For those
of you short on time, here are the top 10 reasons why I love the HP Envy 5540
printer:
1.There are all the functions I need in one printer - WI-FI printing from computers, phones and tablets, scanning, copying and even sending
a fax
2.It looks stylish on my desk, albeit a little big
3.It was super easy to set up, taking under 10 minutes in total
4.Fantastic initial price, you get a lot for just £69.99 and
actually I see it is just £59.99 at PC World right now
5.You get three months free trial of Instant Ink to start you off,
so the purchase price is all you need to pay up front
6.It is Instant Ink comparable, meaning I pay just £3.49 per month
to print up to 100 full colour A4 pages each month
7.As it is connected to the Internet, it communicates with the
Instant Ink service to order my ink replacement cartridges in plenty of time
before I need them
8.You can load small photo paper (6x4) into a separate drawer
making it really easy to print decent quality photos
9.The touch screen on the printer is very responsive and intuitive
to use
10.Most importantly the print quality is superb, especially in
colour
And in case you are not sure, yes I would highly recommend it!
A couple of years back I wrote a post about the new HP Envy 5530 printer that I had received to try out the brand new (then) Instant Ink service. This service basically gives you complete peace of mind that you can always print whatever you need (as long as you have the paper, electricity and wifi of course) but with absolute minimal cost or fuss.
Take a look at my post and you'll see that I liked the printer and I loved the Instant Ink service, so much so that when my free trial was over I started to pay for the service and I still am a year later. I think that speaks for itself and I can honestly tell you that in the two years I've been using HP Instant Ink I have never run out of either a black or colour ink cartridge.
I'm not alone though as the HP staff told us that once someone has signed up to the programme there is a 98% retention rate. You don't find that level of satisfaction much nowadays. So how do HP know when I need ink? Well my HP printer is wifi enabled and as long as I turn it on regularly it sends the info all on its own and my ink just turns up by post before I ever even realise I might be getting low. It is very good.
It's funny how some things make you want to
retreat back into yourself. You'd think that by the ripe old-age of 42 years and 257
days that I'd have it firmly in mind that I'm a fully fledged adult nowadays.
But not so, I've been in London at an event today and there seem to be a few
things that I've got mastered, like eating alone in a restaurant and feeling
safe walking through London but then there are others that still give me the
jitters; like rocking up at a blogging event and being fearful that you won't
know anyone.
About a month ago HP invited me to an event in
London. It was showcasing their Instant Ink service and I was keen to attend as
not only did it sound like a fabulous chilled afternoon with spa treatments and
afternoon tea but I've also used the instant ink service for the last two years
and I love it. You'd never think that ink for your printer would be something
that could excite you but it does. It makes a mass amount of difference to
never run out of ink and to be able to say yes every time the kids ask me to
print off colouring or to do their homework and what does this cost me? A mere
£1.99 per month for 50 full colour pages.
For the last couple of years it has been such a faff to try and print anything, we had an old printer and we could not get the drivers to download onto my new laptop, so I had to email things to a very old laptop and then plug the printer into the computer and say a prayer as I hoped the printing would actually arrive. Then quite often I'd find the ink was practically empty and no-one had told me. Fast forward about £50 for a couple of new cartridges and I might be able to print something. Boy did it all drive me crazy and things would sit in my email account for days waiting for me to muster the energy to sort the printer.
You don't know how happy I am to tell you that this has all changed in the last couple of weeks. HP asked me if I'd like to try out their new Instant Ink service. This is a pay monthly ink replacement service which means I never have to worry about going out and remembering to buy cartridges again as they get delivered direct to my door just about the time the existing one will run out. It is super clever and makes me super happy.
Take a peek at this very short video, it explains the service perfectly -
It is so easy, you buy a compatable HP printer, enrol online with HP Instant Ink and then just get on with your printing.
The prices are not too expensive either, they start from a very reasonable £1.99 per month to subscribe to the service. It does not matter if you print black and white or colour, your plan is for the pages printed rather than the ink used. Of course on one hand this is good but you need to be aware that if you print a sheet with just a couple of lines of black text, that is one of your 100 sheets gone for that month. This service is especially good for those people who like to print lots of photos and ink intensive pieces.
I also like the fact that you can roll over the unused pages from the last months usage and that the cost for going over your subscription is not too steep either (see above).
When you sign up for your plan it might be a guesstimate as to which service you need but the good news is that you are in charge and you can easily change it online. If you upgrade this will happen immediately or you can make it retrospect from the start of your last billing cycle and if you downgrade or cancel this will happen from the start of your next billing cycle.
My experience
When my HP Envy 5530 printer arrived I took a deep breath and was ready for it to be difficult to set up. Brilliant news, it was not at all. I plugged it in, turned it on and it guided me through the set up by the colour touch screen, I was very impressed.
I was not so impressed that when it printed off its test page it appeared to be missing the text that I assumed should be on there. I then tried to print something from Word and nothing appeared yet if I printed a colour photo that came out fine. It was quite strange and I googled and found a few other people with this problem too on a HP forum. The answer seemed to be to insert a different black ink cartridge but of course this is not what you want to have to do with a brand new printer. As I had been sent an Instant Ink starter kit I put the black Instant Ink cartridge in and then my printing from Word seemed to be fine.
Great, I thought, how easy is that? Until the next day when I went to print the invitations for my girls birthday party and the computer and printer kept advising me I was not enrolled in the HP Instant Ink service and thus could not use that cartridge. I enrolled online then and there and that in itself was not difficult but still that cartridge would not print for me.
I thus emailed HP support as my error message was advising me to do and waited, apparently the response should have come in 24 hours but for me it was nearer 48 hours. Of course this is not that long but when you are avidly waiting to print it feels like a lifetime. I can say that the HP customer representative I spoke to was excellent and he helped me to sort the problem. Basically that original ink cartridge was now miraculously working and we think the issue was that I had been sent an Instant Ink cartridge before I enrolled, this of course would never normally happen if you were not reviewing the service, so I was just unlucky.
Since my problem was rectified a week ago I have printed loads and been really happy with the printer, the quality of the printed documents (including photos) and the Instant Ink service. The HP customer representative arranged for another black ink cartridge to be sent to me so I do not have any further problems.
I also could not believe how easy it was to print remotely from my iPhone and my daughter also did from her android tablet. I think the HP Envy 5530 is a fabulous wireless printer for the cost of £89.95.
The HP Connected account is also good and I love the fact I can log in to my account and see how many pages I have printed and feel in control of my subscription, it also advises me what ink has been sent to me and when and with the Instant Ink pack I receive a pre-paid bag to send back my old cartridge for recycling.
Plus Points
Never run out of ink again as a new cartridge will arrive to your door before yours expires
Unused pages from the month previous will roll-over for you to use
You can change or cancel your subscription anytime
You don't get charged any more for being a heavy user of colour printing
Instant Ink cartridges have more ink in them and can print over 500 pages each
Handy recycling service to do your bit for the planet
You can buy your Instant Ink subscription from John Lewis, PC World or online with HP direct
I'm so happy I found out about this service and I'm pretty certain that once my year trial finishes I'll keep this going as one year on the £3.49 per month plan (100 pages a month) only works out to £41.88 per year and this price isn't much different to buying one black and one colour cartridge in the year.
Disclosure: I received a printer and a years membership to the HP Instant Ink so that I could honestly write this review. I have not been instructed what to write.
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