Rating: 
Summary: Great for Photos, but....
Review: I have had my 7960 Photo printer one week, and was knocked out by the quality of the photos it prints! It is great to be able to just remove the card from my Minolta 7i digital camera and insert it into the slot on the 7960 and print excellent photos that match any from a commercial Photo Lab in minutes. The photo printer that I was using before is the Canon S9000, which I still have, but it has to be used with the camera hooked up to the computer and the procedure from there was complicated to use, though the finished product was good. But something had messed up the connection to the computer and we were not able to use it anymore, as we aren't very computer savvy, so it was easier to just buy a new photo printer that was much simpler to operate, and the HP 7960 is definitely the one, it couldn't be simlper nor easier to use. But...I gave up my old HP
2000C Professional Printer to have room for this one, and it was my workhorse printer for over four years, and still going strong when we unplugged it and gave to a granddaughter. Now I wish I had it back, because this 7960 will not "do" envelopes. I have tried everything, even calling HP tech support. After almost an hour of holding and being shuttled back and forth from one operator to another, saying they would connect me to the 7960 Printer technician, I finally was connected to a tech in India, of all places. The lady was very nice, and I could understand most of what she said (though not everything). I explained my problem to her, she told me to do exactly what I had been doing already, and after about 20 minutes of trying different things that she told me to do, none of her solutions worked. I don't think she had even seen a 7960 Photo Printer, maybe a photo of one, but it was hard to explain to her how it worked in connection with placing the envelopes in the tray. She finally directed me to an HP website online, a "Trouble Shoot" Site, and it had basically the same info she had been telling me to do, that I had already done before calling HP, and it still will not print envelopes! I get the message "Printer is out of Paper." There is no way to place envelopes in this printer where the printer will recognize that it is an envelope. So if you want to print envelopes on your printer, have an older model as a standby, because this one sure won't do it! But if you only want to print photos, go for it, you can't do better. Now I will call Canon to see if their techs can tell me how to do envelopes on a Canon S9000.
Rating: 
Summary: A Fine Printer, But With a Few Reservations
Review: I have had my HP 7960 Photosmart photo printer just a short time now, but have printed at least a hundred pictures on it. I had, and still have, an old HP 895cse Deskjet printer, which gave excellent pictures, even though it was not marketed as a photo printer, simply a general-purpose inkjet printer. The 7960 is at least as good as, probably better than the 895cse. I also had been using the Kodak Picture Maker machine, the kind they have in drugstores and supermarkets, to make good prints on, carrying in a handful of edited pictures on three and one-half inch diskettes, the kind you use in your 'A' drive. But it has been getting increasingly difficult to find Kodak machines which would take these diskettes, anymore. I did print one picture on the 7960, which I had also printed on the Kodak, and it was at least as good, no better, no worse. This is a subjective judgment, of course. It was of two children riding a brass rhinoceros in the Omaha, Nebraska zoo.
There are a few quirky things about the 7960 printer. The first one I discovered is that it made the CPU usage of my computer go up to around fifty percent, from its usual five or ten percent. This was when the printer was doing nothing, in fact not even turned on. This slowed other operations down prohibitively, and probably caused one or two crashes I had, when on the Internet. Ultimately, I found that I could unplug the USB cable when I was not using the printer, and all would be well. However, I choose to plug or unplug this cable only when the computer is turned off. I did find I could turn the printer on while the computer was running, but not off. It would crash the computer to do so. So far, this has been a workable arrangement, only plugging in the USB cable when I needed the printer. However, it gets a little dangerous to edit a photo while the printer is on, USB plugged in, even though not printing. I should add that my computer is five years old, and uses a 500 MHz processor. This problem may not even exist with a more modern computer using a 2000 MHz processor. I cannot say for sure.
Another quirk was that when printing envelopes I would enter the size of the envelope into MS Word, but get strange results or no results at all while printing the envelope. I found I had to also enter the size of the envelope into the printer software, something I did not have to do with the older 895cse printer. This was no inconvenience, once I got used to it, but it did take some getting used-to. Also, when entering margins I usually have to tell the printer the paper or envelope is an eighth of an inch wider than it actually is, and that the lower or left margin is one eighth of an inch wider than I actually expect. This is to center the image on the paper stock within the margins.
