8/10
While many are going paperless for a lot of things, it is still extremely convenient and useful to have a printer and scanner on hand. The HP Smart Tank 580 is one such All In One (AIO) that is easy to recommend as a purchase for the home office, home users, and students. With its ink tank system, refills are cheaper and much more economical compared to toner and cartridges. Adding the ability to connect to Wi-Fi and an easy setup, this is a great printer for your basic needs.
Pros
- Low cost-per-print
- No fuss ink refilling
- Produces good detailed photos
- Produces good quality black-and-white documents
- Decent connectivity options
- Easy to install
- Easy to use app
Cons
- Only supports manual duplex printing
- No adjustable expendable scanner flatbed hinge
- Lack of ethernet connectivity
- Small access for maintenance
Specs
- A4 Color Inkjet All-in-One Printer
- Low cost-per-page at just 0.004 cent (color) & 0.004 cent (black)
- Ink Tank system
- Print, Scan, Copy and Mobile Fax
- Print speed up to 12 ppm (black) and 5 ppm (color)
- USB, Wi-Fi
- Apple AirPrint™, Bluetooth, Google Cloud Print™, HP ePrint, Mopria™, Print Anywhere, USB, Wireless (Wi-Fi®)
- Up to 6000 color or 6,000 black pages included
- HP Thermal Inkjet
- Max Input 100 sheets
- Duty Cycle (Monthly, A4) Up to 3,000 pages
- Recommended Monthly Page Volume 400 to 800
- Dimensions Without Stand (W X D X H) 434.66 x 361.53 x 157.26 mm
- Maximum Dimensions (W X D X H) 434.66 x 580.65x 259.37 mm
- Minimum Dimensions (W X D X H) 17.11 x 14.23 x 6.19 in
- Dimensions With Trays Up (W X D X H) 434.66 x 361.53 x 157.26 mm
- Weight 5.03 KG
What’s in the Box
Design
The HP Smart Tank 580 is a reasonably well built machine that has a sturdy body and looks clean. Coming in at (WxDxH) 43.4 x 58.0 x 25.9 cm when fully unpacked, this AIO printer can take up a sizable space on your desk. So there might be some planning involved with many components that unfold or expand.
Also, it is a shame that the printer’s output swinging tray seems fragile and easy to break in an otherwise well build printer.
The display and menu buttons are the Smart Tank 580 is on the small side and doesn’t give much information. The HP Smart app is the easiest and main way to interact with the printer for maintenance.
The transparent housing of each ink tank reservoir on the front ensures easy, quick monitoring for when you need to get refills. It also comes with an integrated ink sensor to warn you as well if you forget to look.
Maintenance and Consumables
Like most inkjets printers, there is some fair amount of maintenance for these printers. Printheads can clog and you may need to run printhead cleaning or an ink purge to get it print well again. Nothing really new on that front, just standard issues you would have with any inkjet printer.
The tanks are quite a good size on the HP Smart Tank 580 and you shouldn’t be having to refill them often. You are looking at up to 6,000 colour or black and white documents per refill.
Even when you have to refill, it is super easy and cheap with their ink refill bottles. Also, is essentially mess free with their spill-free refill experience.
The same, however, can’t be said for the printer heads. With only one small access to the printer’s guts, anyone with big hands or short fingers may have trouble installing/maintaining/replacing the printer heads or fixing paper jams. This is where having the scanner bed being able to lift would have been a great feature to have for easier maintenance.
Print heads should be about RM40 to replace and ink bottles would be RM34 for the black and RM31 per colour.
Scanner
The HP Smart Tank 580 comes with a basic flatbed scanner that can scan 8.5 x 11 inches and A4 size. It has no adjustable flatbed hinge and no Automatic Document Feeder (ADF). So if you want to scan a book or multi page documents, you will struggle with the process. Otherwise, it works well for what it is and will allow you to make copies and scans relatively easily. Also, the copy ID card function is also quite nice to have.
Mobile App & Connectivity
HP has one of the most comprehensive and easy-to-use apps to control and send prints to the printer. This is also how you will be troubleshooting and maintenance the HP Smart Tank 580.
This printer is easy to connect to your Wi-Fi network allowing easy of printing and scanning. Any devices that are connected by Wi-Fi will be able to easily access the printer. Sadly, there are no ethernet capabilities and may have trouble if more than 3 people try using the printer at the same time. There is also an ability to connect via USB as well.
Printing
Printing black and white documents, the printer performs well and at a good speed of about 12 pages per minute (PPM). The colour printing, however, is on the slower side, especially for any large images. You are looking at an average of 4-5 PPM for mixed image and text documents. For those full A4 size coloured prints, it will take almost a minute to print. This is pretty standard for more budget friendly printers and is still a good speed for daily use on the small scale.
The print qualities overall are quite good and detailed, but we notice some small loss of colour variability. This will make some images feel ever so slightly muted as shown on the top print vs the bottom. Though if not comparing anything side by side, the prints are of good quality and are great for the price.
Now, for making multiple copies of the same document, the buttons could be a bit fiddly to get the number you want. The user needs to keep pressing the copy button or hold until you get to your desired number and let go.
Also, the printer is relatively quiet, but will shake a less than sturdy table. So make sure the table is heavy and sturdy enough to compensate for the printhead moving back and forth.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the HP Smart Tank 580 is a solid choice for home offices or budget-minded users. The print quality is good for everyday tasks, and the large ink reservoirs with spill-free refills keep printing costs down and easy. However, those who need a machine for heavy-duty photo printing or frequent multi-page document scanning might be better served looking elsewhere. Consider the trade-offs between affordability, ease of use, and features before deciding if the HP Smart Tank 580 is the right fit for you.
