HP Deskjet D2660 review

HP has always made efforts towards sustainability within their company but earlier this yearthe Imaging and Printing Group released the Deskjet D2660, the first inkjet printer from HP made from 50 percent recycled materials.

But will it perform? Read our full review and find out!

DESKJET D2660 SPECIFICATIONS

• Print speeds: up to 28 ppm black, 21 ppm color
• Print resolution: up to 4800 x 1200 optimized dpi
• Borderless printing
• Monthly duty cycle: up to 1,000 pages
• Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connection
• Energy Star qualified
• Made from 50% recycled plastic

BUILD AND DESIGN

The Deskjet D2660 has a small, sleek design that takes up approximately 17.83 x 8.15 x 6.77 inches and weighs barely over six pounds.

It is done completely in black – which I like a lot – with a small HP logo on the lid.

The small, three button control panel is located on the top left of the machine. The one-touch buttons consist of: power, resume and cancel for easy operation. The control panel also has two ink level lights that alert users when the ink needs to be replaced.

Access the ink cartridges through the pull down panel to the right of the control panel. The Deskjet D2660 uses a HP 60 black cartridge and a HP 60 tri-color cartridge. The HP 60 black cartridges contain at least 50% recycled plastic thanks to HP’s Closed Loop recycling process.

Underneath the removable panel resides the adjustable 80-sheet input tray. The tray folds up when not in use to keep the D2660’s footprint as small as possible. The D2660 supports multiple different paper sizes including: 4×6, 5×7, 8×10, envelopes, regular copy paper, etc.

Users can access the paper path through a pull out piece located on the back of the printer. The Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port and power port are also found on the back of the printer. The D2660 does not come with a USB cable so users want to keep the cable from their previous printer or will need to buy a new one.

The Deskjet D2660 is made from 50% recycled materials and the packaging that it is shipped in is made from 100% recycled materials.

DESKJET D2660 PERFORMANCE

Setting up the D2660

As I’ve already mentioned, the D2660 is a single function printer so it isn’t very complicated to setup or use; it took me less than five minutes to get it ready to print.

For the printing novice, there is a start here guide that will walk users through removing packaging tape, plugging in the printer, turning on the printer, pulling out the tray extension, loading paper and installing the ink cartridges.

The Deskjet D2660 comes with a software CD that runs HP’s handy installation wizard. With the Deskjet D2660, there are no network options so just attach the USB cord (not supplied) and follow the onscreen instructions.

Like all of the other HP printers I’ve reviewed, users can choose to download as much or as little of the supplied software as they want; I usually go with the basics to save myself memory. But then again, I really need the extra space.

Ease of use

I don’t think the Deskjet D2660 could be any easier to use. Seriously, turn it on, load the correct paper and hit print.

For users who want to do more with their printer, check out the HP Solution Center for photo projects, access to the toolbox and print settings, status updates, troubleshooting and links to other HP software downloaded (Smart Web Printing, Photosmart Essentials).

You can also access print settings through the print menu by clicking on the properties/preferences button.

The D2660 has three display lights on the control panel to warn about dwindling or depleted supplies and the cancel button is very reactive; the print job is stopped almost immediately.

The tray extension is labeled for additional help with loading media and when the D2660 is not in use, feel free to fold up the tray for extra space on your desktop.

Print trials

As with many inkjet printers I’ve reviewed, the Deskjet D2660 didn’t quite live up to the advertised print speeds of 28 ppm in black or 21 ppm in color.

The print speeds do vary depending on which mode you print in but the D2660 never printed 28 pages in one minute while I was performing tests.

When printing black text documents in the general everyday printing mode (normal), the D2660 printed seven ppm on average with a first page out in about 16 seconds.

When printing color documents in normal mode, the D2660 printed five ppm on average with a first page out in about 18 seconds.

When printing color or black text documents in fast/economical mode (draft) the print speeds doubled. I got an average of 15 ppm with a first page out in eight seconds when printing black text documents.

The color speeds were almost as good in draft mode; the D2660 printed 13 ppm with a first page out in eight seconds.

The D2660 prints an 8.5 x 11 inch photo on regular copy paper in about 44 seconds, an 8.5 x 11 inch photo on photo paper in about 3:43, and a 4×6 photo on photo paper in about 1:18.

Print quality

The color documents aren’t bad either when printing on regular copy paper; they are as good as you might expect from an inkjet printer. No noticeable lines or funky printing in normal mode but I did notice a line pattern through one of my color bar graphs when printing in draft mode. But honestly, I wouldn’t bother printing color documents in draft mode because the colors aren’t true to the image.

The photos printed by the D2660 were decent but not the best I’ve seen from HP printers. The color was good but not quite vibrant; same for the resolution. Good, not great.

The D2660 printed about 200 documents and photos in various modes before the black ink tank ran out. The color tank was low but I printed more black documents than color documents so I wasn’t surprised that the black ink ran out first. HP does offer high yield ink tanks for the D2660 if you plan on printing large amounts over a short period of time but the cartridges cost almost as much as the printer itself.

I did also want to point out that the D2660 is fairly loud when printing in normal mode but much louder when printing in draft mode. I wouldn’t recommend printing documents when on the phone or trying to keep quiet at home.

PROS

• Good print quality (text)
• Made from 50% recycled materials
• Low cost
• Small footprint

CONS

• Loud (especially in draft mode)
• Tri-color ink tank

CONCLUSION

What’s my favorite thing about the Deskjet D2660? That it is made from 50% recycled materials and that the ink cartridges it uses – HP 60 – are made from at least 50% recycled materials as well. For me, that’s just impressive.

What was also impressive was the small footprint, good text print quality, decent speed and extreme low cost. This is exactly the kind of printer I would recommend to anyone that needs to occasionally print a paper or photo on a tight budget.

Having said that, if you are currently printing large amounts – especially in color – or share your printer with a group of people, the D2660 might not be the best option.

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

The HP Deskjet D2660 single function inkjet printeris available now through the HP website for an estimated retail price of $49.99.

You will spend more on ink than the initial cost of the printer; it is inevitable. A regular HP 60 black ink cartridge will cost $14.99 and a regular HP 60 Tri-color ink cartridge will cost $19.99 on HP’s website.

High yield cartridges are considerably more but you should get double the color prints and three times the black prints. A HP 60XL black ink cartridge costs $34.99 and a HP 60XL Tri-color ink cartridge costs $40.99.