HP Officejet Pro L7780 Color All-in-One Printer/Fax/Scanner/Copier (C8192A#ABA)
Review by P : What a shame!

I purchased this all-in-one when my hp laser printer and all-in-one -- both of which had been running for at least 10 years -- died the same week. The 7780 seemed to offer all the features one could hope for in a single machine despite its cheesy build quality. I bought one at Staples which set up fine but then produced vertical streaks on print-outs. Thinking it was a bad machine, I exchanged it for another. That one wouldn't register commands on the front panel or do the preliminary setup. Another bad machine? Maybe. I then gave it a third chance and ordered one from Amazon which had dropped its price on the item by more than $100 in about a week. The one I received from Amazon wouldn't even start. I called hp tech service reps who first told me that the cartridges shipped with the machine are not good and that I would have to invest in a new set of cartridges (which I did) to see if the machine worked. When it didn't, I called them back and was told that there was nothing they could do except offer me another model. It's such a shame for a company like hp to lose it reputation over this and other machines which not only have the problems I encountered but others such as bad fax intakes, poor picture quality and internal programming that registers half-full ink tanks as empty so that one is forced to buy twice the amount of ink that he/she needs. It's the end of an era. This could have been a premier machine. Instead, it's junk. Don't buy it.

HP Officejet Pro L7780 Color All-in-One Printer/Fax/Scanner/Copier (C8192A#ABA)
Review by K. M. Hastings : Very Disappointing

I paid the $500 price tag for this printer because I needed a quality printer/scanner/copier for home office use that was durable, fast, wireless and Vista compatible. I even called HP prior to purchasing it, to confirm that the printer was compatible with Vista. The customer service rep. said it was. Wrong. Upon inserting the software disc that came with the printer, I immediately learned it was not compatible with Vista. 14 phone calls to Tech support and one month later I finally got software for the printer. However, I am on my second printer because the first one jammed repeatedly, printed crooked and dog-eared paper. After 1-1/2 weeks, the replacement printer is doing the same thing.

What has been most disappointing about this product is the technical support. Call 5 times and you will get 5 different answers, 3 of which will be incomprehensible due to heavily accented technicians. All of HP's technical support is, apparently, provided from India. Some of the techs know what they're doing, some don't but pretend they do and others direct you to others to get you off the phone ("it's your McAfee Security - call them", "it's your router, call Linksys" - the problem was neither McAfee nor Linksys).

I have a history of purchasing HP products but have never experienced any product that was so inferior and obviously not capable of performing as advertised. Shame on HP.

HP Officejet Pro L7780 Color All-in-One Printer/Fax/Scanner/Copier (C8192A#ABA)
Review by Gary Myers "GWMNSB" : Tray default and lock don't work as expected

I purchased the 7780 rather than the less expensive 7680 to take advantage of the 2nd, and larger, paper tray. The first tray holds 250 sheets, the second 350 sheets. My plan was to load the smaller, tray 1 with envelopes, letter head or photo paper, and the larger 2nd tray with ordinary paper. You can set either tray as the "default" tray or "lock" a tray to restrict printing to that locked tray. The idea is to prevent selecting a tray with letter head stationary when the stock paper tray runs out. The problem is that it doesn't work that way.

With tray 1 locked and the optional 2nd tray set as "default", printing from the computer works fine, tray 2 is the source of paper. The problem occurs upon receipt of a fax or when copying a document from the device, it always prints to tray 1, which is "locked".
HP support says that is the way it works. Sounds like a design error to me.

Otherwise, it's a terrific printer

HP Officejet Pro L7780 Color All-in-One Printer/Fax/Scanner/Copier (C8192A#ABA)
Review by M. S. Katz : Looks like a winner!

Just bought this printer and so far, so good. The install was very smooth, once the printer finished grinding through its rather lengthy initialization. Had to set up the network connection via the onboard control panel rather than from the computer, but once that was done, installation was painless.

This unit prints well and also faxes from the the computer without a hitch. Copying works as expected. Scanning is the big surprise. The digital filing function allows you press a button to scan documents from the feeder or glass directly to a network drive without needing to do anything on a connected computer. You can also request a scan from a computer as with most all-in-ones.

Print quality is excellent. Speed is ho-hum. Duplex printing, WiFi, ethernet and usb connections standard, as is a a second paper tray.

Looks like a winner!

HP Officejet Pro L7780 Color All-in-One Printer/Fax/Scanner/Copier (C8192A#ABA)
Review by Capt'n Bob "captn_bob" : Another outstanding printer in a long line of printers

I've been using the officejet series of printers for many years, the L7780 is the third one I've purchased, and it's the best one I've owned. In addition to printing and faxing I use it a lot for scanning directly into Acrobat documents.

