HP DeskJet 3650 Color Inkjet Printer

I got this printer as a gift and since day one, has been working without any problem. It is good for the price. I like it because is not too big and not too small either. So, it can fit very easily almost at any type of desk. I recommend it without any doubt.

Bought the 3650 in fall 2003 as part of a bundle deal w/ new Compaq. It was great for about the first year and a half. I was even able to print on cardstock, got great color for making flashcards, etc. First the cardstock started jamming randomly, then constantly. So I quit even bothering to try printing on cardstock. Then random plain paper jams started, becoming more and more frequent. It was really bad last summer, and I vowed to get a new one. By the time I had extra cash in Sept/Oct, the darn thing was working better again. I think humidity effects it, b/c this week - our first truly humid weather this season - I've been ready to throw it across the room. Lots of extra clunking noises lately - but that's good, b/c the more noise, the more likely it will finish the page. As for the cartridge life, the warning messages lie - you can go way, way longer than they imply. They just want you buy new ones. But this was my first printer, so I don't really have anything to compare them to. I guess 4-1/2 years is better than a lot of other reviewers have gotten out of it, but I am done!!!

When it prints, it prints ok - about as good as you'd expect from a cheap printer.

The problem is, I think it's possessed. Clearly some evil force has taken over my printer. It works when it wants to. It may print 10 sheets without a problem and then jam on every sheet after that. And when it jams it makes a horrible clunking noise. If you print a multi-page document and it jams on the last sheet - once the jam is cleared - it may decide to reprint everything again, or nothing at all.

Sometimes it will start printing when you haven't Queued anything. You'll be sitting there, minding your business, and it will feed a sheet of paper and start printing. And when you check your print Queue, you'll find it's empty.

My family is planning to put it in the back yard and let everyone have a chance beating it with a hammer. I'd say, save up your empties for a few weeks and buy something a little better.

Easy setup, works like a charm. Text quality excellent. I don't use it for photo's though, so can't comment on that.

I switched to HP from EPSON because of the frequent, annoying and expen$$ive clogged printer heads. The HP printers have the advantage that the cartridges have the heads so you get fresh heads with each cartidge. The problem with this one in particular is that it works fine with plain paper, but don't even try to print labels (cd labels, or mailing labels, etc...) because you'll go crazy trying to align things up, since it prints perfectly in plain paper while you're aligning your artwork, but when you finally switch to the special label sheets, the alignment will go bonkers and absolutely unpredictable. After wasting plenty of label sheets in frustration, I accepted the fact that I just couldn't print labels with this printer. On the other hand, I could print on glossy photo paper just fine, and the quality was quite acceptable. UNTIL it began jamming. After close to a year of not too frequent photo printing, it began jamming to the point that I havent been able to get a single complete photo printed. I'm beginning to think that printer manufacturers should add "disposable" to their product description, since all inket printers seem to be made to last no longer than a year. I'm looking forward to trying a Canon now.