HP 450Ci Mobile DeskJet Printer

This printer has possibilities! It has completed 6 airplane trips checked as luggage and worked the first time every time. Although those trips only represent 2 months, its a better record than the BJC-85 or the HP-350 I owned (see my Amazon reviews). Dazzling print speed for a portable, really nice print quality and regular size ink catridges.

Thanks HP!

LONG TERM UPDATE:

Well, as it turns out, my short term enthusiam and 5 star rating for this printer has been dashed by on going problems -primarily paper jams. I now own two of these printers, one I use while the other is being repaired under warranty (I bought an extended warranty). Losing confidence in HP, my G85xi all-in-one just quit also (won't feed paper). Repair costs as much as a new all-in-one.

My wife gave me a HP Deskjet 450CI for XMAS 2002 as I was travelling a lot and it seemed a decent solid printer that was compact if a little expensive. I was looking for a basic printer that could do most basic printing in a compact form. I was not looking for awesome performance in any aspect.

The good: Printer prints decently and quickly. Printer is pleasing in shape and compact.

The bad: Printer does not handle cardstock (fairly common deficiency here) or full size photo paper.

The ugly: Printer suffers NUMEROUS jams (to the point of being unuseable) paper is pulled in approx an inch, jams, then software comms problems begin. I have seen the problem discussed in a number of online forums. This apparently is a design problem relating to the pinch plate which may have been corrected in printers made after July 2003. If you are in warranty, HP will fix the problem but if you are like me and the problem occurs after the warranty expires fixing this design defect is on you.

Bottom line: Before buying: 1. Make the seller take the printer out of the box so you can check the production date (only located on the serial tag on the bottom of the printer) (how many vendors will do this?). 2. Verify that "no kidding" this design defect has been corrected.

Postscript: I have been highly satisfied with every HP printer I have had until this one. This printer has not yet gone through a single complete ink cartridge and has never run card stock or photo paper. I do not want to deal with repairs so today I scavenged the ink from this one threw away the 450CI and installed the ink in my new HP PSC1350. The jury is out on the PSC1350 for now.

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I can echo the comments re the paper feed. I've been using the 450 since December 2004, and it worked great at first. Especially pleasing was the wireless bluetooth connection to my iPAQ. But, as others have indicated there is a problem with paper jams and feed in general. Sometimes it thinks it's out of paper when there are 4-5 sheets still in the tray. Lately, even though I've cleaned the cartridges, it has been dropping large ink blotches on the print-outs that I can get to feed. Frustrating! Had real possibilities...

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I have now owned 2 of these printers and I thought they were very good at first. However, after a couple of months I started experiencing paper feed problems. The printer just won't grab the paper. You have to try all sorts of paper amounts in the feeder before you come up with a proper thickness where it grabs. My patience has run out on this second printer and I will go back to the Canon.

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I bought their customer care package for three years of "hassle-free" service. Hah. I've spent hours and hours on the phone -one rude guy named Walter was particularly horrible...I believe he was the one who hung up on me the first time! Then told me, the second time -after I went through HP Corporate -that he'd hang up on me if I spoke sarcastically (ie, "Oh, this has been a fantastic experience.") Passive-aggressive doesn't even get to the half of it. Then, I got passed to some chick who was nice -after being put on endless hold by Walter -an HP experience I'm very familiar with...customer "care" is a joke. Then this nice woman named Kathy told me my printer would work if it printed tests -no need to take the time to hook it up to the computer. Really, kathy? No, it turns out kathy was wrong. It seems it needed an Ink Service Spittoon -and they said in Europe that HP doesn't make these (supposedly replaceable) items anymore. They are available in the USA -but hard to find. I really like this printer; I just wish it were made by Apple or somebody who knows how to treat customers. Have Applecare -have had it for years on all my Apple computers...what a dream.