HP Deskjet 6940 Color Printer (C8970A#B1H) Reviews

• Amazing deskjet

  
  By A1B6NCBRU1UQ79 on 2006-02-11
  I've been in the computer world for many years. I am a die-hard HP fan but the past few Deskjets have not really had the WOW factor to them. Until this one. I just recently purchased it and it was hooked up in no time on my network, all 5 computers can print to it simultaneously and it doesn't have any problem handling the spooling.
  
  I gave this printer a 5 out of 5 because of its quality, ease of use, print quality, appearance itself as it looks great with an all black desktop and overall satisfaction with it.
  
  I recommend this to anyone looking for a good bang for the buck factor as well as an amazing product, once again, from Hewlett-Packard.
  
  

• Excellent quality prints .... but a complete ripoff nevertheless.

  
  By A2TD1FK39X8BMB on 2007-01-26
  This printer is, in many ways, a true success. It is sturdily made, so far as an outside inspection can determine, quite compact, and has some excellent features, such as the covered paper tray. It's one of the first printers I've had which actually pulls in one sheet of paper at a time if you put more than one sheet in, rather than pulling in a clump and printing the document partially onto three or four sheets. The printer settings on the computer are easy to use, and although only an ethernet attachment is provided, the USB port works perfectly well with a standard USB cable (although it was fortunate that I keep several spare USB cables handy, since it's all to easy to forget to buy the cable in addition to the computer).
  
  That said, there is one glaring flaw in this printer -- one which, in my opinion, cancels out many of its other excellent features. The ink cartridge is tiny -- I measured it against my old Deskjet 920C's cartridge, and it's only 1/6 the size. There's no room inside to fit a bigger generic cartridge. There is so little ink in this acorn-sized cartridge that I ran out of ink printing 50 pages. These weren't full page pictures, either -- it was text with several small color pics in there. Since the new cartridge costs about $50, that works out to $1 per PAGE -- which is a lot of money for a small business owner like myself, and could be enormously expensive for those who do more printing.
  
  In short -- it's a wonderful printer if you're the kind of person who prints maybe 3 or 4 pages a month. If you do any more than that (for business, college, etc.), then you're going to find yourself cursing as a $50 cartridge disappears in an hour of printing. Really, would they have lost so much money if they'd built it to accept a cartridge larger than a grape?
  
  

• Great product used at work

  
  By A3DB5HA693NI5A on 2007-02-13
  I have used this for about 6 months with no problems. I have used it with both windows and mac computers. I use it mostly for print but color photos and graphics come out well. It is easy to set up and use.
  
  I have never had a paper jam.
  
  Contrary to a previous reviewer, there ARE large print cartridges available that last very well.
  
  The printer is fast and prints very nicely at the fast (low ink usage) settings.
  
  I like the paper tray as it holds allot of paper, is easy to use, and is covered.
  
  It is a good, fast and simple unit but I do wish it did two-sided printing.
  
  It looks good and works quietly and reliably.
  
  

• Great quality when it actually prints!!!

  
  By A2MJVP27F1JS8Y on 2006-05-21
  I've had this printer for a few months now. I intially installed it using the Ethernet port connected to my router. I was constantly plagued with error messages from it, so I switched to a regular USB connection. The problems didn't go away. Every time I go to print, I can expect to spend ten minutes playing with the paper loader hoping that the printer will recognize that there actually IS paper in it. When it actually does print, the quality is outstanding but it is so unreliable that its hard to pleased with it.
  
  

• High quality inkjet with built in ethernet!

  
  By A28TEPFSBN17V2 on 2006-04-30
  Just an overall high quality color inkjet printer with built in ethernet!! About time for an affordable built in ethernet solution. Us customers know it only takes a couple of dollars to add an ethernet port, THANKS for finally doing it to a home inkjet printer!
  
  
• Serious Design Flaw
  By A3ATS1DS9H9K6V on 2007-12-21
  When replacing print cartridges there is a folding, wire spring that contacts the cartridge. The spring easily comes out of place. If so, it will damage a printed circuit when the cartridge is installed. The printer is now worthless. I had no luck with support or repair parts. Searching for help, discovered multiple postings of this issue.
  
