Over the last couple of months, we have been doing a printer challenge to find out which printer we would prefer the Epson L355 or the HP Envy 5540. Overall while both had impressive print qualities we found the HP Envy to be the best value for money. I thought it would be a good idea to write a review now we have been using the printer for a few months to see how it holds up as a family printer.
The HP Envy 5540 is an all in one printer with the capacity to print, scan and copy – everything you need for a home printer. It looks sleek and shiny, with a large touch screen interface which is very easy to use. The printer is very easy to set up. The ink slots in quickly and easily and the installation wizard makes the process of installing it on your computer a breeze. It was also really straightforward to access from your phone. I had the whole thing set up and printing within twenty minutes. To me this is a huge bonus as I was really dreading setting up the printer.
There are a couple of free cartridges of ink which come with the printer and there was also three free months of HP Instant Ink . This is a brilliant service and you can see my full review here: HP Instant Ink Review. What I found with instant ink is that it is really hard to predict how much ink you will use so I needed to adjust my plan a couple of times until I got the right one. I found that the moderate printing plan works the best for my family. This is priced at £3.49 a month and includes up to 100 pages of printing. You can easily add extra pages if you need to. One other service I have used a lot is the HP Printables. You can access free printables straight from your printer menu or from the HP website. This is great if you need a colouring in sheet or activity for the kids. There are also recipes and colouring sheets for grown ups and all sorts of forms. You can set up the printer so it prints any new sheets each week which is a fun way to get different activities for your children to try.
During the last couple of months, I have printed a lot. As well as numerous worksheets to take into school I printed lots of Harry Potter themed letters and posters as a surprise for the girls’ birthday to tell them we were going to Warner Brother Studios. I used a range of different papers and the print quality was great. It was so simple to print these pictures and they were really quick. When I tested the print quality earlier in the month I found that the printer retained its print quality with longer documents and I found that it did not smudge or smear.
The HP Envy 5540 printer produces excellent quality prints. I would happily print and send photos from here. You have to be a little careful loading the printer paper as occasionally it doesn’t pick up a new sheet. I would have liked a slot for the SD card so I can print photos from my DSLR straight away, but that is a mini point. It is really easy to print from the computer or wirelessly from the phone or tablet and that is what I would use more often. If you are looking for a home printer for documents, invitations, tickets and quality photos without having to pay over the odds for ink then the HP Envy 5540 is the perfect printer for you. Easy to use and great value for money, I can’t recommend it enough.
Disclaimer: I was sent the printer, accessories and a subscription to instant ink for the purposes of this review.
