HP Officejet 6000 Wireless review

The top of the Officejet 6000 pulls open to reveal the inside of the machine for access to the printhead and ink tanks. The Officejet 6000 uses four individual inks: dye-based HP 920 magenta, HP 920 cyan, HP 920 yellow and pigment-based HP 920 black. There is an option for high yield ink replacements: the HP 920XL cartridge series.

Since the Officejet 6000 is a pretty basic printer, the control panel is as well. There are four buttons on the front of the device: power, print, cancel and wireless keys. There are also four ink monitors to the right of this mini control panel that light up when the Officejet 6000 is running low on a particular ink.

Below the simple panel, you’ll find the paper trays. HP has improved the paper path so that the input and output trays almost seem like one drawer, feeding into each other with relative ease. According to a recent Buyers Laboratory, Inc.study, the Officejet 6000 printed 7,000 impressions (the maximum monthly duty cycle) without a single malfunction or misfeed.

The 50-sheet output tray extends out and up to prevent documents from landing on the floor.

The 250-sheet input tray can handle several different types of media thanks to an adjustable paper clasp; think envelopes, transparencies, 4×6 photo paper, cards, etc.

Users will find the USB 2.0 and Ethernet ports on the back of the printer along with the duplexing accessory.

OFFICEJET 6000 PERFORMANCE

Setting up the Officejet 6000

These days, I rarely come across a printer that is hard to set up and the HP Officejet 6000is no exception. Simply follow the quick start guide; it will walk first time users through installing the duplexer, connecting the power cord/adapter, installing the printhead and ink cartridges, and then loading the paper.

If you have the wireless configuration, like us, decide whether it is going to be setup through a wireless network, wired network, or USB connection and then insert the driver CD. The CD will run a wizard based on the option you chose with minimal effort from the user.

Like most of the HP machines I’ve reviewed recently, the wizard will allow users to choose which software they want to download. You only really need the drivers and the HP Imaging Device Functions for the Officejet 6000 to be functional but I would recommend downloading the Photosmart Essential software (if you plan on printing photos), the HP Smart Web Printing, and the Solution Center because all three can enhance the printer rather than just take up space.

Since we have a wireless configuration, that’s how I setup the Officejet 6000. It was fairly easy thanks to the installation CD. I needed the network name, security key and provided USB cord to get the printer setup. The Officejet 6000 also comes with a Wireless Getting Started Guide, if users need additional assistance.

If you don’t feel capable of setting up the printer over your network, HP introduced new supports packsalong with the Officejet 6000 in late . With the wireless packages, HP will send an rep to your location to set the printer up for you.

Ease of use

The Officejet 6000 is a single function printer so it is pretty straight forward. As mentioned previously, the control panel consists of three buttons besides the power button. I liked that the cancel button (the red X) actually canceled a print job immediately instead of after 30 seconds or so.

If you have ever owned or operated an inkjet printer previously, you’ll have no problems installing ink cartridges on the Officejet 6000. There are four cartridges: three dye-based color HP 920 cartridges and one pigment-based HP 920 black cartridges. Each cartridge spot on the printhead is labeled to match the ink with an unique symbol in the specific color.

The inks aren’t only easy to install; you can replace each one when needed with either regular capacity ink or the high capacity ink which can save users money over the long run.

I had no problems printing over our wireless network and found no noticeable print speed loss in comparison to using the wired network connection.

The HP Solution Center for the Officejet 6000 is simple; access downloaded HP software, access printer settings, use HP’s provided marketing program, shop for additional supplies, check printer statues and get support.

IF you decide to bypass all the software during the setup, users can access printer settings through the properties/preference tab in the print menu.

Print tests

My biggest complaint with the Officejet 6000 came when testing the print speeds. The advertised print speed is 32 ppm in draft mode when printing a black text document but I couldn’t get the 6000 to print over 20 ppm, let alone over 30 ppm.

In draft mode, the Officejet 6000 would print an average of 17 ppm with a first page out in nine seconds. Not bad at all for a printer that is selling that can be purchased for less than $100, but no where close to HP’s claims.

HP was more accurate with the laser comparable print speeds; the Officejet 6000 was advertised as printing up to 7 ppm in black or color. I found that the Officejet 6000 printed 9 ppm in normal mode with an average first page out in 13 seconds. When printing in color in normal mode, the 6000 printed 8 ppm on average with a first page out in 17 seconds.

In presentation mode, the Officejet 6000 slowed down to about 2 ppm with a first page out in 32 seconds.

The Officejet 6000 wireless configuration does include automatic duplexing. Printing a 38 page document took almost 13 minutes in normal mode; it took half the time to print a 38 page document in duplexing draft mode.

It printed a 4×6 photo in about 30 seconds depending on the image. The nice thing about the Officejet 6000 is that it doesn’t slow down considerably when printing multiple 4×6 images; I printed three different images in 1:34.

I printed an 8.5×11 photo with the Officejet 6000 in less than a minute and a half, which was pretty impressive for such a small machine.

The Officejet 6000 did live up to the reliability test during my trials; I experienced no printer jams.

Print quality

The Officejet 6000 makes up for what it lacks in speed with excellent print quality. This is the second Officejet I’ve reviewed with the mixed inks (pigment based black, dye based color) and the quality for a $100 machine is unbeatable. I like that HP uses the phrase laser comparable because I can honestly say that the Officejet 6000 prints laser comparable black text documents.

The draft mode quality is good as well, perfect for any sort of average, day-to-day print jobs. Plus, printing in draft mode will perserve the ink, saving you money.

When it comes to color documents, I found that the print quality was good for an inkjet when using plain copy paper but great when using a presentation paper or HP’s Colorlok paper.

I was impressed with the 4×6 photo prints the Officejet 6000 produced; the colors were comparable to a more expensive photo printer and the resolution was good. Not the best photos I’ve seen printed from an HP printer but they were really good for a machine intended for office use (if it is photo printing you want, check out the HP Photosmart Premium Fax).

There was some loss of quality when I printed the 8.5×11 photo. Not bad, but the colors weren’t quite as vibrant and the image didn’t seem quite as focused.

PROS

• Easy to use
• Reasonably priced
• Laser comparable print quality

CONS

• Print speeds slower than advertised

CONCLUSION

The Officejet not print 32 ppm in any mode but it more than makes up for it with excellent print quality, helpful software, intuitive features and a decent price tag.

I’m not sure I’d recommend the Officejet 6000 to a medium sized business only because I’m not sure it is fast enough to handle the large workload. However, in a home office or shared among a few people in a small office, I feel the Officejet 6000 could be a real asset.

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

The Officejet 6000 serieswill be available in . The estimated retail value of the Officejet 6000 is $89 while the Officejet 6000 Wireless comes in at $119.