In the past have not been a particular fan of inkjet printers, and even less of multifunction devices. Inkjet printers have had a tendency to use pricey ink and dry up if they are not used regularly. Quite often the drip trays are not easily serviceable which can lead to mechanical problems. For the multifunction part having all your eggs in one basket is great until one of the eggs breaks then the entire basket is spoiled. However, this particular machine may make me think again about inkjet printers.

The HP Colour Photosmart Premium Fax All-In-One C309 series (HP Part Number CC335B) includes a scanner (sheet feed and flat bed), fax, printer and copier (mono and colour).  The Photosmart takes up very little space and it can be operated without a computer and the borderless printing is very appealing.

Setting up the device was simple enough once all the necessary packaging materials were removed and the various bits of tape identified and unpeeled. The glossy white unit is quite light and easy to move around should the need arise (however be careful not to move it too often due to the sensitive scanning mechanism). It took quite a while performing some initialisation upon first use but once that was done the unit seemed to work quite happily.

Print speeds are said to be around 33 pages per minute using black and 32 pages per minute using colour. For a 10 x 15 photo print the speed is said to be around 17 seconds although it took slightly longer on the prints I printed (around 19-20 seconds). For the energy conscious the unit is ENERGY STAR rated.

Some of the things I really like about this all-in-one.

• Being able to Bluetooth a picture from my phone straight to the printer (the printer appears in Bluetooth as “Photosmart C309a series”
• Inserting a USB memory stick and selecting the images I wanted
• The ease of printing on suitable CD Labels
• Wireless offering more potential for communicating (in addition to a wired connection and USB)
• The LCD screen (though I wish it was a little bigger) for seeing the images and allowing some enhancement prior to printing
• The ability to scan straight to a memory stick
• Being able to use the unit without the computer

The paper feed trays could do with being a little more substantial as they do feel just a little clumsy though I had no real problems feeding it with paper.

There are five ink cartridges required to operate the printer: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black and Photo Black (all 364 and 364XL). To get an idea of the difference between the XL and the non-XL cartridges the duty cycle of the Black 364XL cartridge (just over £15) is around 800 pages compared to a duty cycle of 250 pages for the Black 364 (just under £8).