Hewlett Packard OfficeJet Pro L7680 InkJet Printer
- Black Print Speed: 35 ppm
- Color Print Speed: 15 ppm
- Output Type: Color Printer
- Technology (Detailed): Inkjet
- Printer Type: Workgroup Printer
- All-in-One Functions: Copier Fax Machine Scanner
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User ReviewRead All Reviews »
Way too many creepy crawlies in this Printer.
Pros
Print Quality
Cons
Poor Scanning, Printer Disconnect, Unreliable Software, Does not work unless into 2.0USB
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
I cannot recommend this unit until they fix the bugs. Don?t know when or if it will every happen actually.
The HP Officejet Pro L7680 printer is one of their new line of Officejet printer. The 7680 is the middle model of the 7500's serie.
SPECIFICATIONS:
The HP Officejet Pro L7680 Color All-in-One offers Color printing, color copying, color scanning, color faxing, black-and-white printing, black-and-white copying, black-and-white scanning, black-and-white faxing with duplex printing and 1USB, 1 Ethernet and 1 PictBridge. It has one paper tray and uses 2 printheads with 3 color/1 black ink cartridge. Overall the unit offers all of the nice necessities and functionalities needed to make your home office and even your personal usage very convenient.
The unit it itself is fairly big with a size of 20.91 x 18.35 x 14.02 in at a weight in the 34.94 lb. So it is not a portable printer thus needs a nice strong table to rest on. Design wise, the machine is in a nice looking silver-gray tone with a central console with a 2" display window where you will see the status and menus of the unit.
The Printer is connected USB 2 to an HP Pavilion running VISTA 32bit with 1GB of RAM.
USAGE:
How I will approach this review will not be technical specification review but rather focus on any of the shortcomings that I have been experiencing with the printer. I've had HP printers since I can remember, but unfortunately this is one that has been baffled. It is day and nite from any other HP printers because of it's many technical and functional issues.
THERE IS SOME GOOD:
So before I go with the BAD, I gotta at least talk about the good because there is some when the printer works.
- PRINTING: Overall printing in either Color or Black&White is of very high quality even when kept to the Default Factory Setting. If you move it up a notch to BEST, the results are great. This is what HP printers are known for and this unit continues that tradition. Same comments apply when printing Photos. Obviously we must remember that the paper quality will have an impact on the output and context reason, I use HP Bright White Paper and HP Premium Photo Paper typically.
- SCANNING: Well … it kind of works. But as I said I will start with the good … so yes, scanning using the Document Feeder works fine up to now (flatbed is another story among all the other scanning issues). I can't really say anymore on the positive side of scanning. You can either scan from the front panel buttons or you can use the HP Photosmart software which works fine as long as you figure out how to use it which is not that easy and I am a computer consultant.
- FAXING: Overall this works fine. Standard ways of configuring and menu options are fairly easy to use. But it only worked for 6 months
- DISPLAY: The 2.4" display on the front of the unit is convenient and easy to read. All the necessary information is displayed in a very visual way and are, for the most part, intuitive since they follow a standard logic of a printer's features. Much better than your typical 2 line display.
- DUPLEX PRINTING: Works great. The unit will make sure it waits a few seconds in order to ensure that the ink is dry enough while printing so I've had no unnecessary smudges. Great for the environment though I recycle all my paper.
THE ISSUES
As I mentioned earlier in my review, the L7680 is a very disappointing printer due to numerous technical issues and incompatibilities which have no resolution as of yet.
- DEVICE DISCONNECTED: The main frustration with the printer is the issue of having the unit Disconnect. For no apparent reasons, the Printer will stop communicating with your Computer thus becoming standalone and this even while printing a report. The result is that any unprinted reports will remain in your queue and even if you cancel the unfinished job, and you shutdown and power up the unit or even physically disconnect the USB cable and reconnect, the unit MAY show a status of reconnected but in actuality it remains standalone and your printout will not restart. I have tried all USB ports on my computer, tried both USB port on the printer, tried several USB cables but with no results. The only way I was able to find to temporarily reconnect and this confirmed by HP Help Desk, is to fully reboot the computer every time. I was informed that this is a known bug. So you can imagine that this issue has a repercussion on the overall functionality of the printer thus impacting the Scanning feature which, when disconnected from a computer, will not give you the menu option to scan to PAINT or any other PC software.
