HP PhotoSmart 6510 e-All-in-One

As a multi-function printer (MFP) geared to home use, the HP PhotoSmart 6510 e-All-in-One ($149.99 direct) is a modest step up from the HP PhotoSmart 5510 e-All-in-One ($99.99 direct, 3.5 stars), offering a slightly higher paper capacity, a built-in photo tray, a larger LCD, and an automatic duplexer for printing on both sides of a sheet of paper. Despite the extra features, though, the 6510 couldn?t quite match the lower-priced model in either speed or output quality.

The 6510 is reasonably compact, measuring 6.3 by 17.2 by 15 inches and weighing 12.4 pounds. It can print, copy, and scan; print from and scan to a memory card (slots are limited to SD/MultiMediaCard and Memory Stick Duo). It does not support printing from USB thumb drives.

The PhotoSmart 6510?s standard paper tray holds 80 sheets, which may be adequate for home use, but is on the low side for even light-duty home-office work. In addition, it has a built-in 20-sheet tray for photo paper, and an automatic duplexer for printing on both sides of a sheet of paper.

The 6510 can run HP?s Web apps. It also supports HP?s ePrint: You can email files as attachments to a unique address that HP assigns to the printer, and it will print out the email and files. The 6510 is compatible with Apple?s AirPrint, allowing users to print directly to it from an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch as long as it?s on the same Wi-Fi network as the printer.

It also has built-in support for eFax, a third-party service that lets you send up to 20 fax pages and receive up to 20 pages per month for free, no phone line needed. (After those free pages, subscription charges kick in.) The printer is assigned an eFax phone number to which you can direct your clientele to send faxes. Faxes received at that number are automatically sent over the Internet to your printer for you to output. To send a fax, you just touch the eFax icon on the touch screen, type in the number, and press Send.

The PhotoSmart 6510 offers USB and WiFi (but not Ethernet) connectivity. I tested it over a USB connection, with the drivers installed on a PC running Windows Vista.

Print Speed

I clocked the PhotoSmart 6510 on our business applications suite (timed using QualityLogic's ?hardware and software) at an effective speed of 3.2 pages per minute (ppm). Curiously, it was slower than the 3.7 ppm at which I timed the Photosmart 5510 ($99 direct, 3.5 stars). The 6510 is rated at 22 pages per minute for both color and monochrome printing in draft mode, while the 5510 is rated at 22 for monochrome and 21 for color. (Rated speeds are based on text-only printing, while our business test suite combines pages with text, pages with graphics, and pages with mixed content.) ?The Editors? Choice Epson Stylus NX625 ($149.99 direct, 4 stars) zipped through our tests in 4.0 ppm, while the Kodak HERO 5.1 All-in-One Printer ($129.99 direct, 4 stars) essentially tied the 6510 at 3.1 ppm. (Differences as small as 0.1 ppm aren?t statistically significant.)

The PhotoSmart 6510 averaged 56 seconds in printing out 4-by-6-inch photos, a typical score for an inkjet at its price.

Output Quality

The 6510?s output quality was average, with graphics and photos typical of inkjet MFPs and text a little below par. The text quality is fine for schoolwork and general business use, but not for documents like resumes that need to look visually impressive, or for tasks requiring very small fonts.

Graphics quality was typical of inkjet MFPs. Banding (in the form of a regular pattern of faint whitish lines against solid backgrounds) the main issue. In a couple of illustrations, the banding was serious enough to be distracting. Graphics were suitable for schoolwork or for general business use, including PowerPoint handouts, although you might think twice before giving them to a prospective client you?re seeking to impress.

Photo quality was typical of inkjets; the prints were about the quality we expect from drugstore prints. Prints were on the light side, and there was some loss of detail in brighter areas. A monochrome image showed a slight reddish-brown tint.

Other Issues

HP?s claimed running costs for the 6510 are 4.1 cents per monochrome page and 14.9 cents per color page.

For $50 more than you?d pay for the HP PhotoSmart 5510, the HP PhotoSmart 6510 e-All-in-One offers a slightly higher paper capacity, a built-in photo tray, an auto-duplexer, and a larger LCD. But the 5510 was somewhat faster in our tests, and its output quality, particularly for photos, was slightly better than the 6510. The Kodak HERO 5.1 has higher paper capacity than the 6510 and includes a port for a USB thumb drive, while the Editors? Choice Epson Stylus NX625 is faster than the 6510, has higher paper capacity, and adds Ethernet connectivity.

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