Review – HP Envy 5540 with Hp Instant Ink

As a mum of two Teenagers, I am constantly asked to print off homework and college schedules. I seem to use my printer much more nowadays as everything from train tickets to cinema tickets can all be printed at home to save precious time queuing in train stations and the cinema.

I have had a fantastic chance to test out the HP Envy 5540 printer and an HP Instant Ink package for the last 8 weeks in my home, printing out all the normal family documents and homework as well as performing various tests to show just how well this printer performs in different modes

HP Envy 5540 A Family Friendly Printer

The HP ENVY 5540 All-in-One Printer is a Wireless e-all-in-one printer that can print, scan, copy with lab quality borderless photo printing from your smart phone, tablet and PC. It uses original HP ink and can utilise the HP Instant Ink subscription service which is where the ink cartridges are ordered by your printer over wi-fi and delivered to your door so you never run out of Ink. The printer came with a 3 month free trial for Instant Ink and costs around £59.00 which is an absolute steal!

What is HP Instant Ink?

HP Instant Ink is a replacement service where you select your plan and HP take care of the rest. You’ll never run out of ink and printing will cost a lot less. Ink, shipping, and cartridge recycling are included. Monthly plans are based on pages printed, not cartridges used. With no annual fee, you can change or cancel your plans online anytime.

The HP Instant Ink service rolls over 50 unused prints to the next month and you can print in colour or black and white, it doesn’t affect the price of the Ink.

To print 50 pages a month  – £1.99 per month

To print 100 pages per month – £3.49 per month

To print 300 sheets per month –  £7.99 per month

If some months you find this is not enough you can purchase add-ons,  £1 for 15 extra sheets on the cheapest plan and 25 extra sheets on the highest plan.

How Easy was the printer to set up?

I normally leave my husband to set up and install things like PC’s and printers as he just has a better success rate than me. With the HP Envy, I decided to unbox and set this printer up myself. I shocked myself by how easy this was to install. I did have to follow the step by step Quick start guide and did it at my own speed but was very proud of myself when within the hour I had successfully installed the printer and I had done it correctly much to my husband’s amazement. This would have been less than an hour but I did struggle slightly on setting up the printer on our wi-fi networks as I had never done this before.

Water Test

One of my first tests was the one that excited the kids the most, spilling water onto a document we had printed off. I expected by pouring a small amount of water onto the document printed that the page would turn into mush or at least start to tear. I removed the water from the document with kitchen roll and was left with a document that was still readable, yes, the ink had run slightly but nothing like I expected.

Dry Smudge Test

After printing off a colour document I wanted to see if the ink colour smudged if I was to instantly smear my finger over the ink as soon as it came out of the printer.

I did expect to see the colours all smear over the page and I was amazed when the none of the Ink smeared and the document was as perfect as if I had never touched it.

Wet Smudge Test

Just as I did with the dry smudge test, this time, I attempted it with a damp piece of kitchen roll and run it over the printed image.

Once again I was amazed that the smudging was very minimal and I was very impressed with the results.

Conclusion

Up until I received the HP Envy printer, I had been using an Epson printer that I had owned and been using for 11 months. It had always performed to a reasonable standard and actually cost more than the HP Envy to purchase so I wasn’t expecting the HP Printer to perform better and be easier to use, I could not have been more wrong!

The HP Envy is so easy to use, I do not have to keep getting up and down to turn the printer on as It just comes on automatically when you click print on the computer and the paper tray just comes out automatically whilst with the Epson printer you have to do this manually, a little thing I know but still makes a huge difference.

The most impressive difference was the actual speed that this printer prints off documents, it’s like lightning and really helps when I am printing off pages of homework for the kids when they ask me to do so at the last-minute.

I also love that with the HP Envy I am not constantly sorting out paper jams and having to reprint documents and don’t get me started again on the amazing Hp Instant Ink service which is a life saver!

The HP Envy is a top quality printer that provides an exceptional service and has a stylish high-quality appearance and yet costs less than £60.

I would recommend this printer for any busy family just like mine!

#NeverRunOut

#HPInstankInk

Disclosure: We were sent the printer for the purpose of this review to test and share with our readers our honest thoughts.