I picked this model because of the wireless features. It is one of those features you think you might want, but once you have it you wonder how you ever did without it before. We have several laptops in our house and the ability to print from anywhere, plus only needing one printer is really worth the extra $$.

Another great (and unexpected) feature is the range of output options you get, for two sided, brochure, booklet (!) etc. etc. I had previously had to use add-on programs to get these kinds of output, with mixed results. Now they work perfectly. (You don't need to get the high-end 7780 for this feature, I would guess the next one down with duplex printing would be just as good.)

I originally installed the unit before we got a Vista machine. The installation went ok, but you have to pay attention to the directions. I just got a Vista machine and downloaded the latest drivers (today) from the HP website. These newest drivers are also for XP as well as Vista. Bottom line, the installation on the Vista machine was way faster and easier than on XP...so either this is a function of Vista or the whole driver package is improved from what shipped with the machine back in May.

HP Officejet Pro L7780 Color All-in-One Printer/Fax/Scanner/Copier (C8192A#ABA)
Review by E. Fiore : Warning -- DO NOT BUY -- terrible printer

I bought this printer to replace last year's model, which irreparably broke just after the warranty period ended -- I should not have been so quick to buy another HP. As it turns out, I actually bought three of these in rapid succession, trying to get one that works. I'm finally looking to return the last one for good. First one gave a message that the ink cartridge door was open when it wasn't. I called HP, there was nothing they could do, so I returned it to the store for a trade. When I opened the second one, I discovered that it had been opened and returned before. I wanted to start with a fresh one, so I brought #2 back. The third one installed fine. Then I did the wireless setup wizard, and the printer said it was connected, and to press OK to continue. That's when it locked up. Only way to restart was to unplug -- which is not recommended -- and then plug back in while pressing #/6.

We did this a few times. We follow the same steps every time. Sometimes we succeed in getting the wireless to work. Most times it fails. Sometimes the printer works for a couple days, but often when we come in , it's locked up and we need to play the, "let's see if the printer will start today" game.

When it does work, it's incredibly noisy.

If I could give this thing a negative 5 I would.

What a shame that HP still has a reputation for quality, but sells such junk.

HP Officejet Pro L7780 Color All-in-One Printer/Fax/Scanner/Copier (C8192A#ABA)
Review by Bert Christianson : Fast, Crisp and Easy - I Love It!

I love the HP L7780! Just last night my wife said she loves it too and she's usually agnostic on technology. This is used as a home/office printer. This was a replacement for a 2000 HP All in One that was still working but I wanted the new features. Specifically I wanted a network printer so we did not have to have the server connected to the printer turned on for anyone at home to print. Now with the printer on the network anyone can print without the server being on. It saves hassle and energy and overheating my office by running extra computers. It is also very fast 4x faster on printing text than the 2000 model and 2x faster on photos. And the text is crisper. I can't say the pix are any clearer but they were pretty good to begin with. Picture quality is very good. Setup was easy though it has to run through startup & calibration routines which take time, but it is automatic so well worth the one time wait.

I love the full duplex feature. I can print, and copy both sides of a sheet all without any fuss or attention. I love that feature and will save lots on paper and filing space. Who would think you could do double sided color copies at home with the tough of a button! What a wonderful world we live in. The concept of individual ink carts is also good and a recent test of cost per page in PC Mag put an HP with separate carts ahead of everyone else in true cost per page. I think it was 6.5 cents per page for color document printing. Installing the carts must be done right as you don't want to ruin an expensive cartridge but I had no issues. I can find no super bargains on HP ink and avoid the refills but overall it is a bargain for what it does. One bad refill or leaking cartridge and I've got a mess that costs more than all the money I could possible save by refilling cartridges.

One small caveat, I also thought the wireless would be handy and it worked well when tested but will only work with wireless OR Ethernet connection NOT BOTH. So if you want to print using the network cable AND have wireless laptops you may need to access the network and printer through a Wireless hub on your network.

The scanning is fast and pretty easy. I wish it would scan slides but that is a small nit. Images are crisp and clear. And the quality of the text it prints is much better then my 2000 model.

The printer setup dialog has several customizable features for default porinting, economy, best, duplexing etc. I found I needed to set a feature called Minimize Margins to ON, it is off by default, to allow it to print a full page without chopping off the end, that is printing within 1/2" of the edge of the paper.

We printed photos from MiniSD cards with good luck. It will print 8x10, 5x7 and 4x6 but no option for 3.5 x 5.5 to allow fitting four pix per sheet.

