Rating: 
Summary: Broken Gear
Review: Mine spit a broken gear at me in the 6th month. I'm bummed because I had bought 2 cartridges that will probably sit around until they dry out.
Rating:
Summary: Broken Gear
Review: Mine spit a broken gear at me in the 6th month. I'm bummed because I had bought 2 cartridges that will probably sit around until they dry out.
Rating:
Summary: My printer died too.
Review: My printer died last night. Searching for a solution, I found these posts describing the exact same problem with the carriage. Its very disappointing because I purchased it for the HP name. I used it minimally-- not more than 50 printed pages. I would not recommend this product.
Rating:
Summary: HP 3420
Review: Purchased an HP 3420 at Circuit City 2/16/03. It was manufactured on 11/30/02. On 4/16/03, the plastic gear which is attached to the bottom of the ink cartridge carriage assembly broke; a the part of the plastic piece with the plastic groved gear broke off. The black plastic belt with gear grooves on it would not move without engaging with this plastic gear on the bottom of the ink cartridge carriage assembly. I called HP. It was still under the 90 day warranty. Other HP printers have a one year warranty, if that tells you something. I sent the busted printer to them and they sent me another refurbished 3420 which was manufactured 9/20/02. On 8/8/03, the EXACT same thing happened to this refurbished printer. Since it was out of warranty, HP refused to deal with the problem even though it is extremely obvious that they have a design flaw. This plastic gear should be made of cast aluminum or some other metal which will shed heat and not break or wear. I told them they just lost a long time customer who has two other HP products....one very large ink jet scanner, printer, copying machine and an HP 920. I would rate this 3420 only a half a star. If you buy it, you must get the 3 year HP warranty when you buy it to protect you for the first three years and 3 months you have it. The three year warranty starts after the 90 day original warranty expires.
Rating:
Summary: don't buy it
Review: same problem as everyone else. It'll break down shortly after you buy it, and there is only a ninety day warranty. i hardly used my printer, but after six months (and still on the first set of ink cartridges) the plastic thing broke and the ink cartridges won't move. The 3420 is inexpensive and the print quality is fine for everyday stuff, but not much point saving a few bucks when you have to keep replacing it!
Rating: 
Summary: Compact, but print cost is high. . .
Review: The 3420 is a quality little machine. Unfortunately, the low cost only comes with the purchase of the printer. The #27 and #28 cartridges are inexcusably small. What we have here is classic HP, the lower the price of the printer, the higher the price of the print. The #27 tank is only 10 ml of ink, for 2/3 the cost of the 21 ml #15 black tank used in the 3820. The #28 color tank is only 8 ml, again 2/3 the price of the #78 19 ml used in the 3820. 2/3 the cost, half the ink. . . again, the less the printer costs, the more the ink is. If you do not print much, this is a good unit. It is good for a college student who is using it for papers. It does have decent resolution, but photos are not really an option. If you want lower print cost, spend some more initially. epc
Rating:
Summary: same as everyone else...
Review: the plastic piece that connects the printer cartridge housing to the belt broke. it was already out of warranty (of course). HP should've issued a recall on these things. 0 stars
Rating:
Summary: Light wieght "technology" makes breackage faster!!!
Review: The printer works perfect, prints exceptionally well for the price and has a wonderful light weight feel to it, BUT there is a strong chance it won't last you 6 months even with minimal usage. Please head to the warnings of the other reviews that said it broke on them. It seems a little piece inside of the printer wears and breaks off in no time. These printers are said to have a "light weight technology" more like cheap plastic technology to me. I went through 2 of these printers and similar in one year, first the 3420 and then the 3320 which did the same thing in less than 6 months. I don't do much printing and reading these reviews I realized it's not the users fault. HP is a great brand when it comes to printers, however, I suggest you go with a much higher up printer that will give you your monies worth.
Rating: 
Summary: hp 3420
Review: this is a good printer, with good print quality for letters and pictures. the flaw it has is that the little piece that holds the ink cartridges on to the drive belt breaks off. i have had two of these printers and both had the same problem.
Rating:
Summary: Rip off
Review: This printer is designed to waste ink! You do not have the option of printing only in black ink, so if you print from the internet, you waste colored ink on things you don't want in color. This printer will not operate without a full color cartridge. Obviously, this was designed to make you keep buying more cartridges. It was not designed for your convenience or ease of use. I've used an Epson Stylus Photo 700 since 1997, it has the option of using a black ink default. You control if you print in color or black and white. This printer is fast and the copy is decent, but an obvious ink rip off and I'm not impressed with HP and their ink selling schemes. I'll be glad when it dies. I might give it an early grave. Update: March 10, 2004. It died. I was printing on card stock and something is now jammed and it does not seem fixable. It is not worth the shipping to mail it to someone to try to salvage it. I think I'll take a hammer to it.
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