  
• I would buy this again.
  By AM4TEXC5WRXUW on 2007-03-07
  The price was great and this printer performs very well for my
  needs. The color is excellent and the ink cartridges which came
  with the printer are lasting a long time considering the amount
  of printing that I have been doing. Putting in the two ink
  cartridges is very easy. I wanted a printer that did not have
  the five or six cartridge set-up.
  
  
• Not good printer
  By A12JPWW47UTIJL on 2007-06-07
  Not a good printer. It boasts high speeds, but at high speeds the print is shadowed and very hard to read. I sent this one back and got a Canon MP600 and am very happy with it.
  
  
• If you own a MAC - forget it
  By A3M13LJ7LA4DFZ on 2007-01-14
  I bought this printer to use with my MAC mini and I've had nothing but problems. Only the top 2 inches of any document containing a graphic (or a PDF) will print. I've been online for 3 weeks with HP and they still can't figure out how to fix the problem.
  
  
• So far, LOVE this printer
  By AZ9GYB16VC8GJ on 2007-02-17
  I bought this printer a few weeks ago, but was putting off installing it. I dread spending tons of time with hardware, and usually there are problems, incompatabilities, and needed updates. The installation was a snap! I connected it using the enclosed ethernet cable. I connected it directly to my wireless router--works great. I then noticed in the written directions that you could only use a wired ethernet connection to establish the needed link to my son's laptop. I was totally bummed since the main reason I bought this printer was to enable us to print directly from the wirelessly routed laptop. WELL, to my great happiness, I was easily able to install the printer wirelessly. It prints really well. I'm very satisfied with all my HP products, and this printer was no exception. If you need to install it directly with a USB, just know that the USB cable is not included in the box.
  
  
• Excellent Quality
  By A330AMLUXZA7B2 on 2007-05-17
  I have had a number of HP deskjets over the years...this one lives up to the excellent quality HP is known for. Black text prints super-fast, and colors are vibrant. I printed a black and white photo using HP Premium Plus Photo paper, and a photographer friend upon seeing it, asked when I had gotten a darkroom. Highly recommend this product.
  
  
• HP 6940 Printer a Whiz-Bang!
  By A67D0CQN4LMMF on 2007-02-28
  I am very impressed with the performance of my new HP6940 printer...it is incredibly fast, accurate, and easy to use. I like the availability of an ethernet port, making it easy to network the printer. Good investment!
  
  
• Great photos and graphics but gulps ink
  By A1HQM7Q6LEVKW1 on 2007-08-07
  Pros: Excellent graphics and photo quality, super-fast, good-quality draft printing, rarely jams (I re-use paper all the time), black (not dark gray) text
  Cons: Small paper tray, drinks up ink like water, ink cartridges way too small and expensive
  
  
  After my beloved HP 990c died, which printed absolutely beautiful graphics and photographs, I searched long and hard for a replacement printer. I do a lot of desktop publishing, and the graphics quality is just, if not more, important to me than photo quality. On the recommendation of a salesman (stupid!), I purchased an Epson. Never again! What a piece of junk! I also tried an HP PhotoSmart printer, which printed great photos but just so-so graphics. Then I purchased the HP 6940 and have been very happy with it. It gave me the excellent graphics quality of my old 990c. For you photo buffs, sometimes I print 8x10 black and white portrait photos, and for years I have been frustrated trying to get "darkroom quality" on my inkjets. I tried using PhotoShop and PhotoShop Elements to tweak it here and there, with unsatisfactory results. It was the same with the 6940 until I printed them using the HP PhotoSmart Premier software that came with the printer. What a difference! I didn't have to change any settings or anything -- it just printed the B&W's much better!
  
