HP Smart Tank Plus 5106
Good value for money, but…
11/05/2023 22:08
I picked up the HP Smart Tank Plus 5106 to replace an aging HP Smart Tank 655. I was pleasantly surprised by how compact the packaging was, compared to the previous model. Setting up the printer was a breeze via the app. I had it filled with ink and printing in under 10 minutes.
I've tried printing pictures, diagrams and documents so far and I've been very happy with the print quality. It's not particularly fast, nor is it unreasonably slow, but speed is not too important to me. I've used the scanner functionality via the HP Smart app on Windows, which worked well and I was very happy with the scan quality. I was also pleased to see my Android devices pick up the printer and I've printed a bunch of documents from there too without issues.
However, all of this isn't without some oddities from HP. I was very disappointed to find that the printer does not have an RJ45 port to hook it up to the network switch in my office. I was then even more disappointed to find that it didn't support 5GHz wifi. My 2.4GHz wifi is on a separate network where I keep my IoT devices and it didn't play well. In the end, I had to setup another 2.4GHz wireless network on my main network to get the printer connectivity to be stable. Having said that, my setup is fairly esoteric so is unlikely to affect many home users.
When I added the printer to my wife's phone, she needed to download and install the HP Smart app too, which was slightly frustrating. HP are very insistent on you logging in to use basic functionality - I wouldn't mind so much if it didn't keep logging me out!
I managed to put the printer into wireless scanning mode and set it up again from the app, but it took me a lot longer than it should. I was looking at the manual from the HP website, but the lights weren't flashing as it told me they should. I think it's rare that you'll need to do this, but if you do, you might get a little frustrated!
Overall, I'm impressed with the printer and it's a step up from my previous generation of Smart Tank printers. I just wish the HP Smart app wasn't required as much as it is after setup.
thesm
Didcot , Spojené království
Age: 36
Gender: Female