Customer Reviews
amazon service 
2008-02-28
I knew the ink would be okay,my review is really on amazon,their service and delivery time are #1,no matter what I've ordered,from computers to books,the items arrive in perfect shape and always either before or by the promised time.
If you are hesitant at all to shop online and you SHOULD BE at some sites,Amazon is not one of them,they are the best...shop away with peace of mind.
HP PHOTO VALUE PACK 02 2008-01-12
This is a great product to start with, but with the addition of printing paper and a great price I would recommend this to all.
HP Sneakily Confirms Less Ink in these cartridges 
2008-01-09
Here is my chat exchange with HP today....the truncated part of my message asked clearly if the ink in the paper-combo pack was less than the ink in the separate packages.
Myra: Welcome to HP Total Care for All-in-One products. My name is Myra. How may I assist you today ?
Albert Karel: Hello. This 6180 is my 4th HP printer. As you can see, I am a good customer. In the Staples store I went to purchase ink. I saw two ways: 1) the combination pack with 4x6 paper, and b) the color combo pack plus a separate black cartridge. It seemed that the combination pack was a good value. Staples assured me that the amount of ink was the same as in the second option. I purchased it. Now I read that HP puts much less ink in the same cartridges and that by buying the combination 1 packa ...(truncated)
Myra: I understand your concern.
Myra: Staples had assured some thing which is not correct.
What a deal! 2007-12-17
This is a great deal considering what photo paper alone can cost. It's packaged nicely so that you can only take out the paper that you need and wo can't use an extra set of ink when printing photos?
There probably is fancier paper out there, but I found this stock nice for every day photos that are going into albums anyway.
There is a mark on the back to let you knwo which way to feed it into the printer, but that does look cheesy when you look at it aftet the picture is printed. If you're planning to give photos as gifts, you might want to go with something else but for normal prints and mounting, this is great.
Simply criminal! 2007-12-04
HP has duped the vast majority of people who have purchased this. No where on the packaging does it indicate that the ink cartridges have less ink. It's a horrible deal and HP's packaging makes you think that you're getting a good deal!
I'm thinking a class action law suit is in order here.
Hp Value Pack 
2008-06-21
This item met my need at the time. The saying, you get what you pay for holds true. I brought this item knowing full well that you don't get as much ink in the containers as you do when you buy the non value packs that cost more money. I did the research and it is a fact that these value packs are not completely filled by the manufactures. But I knew what I was getting. Sometime you have to opt for value over quantity. But this is genuine Vivera HP Inks. Just in smaller quantity.
Sneaky, but still a bargain. 
2008-06-18
As has been said before, these aren't the same size as regular 02 tanks. However, this package is a lot cheaper than regular 02 tanks! A combo pack at Sam's club with all 6 inks is about $60, vs. $35 for these with 150 sheets of Advanced paper. Just because the tanks aren't full doesn't make this a bad deal. Prints on Advanced paper are nearly as good as "Premium Plus" paper, but dry much more quickly. There is a slight loss in sharpness and contrast, but it does not show color dithering.
There is not enough ink (especially yellow) to make all 150 prints, but this is still probably the cheapest way to do photo printing on HP printers that use 02 ink. They look excellent, the paper has good gloss, and the cost per sheet is lower than the supplies if sold separately. It's not quite as thick as Premium Plus, so the prints don't quite feel like "pictures" the way Premium Plus does.
As a whole, this is still a good deal for the money. It is sufficient to print most of the pack of paper of excellent pictures.
Hard to reach 2008-05-15
I ordered the wrong HP cartridge. Tried several times to call with no luck. I e-mailed them and they got back after a couple of days. They said they would credit the shipping charge and send me a mailer label to return the item. They did credit the shipping but 2 weeks later I have not received a return label.
hp "scams" customers; not full ink tanks 
2008-03-22
Thought this was an excellent value when I ordered it. BUT . . . nowhere is the information shown that you are NOT getting full "tanks" of ink. I purchased two of these packages because of the "bundle" price. What one receives is a bit less of a bargain than first imagined: the custom ink cartridges are standard hp units -- but filled to only 60%- 70% of their normal capacity. I.e., will print ~ 150 photos instead of ~240... (Note -- this was confirmed by hp support after an hour-long phone call!) Shame on hp for perpetrating this fraud on its customers! Shame on Amazon for not doing its homework and passing on this fraud w/o warning its customers. CAVEAT EMPTOR (buyer beware) is not the slogan I have associated with Amazon on other products and past purchases!
Amazon price mistake~ Here is the math : 2008-03-09
On the HP Photo Value Pack, the package states 24 cents per photo. The package includes 150 sheets of photo paper.
24 cents x 150 sheets equals $36.00
As I write this, the price above is listed as:
List Price: $47.15
Price: $35.99
You Save: $11.16 (24%)
The "list price" of 47.15 would not add up to .24 cents per photo !
I always understood the list price to be set by the manufacturer (HP), which in this case would not match the promotional packaging(also HP)
The Amazon "sale" price of 35.99, should be the list price.
I hope this is not deception on the part of Amazon.
~~~
I have found that these HP Photo Value Packs are subject to some deceptive marketing on the web because buyers understandably think that they are getting standard volume ink cartridges in the deal.
Also on a popular auction site, The HP Photo Value Packs are opened, and the 150 sheets of photo paper, and ink cartridge sets sold separately.
So although they are genuine HP ink, some believe that they are buying standard full cartridges.
The ink in the HP Photo Value Packs are "custom" cartridges, meaning they are filled with only enough ink to print 150 photos.
The standard HP individual cartridge (from the HP website):
HP 02 Light Cyan Ink Cartridge (C8774WN#140), and
HP 02 Light Magenta Ink Print Cartridge (C8775WN#140),
are listed at 240 photos.
So without the original box, you can not easily know if you are buying a much lower volume of ink.
Beware of sellers~ Amazon or auctions who may let you believe that the ink tanks you are buying are the standard full ones.
Here is a clue to watch for in auctions where sellers have the unboxed (but individually sealed) sets of ink:
The sets from opened HP Photo Value Packs will have 6 tanks. If Black is included in the set, ask questions, it may be from a HP Photo Value Pack.
Black is often sold separately, for example, 5 tanks in this HP Combo Pack: HP 02 Inkjet Print Cartridge Color Combo Pack (CC604FN#140)
~John
