Customer Reviews
great bang for the $$$ 
2004-11-29
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.
A dandy little workhorse that I don't leave home without! 2004-07-02
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!
the whole family is printing photos at home!!!!!! 2004-04-15
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!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a great gadget 
2004-03-31
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.
Owner / Printer which to blame? 2004-03-27
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!!!!
Missing display information - How do I select a photo(s)? 
2007-08-14
I purchased this HP 145 Photosmart printer from an Amazon vendor in March 2006. Due to various business activities/travel I did not attempt to use the printer until last July 2007. I studied the instruction manual first;fired up the printer and printed out a thumbnail print. During this process I noticed that there was no information appearing on the LCD display.
Can anyone tell me if this unit is defective or if there is something I am doing wrong in using the printer? I contacted the vendor for advice, but due to the length of time that has elapsed since my purchase I did not expect any help. The vendor was unable to help me....
In spite of my problem I really like the convenience of this printer! I can print individual photos, BUT have no idea which photo I am printing due to the missing information on the LCD screen.
If there is any HP compact photo printer guru out there who could help me with advice I would appreciate it. I use SmartMedia (Olympus) memory cards and they are HP compatible according to manual. Otherwise I will scrap this printer and purchase a newer used/refurb model (HP 335) from Amazon. I have always had great results purchasing from Amazon or its vendors - this is my first purchase glitch!
Other than the expensive cartridge (HP 57) this compact little printer does a great job. If I purchase another HP compact photo printer from Amazon I will check it out immediately upon receipt.
Lesson learned!
fun little printer 2005-11-05
I really enjoy this printer. I purchased it about 2 years ago and take it when I go on vacation. It's fun to print your pictures out right away and give them to people. When I visit family they really enjoy the instant pictures. It's not super fast and it only prints 4X6, but that's what you pay for and the 4X6 pictures are excellent. Since you only print pictures from it I think it continues to print pictures clear longer than your everyday printer. 2 years later and the pictures look just as nice as the first picture.
Nice little printer... 
2005-08-17
It's a nice little unit, but not all that great. It does, however do a better job than most regular printers. By far, to my experience (current owner of 3 HP printers) HP mfg some of the best, if not THE BEST printers.
Now, back to the photosmart 145...the major plus is the ease of use (extremely easy) the ergonomics are well laid out and as a 1st timer on photo printers, I didn't have to read the manual. The photosmart 145 will not earn 5 stars due to the limited features/functions that was incorporated...like: only 4X6 photo size and no option for wallet size prints; can't do "portrait" prints to my option but only landscape, maybe can do on computer with bundled software and having to "rotate" pictures to coincide. Prints resulted in "cropped" pictures leaving the edges cutoff or "deleted" by 1/4" on top and bottom (border or borderless). You do have more options when operating prints from a computer and you can select many various features like print quality, tweaking colors and so forth. The print qualities are acceptable, even at "Best" mode, I can still comb through some tiny, tiny pixelated dithering effects on prints with the naked eye. I've printed better quality pictures from my other non-photo HP printer. Also, it is not wise to stick a media card full of pictures into the unit itself for direct printing unless you want to take wild guesses for what to print and not to print of certain pictures. The monochrome lcd screen tells you how many pictures and I.D. them by numbers only, so if you want to print ONLY that picture of your cute little neice in the middle of the pile somewhere, well, good luck...unless you have an Intel chip equipt brain or alot of $$ to waste on photo papers. Overall, this is a nice little unit. I would only use for quick prints to distribute photos of my cars to my insurance companies, share photos with friends/colleagues and for municipal purposes. For the photo albums, I will either take my shots to Rite-Aid for quality prints or maybe invest some $$ for a more advance printer in the near future - perhaps the 245 or 325...but wait, what am I complaining about? I got the photosmart 145 for FREE when I purchased my Leica D-LUX digital camera. Leica UPS'd it to me 3 weeks later...I guess I have nothing to lose but to share the experience with you before you fork out the $$.
Overall: 3 & 1/2 Stars!
PROS:
HP design (always good print quality)
Print photos without computer.
Bundled software.
Compact size with a "good grip" to handle.
Easy to use.
PC & Mac compatible
CONS:
Cropped pictures printed (loss or deleted from top & bottom portions)
Limited onboard features.
No LCD picture screen.
Only 4X6 size option.
USB cable not included.
Flimsy plastic Ink Cartridge Door (very fragile & will break someday).
Loud "clicking" and "clunking" noise when operating or opening Ink Cartridge Door...(thought it was breaking).
Overall "Cheap" housing.
Wonderful printer 2005-01-25
I got this for Christmas, and I love it! I've printed over 150 and still havent even run out of ink! Perfect to take on vacation! fits nicely into a large camera bag or a suitcase. very nice to send good pictures to family also. Im amazed at the quality out of a little printer. I had a larger hp photosmart printer and it was a horrible quailty. i am so happy with this printer.
Awsome LITTLE printer 2005-01-09
I purchased this printer for well under 100 dollars, with a free USB cord. I was amazed at the quality of the pictures it printed. The pictures looked like they where done by a pro. Easy to use right out of the box. The best buy I have made in a long time, very satisfied customer.
