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Ink/Toner (5.0)
The B8850 uses HP's own Type 38 ink cartridges, which are available from a wide number of retailers. The cartridges can all be swapped individually, and the printer notifies you which one is getting empty both in the driver and with a light on the front of the printer. At the time of writing, each of the cartridges is available from HP for about $39. That means that the total cost of a set of replacement inks is about $310. That's pretty expensive, but the cartridges do hold more ink than most; each of the Type 38 cartridges holds 27ml of ink, while the cheaper ink cartridges of other printers hold less. The B8850 is also unusual in separating the ink cartridges from the print heads; only the print heads move across the page, while the ink cartridges are located at the left of the printer body. There are also 4 print heads that each handle two colors, and which can be individually changed. Each print head costs about $65.
HP is also unusual in providing yield figures for the individual cartridges, based on a standard set of photos that they use for testing. These figures range from 4700 4 x 6 photos for the Cyan, down to 320 4 x 6 photos for the Light Grey. More details of their photo yield calculations are available here. We found that the ink cartridges lasted a long time; we didn't even get through a full set in our testing, which ususally exhausts one or two sets of inks.
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The 8 ink catridges that the B8850 uses in place
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Ink/Toner Management (3.0)
The B8850 does a good job of helping you keep track of the ink level in all of the 8 catridges. Whenever you print something, a small window pops up that shows the ink levels.
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| The screen that shows the ink level on every print |
When an ink cartridge gets too low, an additional warning pops up that encourages you to buy more ink.
Media (12.0)
The B8850 is a jack of all trades when it comes to handling paper: it can handle paper at sizes of up to 13 x 19 inches from the main paper tray, and up to 44 x 19 from the manual feed tray above this. It can also handle smaller sizes, down to the ubiquitous 4 x 6 photo size. The manual feed tray also provides a flat paper path, which means it can handle thicker or more fragile paper that does not like to be bent. However, it can only handle paper that is up to 0.7mm thick, which rules out some very thick art papers and cards.
HP themselves offer a wide selection of a papers that are compatiable with the B8850; we were particularly impressed with the Professional Satin paper, which combines the deep blacks of a glossy paper with the smooth texture of a traditional canvas.
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Media Support Compared |
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HP B8850
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Epson R1900 |
Canon Pro 9500
Mark II |
4 x 6 prints
|
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
| 5 x 7 prints |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
| 8 x 10 prints |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
| 11 x 7 prints |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
| 13 x 19 prints |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
| Banner prints |
N |
N |
Y |
Y |
| Direct DVD printing |
N |
N |
Y |
N |
| letter prints |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
legal prints
|
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
tabloid prints
|
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
| Flat paper path |
N |
Y |
N |
Y |
Fine art paper support
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Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Paper Storage (5.63)
There is only one paper tray, at the bottom of the front of the printer. This can hold up to 200 sheets of plain apaper or about 60 sheets of photo paper, which is a bit more than most: the Canon Pro 900 Mark II can hold only 120 sheets of paper.
There is also only a single additional paper path: above the output tray is a fold-down tray that forms the simgle sheet feed path. This can handle paper at sizes up to 19 by 44 inches, so the printer can produce banner sized prints if required. It is a little clumsy to use, though; the tray does not extend, so larger pieces of paper tend to flop about, and the paper also protrudes fom the back of the printer as it is being fed in, so you need a lot of clearance space behind the printer if you want to do large prints. However, this approach does mean that it can handle paper that doesn't like to be bent, although it can only handle paper up to 0.7mm thick, which rules out some fine art papers.
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| The front paper tray of the B8850 (with the output tray removed) |
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• The B8850 uses 8 ink catridges, including 2 blacks and a grey 