The color screen and menu is easy to follow and understand. Overall I'm very pleased as is it faster, easier, networked and cheaper then my old HP. If I get 7 years out of this one I'll be delighted.

On the negative reviews I guess there are lemons in every bunch and the unhgappy customer is more likely to take the time to write a review than the happy ones. I'm a happy one so far after 4 weeks of use.

HP Officejet Pro L7780 Color All-in-One Printer/Fax/Scanner/Copier (C8192A#ABA)
Review by Ray Depew "Ray" : What a rip-off

There's only one thing wrong with this machine. I'll get to that in a minute.

The OfficeJet L7780 is a great all-in-one, much better than the 6100 series was. Print quality is great, mechanical operation is acceptable, the power-saving features and wireless communication are very worthwhile.

The printer's biggest draw is an advertised per-page cost lower than a laser printer, and much lower than the single-cartridge DeskJet printers. It's very enticing. And it might be true -- if you ever get around to using up a whole cartridge of ink. But before you get to that point, the printer gives an error message: "The following ink cartridge(s) appear to be missing or damaged."

There's nothing wrong with your ink cartridges. One of them has simply been in your printer longer than HP thinks it should be. When you install a new cartridge, the printer starts a timer for that cartridge, and when the timer counts down to zero, the printer pops up the "missing or damaged" error message.

And it's a hard error, too. There's no way around it, according to HP, except to replace the affected ink cartridge -- even if that cartridge is still 1/3 or 1/2 full of ink.

HP was either too clever (or too STUPID, depending on your point of view) to have the printer issue a simple warning message saying, "The indicated cartridge has hit its shelf life limit," and giving you the choice to continue printing until you get around to replacing the cartridge. And HP was just too STUPID -- and inconsiderate of users -- to give the user any advance warning: "The indicated cartridge will hit its shelf life limit in two days." No, it happens suddenly, without warning, and it locks up the entire all-in-one.

I really expected better than this from HP. (And then there's the issue of WHY these new-and-improved inks have such a short shelf life. Maybe HP laid off their good ink chemists and imported some cheaper ones from China.)

This problem is insidious, and it's pervasive. It affects all HP inkjet printers. Searching on the web turns up several workarounds, but a user SHOULD NOT have to do any of them. Until HP releases a firmware upgrade that gets rid of this design defect, the OfficeJet L7780 gets only one star, and this is the last HP printer I will buy (I've been buying them since ThinkJet days).

HP Officejet Pro L7780 Color All-in-One Printer/Fax/Scanner/Copier (C8192A#ABA)
Review by Glen Turnbull "Fly Fisher" : ADF Doesn't Function for Fax Send

Well my experiences with a HP OJ Pro L7780 multi-function printer have been disappointing.
Bought one 12 days ago. Pricey! Took it home. Set it up. Installed software (this takes a lot of time). Tried sending a fax from the top loader tray and it would not feed the page. Different weights of paper. Standing on my head. Jiggling pages. Nothing worked! Error message! Page not sent!

Went back and bought a second one (same model)thinking I just got a dud. Brought it home and had somewhat better luck. When I loaded the top feeder tray to send a fax,, it would actually start to feed the top page. I was ecstatic. But then it would stop about 1/3 of the way into the feed. No fax sent. Error message. Tried several times. No luck.

Both printers went back today. Big cost for me in time to travel to remote store, purchase, take home, unpack, set-up, install software, test to see it fails, uninstall software, repack and travel back to store to return and do it all over again. Not only that I was really disappointed. I really wanted the 14 inch scanner bed but I need the fax functionality for our business. Without the ADF functionality it is no good to me.

Now I'm looking for something else - something other than HP I guess.

HP Officejet Pro L7780 Color All-in-One Printer/Fax/Scanner/Copier (C8192A#ABA)
Review by Urs M. Gubser : Quality issues - lousy support

I'm on my second printer now. The first refused to print duplex (paper jam all the time). The 2nd printer has problems printing duplex after 20 pages or so. I've already spent hours with HP support on this - HP HAS THE WORST SUPPORT - let me repeat that one more time: HP HAS THE WORST SUPPORT. If you get a printer that works flawlessly, consider yourself lucky. If not, then be prepared to spend HOURS on the phone and very frustrating waiting periods. As far as I'm concerned, there are no quality checks and I personally spent a lot more time on this than what the printer is actually worth. I would have paid double the money if I didn't have to deal with HP's support. I long for quality not quantity - if any printer manufacturer out there reads this, please, whatever happened with printers that just worked?