Summary: great bang for the $$$
Comment: I was shocked at how well my digital photos came out with this printer. I will use my digital camera more now because of this printer. These photos look as good as regular photos do from a rolled filmed camera. can't say enough about the awsome quality of the photos. I'm using hp high gloss photo paper.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A dandy little workhorse that I don't leave home without!
Comment: As Robert Redford said in the film "Out of Africa" (speaking of a phonograph) "they've finally come up with something useful!" That is my opinion of the HP Photosmart 145. This is a dandy little workhourse that will generate countless 4 x 6 photographs from your digital camera with no hassle or fuss. The HP 145 is a small, tight little package that you can easily pack away and take along on trips.
The HP 145 really helps make the "digital darkroom" a reality, even during trips. I take mine on my boat together with a small laptop computer, and can generate high-quality 4 x 6 photos right on the spot, after taking shots with various digital cameras. The HP 145 has a built-in CF card reader and also reads various other popular media and you can easily print directly from the CF card or other media even without the laptop too--the printer will print out a nice little thumbnail "index" showing little minatures of the photos each bearing an index number. You can then select and print the full photo. This also means that you don't need to bring a card reader along if you have your HP 145 since it functions as a digital media reader. Typically I will download my digital photos to my notebook computer's hard disk using my HP 145, view the photos on the notebook screen for printing, and then print selected photos with the HP 145. Great fun!
My HP 145 installed effortlessly on my IBM Thinkpad notebook computer (IBM TP 600E) running Windows XP, and is now my main printer for 4 x 6 photos and of course is the only printer I take along on trips. It is great fun to go on trips, take photos, and then give friends nicely framed photos the next day, or later the same day. Frankly, I never realized how much fun it was to have a printer along on trips. Most printers nowadays are big and bulky. This one is not.
I went with the 145 rather than the 245, the latter being the same printer but with an LCD color display. I decided that I wouldn't get 50 bucks worth of value out of the LCD display since a) I always bring my laptop along anyway since that is where I always download my CF card pictures to for storage on trips (that way you can re-use the CF card the next day); and b) the 145 has that neat index printing feature anyway, if you want to print without a computer. You decide. Either way, these are dandy little printers and I will likely never take another trip without bringing my HP 145 along. That is the hallmark of a truly useful product!
Customer Rating:
Summary: the whole family is printing photos at home!!!!!!
Comment: This printer is so easy to use. We had the printer set up within 10 minutes and printed photos using the few pieces of photo paper included with the printer. We're so excited we need to order more photo paper so we can print more family photos! The printer easily accepts the memory card from our HP camera. This is so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: This is a great gadget
Comment: It's easy to use and produces nice looking prints. Its small size makes it easy to take to parties along with a digital camera for nearly instant prints. Cons: Costly supplies (ink and paper) and the paper feed mechanism can be a bit fussy sometimes.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Owner / Printer which to blame?
Comment: The printer is supposed to pull the paper out the back end then it feeds it back through while it's printing. I give this printer 5 stars, sounds like the person who wrote the review who said the item had problems straight out of the box needs to realize the only problem with the HP printer is the person who purchased it!!!!