The HP ENVY Photo 6255 is a decent casual photo printer. The photo printing quality is decent, but there's noticeable banding visible, especially in blue and green colors, with an evident green tint in the grayscale. Colors are fairly accurate and shouldn't be a problem for most people, though it won't be suitable for some professional needs that require very accurate colors. The cartridges don't provide you with a very high page yield; however, they aren't very expensive when they need to be replaced. The printer comes with a mediocre scanner, as it lacks an Automatic Document Feeder and duplex scanning capability.
Our Verdict
The HP ENVY Photo 6255 is a decent family printer. The photo quality has noticeable banding, but the colors are fairly accurate. If you need to only print in black, this printer is mediocre. Both the black and color cartridges have low page yields, meaning that you will need to change the cartridges often. It also lacks external storage support.
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Great color accuracy.
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Scanner lacks both duplex scanning and an automatic feeder.
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Doesn't include external storage support.
The HP ENVY 6255 printer is not meant for small or home office use. The black page yield is awful and both the black and color cartridges need to be changed often. The scanner doesn't include an Automatic Document Feeder, so if you need to scan more than one page, you will need to spend some time doing so. It also doesn't have ethernet compatibility nor does it include any external storage support.
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Low page yield for both black and color cartridges.
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Scanner lacks both duplex scanning and an automatic feeder.
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Very slow printing speed for black and colored documents.
The HP ENVY Photo 6255 is a mediocre printer for student use. For black-only printing, you need to be prepared to change the cartridge often, but luckily they aren't very expensive. Also, this model supports the HP Instant Ink subscription, so HP will automatically send you replacements when your cartridge is low. Unfortunately for students, the printer's mobile app doesn't support printing Microsoft Office files directly from the app. It also doesn't support any external storage options.
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Great color accuracy.
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Doesn't include external storage support.
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Very slow printing speed for black and colored documents.
The 6255 is an inadequate black and white printer. While it has a passable build and design quality, that doesn't make up for the bad black page yield and the lack of an Automatic Document Feeder for its scanner. The printing speed is adequate and it has a low cost-per-print.
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Low page yield for both black and color cartridges.
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Scanner lacks both duplex scanning and an automatic feeder.
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Very slow printing speed for black and colored documents.
The HP ENVY Photo 6255 is a satisfactory casual photo printer. The photo printing quality is decent and the color accuracy is very good. Its photo paper tray is separate from the regular paper tray and supports all photo sizes besides 2" x 3". It has a solid build and design quality, but be prepared to have to change the ink cartridges often.
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Great color accuracy.
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Has a separate photo paper tray that supports most sizes.
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Low page yield for both black and color cartridges.
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Photos have evident banding and a green tint in gray scale.
- 6.6 Family
- 3.7 Small/Home Office
- 6.0 Student
- 5.3 Black & White
- 7.2 Casual Photo
- Updated Jul 08, 2020: Review published.
- Updated Jul 02, 2020: Early access published.
- Updated Jun 26, 2020: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Jun 22, 2020: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
- Updated Jun 06, 2020: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Compared To Other Printers
The HP ENVY Photo 6255 is a decent casual photo printer. While it has some of the qualities that a photo printer requires like very good color accuracy and a photo paper tray, it's severely lacking in additional features. The scanner is mediocre and the printer is inadequate for any black and white printing.
For other options, you can also check out our recommendations for the best all-in-one printers, the best office printers, and the best printers under $100.
The HP ENVY Photo 6255 and the Xerox B210/DNI are two very different printers. The Xerox is a monochrome laser printer that's meant for high volume printing at a low cost and it has amazing printing speed. The HP, on the other hand, is a casual photo printer that's awful for black and white printing.
The HP ENVY Photo 7155 and the HP ENVY Photo 6255 are two very similar color printers. Both printers don't perform all that well when it comes to black-only documents. Their printing speeds are very slow, and neither yields a lot of pages. However, the 7155 has a slightly better color accuracy and photo printing quality. The biggest plus for the 7155, is that it supports external storage like an SD card or USB thumb drive.
The HP OfficeJet 5255 is a better overall printer than the HP ENVY Photo 6255. The OfficeJet has great color accuracy when printing photos, but the cost per print is quite high. It also has great connectivity options and a small footprint, meaning it can be a good option for home and family use.