NOTE: Upon further testing (and way more than I should to be honest) I have found out that if this printer is NOT connected to a device that is 2.0 and above, it will give you the disconnect problems. I have tested it now for afew months when plugged into a certified (and I made sure of that) 2.0 USB connector and that issue seems to have been resolved. Just a word of warning
- SCANNING FLATBED: There are several ways to scan using the L7680 but one that fails every time is scanning from the Flatbed using the SCAN MENU on the Printer's Control Panel. What happens is that only parts of your document (and I say Document which could be a paper, a photo or any other type of media you want to scan) will be scanned. I spent several hours with the HP Help Desk and again with not results. A Case is open and will need to be further investigated. There are ways around it though. Scanning using the Feeder will work every time (and in case you are wondering, the difference is that the Light will move all the way to the left of the flatbed and will remain there when you use the Feeder compared to when you use the flatbed, the light will move from right to left and back). The other way, and this works for any pics, is to use the HP Photosmart Software and use the "Capture" option which will then give you several options which one of them is to scan the image. Through the software the flatbed scan will work.
- MEDIA GUIDES IN PAPER TRAY: are WAY too small. I do not have large fingers and I find so annoying to use. You gotta push and move but it does not respond like you want to. Mind you this is a minor issue but still bothers me.
- FAX: Well it was great till it lasted. Unfortunately the bulb and something else which I don't know but I can tell you the screaching sound it makes, blew up after 6 months usage. Sure they will replace it because it is under warranty but still.
- CALL CENTER: I have to mention it here and unfortunately this is a standard in the industry but the call center is poor. On the scanning issues, I was told that make sure to clean my flatbed … I mean come on … the issue had nothing to do with that and I didn't feel that the Staff wanted to really help me. To make matters worse, even when you get a Case Number assigned with a direct contact, you can only call on weekdays and I've consistently been getting a "Full Voice Mail message and that I need to call back later".
BOTTOM LINE:
Based on the frustration I am experiencing I cannot recommend this unit until they fix the bugs. Don't know when or if it will every happen actually. I will keep on using it until the warranty expires and will push HP till then but after that, I will need to seriously think what will be my next move.
SPECIFICATIONS:
The HP Officejet Pro L7680 Color All-in-One offers Color printing, color copying, color scanning, color faxing, black-and-white printing, black-and-white copying, black-and-white scanning, black-and-white faxing with duplex printing and 1USB, 1 Ethernet and 1 PictBridge. It has one paper tray and uses 2 printheads with 3 color/1 black ink cartridge. Overall the unit offers all of the nice necessities and functionalities needed to make your home office and even your personal usage very convenient.
The unit it itself is fairly big with a size of 20.91 x 18.35 x 14.02 in at a weight in the 34.94 lb. So it is not a portable printer thus needs a nice strong table to rest on. Design wise, the machine is in a nice looking silver-gray tone with a central console with a 2" display window where you will see the status and menus of the unit.
The Printer is connected USB 2 to an HP Pavilion running VISTA 32bit with 1GB of RAM.
USAGE:
How I will approach this review will not be technical specification review but rather focus on any of the shortcomings that I have been experiencing with the printer. I've had HP printers since I can remember, but unfortunately this is one that has been baffled. It is day and nite from any other HP printers because of it's many technical and functional issues.
THERE IS SOME GOOD:
So before I go with the BAD, I gotta at least talk about the good because there is some when the printer works.
- PRINTING: Overall printing in either Color or Black&White is of very high quality even when kept to the Default Factory Setting. If you move it up a notch to BEST, the results are great. This is what HP printers are known for and this unit continues that tradition. Same comments apply when printing Photos. Obviously we must remember that the paper quality will have an impact on the output and context reason, I use HP Bright White Paper and HP Premium Photo Paper typically.
