather close. The 2410 shares a similar dusky blue. As with the other PSC 2xxx models, it only accepts a USB connection. The PSC has a flatbed scanner with the controls to the right of the scanner plate. The panel has a different look from the prior PSC 2xxx models. The cover to the scanner plate can be removed to copy large books and the such.
The control panel looks cleaner and sleeker than previous PSC 2xxx models although the buttons are a bit smaller.
Copying
The Copier functions are above average overall. Note that like all the HP printer models using the 56, 57, and 58 ink cartridges, the color reproduction tends to go more towards a red-yellow hue and color vibrancy is a bit duller than prints from competitor’s printers. Details are kept quite intact in the samples I printed… from text to color photos. Regardless, you are limited to a letter sized originals no matter what you do. You can choose from three print settings which change the print quality but also modify the print speed for the copies. The three modes are Draft, Normal, and Best... does that sound familiar? Best gives you the best quality but the slowest print speed while draft gives you lightning fast copies with noticably poorer print quality. There are also options to lighten, darken, text enhance, and color enhance as well as special copy functions like copying a photo, fit a copy to the page (auto enlarge/reduce), multiple copies to a page, and make a poster. So basically, you have most of the basic and several advanced features found in a regular analog and digital dedicated copy machines. Note that the LCD does not show you a preview of what you are coping but shows a dopey image of the PSC 2410.
As with most inkjet based copiers, if you need to make many copies especially if you stick to B&W copies, you are better off getting a dedicated copier machine which will be much cheaper in the long run! The enlarge/reduce function set between 75 to 200% yielded good results but anything less than 75% were fuzzy (especially if the original text/graphic/photos were small to begin with). If you compare the reduce mode of the 2410 versus and analog copier like the Canon 750 model, you will notice a much higher quality in the copies from the analog copier for text at least. A digital copy machine showed an even more startling difference over the 2410. Note that depending of the version of the 2410 you purchased, the reducing function has different limits (2410xi has a maximum limit of 99 copies and a reduce/enlarge limits of 50-400%, the 2410v has a maximum limit of 50 copies per original and a reduce/enlarge of 25-400%, the 2410 has 50 copy limit and reduce/enlarge of 25-400%). This and the high ink consumption in Normal and Best modes were the only major weaknesses of the PSC 2410 as a copier (although there are the minor problems listed above).
Scanner
No real changes here from prior models. The scanner quality is decent to exceptional. The PSC 2410 is quite capable of scanning photos with good accuracy and color reproduction. However, I still personally don't like the Director software that HP uses to control their PSC models. With the default settings, it seemed to be more of a hinderance than a help when accessing the scanner functions. If you can bypass the Director software, do so. Try to have your graphics program access the scanner directly if possible. Remember, only letter sized originals for scanning and the maximum optical resolution is 1200x2400 dpi at 48-bit color and 19200 dpi enhanced. Overall, it remains an average to above average scanner for everyday use.
Photo Card Access and Printing
It's nice to have all the slots for the various flash card memory formats (Surprise! This unit does accept the new XD-picture cards or the Memory Stick Pro). The 2410 is a decent photo printer with the black cartridge and above average if you swap out the black cartridge for the tri-color photo cartridge!
There are two ways of getting the photo you want on the card to print out. One is going through a preview of each image on the LCD, which is nice but still doesn’t give you an accurate idea of what the image looks when printed (there is only so much you can get from such a small LCD!). The other method is the tried and true photo proof sheet used in the other PSC 2xxx models. This can easily be a huge waste of ink but it gives you a better idea of what the print looks like than the LCD. The 2410 uses the same methods of accessing the flash cards as the 2210 and 2175 models. If you know the number of the photo (i.e. you know that you wanted to print the fourth, ninth, and fifteenth photos on your memory card out of the seventy pictures on it), you could tell the 2410 to print those photos only and see the preview in the LCD. Otherwise, if you want to see and select from several pictures, you are going to be printing a proof sheet. The proof sheet prints 20 thumbnail sized photos with the photo options below them. With a black pen you fill in the dots of the photos you want, their size, and what other additional options are listed. You then rescan the proof sheet and the 2410 will spit out the photos you indicated. At least the method is simple although it kills precious amounts of ink!