The HP ENVY Photo 6255 is better overall than the HP ENVY 5014. The 6255 is better built and its cartridges have a much higher page yield, so this printer is more cost-effective over time. However, the 5014 has better color accuracy and prints photos in better quality.
The HP ENVY Inspire 7255e is an updated version of the HP ENVY Photo 6255, though they look very different. Overall, the 7255e is better for photos. Its printed pictures look much more detailed and contain less banding. Also, its input tray holds slightly more pages, meaning you won't need to refill it as often, but otherwise, their page yields are very similar.
Test Results
The HP ENVY Photo 6255 has a mediocre build and design quality. Even though the printer's body feels sturdy, some design features are less than ideal. The main input tray isn't removable, so it can be hard to load paper as space is pretty tight. The photo paper tray is separate and located above the regular paper tray, leaving little space to load the paper.
Raising the scanner bed gives you access to the ink cartridges, even when the printer is off, and it also gives you access to remove any paper jams. Unfortunately, the scanner lid doesn't extend for larger items like textbooks or journals.
The HP ENVY Photo 6255 is a small, compact printer that is very similar in size to the HP ENVY Photo 7155.
The HP ENVY 6255 has an acceptable display screen. Although it's a monochrome LCD screen, unlike the HP ENVY Photo 7855, it's much simpler and easier to use. It has good visibility whether you're seated or standing in front of it, and it has a fairly quick response time. The menu is easy to navigate and the screen can display some instructional videos including how to change the paper and load an ink cartridge.
- Power cable
- HP 64 Black starter cartridge
- HP 64 Tri-Color starter cartridge
- HP sample photo paper 4" x 6"
- User guide
The HP ENVY Photo 6255 has a bad cartridge system. The cartridges don't last very long, and because all three colors are combined into one cartridge, when a color is low, you need a completely new cartridge. The black and color page yield is a significant upgrade over the HP ENVY 5055, but the color yield is still lower than other HP ENVYs that we've tested.
The printer accepts third-party cartridges as well, but using them may void the warranty.
The HP ENVY 6255 has a mediocre scanner. It doesn't include an Automatic Document Feeder, which means scanning more than one document at a time can be tedious. The scan lid also can't be raised to scan larger documents.
The HP ENVY Photo 6255 has a decent cost-per-print. Due to both the black and color cartridge's low yield, they need to be replaced often. Luckily, the replacements are not overly expensive. This model is eligible for the HP Instant Ink subscription, so HP will automatically send you replacements when your cartridge is low.
Keep in mind that even if you print only in black, most inkjet printers continue using the color cartridge for servicing tasks, so you'll likely still need to replace it eventually.
The HP ENVY 6255's printing speed is mediocre. It takes a long time to print a photo, which is surprising considering this is a photo printer. The HP ENVY Photo 7855/7858 can print photos a bit faster if that's a necessity. The input tray can hold up to 125 sheets of paper, so you can leave it running for a while before having to reload. The output tray, however, can only hold up to 25 sheets.
The 6255 has very good color accuracy. Colors are fairly accurate and shouldn't be a problem for most people, though it won't be suitable for some professional needs that require very accurate colors, like graphic designers or photographers. If you want a similar printer with slightly better color accuracy, look into the HP ENVY 5014.
The HP ENVY Photo 6255 has decent photo printing quality. There's noticeable banding visible, especially in blue and green colors. There's also an evident green tint in the grayscale. If you're looking for a printer with better photo printing quality, check out the Canon PIXMA TS6420a.
These results are based on the actual physical photo, not the scanned image provided for reference above, which may not represent the printer's photo print quality.
The printer supports most common paper sizes up to the standard legal size. It also includes a dedicated photo paper tray.
The HP ENVY 6255 has satisfactory connectivity options. Unfortunately, it doesn't have an ethernet connection, nor does it include any external storage support. You can use Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print services, but it doesn't support Bluetooth, except for during the setup. If connectivity is the most important feature for your printer, then check out the HP ENVY Photo 7855.
The ENVY 6255 is compatible with the HP Smart mobile app, which is available for Android and iOS devices. It lets you print, scan, and copy. You can also perform maintenance tasks, as well as buying or managing your HP ink subscription. If you need a printer with a mobile app that can print Microsoft Office files, check out the Epson Expression Premium XP-6100.