Customer Reviews
A really great printer..until it breaks. 
2005-12-24
The Photosmart 7260 is a fabulous printer when it comes to print quality. When using the correct paper (I use the HP Premium Plus) you can get true photograph quality prints from your digital images. I really couldn't ask for better quality from that standpoint. The downside: I managed to get about 150 photos out of this printer before it decided to break on me. The mechanical gearing inside is loud and now gives me the most of my troubles. Often, the cartridges get stuck/jammed and a reset is required. Most recently, the printer color has gone bad and the printer prints images much more red than they should be and I have not been able to fix this even with the help of HP. The price is right, but with the troubles I've had over a year of ownership, I would consider other printers before this one.
Excellent! 
2005-04-30
I bought the 7200 about 6 months ago, and as I'm used to work heavily with my computer and the printer, so I can say I know a bit of writing reviews about it. And I have to say, I'd not buy other printer for a long time. The user guide is perfect, it prints very nicely, and its very light. Now I'm printing photos, and the results were very satisfying too. I recommend it.
preforms well for me so far 
2005-04-06
I had a problem with the paper jamming on me also, until I realized it was a user malfunction, not the printer's fault. Now I have no problems with the printer at all. I haven't used it that much so far, but it does very well when I do use it.
If I was a company selling products like this I would get very frustrated at simple, impatient consumers blaming their problems on the product when a lot of the times it is simply user error.
Also, if one looks at the specs for this printer you would see it is not meant for heavy use. Says 1000 pages per month. We also have a 5550, not a photo printer as it has no memory card slots, but prints faster at the same resolution and is meant to be used up to 5000 pages per month.
The photosmart 7260 is a much quieter printer, and jerks around much less also. So far I'm happy with it. HP printers print heads are built into the ink cartridges, so if you have a problem with the print head you just have to replace the cartridge. I believe HP is the only brand that can make that claim, which may very well save you some money in the long run also.
A Frustrating Printer 
2005-04-03
I've found this printer to be, overall, annoying and frustrating. The paper tray will not hold a large amount of paper, necessitating frequent refills. Print quality is decent, but banding appears when printing some pictures.
The HP software included with the printer is awful. It runs three (3) programs in the background, when only one would suffice. When ink is low, it is curteous enough to remind you to refill it EVERY SINGLE TIME you start the computer or attempt to print something. Turning the printer on and off is a hassle, as the button will only respond if the printer is not busy; this means that everytime it's locked up or confused (by no means a rare occasion), you must unplug the printer to reset it. Plugging it back in will automatically cause the printer to turn back on, whether you want it to or not. Turning the printer on means that the ink writer inside must move around pointlessly for a few minutes before you can print. If the printer happens to be folded up (one of the best features for those of us with small desks) and automatically turns on, the writer will bang up against the paper tray until you unfold it, as it isn't intelligent enough to sense when the tray is folded up inside.
I've had problems such as these with every HP I've had. Next time I'm going with a different brand.
Slow, Very slow............ 
2005-01-11
I am very disappointed in this printer. It is the slowest printer that I have ever owned. It takes forever to print out a page at the normal print setting. The print head will print one line and then pause for a second and then print the next lint and pause etcetera... etcetera, until the document is printed. I have spoken with tech support and after trying several different fixes there has been no improvement. I have tried this printer on several different machines running Windows XP PRO via a USB Cable and get the same results. I have to print in draft mode to get any kind of normal speed out of it. If you are the type of person who doesn't mind a painfully slow printer (like watching the grass grow) then I guess that this printer will suffice. But if you want any kind of productivity out of one then I suggest you look else ware.
What do I do with $200 worth of useless cartridges? 2007-07-16
It worked for years, nicely printing many photos but...
Problems:
If for some reason if the Mac or PC didn't understand what 4x6 was, the printer would go ahead and print full width even when I had 4x6 photo paper loaded, it would basically spread ink all over the innards making a mess which I couldn't clean up, occasionally leaving black smudges on other prints.
Printing via Mac or PC was always a gamble. I never knew if it would actually print the size I wanted, costing time, and ink.
One day recently, the printer stopped working. It stopped feeding paper. Tech support chat Charles said it would be cheaper to buy a new printer than fix it. They suggested a bunch of printers > $100. But they wouldn't take back the $200 worth of cartridges I was expecting to use on my dead printer. I wouldn't get another printer that uses these cartridges since they don't have separate color ink cartridges, which is a smarter way to go, especially when they cost way too much.
I don't feel right about throwing away this printer. Nor do I think it's fair that we have to pay this expensive subscription to print cartridges for the shoddy products. It's an ingenious way to make money, but enough is enough.
I don't appreciate the cost of these cartridges. I think we're subsidizing their crummy products. I don't want to buy a printer every three years of infrequent use. I want a printer that works well and a warranty to back it up and cartridges that cost what they should.
not bad for what I paid 2007-03-20
I got this printer new for $50 over a year ago and I am pretty happy with it as far as printing photos go. It would be a lousy printer if it was the only one I had and I needed to print out other jobs because it tends to print one page then I have to go through a bunch of troubleshooting to get it to do another page. I only print occasional photos on this printer and it does beautiful work there. I am also amazed that the ink that came with it is still being used after all this time. My previous inkjet printer was an Epson and the ink would dry up if I didn't print something once a week.
Need a Reliable printer? Look elsewhere, no durability here 2006-09-19
I've had the HP Photosmart 7260 for about one year and have experienced similar problems: Cradle sticking, Paper jamming, etc. Envelopes never print straight.
Last night the printer decided to no longer accept the ink cartridges (which are new) and the cradle is stuck. I expect a printer to last longer than this and was dissapointed given the repuation of HP.
This wouldn't be such a problem, but I operate a small home business relying on this printer and this is more than inconvenient. I wish these corporations could stand behind a product.
Don't know what everyone else is complaining about . . . 2006-06-14
I have owned the 7260 for roughly 2 years, I use it as the primary photo printer for my photography business and have not had the experience that everyone else seems to be having. I think the main problem is that people are purching the 7260 for use as a document printer, which it is not. The name is very descriptive of the printer's primary function: PHOTOsmart. I have a second printer (HP deskjet 3850) for dedicated document printing. I have printed hundreds of pages with this printer with very few problems.
The only trouble I have had is that the 7260 isn't recognized when plugged into my new workstation (a Compaq SR1630NX). I have to force it to recognize it using brute force and ignorance, but am able to get it to work.
Paper Eater 2006-02-07
My girlfriend and I used this printer for less than a year before it began to give us paper troubles. It started by losing its alignment and then began to mangle the paper on its way through the printer. We both need to print plain boarding passes so you can imagine the trouble this causes when the scanners at the airports can't read the printed pass. We recommend that you pay a little extra and get a printer that isn't made to last a day longer than its warranty.