I have not actually used the printer's facility to read from camera memory cards. My memory card does fit the printer, but, to tell the truth, I hate to even unplug it from my camera. It is one of these Compact Flash memories, with the little tiny pins the diameter of a human hair. The newer ones with gold plated edge contacts may be less risky, but my camera does not use these. I really prefer to edit pictures in Paint Shop Pro 7, and to print from that software.
People complain that this printer uses a lot of ink. It probably does, I cannot say for sure. Hobbies are usually terribly expensive, and printing photos is no exception. My ordinary method of doing pictures is to buy 8.5 by 11 inch paper, and cut it to either 4.25 by 6.75 inches, three of these to a sheet of printer paper; or cut it to 5.5 by 8.5 inches, two pieces to a sheet of printer paper. I print on these pieces and trim off the white margin with my paper trimmer. This makes nice 5 by 7 pictures, but only 3.75 by 6 inch pictures instead of 4 by 6 inch pictures (on the 895cse printer). I have, now, found I can trick the 7960 printer into printing full-size 4 by 6 inch pictures by telling it I am using 4.5 by 6.75 inch paper. It then prints with one-eighth of an inch margins in the 4-inch dimension, which I trim off with the paper trimmer.
This makes the paper for a 5 by 7 print only about twenty or twenty-five cents per sheet at current special prices for printer paper. Add even fifty cents for ink, and it results in a seventy-five cents price for 5 by 7 pictures, equal to the best of Walgreen's prints, which cost two dollars each, normally. Not too shabby.
I have an exquisite old black-and-white print of a young woman, taken in the 1890s, which I scanned, photo-edited and printed. The 7960 did very well printing this black-and-white. This is one of these old pictures where even the eyes are clear and precise; you can see the pupils and irises just fine. In fact, while editing the scan of the picture I saw that the woman was wearing an engagement ring, but no wedding ring. This is significant inasmuch as my wife is the granddaughter of this woman. My guess is that the picture was taken to commemorate her engagement to my wife's grandfather.
All in all, I recommend the HP 7960. I cannot compare it to the Epson or Cannon offerings, having never used either one.
Rating:
Summary: Great Printer for a Great Price
Review: I have had the HP Photosmart 7960 for 2 weeks now and love it. I upgraded from the HP Photosmart 1218 and can see an immediate difference. The pictures are much crisper with more depth and vibrance.I typically use my 7960 for day to day printing and on FastDraft, I'm able to print in black and white and in color at amazing speeds. Just a great printer all around.
Especially if you can catch it on sale (I paid $269 thru Amazon) and then got a $40 credit to use on anything I want. Not to shabby!
Rating:
Summary: Good printer
Review: I have had this printer for about a month now. I would rate this very good. I have been printing 11 x 8.5 inch pictures and the colors are bold, and the picturs come out very sharp. The paper you use does make a difference as the pictures are even more sharp with the HP glossy paper. Everyone I show these pictures to is very impressed by the quality this printer can produce. Be warned though, at the size that I am printing, the black photo ink cartridge(usually 1/3 full) that came with my printer is almost used up after about ten or twelve 11 x 8.5 inch full DPI pictures. I expected to use a lot of ink though at those print sizes on the max DPI and am more concerned with printing large, vibrant photos than conserving ink.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice printer but...
Review: I just got my 7760 last week and am still playing around with it. No complaints so far except for 1 annoying problem - 4x6 borderless photos are cropped by the printer. That is, the image you see in the software is not what you get - some of it gets chopped off. HP said this is the nautre of the printer - a small amount will be cropped when you print borderless. This does not happen when you print with borders. If you are a stickler, you will not be happy about this.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Printer !
Review: I just received my HP Photosmart 7960 printer today and love it. I had it set up and running in a matter of minutes. Very easy to understand and operate. Even had it e-mailing selected pictures in no time. A very good product at a very reasonable price. You just can't go wrong buying an HP printer.
Rating:
Summary: UNBELIEVABLE PICTURES
Review: I just saw a demo on this printer. UNBELIEVABLE pictures. Truly fantastic. The unit is extremely sturdy and it is so, so quiet. A full 8.5 x 11 picture comes up within 3 minutes. It takes all the digital cards on the market and the buttons on the front are easy to use as is the fantastic software that comes with it.
