HP Smart Tank 7301 [6001, 7001] Printer Review

This printer feels impressively well-built. It's made mostly from high-grade plastic and resembles newer HP printers like the HP LaserJet Tank MFP 2604sdw. The extension for its paper output tray is spring-loaded, so it automatically unfolds as the extender is pulled out. It isn't all smooth sailing, however: the printer makes a disconcerting clacking and clicking noises when pulling in photo paper, as seen here. Its scanner lid also doesn't have adjustable hinges to accommodate thicker documents or books.

The HP Smart Tank 7301 doesn't require much in the way of maintenance.

Thanks to its high page yield, you don't need to refill the ink tanks often. However, like any inkjet printer, the printheads can clog if you don't print for a long time. You can run printhead cleaning and printhead alignment routines through the HP Smart app. The printheads are technically user-replaceable, as you'll need to install them after buying the printer; the printheads are inside the sealed packages seen in this image.

As for paper jams, you can access the sheet rollers through a small opening at the back of the printer seen here or by lifting the scanner. Access to the sheet rollers for the automatic document feeder is decent, as seen here. The input tray holds 250 sheets of paper, which is a pretty good size, so you likely won't need to refill it regularly unless you print a lot.

This printer doesn't have much of a display. It's a simple LCD showing basic information regarding its current status and ink levels. Viewing angles are sub-par, as it's hard to see what's being displayed unless you're looking at the interface from right above.

The HP Smart Tank 7301 has a remarkably high page yield. As a supertank printer, it has a high-capacity ink reservoir that you can refill with replacement ink bottles. Black ink is available in HP32 or HP32XL format, which respectively provide an advertised page yield of 4000 and 6000 pages, while cyan, yellow, and magenta ink comes in HP31-format bottles, which the manufacturer advertises to provide sufficient ink for 8000 prints. The actual estimated page yield is fairly close to these advertised figures, though it's important to note that the printer needs at least some level of black ink to execute any print job.

This printer has a flatbed scanner with an automatic document feeder. Unfortunately, it can't automatically process double-sided documents, so you must manually flip over each sheet, which may be a hassle if you have a long document to scan. You can't extend its hinges to accommodate thicker documents, magazines, and books. Scanning speed is also rather slow.

It can scan documents as a text-searchable PDF through the HP Smart app. It works fairly well and has little trouble with identifying plain text. However, it has trouble recognizing special characters and accents.

The HP Smart Tank 7001 and HP Smart Tank 6001 variants lack an automatic document feeder.

The scan quality is mediocre. Scanned text has a slightly jagged, uneven appearance. Fine details are also rendered very faintly and are quite hard to see.

• User documentation
• 1x Black printhead
• 1x Color printhead
• Power cable
• HP Smart Tank ink bottles
• 1x HP31 Cyan
• 1x HP31 Magenta
• 1x HP31 Yellow
• 1x HP32XL Black

It's a corded printer with no battery.

The quality of black-and-white documents is impressive. Text is sharp and legible, fine details are reproduced accurately, and the gradient between lighter and darker shades of gray is noticeable. That said, print lines are rather noticeable when printing in standard quality. Thankfully, these lines aren't nearly as noticeable when printing in the high-quality setting, which forces the printer to overlap print segments.

The quality of printed color documents is excellent. Text is well-rendered, and fine details and lines are easy to see. Print lines aren't as noticeable as they are on black-and-white documents.

The cost-per-print is remarkably low because a full tank yields a large number of prints, and replacement ink is cheap. The printer itself is on the pricier end of the spectrum, though it's frequently discounted on HP's website.

The overall printing speed is okay. It prints black-and-white documents quickly and gets close to the advertised 15 pages per minute. It's slower with color documents, although most inkjet printers are. It's just slow compared to laser printers. Unfortunately, it takes a while to wake from an idle state. It also takes a long time to print photos, though it's much faster in this respect than some other supertank printers like the Epson EcoTank ET-4850.

This printer's input tray can be extended to accommodate up to 216mm x 356mm (8.5" x 14") sheets. An adjustable guide is inside the tray for printing photo paper and other narrow page formats.

This printer's color gamut is somewhat narrow. Different shades of colors, especially high-saturation hues, blend together, most noticeably with reds and greens, resulting in an overall loss of detail. It also has trouble reproducing darker hues, which look much lighter than they should, and transitions between colors are very grainy. If you want a similar printer with a wider color gamut, check out the Canon PIXMA G4270.

The printer's color accuracy is mediocre. Most shades are represented quite differently from their source. On the upside, despite the fairly high level of deviation with skin tones, they look fairly natural in the real world, just not to the extent that they'd pass muster for professional use.

This printer is excellent at reproducing small details. Fine elements look clear; it mainly loses detail in distant objects due to halftones (dot effect).

The HP Smart Tank 7301 supports various glossy paper sizes up to 8.5" x 11". However, some issues arise when printing on 4" x 6" sheets, with parts of borderless prints being cut off. Printing on 4" x 6" glossy photo paper also causes the printer to produce an audible clacking and grinding noise, which can be heard here. Unfortunately, it's unclear whether this is an isolated incident or one that could repeat in the future. Let us know in the discussions if you have an HP Smart Tank 7301 and encounter the same phenomenon.

This printer does have Bluetooth, but it's only used for device setup. You can't print documents from devices connected over Bluetooth.

The 6001 and 7001 model variants don't have an Ethernet port.

You can print, scan, and copy using the HP Smart app from your mobile device. You can also send a mobile fax, requiring a paid HP Smart Advance subscription. You can check estimated ink levels or put in a purchase order for more ink and paper.

Regardless of your device's OS, you'll need to install the HP Smart app to access all of the printer's features, as the printer's physical interface offers only limited overall functionality. A generic Windows printer driver is sufficient to use the printer, though you can use the HP Smart app to guide you through downloading and installing the specific driver for your device.