HP Designjet 130r Printer

User Review #2 Source: HP.com on November 16th, 2011

One feature I really like is the option to set the level of ink you want to use in your prints, which works great with both Windows 7 and Mac OSX.The color accuracy is very good, particularly when calibrated with a Datacolor Spyder 3. It's a little slow for large prints, but it's so reliable, which is the most important factor in my work.

A real work horse!


One feature I really like is the option to set the level of ink you want to use in your prints, which works great with both Windows 7 and Mac OSX.The color accuracy is very good, particularly when calibrated with a Datacolor Spyder 3.

It's a little slow for large prints, but it's so reliable, which is the most important factor in my work.

User Review #1 Source: HP.com on August 24th, 2011 at 11:35 AM CDT

We're a low volume shop, so the cost savings realized by purchasing the 130nr (as compared to it's bigger brothers) was a significant issue of course, but the relatively slow print speed wasn't a consideration. Based on the information contained on HP's website, it appeared that the 130nr would do "professional photos" and had "exceptional fade resistance" utilizing Vivera inks and HP paper. Unfortunately, in our use we find the photo quality to be good, but the prints (even indoors) fade drastically in a number of days, not years as we expected.For comparison, we also have a HP8550 Photosmart printer that uses Vivera inks, and have placed identical prints done on the same HP photo paper with the 8550 next to ones printed on the 130nr. The prints done on the 8550 show no signs of fading several months later, but the 130nr prints are fairly well washed out soon after hanging.In conversations with HP support personell, (who I might add were very forthright and helpful), we were told that the Vivera ink in the 130nr cartridges is formulated differently than the Vivera ink in the 8550 cartridges. As a result, the inks for the 130nr were not designed to produce long lasting prints, even on photo paper. To ensure the longevity of prints and photos would require the purchase of one of the "bigger brothers" that used a better quality ink, not available for the 130nr. Overall, the 130nr rates 3 stars, primarily due to the limitations caused by print fading. Had we known the color photo/graphics would be short lived, our expectations would have been considerably lower and the subsequent rating somewhat higher. The 130nr is a very competent, flexible large format printer for short lived B&W or color line drawings, but we would not recommend it for any use beyond that.

Very good large format printer - minus Postscript™


We're a low volume shop, so the cost savings realized by purchasing the 130nr (as compared to it's bigger brothers) was a significant issue of course, but the relatively slow print speed wasn't a consideration. Based on the information contained on HP's website, it appeared that the 130nr would do "professional photos" and had "exceptional fade resistance" utilizing Vivera inks and HP paper. Unfortunately, in our use we find the photo quality to be good, but the prints (even indoors) fade drastically in a number of days, not years as we expected.For comparison, we also have a HP8550 Photosmart printer that uses Vivera inks, and have placed identical prints done on the same HP photo paper with the 8550 next to ones printed on the 130nr. The prints done on the 8550 show no signs of fading several months later, but the 130nr prints are fairly well washed out soon after hanging.In conversations with HP support personell, (who I might add were very forthright and helpful), we were told that the Vivera ink in the 130nr cartridges is formulated differently than the Vivera ink in the 8550 cartridges. As a result, the inks for the 130nr were not designed to produce long lasting prints, even on photo paper. To ensure the longevity of prints and photos would require the purchase of one of the "bigger brothers" that used a better quality ink, not available for the 130nr.

Overall, the 130nr rates 3 stars, primarily due to the limitations caused by print fading. Had we known the color photo/graphics would be short lived, our expectations would have been considerably lower and the subsequent rating somewhat higher. The 130nr is a very competent, flexible large format printer for short lived B&W or color line drawings, but we would not recommend it for any use beyond that.