  Now for the bad news: when I have a particular job to do, the end result is usually printed elsewhere on a professional machine. However, I do lots of draft printing to check different page designs, etc. before I consider the job final. On a 5-page, double-side printed playbill, I went through at least SIX cartridges of ink!! I'd be part way through a job, and the printer tells me I'm low on ink already! Purchasing the 3-combo pack at Costco cost me about $72 x 2 = $144!! That's ridiculous! That's why printers, even good ones, are so incredibly cheap nowadays -- I've almost paid twice the price of the printer in ink cartridges in less than a six-month period!
  
  Because of limited office space, I just purchased a Canon Pixma MP 830, which is an all-in-one. It has gotten very good reviews, and the ink cartridges are bigger and cheaper. Wish me luck!
  
  
• has some kinks
  By A1QE7P66RD96NB on 2007-01-08
  Works generally pretty well. I have no major complaints, although there are some minor annoyances. Sometimes the paper jams for no apparent reason & sometimes if you disconnect the printer from my laptop after the printing is completed the printer freaks out and has a hard time being reset. I now know to wait 5 or 10 minutes. Just small annoyances.
  
  
• Fast printer for business documents
  By AXAYPUZQ664PS on 2007-01-18
  This is a great printer which prints fast in normal mode. It will also print on very small envelopes and note cards (as it can handle small photographic paper as well). I do not use it for photographs/photo paper, so I cannot comment on those features.
  
  
• HP Deskjet 6940
  By A1DUNGIHXFQDNF on 2007-03-19
  Printer is a nice printer. Like the wireless capablity.
  
  However the color ink is combined which make it expensive to use.
  
  
• Beware the paper tray and wonky network setup for Mac
  By A1483A7WOYNK2V on 2007-04-11
  I just finished setting this guy up. It took about an hour and, as with so many devices these days, the boxed instructions were no help. I think it bears saying that I'm a Mac user, and have been for going on 20 years now. Manufacturers are really out of excuses for not having any Mac specific support on their devices, especially ones that proudly trumpet their Mac support right on the box.
  Having said that, I spent the majority of time trying to get the printer to see the network, the Macs to see the printer and the printer to see the paper. Unless the tray is absolutely packed with paper--begging for a jam--then the printer balks at any printing.
  
  Thank goodness for Apple's Bonjour, which allowed me to see the printer despite HP's software ultimately failing to be helpful.
  After the setup nightmare, which really isn't any big deal when compared to most any printer you buy that isn't an Epson, the print quality is good and fast. I'd love this printer more if the setup weren't so mysterious. Ethernet is a nice feature at this price point, too. Good product, poor execution.
  
  
• An Efficiency Machine
  By A247KETZ5ADKYI on 2007-08-23
  As far as printers go, this one is top of the line. It prints photos and documents very well. It uses the large ink cartridges (21ml black and 14ml color vs 7ml black and color) and is extremely ink efficient. I've printed over 300 pages, and have used less than half of the black cartridge. The savings in ink alone will pay for the cost of the printer.
  
  
• The jury is still out on this one
  By AVFDFNRFLXGKG on 2008-03-23
  I purchased this printer for black and white photo printing since it accepts the HP 100 Gray Photo cartridge, I also intended to use it for color printing using the HP 99 Photo cartridge. The results have been a mixed bag so far.
  
  Starting with the software installation I was nervous (I used the recommended installation not the full), the software said it would take 8 minutes to install, on my first attempt after 45 minutes the program appeared to be locked up I rebooted had to uninstall what was installed reboot again and begin the installation. The second attempt installed but it took the better part of 30 minutes.
  
  After printing a few pages of text everything seemed to be working fine. I installed the HP 100 gray cartridge and printed a few black and white photos that looked great.
  
  I switcheed to the HP 99 color photo cartridge and loaded some 4x6 HP photo paper into the tray and printed a very nice looking color print. On the second print the printer stopped at about 25% of the photo, apparently a jam.
  
  I removed the paper and tried again, same thing about 25% and stop. After 4 attempts I removed the 4X6 from the bottom tray and fed a single sheet through the top envelope feeder. The print worked but had blotches of color. I tried an 8.5 x 11 photo sheet and 90% of the photo looked great but again blotches of color in some areas.
  
