Hewlett Packard PhotoSmart 1215vm InkJet Printer

Pros: Beautiful Photo Prints!
Cons: None

This printer is made for the digital camera owner in mind with slots on the side to place in your SmartMedia, CompactFlash or Microdrive memory cards from your camera. The HP 1215 will print photos directly from your cards without the need of a computer....

Pros: great 8x10 photos, slots for Smart Media/Compact Flash, 4x6 and 8.5x11 trays, quiet, FAST.
Cons: Not expensive if you remember you can add a 2nd head for 2 sided printing.

11 July 2001, 2145 hrs EDT

I bought my HP 1215 PhotoSmart printer in January of 2001 at Best Buy for about $400. I know you can get a less expensive model HP printer, but this one has an expansion slot on the back that allows the user to...

Pros: Print Quality, Flexibility, Speed
Cons: Initial Price, Potential Ink Waster

We purchased the Photosmart after reading many reviews about other printers on several sites. It seemed that the highest rated ones one one site were panned on other sites so it was a tough choice. We finally agreed that the Photosmart looked like the...

Pros: Brilliant output on any paper. Fast, easy to use, convenient, Don't need a computer to print.
Cons: Expensive, auto sensor sometimes not reliable

I was looking for a printer that would give me speed, film quality output, and ease of use and boy did I find it! I won't bother going into the specs of the printer because you can get all that stuff from the HP web site. What I can give you is my...

Pros: Awesome quality printing
Cons: None

Hewlett Packard has done a lot of stuff that has just blown my mind, but this printer has just got me amazed. The HP photosmart 1215 does just about all you can ask of a printer.

This printer comes with an infrared beam. That means you can...

Pros: Built-in media readers! Impressive print quality. And SO quiet!
Cons: Expensive, print quality LESS impressive compared to Canon/Epson. Very problematic drivers.

For me, the HP Photosmart 1215 was something of an impulse buy. I saw an open box at Circuit City for $100 off the usual price and figured it was worth a shot. Indeed, my first impression was that the Photosmart 1215's print quality is quite remarkable...

Pros: Fast. Photo quality. Looks cool, too.
Cons: On the high-end of price for a home printer.

I finally gave up on my old HP 694C (what a mistake that was!), and replaced it with the hot, new HP Photosmart 1215. This printer seems to be about 5 times faster than my old printer (on text and graphics), and it prints at photo quality on good paper....

Pros: Picture Quality, speed of printing, card slots for compact flash and smart media cards.
Cons: none

I recently purchased the P1215, and I am completely happy with my choice. I have had an HP for about 5 years and was thinking of trying something different. So I researched printers for a few weeks before I decided on this one.

From what...

Pros: Beautiful, fast, quiet prints, Card Media
Cons: Water based inks?

I loved this printer. I mean, my wife was jealous. I recently baught a Fuji digital camera, and I got this printer when I saw it could take the SmartMedia and CompactFlash memory cards.

What really made me buy it though, was that I was...

Pros: Fast. Photo quality. Looks cool, too.
Cons: On the high-end of price for a home printer.

I finally gave up on my old HP 694C (what a mistake that
was!), and replaced it with the hot, new HP Photosmart
1215. This printer seems to be about 5 times faster than my
old printer (on text and graphics), and it prints at photo
...

Pros: Very user-friendly; excellent print quality.
Cons: Toll customer service; compatibility issues.

Well, I haven't written an Epinion in a while, but my most recent printer purchase qualifies, I think, for some commentary.

I bought the 1215 because I was looking for a replacement for my 722C that had bit the dust. My wife and I have a...

Pros: produces photos and business graphics
Cons: less quality compared to others

This HP has everything for photographers. First of all it prints at 2,400 by 1,200 dpi. It produces wonderful tonal qualities. You can print directly from your CompactFlash and SmartMedia cards. There are slots for the cards as well as buttons to...

Pros: Top quality prints for both normal and photo uses.Quite,fast and very sexy...
Cons: Driver installation can be a little tricky.Follow instructions to the letter!

This printer is a real quality bit of kit! The print quality
is excellent in all respects. Even if you rarely print photos you will not fail to be impressed with the quality of text and graphical output.
For daily home and office use it boasts...

Pros: Fast, quiet, and very reliable.
Cons: Expensive

I have been using printers for various reasons going on 15 years. Of course back then it was a daisy wheel printer. I can say with all confidence that I have never seen a quality of print like this. The standard print on plain paper is fast and sharp....

Pros: OUTSTANDING fast true color prints
Cons: costly customer support

Here I go again! I am back and can tell you without hesitation, if you have a digital camera you NEED this printer. You shove in your media card, select the photos, edit them, determine the size you want and print. OUTSTANDING color on plain copy paper...

Pros: convenience
Cons: Paper feed, four color CMYK system, will not read smart media files above 2Mb

HP makes a fabulous product for office use, but as a photo printer, someone needs to put glasses on the techs who build this unit.
First off the smart media reader is only beneficial for those folks living out of a motor home with no computer,...

Pros: Produces beautiful photo quality prints.
Cons: Ink replacement can be a bit expensive.