The PSC 2410 can read only one flash card at a time and it allows you to save the photos to your PC (if you connected your PC through the USB port) or to print the photos as I listed above.
You better keep some spare ink around. Admittedly, the proof sheet is a nice and convenient system... but it wastes the equivalent of 1 to 2 pages of ink that you can use to print your photos. The LCD gives you a nice preview but you’ll waste ink if you print the image and the image quality isn’t very nice.
Transferring photos from the 2410 to your computer is still a slow process. I would recommend getting a dedicated card reader instead for transferring photos from your flash cards to your computer.
Like the 2210 and 2175, you CANNOT make any major or fine adjustments (sharpening of the photo, color adjustments) to the photos prior to printing. That need to be done on the computer first.
Print quality? Overall, the quality of the photos are quite good although being able to adjust finer features of the photos directly on the PSC 2410 prior to printing would be desired. However if you compare the prints to some Canon and Epson photo level printers, the color vibrancy is a little duller than Canon and Epson.
Printer for your computer
As a straight printer, the PSC 2410 is on par with the DeskJet 5550 and the other PSC 2xxx models. There is a little fuzziness on text printing in fast/draft modes but normal and best/presentation mode looks quite good overall and is more than acceptable for presentations and reports. The 2410 seems to favor a brighter color scheme in prints... with hues showing a little more yellow tinge and at times a slight red tinge. As a printer, it is quite speedy with about 6 ppm in black printing and 4 ppm in color in normal mode. I know that HP claims a speed of up to 21PPM in black and 17 in color. That only applies in draft mode and under the most pristine conditions! Normal mode is your more realistic print choice for reports and letters (HP rates printing in normal mode to have speeds of 7.7ppm B&W and 5.1ppm color).
Draft mode is more for your personal scrap work. There are three modes to the printer side... best, normal, and draft. Best is the highest quality but lowest speed while draft is the fastest printing with lowest quality. Most people will likely stick to normal quality.
Note printing photos is still a slow process... since this will be set to best/presentation mode for printing! An 8.5x11 bordered print (effectively 8x10 photo) will take 4-5 minutes to print! Print quality will be very good and only the most discriminating will complain about the slight yellow hue to the flesh tones. Blues may be a little brighter than some desire as well. Note that if you switch the No. 56 black cartridge to the No. 58 tri-color photo cartridge, the yellow hue is lessened and the blues are more saturated (and to me more pleasing!). Printing photo on draft or everyday mode is not a good idea! It will print much quicker but the quality leaves alot to be desired. At worse, leave the printer on normal mode when you print photos. If you plan on keeping the photos and showing them to friends, presentation mode is the only way to go!
Overall, in normal and best modes, text print quality was good. There is slight fuzziness in draft mode but acceptable. Graphics were clean although there was banding apparent in draft mode and once in a while on normal print quality. I talked about photo quality already.
Fax
The 2410 does a great job of handling fax reception and retained up to 40 pages in the memory from my use when the paper tray was empty (HP claimed up to 50 depending on the model of the 2410 but I rather not try to hit the limit). The PSC 2410 printed crisp clear copies of all received black and white and color faxes. The 2410 sends clear and readable faxes as well. The LCD only helps with menu choices.
The only major weakness was multi-page faxing. Without an automatic sheet feeder, this task can be extremely annoying especially if you fax multiple documents in a day. The fact is that you are "babysitting" your fax machine everytime you sent a fax 2 or more pages long. For B&W faxing, you select the fax button, place the first page on the scanner, type in the fax number, and press the start black button. Now, after the machine scans the first page, it asks whether you want to scan another page. Press 1 if you need to scan another page or 2 to stop. Once you scan all the pages you need to fax and press 2 on the scan another page prompt, the PSC 2410 will send the B&W fax. If you send complicated B&W faxes, the PSC will begin sending the fax prior to scanning all the pages you wanted to send.