  I ran the printhead cleaning, alignment and calibration routines and now it is printing beautiful prints. Unfortunatly I had to waste several photo papers and a good amount of ink in order to get it working well. My fingers are crossed that I will not have similar problems in the future.
  
  Regarding ink usage I have printed 8 - 8x10's and about 10 or so 4x6 photos and the estimate shows that approximately 70% remains in the cartridges. Ink for this printer is not cheap at about $25 per cartridge for the photo inks (14ml) which work in conjunction with the tri color cartridge (14ml), the black cartridge is higher capacity (21ml).
  
  All in all I would have rated this printer higher if not for the software installation issues and the failure of the printer to work with 4x6 paper from the bottom tray (one sheet at a time from the top works but is tedious). The letter size photo paper feeds fine from the lower tray but the 8x10 images are sometimes not square with the page.
  
  
• A Caveat for the HP 6940 Printer
  By A2CFWDE6E07DVC on 2008-03-31
  A caveat for inserting a print cartridge into the inkjet printer...make sure the printer is turned on before you lift the cover. This allows the little plate in front of the cartridge receptacles to descend...otherwise this plate interferes with the cartridge insertion. I learned the hard way...I tried to insert new cartridges with the printer turned off; hence, the plate did not descend...and I forced it. In the process, I damaged the folding, wire spring that contacts the cartridge to complete the electrical circut...rendering the printer useless in part or whole.
  
  This is an excellent inkjet printer...the mea culpa aspects aside...I've just ordered another HP 6940 Inkjet Printer from Amazon. I recommend this printer to any one...but be careful.
  
  
• What a workhorse
  By AZ3V6P8Y9ZU4M on 2008-05-21
  I have 4 of these in my office, and a 6500 (the predecessor) What a workhorse! It stands up to a lot of printing, prints fast, and the 96 & 97 cartridges hold a lot of ink! An added feaure is the slip flat top design, which allows you to put something on top if space is an issue.
  
  I will buy these as long as they make them!
  
  
• Super Printer
  By A1AUL91QCO0C9D on 2007-02-04
  What can I say? So far the printer has performed very well and I am totally satisfied. I should qualify my evaluation, however, by pointing out that I don't have need for a printer vey often. Nonetheless, this printer has been very reliable and quickly efficient and I intend to use it at least once a week to keep the ink jets from clogging.
  
  
• Excellent Printer
  By A3G82VM141B1T0 on 2007-05-11
  I would highly recommend this printer. Pages are printed quick with great clarity. The price is definitely right as well.
  
  
• HP Deskjet 6940 - Excellent Value
  By A2O4QRGEABF70Y on 2007-06-27
  Excellent value for around $125. Multiple quality settings. "Best" quality more than suitable for professional business proposals, etc. Black & color cartridges, easy to install. Reliable - Daily use for 2 months and have not yet experienced a paper jam. Recommended!
  
  
• Printer very good, Driver very bad.
  By AF8INHR3I2DSP on 2007-10-25
  The physical DJ6940 printer is great. Good clear printing, no misfeeds, no hassles.
  The 6940 driver package is terrible. It has bugs, has a ton of useless add-ons, and, if you can get it to work, causes the printer to run painfully slow.
  The best fix for us, was to just install the drivers for the Deskjet 990c. With the 990c driver, the printer prints perfectly and is very fast to get the first page out. We don't do anything exotic, so this was the best solution.
  
  
• HP Printers
  By AQ4H4ZBONP0NQ on 2008-03-12
  Over the years I have purchased many printers by different manufacturers, and and am now locked in on HP. I have an Officejet Pro, a 3 in 1, and this new one for my wife. They are reliable, easy to maintain, and it's cool when you print out multiple page documents they are printed in order starting with page one when you pull them out.
  
  
• Good hardware + printing quality. Annoying software + bad network connectivity
  By A1JRUSI8U5B88I on 2008-03-20
  Pros:
  
  - Good printing quality, reasonable cost.
  