After buying a new digital camera I realized that I needed a photo quality printer. I originally set out to buy the Kodak model printer. But they only had the display model left. I bought this one instead and boy am I glad that I did! The print...

Pros: Great prints for the beginner digital photographer
Cons: Never really use the flash card readers

I purchased the hp photosmart 1215 when I wanted to print some high quality brochures and photos. I was happy with a previous hp printer that I had and wanted to go back with hp. At the time this was the best quality printer hp offered at a reasonable...

Pros: Very easy to use, prints great
Cons: Haven't seen any cons

I have had my printer for several months now and it has performed flawlessly. I do not print a lot, but, of the things I have printed, they are of excellent quality. We recently printed an iron on transfer for my mother. It was a picture of all her ...

Pros: All around versatile printer and smart media card input.
Cons: Speed is not what they say and the paper jams.

I purchased this photosmart 1215 printer a year ago mainly
for the features that included popping in your smart media
or compact flash card right into the printer. Thats the
easy part, but the one drawback I hate is the the paper
tray...

Pros: Great color print quality. Can print directly from digital camera flash cards.
Cons: Software could be better.

I upgraded from a HP 690C inkjet and went directly to the Consumers Reports September 2001 issue (pp.26-29) to get more info. Read this article first before deciding what to buy.
I found the HP 1215vm heavily discounted at Sam's Club here in...

Pros: Easy set-up and quick printing.
Cons: Difficulty in recognizing my Olympus digital camera for a direct download.

This is my first "photo" quality printer. I have been using both Epson and HP high end inkjets for some time, and have favored the Epson up until now. I am very pleased with the print quality on both glossy photo grade AS WELL AS PLAIN injet paper. I...

Pros: Downloads from memory card, great color and resolution
Cons: a little problem printing from quark

I started doing graphic design freelance when I stayed home with my first child. I needed a good color printer and wanted a laser, but didn't want to spend the money. I couldn't believe the quality of the photos that this printer made!! I can print all...

Pros: Good quality.
Cons: Slow, even on normal print jobs.

My mother new I was having trouble with my printer, so she bought me this one for a Christmas gift. Wow! Thanks mom.

So far, I've been happy with my printer. It prints really well, even on cheap copy paper. Even draft quality prints look good...

Pros: Easy to set up, sharp pictures
Cons: Slow printing on higher-quality settings, expensive ink

The HP PhotoSmart P1215 photo printer is a great buy. It directly CompactFlash and SmartMedia cards and prints wirelessly from infrared devices. No PC is required, but it is PC and Mac compatible. With 2,400 x 1,200 dpi resolution and HP's enhanced...

Pros: All around quality printer.
Cons: Expensive purchase price, and ink cartridges.

Image quality on this printer is top of the line. Fast text printing. Easy to use software. A little issue with drivers foe Windows XP when I purchased it, but easily resolved from the download section of HP's site. Ink cartridges cost you an appendage.

Pros: good photos
Cons: poor feeder; inaccurate ink level indicator

After seeing the good reviews for this printer, I guess I must have had the bad luck to pick a lemon. The feed is a nightmare! Every job is an adventure. Sometimes the feed refuses to grab a single sheet; sometimes it grabs several and creates a jam.
Also the ink level indicator has never been accurate. I thought at first that it just used an amazing amount of ink. Finally I learned to ignore the low level warnings after having thrown away several half full cartridges.
I will grant that the photos are good quality. But the waste of paper due to the poor feeder makes this an expensive proposition. Until HP gets better quality control, I'll buy elsewhere next time.

Pros: Nice stylish color printer case, promises of XP compatability
Cons: Absolutely does not WORK with Windows XP Pro. An XP Lemon.

I purchased this printer, after hearing all the great reviews. I regret my purchase. This P1215 does NOT support
WINDOWS XP PRo at all. I have tried all the work arounds, shortcuts, tips, and 5 machines, using both USB and Paralel ports. No luck. It uses virtual ports to work using software, and Windows XP continues only to recognize it as
seperate device, not a printer. Yes, I visited the microsoft site, which refers you to HP's site, which refers you to microsofts site. I installed the latest drivers and it still doesn't work.

THIS model is an XP Pro lemon. Avoid.

V-bad ink efficiency on 'Best' mode. Speed spec. is wrong. HP says 15 PPM on B&W draft. I got only 1.3 PPM on 'Best', about 4 PPM on Normal. In poor quality draft mode, I still only got 9 PPM. Noisy paper handling. Horrible install. If you are using Windows 2000/XP you MUST download the patch file for the USB recognition and run it BEFORE doing anything else or you will have all kinds of serious problems. The install severly crashed Windows 2000 with driver errors based on Win2000 recognizing the printer as an IOMega zip drive unit then locking up system until then restart then all USB ports and hardware detection capabiliy locked until everything un-installed and the O.S. patched with downloaded file from HP support. Obviously no testing prior to shipping at HP on Win2000. Probably same issue on WinXP based on patch information text. Also, you should download the 22MB driver or order a CD to obtaind other minor software patches.