- SCANNING: Well … it kind of works. But as I said I will start with the good … so yes, scanning using the Document Feeder works fine up to now (flatbed is another story among all the other scanning issues). I can't really say anymore on the positive side of scanning. You can either scan from the front panel buttons or you can use the HP Photosmart software which works fine as long as you figure out how to use it which is not that easy and I am a computer consultant.
- FAXING: Overall this works fine. Standard ways of configuring and menu options are fairly easy to use. But it only worked for 6 months
- DISPLAY: The 2.4" display on the front of the unit is convenient and easy to read. All the necessary information is displayed in a very visual way and are, for the most part, intuitive since they follow a standard logic of a printer's features. Much better than your typical 2 line display.
- DUPLEX PRINTING: Works great. The unit will make sure it waits a few seconds in order to ensure that the ink is dry enough while printing so I've had no unnecessary smudges. Great for the environment though I recycle all my paper.
THE ISSUES
As I mentioned earlier in my review, the L7680 is a very disappointing printer due to numerous technical issues and incompatibilities which have no resolution as of yet.
- DEVICE DISCONNECTED: The main frustration with the printer is the issue of having the unit Disconnect. For no apparent reasons, the Printer will stop communicating with your Computer thus becoming standalone and this even while printing a report. The result is that any unprinted reports will remain in your queue and even if you cancel the unfinished job, and you shutdown and power up the unit or even physically disconnect the USB cable and reconnect, the unit MAY show a status of reconnected but in actuality it remains standalone and your printout will not restart. I have tried all USB ports on my computer, tried both USB port on the printer, tried several USB cables but with no results. The only way I was able to find to temporarily reconnect and this confirmed by HP Help Desk, is to fully reboot the computer every time. I was informed that this is a known bug. So you can imagine that this issue has a repercussion on the overall functionality of the printer thus impacting the Scanning feature which, when disconnected from a computer, will not give you the menu option to scan to PAINT or any other PC software.
NOTE: Upon further testing (and way more than I should to be honest) I have found out that if this printer is NOT connected to a device that is 2.0 and above, it will give you the disconnect problems. I have tested it now for afew months when plugged into a certified (and I made sure of that) 2.0 USB connector and that issue seems to have been resolved. Just a word of warning
- SCANNING FLATBED: There are several ways to scan using the L7680 but one that fails every time is scanning from the Flatbed using the SCAN MENU on the Printer's Control Panel. What happens is that only parts of your document (and I say Document which could be a paper, a photo or any other type of media you want to scan) will be scanned. I spent several hours with the HP Help Desk and again with not results. A Case is open and will need to be further investigated. There are ways around it though. Scanning using the Feeder will work every time (and in case you are wondering, the difference is that the Light will move all the way to the left of the flatbed and will remain there when you use the Feeder compared to when you use the flatbed, the light will move from right to left and back). The other way, and this works for any pics, is to use the HP Photosmart Software and use the "Capture" option which will then give you several options which one of them is to scan the image. Through the software the flatbed scan will work.
- MEDIA GUIDES IN PAPER TRAY: are WAY too small. I do not have large fingers and I find so annoying to use. You gotta push and move but it does not respond like you want to. Mind you this is a minor issue but still bothers me.
- FAX: Well it was great till it lasted. Unfortunately the bulb and something else which I don't know but I can tell you the screaching sound it makes, blew up after 6 months usage. Sure they will replace it because it is under warranty but still.
- CALL CENTER: I have to mention it here and unfortunately this is a standard in the industry but the call center is poor. On the scanning issues, I was told that make sure to clean my flatbed … I mean come on … the issue had nothing to do with that and I didn't feel that the Staff wanted to really help me. To make matters worse, even when you get a Case Number assigned with a direct contact, you can only call on weekdays and I've consistently been getting a "Full Voice Mail message and that I need to call back later".
BOTTOM LINE:
Based on the frustration I am experiencing I cannot recommend this unit until they fix the bugs. Don't know when or if it will every happen actually. I will keep on using it until the warranty expires and will push HP till then but after that, I will need to seriously think what will be my next move.
