HP Photosmart Premium C309 Series, Product CC335A is ok

Author's Rating:

Pros: Nice color prints. Good value for the money.

Cons: No black and white photo printing;  poor connection setup instructions.

The Bottom Line: 
Overall, this printer is a good value and produces good prints.  Although there can be problems setting it up, it has been quite reliable for over a year.

Author's Review
This printer copies, faxes, and prints in color or black and white via an ethernet connection or wireless connection.  It is a good value for the money but falls short on ease of setup, features, and quality.  The first problem we had was that the power cable did not fit securely into the power adapter.  After falling out several times I forced it with much difficulty to stay in.  Making a connection to a local network is frustrating.  If one chooses a manual IP address, the system resets itself upon turning off the power.  It only could accept a DHCP connection.  When we tried printing in black and white (grayscale), the prints came out with a noticeable tint.  A call to HP verified that this model cannot print in black and white.  Incredibly, the help desk person said that I needed to use gray ink to make such prints.  The system prematurely announces that the ink cartridges are empty when they are not.  HP is aware of this problem and has recently reached a settlement with a class action lawsuit filed over the matter.  On the plus side, the ink jet nozzles are remarkable free from getting clogged, unlike those on the Epson Stylus printers from a few years ago.  Other than the problems I encountered, the printer can produce good color prints at low cost, as well as perform copying and faxing.