HP Officejet 7510 review

HP is alone in describing A3 printers as ‘wide format’, but daft name aside, the Officejet 7510 Wide Format All-in-One Printer seems like a sensible device. For well under £100 it can scan, fax and copy A4 originals, and print with or without borders on anything up to A3+ (322x475mm). It supports wired and wireless networking, and is controlled via a colour touchscreen, plus there’s a 30-page automatic document feeder (ADF) on the top for making unattended copies and faxes.

This is a big and chunky device, with a strong 250-sheet paper tray captive in the base. The tray’s heavy-duty lid also forms the 75-sheet output tray, but we found it extremely fiddly to fit properly in the first place, and to replace after we accidentally pulled it off when re-loading paper. We had a similar problem when fitting the supplied standard black ink cartridge, which didn’t seat easily. We suspect it’s easier to fit the XL version, which fills the full width of the slot.

^ HP’s Printer Assistant is a neat way to control the MFP’s settings from a single application

HP’s setup program wanted to install Google’s Chrome browser and set it as our default, which is something we’d associate with freeware rather than a product somebody buys. It installs HP’s most recent scan interface, which is as frustratingly over-simplified as the one it replaces. There’s a depressing lack of advanced features, and a limited selection of pre-defined scan resolutions. Like some other recent HP products we’ve tested, scanning at 1,200 dots per inch (dpi) produced a completely black image.

^ Looks good, isn’t good. Have we mentioned that we don’t like HP’s scan interface?

The print driver is similarly over-simplified. You’ll need to fish around in its unfriendly Advanced settings to find options such as the maximum print resolution. Bizarrely, you’ll also need to head here to select the A3 and A3+ paper sizes that are this MFP’s key selling point – at least once you find them you can set up a shortcut. Unfortunately the Officejet 7510 doesn’t support automatic double-sided (duplex) prints, scans or copies.

^ HP’s print driver is over-simplified: you need the advanced options for everyday settings like paper size

These frustrations are a shame, because in many ways the 7510 is very good. Its mono and colour photocopies were excellent, black text was excellent, and colour graphics and photos were also pretty good. Document scans were fine, but our 600dpi photo scan appeared to have been sharpened, leaving colour boundaries looking artificial when viewed at 100%.

This is quite a rapid MFP, managing to print both draft and standard quality text at 14.6 pages per minute (ppm) in our tests – the results looked identical, too. Preview scans took just 10 seconds over a USB connection, a 300dpi A4 scan took 13 seconds, and our 600dpi photo just 24 seconds. Single photocopies were swift, but the substantial looking ADF buzzed irritatingly in use, slowed a 10-page mono copy to two and a half minutes and needed 45 seconds longer for the same job in colour.

^ Like most network printers you can administer the Officejet 7510 through a web interface. This one even looks good

Using the available high-capacity ink cartridges, this printer’s running costs come in at a very reasonable 4.3p per A4 page of text and colour graphics. Unfortunately, this isn’t quite enough to save the Officejet 7510 when for the same money you can buy the Brother MFC-J5320DW. The latter may be uglier and feel less well made, but it’s generally quicker, even cheaper to run, and it has duplex printing. Helpfully, it’s also less frustrating to use. If that doesn’t fit the bill then check out our regularly-updated Best printers and buying guide.