On sending multi-page color faxes, the PSC 2410 sends them as you scan the next page... so you should be quite organized when sending your faxes. If you take too much time placing the next page into the scanner, the PSC 2410 will end a few seconds after sending the last page in the memory.
If you need to send multipage faxes on a regular basis, think about the OfficeJet 5510 or the 6110 models from HP instead.
On a nice note, if you have an answering machine hooked up to your phone line, the PSC 2410 will still pick up faxes even if the answering machine picks up the line first. However, your answer machine may record the beep and other loud and horrible noises that pop up during the fax transmission/reception... so watch your ears when you play back your answering machine messages.
Ink Consumption
Note that the 2410 accepts two ink cartridges. One cartridge slot uses the No. 57 tri-color ink cartridge and the other slot uses the No. 56 black or the No. 58 tri-color photo cartridge. So you can’t use the No. 59 grayscale cartridge in the unit.
Overall, the 2410 is as ink hungry as the rest of the line especially if you print many photos and use the proof sheet system to do it. The PSC 2410 netted me about 80 pages of 2 5x7 prints per page before one color on any of the cartridges ran out (using a six ink color system). If I used proof sheets, this number decreases significantly. Compare this to the numbers HP gives for number of prints you can obtain from the cartridges. You rarely if ever get close to them. I would say 300 pages of black text (1 1/2 spacing) from the top to the bottom of the page is the average for the No. 56 cartridge.
If you're planning to look for third party ink cartridges, you're in for a shock. There isn't any. The best I could find was remanufactured cartridges (a company would refill a used cartridge) and these are still pricy. Some ink stores sold packages where you send your empty ink cartridge to a refill company that at best would half the price from buying a brand new cartridge. I would also be careful of remanufactured cartridges since HP's inkjet printers use cartridges that combine the ink cartridge and the printhead. If you buy HP's branded cartridges, you are always using a brand new printhead which ensures that you get high quality prints. HP does not make those printhead for extended printing use.
A remanufactured cartridge doesn't give you an idea of how many times the cartridge has been refilled so you take a chance with print quality. However, there are reputable third party ink companies that maintain a standard for what would be acceptable to use in a remanufactured cartridge. Personally, I have never refilled a cartridge more than three times. These days I use only OEM cartridges.
The best way to buy HP branded ink cartridges would be to buy in blister packs of two or three at a time. If you purchase online, use the methods I describe in my epinions article The Art of Buying... Getting your money's worth! to find coupons and utilize ebates to lower the cost of your ink cartridges!
Paper Feeding
The 2410 still has a few problems that existed with the older 2xxx PSC models with thicker and heavy paper types, especially some photo papers. Although misfeeds were less frequent than with my 2210. The printer had the occassional tendency to pick up an extra sheet of photo/thick/heavy paper while printing... especially when I placed it on top of plain copy paper. It seemed that the problem was less evident on HP's own paper but it still occurred. It's annoying and also wasteful of expensive photo paper and heavier stock paper so please be wary of this problem.
Parting Thoughts
The PSC 2410 is an overall decent all-in-one machine that still doesn't excel in any one area and retains some of the weaknesses of its predecessors. For light to moderate copier use, the machine is fine. The additional of the color LCD helps with ink consumption especially since you don’t need to print proof sheets on the 2410. It is an excellent text printer and good fax machine although with weaknesses in multipage faxing capabilities. It makes a decent to above average photo printer as long as you use the No. 58 tri-color photo cartridge when printing (when compared to the competition). As a straight printer, it performs an admirable job although I still prefer the 5550 and 7960 color accuracy over the 2410. However color vibrancy is better from competitors’ printers.
These days multifunction printers have gotten to the point that they can easily perform the job of what used to be seperate components. Unless you have a need for professional level photo printing or scanning, the multifunction printers do a great job overall!
I have written several reviews on multifunction/All-in-one printers that can be accessed through my profile page.
I am still trying to get my hands on one of Canon's high end multifunction machines based off the S900/950 print engine.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 219
Operating System: Windows
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yusakugo
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Member: Rich Go
Location: Somewhere in the NorthEast
Reviews written: 399
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Losing Sleep and Lacking Time... sigh...
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