Week 2 has come and gone in my 6 week HP Virtual Focus group.
I have been printing like a madwomen lately, my new obsession is online coupons!
I have been printing online coupons for awhile now, but not to the extent as I have been in the last week. Online coupons can save you a TON of money on groceries and other household necessities. In the past I would only print the coupons I had to print because my printer was pretty awful at printing in color and I had to do it in black and white. For the record, my previous printer was neither a Kodak or HP.
With both of the printers I have noticed my coupons printing crisp and clear. This is a necessity to making the barcode scan properly at the store.
I printed over 100 coupons this past week and I got my first notice from the HP Photosmart that one of the ink cartridges is running low. I believe it is black. It looks like I will officially have to change my first cartridge next week.
The quality of the printed coupons has been about the same from both printers, with a slight advantage going to the color of the prints with the HP. The color seems a little more bold. The same paper is being used in both the Kodak ESP 7 and the HP Photosmart C6380.
As stated last week I did the true printer test of 8.5 x 11 inch prints. I was actually surprised at the results. While I was betting on liking the HP Photosmart prints better (as I did the previous week) I kind of like the Kodak prints better. The Kodak ESP 7 printed the same style as the smaller 4 x 6 inch prints, meaning it doesn’t necessarily look like lab quality, but more like printed from home. However, the print came out lighter and cleaner looking than the HP, which still had a lab quality look even with the low black ink. I am sure with a bit of editing I could make the HP print perfect, but I just left it on default setting.
Then it occurred to me. I am printing each printers prints with special photo paper for each printer. The HP Photosmart has HP Advanced Photo Paper, and the Kodak ESP 7 has Kodak Premium Photo Paper. One of my main concerns with the Kodak ESP is that it looks like it was printed from home rather than the lab. I did a test and made a print with the Kodak printer on the HP Paper. The result was that the HP paper is FAR superior than the Kodak paper. The lesson here is that no matter how great your printer is, the results can come down to paper quality. I highly recommend the HP photo paper no matter what printer you use. It is of a heavier weight and quality.
So this weeks winner is HP Advanced Photo Paper. The 8.5 x 11 print test is kind of up in the air. I still love the lab quality of the HP, but I like the print result of the Kodak due to the lighting differences.
Next week 3, more photo printing fun with holiday gifts!
Check out HP Virtual Focus Group – Week 1
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