The HP Smart Tank Plus 551 is a compact supertank printer. Thanks to its refillable ink tank design, you can get a high page yield with black and color ink before they need to be refilled. This printer also has an extremely low cost-per-print ratio for all ink. However, it takes a long time to print both black-text and color documents, which isn't ideal if you have a lot of pages that need processing. This printer also lacks a sheetfed scanner, which can make it fairly limited for work purposes. That being said, it has a low running cost and its simple features should be enough for casual use.
Our Verdict
The HP Smart Tank Plus 551 is good as a family printer. This printer can help you save valuable family photos, whether you're printing them off to put in a frame or scanning to put online. However, the photo printing quality is okay and in some places, the photo may look a little grainy. Still, you can easily save film photos or other fragile items with their flatbed scanner, which is nice. The cost-per-print ratio of this printer is also exceptionally low for both black and color ink, making it an affordable choice for long-term use.
- Extremely low cost-per-print for black and color printing.
- High page yield for black and color ink bottles.
- Compact size.
- Very slow print speed for black-text and color documents as well as photos.
- Scanner lid can't extend to support larger items like books.
The HP Smart Tank Plus 551 is disappointing for home office use. This printer can print off a lot of pages with its black ink tank at an affordable rate. The color ink tanks also perform exceptionally, so you can print off a lot of color flyers or reports before needing to refill them. On the downside, printing black-text documents takes a long time to complete, especially if you have a lot of pages. The output tray also only holds 35 pages so if you're printing off multi-page documents, you need to remove them to continue printing. This printer also doesn't have a sheetfed scanner, and more ordinary tasks like processing double-sided forms can take longer to process. It also lacks an integrated fax feature.
- Extremely low cost-per-print for black and color printing.
- High page yield for black and color ink bottles.
- Compact size.
- Very slow print speed for black-text documents.
- No sheetfed scanner.
- No duplex scanning.
- Scanner lid can't extend to support larger items like books.
The HP Smart Tank Plus 551 is great for student use. It's very affordable to print off essays and assignments with this printer and it can yield a lot of pages before the tanks need to be refilled. However, it takes its time to print black-text documents, which isn't ideal if you're already late for class. Some students may also find the flatbed scanner limiting as the lid's hinges can't extend to support larger items like books.
- Extremely low cost-per-print for black and color printing.
- High page yield for black and color ink bottles.
- Compact size.
- Very slow print speed for black-text and color documents as well as photos.
The HP Smart Tank Plus 551 is okay for black and white printing. While it can print off a lot of black-text documents before its tank needs to be refilled, it's very slow to print off these documents. Still, its cost-per-print is exceptionally low, which is nice if you're always printing documents out.
- Extremely low cost-per-print for black and color printing.
- High page yield for black and color ink bottles.
- Compact size.
- Very slow print speed for black-text documents.
- No sheetfed scanner.
The HP Smart Tank Plus 551 is decent for casual photos. When using photo paper, its photo printing quality is okay. Some parts of your image can look a bit grainy, and there's also banding and color present in gray areas. It's quite affordable to print photos, though, as it has a very low cost-per-print. If you're printing photos on plain white paper, it also has surprisingly great color accuracy.
- Extremely low cost-per-print for black and color printing.
- High page yield for black and color ink bottles.
- Compact size.
- Great color accuracy.
- Photo printing quality is only okay.
- Can't print 2" x 3" photos.
Changelog
- Updated Jun 14, 2023: Added link to the HP Smart Tank 7301 in the Build Quality section to provide an alternative that feels sturdier.
- Updated Jun 16, 2020: Added a "Casual Photo" usage and removed "Mixed Usage".
- Updated Jun 10, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 0.8.1.
- Updated Jun 10, 2020: Review published.
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Popular Printer Comparisons
The HP Smart Tank Plus 551 is a supertank printer. Its ink tanks yield a lot of pages at an affordable cost-per-print, especially compared to non-supertank inkjet printers such as the HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 or the Canon PIXMA iX6820. However, while it also has a fairly compact design, it's because this printer lacks a sheetfed scanner, and it won't be suitable for meeting the needs of small/home offices. It also has a very slow print speed for both black and color documents as well as photos. Check out our recommendations for the best inkjet printers, the best home printers, and the best printers with cheap ink.
The Epson EcoTank ET-2760 and the HP Smart Tank Plus 551 are both supertank printers. The HP is better if you print in color a lot. It yields more color pages, the cost-per-print for photos is lower. On the other hand, the Epson yields more black pages at a lower cost-per-print, and it prints faster, making it a better choice for frequent document printing.
The Epson EcoTank ET-4760 is a better overall printer than the HP Smart Tank Plus 551. While both printers use a supertank system with outstandingly high yields, the Epson can yield slightly more pages using its black ink tank. Also, the Epson has an automatic document feeder as well as an integrated fax feature, and it's quicker at printing out black-text as well as color documents. It has an ethernet port too, and a better companion app for printing, scanning, and copying directly from your smartphone. Conversely, the HP has better color accuracy, it can yield more color pages, and its cost-per-print for color documents as well as photos is slightly lower, although both printers have very low cost-per-prints.
Overall, the HP Smart Tank Plus 551 and the Epson EcoTank ET-2720 have very similar performance. The Epson has a better display screen, it prints higher quality photos, and its replacement ink is cheaper. However, the HP yields more black and color pages per cartridge.
The Brother MFC-J805DW INKvestment Tank and the HP Smart Tank Plus 5512 are both all-in-one color inkjet printers, but the HP uses a supertank ink system for a significantly better cost-per-print and page yields. The HP also prints photos faster and with much more accurate colors. On the other hand, the Brother is a much better small or home office printer, as it prints documents faster and produces photos with better quality. It also has ADF, fax capabilities, and can automatically print double-sided.
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