  - Works from XP, Mac OS X and Ubuntu Linux.
  
  Cons:
  
  - Horrible bloatware.
  
  Does HP really really think I need to put 250+ MB aside for a printer driver? I know software is getting bigger, but how many programs need to be loaded every time your computer starts up, just to run a dumb printer? News to you, HP - it's my PC, not yours.
  
  - Network connectivity didn't work very long at all.
  
  When I first set it up, it was recognized on the network, including by my Mac. Then, 2 or 3 weeks later, it wasn't anymore, probably because the printer defaults to some ungodly weird IP address, as shown by the diagnostic print page. And there is no indication anywhere on the manual on how you can set that IP address or get it to grab one from DHCP.
  
  I guess I should now call up HP customer service, be put on hold for 30 minutes just in order to be told how to set the network address. Nope, they couldn't print that on their manual, it would make it look too technical! At a guess, I probably need to run 2 or 3 HP startup programs to allow for autodiscovery. Or maybe run Windows Universal Plug and Play, which is a known security risk.
  
  So I ended up just using it with an extra long USB cable which I plug in from my various computers as I need to. Not quite what I had in mind when I bought this networked printer.
  
  
• Great little printer
  By A2SHNFNRVD2AKJ on 2008-04-16
  I've been very pleased with this sleek looking inexpensive little printer. It has proven to be ideal for my small business application - easy to set up, fast, easy to operate. I'm still using the supplied ink cartridges after 2 months and don't expect to have to replace them for at least several more months. So, in addition to its impressive looks and operation, I expect it will prove to be very economical as well. In comparison to my much beloved previous Canon printer, I also appreciate that this one only requires 2 (vs. 6) cartridges. The print quality has also been outstanding. Definitely deserves 5 stars! After a disappointing hiatus of a few years, HP definitely has its "game on" these days! So, I will once again lean toward it for other products, as I had done when I first started my business about 10 years ago.
  
  
• Not good for color photos
  By A3LFMJWHJOWGSC on 2008-04-16
  I bought this printer because of the good reviews it got. However, it turns out this is NOT a good printer for color photos at all. It's OK if you are doing only text printing. The color photos are worse than the ones by my HP-722 it replaced -- you can go crazy adjusting the color by trial-and-error ... and use a lot of ink and photo paper. Also, there is no catch tray for the documents as they come out, and more often than not they just fall on the floor. It has problems printing envelopes, too, even the common business size. The first time I tried, it stopped like it was out of paper. I hit reset and it printed the envelope, but it didn't print straight; the text was skewed. I thought this was because it interrupted the print, but it was skewed on subsequent envelopes that weren't interrupted.
  
  For color photo printing I plan to take my pictures to a professional service; it's cheaper. This printer will be just for text. My next printer will not be an HP.
  
  
• HP DeskJet 6940 Color Printer
  By A2YAQUNA4TT05Z on 2007-08-23
  I'm very satisfied with the printer. Excellent print quality in both black and color. Easy to set up and use. Excellent overall quality.
  
  

• HP 96 Black Inkjet Print Cartridge with Vivera Inks (C8767WN#140)
• HP 97 Tri-Color Inkjet Print Cartridge with Vivera Inks (C9363WN#140)
• HP No. 95 Tri-Color Ink Cartridge (C8766W)
• HP No. 100 Gray Photo Ink Cartridge (C9368A)
• HP Premium Plus Photo Paper, Glossy (Q1978A, 4x6, 60 Sheets)

• HP 96 Twinpack Black Inkjet Print Cartridge with Vivera Ink (C9348FN#140)
• Belkin Pro Series USB 2.0 Device Cable (USB A/USB B, 10 Feet)
• 96/97 Inkjet Print Cartridge
• Hewlett-Packard Twinpack Tri colorInk Cartridge (C9349FN#140)
• HP 96 Black Inkjet Print Cartridge with Vivera Inks (C8767WN#140)