With the price-performance winner HP Smart Tank 5105, the surcharge for the ink tanks is noticeably lower. HP has cut back on features, such as using a mini display. The quality is high, as is the speed of text printing. The HP prints photos and color graphics very slowly.
If you want to print as much as you do at a low cost, you can safely choose the HP Smart Tank 5105 - it is currently one of the cheapest multifunction printers with ink tanks. HP has mainly saved on features. If you want a paper cassette or document feeder, for example, the 5105 is the wrong choice and it is better to go for a Smart Tank 7005 or 7305.
Of course, HP also has ink tank printers on sale, with the Smart Tank 5105 available on Amazon for as little as 160 euros. It has a printer, scanner and a 100-sheet paper feeder. You can print a good 6000 pages ex works with the ink supplied. However, it is quite slow when using high print quality...
The HP Smart Tank 5105 is the "light version" of the 7305. It does not have an ADF, paper tray or Ethernet, but is significantly cheaper and a good alternative for users who mainly want to print. In terms of print resolution and scanner, it is identical to the more expensive model, but prints more slowly.
Anyone looking for a printer for the home quickly realises that the price range is huge. The printers tested by Stiftung Warentest range from under 100 to over 1,000 euros. The differences in quality are just as great: while many good printers tested impress with razor-sharp text or brilliant photo prints, others disappoint with blurred, streaky print images, poor contrast or colour errors...
The HP Smart Tank is only recommended for frequent printers who don't value print quality and intuitive operation and who have everything calculated in the cloud anyway. For 50 to 70 euros more, you can get significantly better quality, such as the Canon Pixma G3570 tested at [1] or the EcoTank ET-2850 from Epson, which also prints automatically on both sides...
