HP C8180 -- All-in-One (Plus) Reviews

HP C8180 -- All-in-One (Plus)
By MIKE PASINI
Editor
The Imaging Resource Digital Photography Newsletter
The HP C8180 is the company's top of the line all-in-one device, mating a 9600-dpi scanner capable of both reflective and transparency scanning with a printer that also includes CD/DVD burning and label printing with LightScribe. But it also wins the Ms. Congeniality Award for its touchscreen interface, card reader and its connectivity options: Hi-Speed USB, Ethernet, PictBridge, Wireless G and Bluetooth.


The C8180 has no standalone fax capability. It can, however, scan legal-size documents and print photos with HP's Vivera six-color ink set. And it can also print lined school paper (graph paper, notebook paper, task checklist and music paper) right from the control panel.

It isn't the least expensive all-in-one we've reviewed, but the $399.99 printer is currently available with an $80 instant rebate from HP for $319.99 (although we've seen it as low as $239.99).



CONCLUSION | Back to Contents

Pro: Con:
Unsurpassed connectivity: WiFi, USB, Bluetooth, Ethernet
Six-color Vivera inks
Large 3.5-inch LCD for image review
Great touch menu system
Slide and 35mm film scanning to networked computers or card reader
Card reader also stores scans
CD/DVD writer with LightScribe makes photo backups easy
Slow print times at high quality
Confused CD/DVD function
Paper Tray is awkward
Only 20 sheets of photo paper at a time
LightScribe labeling was disappointing


The HP Photosmart C8180 All-in-One printer is a complex device that is actually pretty simple to use. A lot of the credit for that goes to the wonderful touchscreen menu system HP has designed. You need no training to figure it out. And that's saying a lot because there are a lot of things you can do with this printer from backing up your memory card to a CD or DVD to saving 18.4-MB scans of your film strip images to a thumbdrive.

Even better is the unit's connectivity options. With USB and Ethernet it has wired connections covered for both the home user and the office network. But with Bluetooth and WiFi, it also offers a convenience factor that surpasses its competitors.

So what about image quality? We were generally very pleased with the six-color prints that came out of the C8180. In some cases we preferred the C8180 prints to the pigment-based B9180 prints of the same image. So no complaints about print image quality.

The C8180 does the job in an imperfect world. It was a valued assistant here for the several months we tested it.