HP Photosmart A626 - A MomGadget Review
Any parent knows just how important capturing all those priceless little photo moments with children can be. And for many of us parents, having those photos stored in a file on our computer has become the norm. We want copies, prints we can frame and place on display around our homes or offices - but most of the time we don’t think about it until we’ve settled in for the night and place it, yet again, on our to-do list.
I don’t know about you, but my ‘to-do’ list just keeps growing and with it’s growth, I find myself feeling a bit guilty. Be honest!! How many undeveloped rolls of film do you have from 1998 laying around? I’m guessing I have at leastthree!
With four kids in the house, I’ve become a big fan of the 5×7 print - school pictures, sports pictures, they’re all 5×7. Everywhere you look, there’s a 5×7 of one of our children at some point in their life.
Like most parents, I purchased a digital camera so I could have it handy to capture and edit memorable moments on my computer - I do feel slightly less guilty having all those photos stored online. That habit quickly turned into some 700+ photos and a whole new brand of guilt.
As honest as my intentions were, I’d hoped to copy some photos to disc and to take them to the local photo center to have prints made. Somehow I kept forgetting. Go Figure! Now with the HP Photosmart A626 - I can have all the 5×7’s that I want in a matter of minutes. Talk about convenience. Now if HP could just figure out how to give me more wall space to display all the new 5×7’s I’m creating and toss in some really cool picture frames, I’d be in mommy hog heaven!
The small size makes it easy to take to family gatherings so I can easily snap photos and print them right off. No more making a promise to mail a copy that we all know just never seems to happen. I’ve the option to purchase a battery to allow for even easier transportability and flexibility in where I use my printer.
In fact, just this last weekend I saw one of these printers at a poultry show. My family and I show chickens as a hobby. Kids were getting photos taken with their birds and awards and were able to take a print home with them that very day - it’s amazing the number of people who forget to bring along a camera to such an event! It was very cool to see one of these printers being put to use for the kids and their guilty plagued parents.
The HP Photosmart is black-and-light-blue and stands 9.9 inches wide, 4.6 inches deep, and 5.2 inches tall, and weighs just 3.4 pounds. Very sleek looking. The entire front panel flips down to give access to four memory card slots and a PictBridge USB port; it also serves as the output tray. Opening the front panel also causes the input tray to pop open in the rear and the LCD to spring open from the top of the printer.
The 4.8-inch LCD is a touch screen, mounted on movable panel so you can adjust the viewing angle. The touch-screen also features the ability to write or draw on photos using the included stylus. The printer has a well for holding the stylus when you’re using the printer and a slot to stash away the stylus when you’re transporting the printer or putting it away after using it - making for lesser risk of losing it. The touch screen is easy to navigate and lets you see four images at a time.
The paper can’t be stored inside the printer, so if you don’t plan to use the printer for some time, you should remove the paper and store it in a folder or envelope so that it doesn’t become coated with dust. The input tray will hold as many as 20 sheets of paper, up to 5×7 in size.
The integrated ink cartridge that contains three colors—cyan, magenta, and yellow sells for approximately $20 - HP estimates that a single cartridge can print as many as 55 4×6 photos. HP also offers an all in one ink-and-paper package for around $35 that includes 120 sheets of 4×6 paper and enough ink for that many photos. When you do the math, that factors out to be somewhere around 29 cents per print.
The only blemish I found whatsoever is the print quality is not quite as good as what you’d get from having your prints developed in a photo lab, but for busy mom’s on the print quality is great!
It would be a whole different ballgame if I were going to enter my photos into a competition of some sort, but for capturing those priceless moments of my children growing up, the HP Photosmart is the perfect gadget for a busy mom.
The HP Photosmart A626 is available in a wide variety of retail outlets including HP online. Most places I’ve checked have been comparable in price. The average price is $179.00
If there’s a mother on your Christmas shopping list, this is one of those gifts that would earn you brownie points at least until Independence Day!
Just a little something to think about :)
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POSTED IN: Digital Cameras, Electronics, MomGadget Reviews
1 opinion for HP Photosmart A626 - A MomGadget Review
Matthew Anton
Oct 23, 2007 at 8:26 pm
hehe this is awesome…my Mom is a picture fiend and if this was around when I was younger she would have surely got it..maybe for her GrandKids ;)
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