Must buy.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good and Highly Recommended Printer
Review: I own a Canon Digital Rebel and needed a new printer that could handle printing high quality photos with a good life span. The HP Photosmart 7960 handles picture from my camera with no problems whatsoever. The prints come out better than from a photo finisher and thats with just using the settings from the printer software; I have not even begun to use Photoshop on the pictures! I checked out the Epson Stylus R800 as well, but for an extra $100 you actually lose some features with the Epson. The R800 prints will last 80 years on Epson Paper and the HP Photosmart 7960 prints will last 73 years on HP plus paper...no deal breaker there! In addition the Epson does not have flash card slots...but the HP does! The HP Photosmart 7960 inks are a bit pricey...especially the No.59 Grey Cartridge for photos. I printed only (3)-4"x8" prints and at least 10% of the cartridge is gone already. But from what I can see the other manufacturers are playing the same games with ink. Overall, I highly recommend this printer for its features, software, price and high quality photo printing! The only con as I mentioned would be the price of ink, especially the No.59 Grey Cartridge for photos. Good luck and happy printing!
Rating:
Summary: I LOVE MY PRINTER
Review: I purchased my printer in Jan. and have just used my first ink cartridges. Please keep in mind I do not care about speed or space. I simply wanted a printer that prints quality prints. I generally print 8x10 and 4x6 prints. Here are the pros and cons:
PROS:
* I can not tell the difference between my professionally printed pictures and copies from my printer. No one can believe that they came from a home printer.
*Beautiful black and white prints. (I love black and white so having the photo gray was the decision maker for my purchase)
*Easy to use printer and easy to install software. Effortless to change and replace the ink cartridges.
*Coloring is excellent.
*I generally use with Camedia and Photoshop however it is nice to be able to print right from the printer when you are in a hurry.
*Prints regular documents quickly.
*I like being able to choose what quality ink output I want. If I am experimenting in Photoshop I like printing at a lower quality so I do not waste ink. For good prints I use the high end mode.
*This printer has never jammed therefore I do not waste costly paper. (I buy the HP premium matte)
CONS:
*Price. Expensive printer, ink and paper. (But worth it)
*I notice on some of my prints there are roller marks. (Faint lines that go through the pictures.) They only appear randomly and a lot of the time I have to look for them. When the ink is low I notice them more. I was aware of this problem prior to my purchase and still made the purchase.
*The ink takes a little bit to become completely dry and sometimes I smudge it.
Overall, Great purchase. I only buy HP printers and can not compare to other brands. I have always had good luck with them, why change?
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Printer
Review: I really love this printer. I have had it for almost a year now. It does a beautiful job on color 8x10's and prints fantastic black and white photos. Switching to the 56 cartridge makes it an excellent text printer as well. (It ships with all 4 cartridges). The 4x6 prints look much better than the ones from a photo shop or from the Kodak kiosk at Best Buy.
Both the Epson and Canon 8 color printers will not print true black and white photos. They have a pink, salmon or pale blue cast. This is also true of their 6 color printers. This printer is also substantially less expensive than Epson and Canon 8-color printers ($399 and $349 respectively). So whether you need or want the color LCD or card reader is moot. This printer is between a $120 and $170 less than its Epson and Canon competitors. Those printers also will not print regular text in sharp, clear, 1200x1200 dpi pigment based resolution. The text prints from their photo printers tend to have a dark grey tone, rather than crisp black because they use dye based, rather than pigment based black ink for text printing. Switching cartridges with the HP 7960 allows you to have the best ink type for your print job.
Finally, if you are looking at a Canon, be careful with the ink tanks. I have a friend who wasn't paying close attention and mixed up the color tanks and ended up sending the wrong color through the print head. She had to take out the print head and wash it for quite awhile in tap water. Then she had to prime (charge) all of the tanks several times to get the water out of the system. What a hassle. There are no keys or notches to prevent you from making this mistake on a Canon. The Epson tanks are keyed so this mistake can't be made and it doesn't matter with an HP. You can't ruin the print heads with HP because they are built into the ink tank.
No printer on the market is as versatile and easy to use. No printer on the market can do so many different things well. When I looked at the reviews in Consumers Reports there was not a big difference in print costs and there didn't seem to be a big savings because of individual ink tanks. Finally, the pictures will last longer. Canon only claims 25 years for framed pictures, while HP claims more than 70 years. Consumers Reports also says that Epson and HP are more fade resistant than Canon.
Color shading and tones is a personal thing. I suggest you take a picture you like with skin tones and shades down to a computer store and print out a 4x6 on each printer and see which one you like the best. After all what you like is the most important thing. All of the sample prints from all of the manufacturers are obviously skewed to present their features and benefits in the best light possible.
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