HP OfficeJet 250, the "pocket" mobile multifunction

Ergonomics

Where the Epson WF-100W and Canon iP110 are content to print in A4, the small portable inkjet from HP offers all the arsenal of 3-in-1 multifunctionals, also acting as a scanner and copier. Unsurprisingly, it is therefore the “biggest” and heaviest of this trio (38 x 19.8 x 9.1 cm for 2.96 kg), but also the most expensive, since it is launched at the price official price of 335.90 euros.

In terms of ergonomics, it sets a new standard for this type of printer, thanks to the integration of a small color touch screen rather responsive and pleasant to handle. Mounted on a spring hinge, this screen deploys when the cover is lifted. The latter turns into a paper feeder and can contain around fifty pages (80 g / m²), which seems sufficient for targeted use.

A second shutter can open just below. This brings up a document feeder to power the scanner. It is possible to position up to 10 pages there, but the operation is not very practical. If there is a tab to hold the paper in place, it often happens that the motorized roller has to be helped to catch the sheet.

The printer connects via USB (2.0 Type-B) or Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi Direct supported). It is compatible with the main printing services in the Cloud and with printing from a smartphone or tablet. However, it does not offer an Ethernet port or memory card reader, but has a USB Host port and is therefore capable of printing directly from a USB key, for example.

At the back, we discover the space reserved for the battery. A battery that charges 90% in 90 minutes, and which allows you to print more than a hundred pages in mixed use (black and white, color and photo). A charge indicator indicates autonomy; information in any case taken up by the control screen. Our speed tests were carried out with the printer connected to the mains, the flow rates being slightly lower on the battery.

Regarding the overall manufacturing quality, it is excellent and only the use of glossy plastic on a handling area that attracts dust and fingerprints is to be deplored. The HP OfficeJet 250 is obviously a neat product that goes hand in hand with a rather high-end positioning.

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Office

Good news concerning the speed of printing in office automation, the small OfficeJet 250 reaches speeds equivalent to those of multifunction A4 of traditional format. It is 82% faster in black and white (and 102% in color) than the Epson WF-100W in standard printing. She manages to print 13.6 pages per minute in black and white, and 10.5 pages in color.

The printing quality in office automation is quite satisfactory. The texts are clear and the graphics stand out perfectly legible, as are the color gradients that stand out without difficulty. The texts on a colored background may be just slightly edgy, but nothing serious. The HP OfficeJet 250 performs perfectly in this area.

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Scanner and copies

The scroll scanner of the HP OfficeJet 250 works up to 600 dpi on 24 bits in A4 format. Despite a document supply that is not always very practical, it fulfills its role rather well and is fast. It scans a A4 color page in 100 dpi in 17 seconds and a 10 x 15 cm photo in 300 dpi in 17 seconds. Given the format constraints of the printer, these are very good figures and it is clear that HP has taken care to integrate a scanner that holds water, just to emphasize what is one of the main demarcation points of this product compared to its competitors. Note, however, that this is not a flatbed scanner, so it is impossible to scan the page of a book or magazine. It costs him one more star in this section, the previous one being lost due to limited maximum resolution.

Regarding the copy, the observation is the same. The OfficeJet 250 matches and even exceeds much larger multifunction models with flatbed scanners in terms of speed. By copying a black and white page in just 9 seconds, and a color page in 17 seconds, it thus ranks among the good students of our comparison.

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Photo

The HP OfficeJet 250 is of course capable of printing photos, although it will certainly not be its primary use. It accepts paper up to a weight of 300 g / m² and can print without borders. Please note, however, borderless printing is not supported in A4, but only on smaller formats, such as 10 x 15 or 13 x 18. In this context, it does speak a little less about its speed with bit rates 1.6 pages per minute in 10 x 15 and 0.7 pages per minute in A4. This remains better than what the Epson WF-100W offers; we remain in the middle of conventional size inkjet multifunction printers.

On the other hand, where the small Epson printer clearly showed its limits in photos, offering a barely fair result, the OfficeJet 250 is satisfactory. Without equaling the rendering of the best photo printers, it delivers clean and fairly precise shots. On the other hand, it is necessary to know how to be satisfied with a color rendering of a fairly relative fidelity, with an average delta E measured at 8.4. If green, red and yellow come out rather well, blue is at a delta E of 14.7, cyan at 11 and gray at 10.8 ...

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Consumption

On mains, without battery, the OfficeJet 250 consumes only 0.9 W in standby and 13 W during a big photo work. We have seen better, but these are correct results. Its silent operation is nevertheless very appreciable. Loading paper and printing are done very discreetly, and at a distance of a few tens of centimeters from the printer in a rather calm working environment, our sound level meter made almost no difference when the printer was in action or not. In a closed room, with an ambient noise level measured around 35 dB, printing a photo on the OfficeJet 250 only raised the sound level meter to 36.1 dB and a standard page to 38.4 dB. The ears appreciate.

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Cost per page

The HP OfficeJet 250 works with HP 62 or HP 62 XL cartridges. The HP 62 are given for 200 and 165 pages of approximate capacity, respectively in black and white and in color, for prices of € 16.90 and € 20.90. Of course, the HP 62 XL is more economical. Sold € 33.90 and € 38.90, they offer a capacity of 600 and 415 pages, which brings the overall cost per page down to € 0.15. We are above the average cost per page of A4 inkjet multifunction printers, which revolves around 9 to 10 euro cents. But in black and white, it's still reasonable since we fall to 5.7 cents per page, knowing that office automation is clearly the first area of use for this model.

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Conclusion

The HP OfficeJet 250 clearly has a playing card on the market for small A4 printers designed to be transportable or able to be stored in a drawer. A bit more bulky than its main competitors, it has the advantage of offering the scanner and copy functions they lack. Rather fast and above all very quiet, it offers good battery life and very good overall ergonomics. It can also do better than troubleshoot in photos. Two downsides however, its fairly high base price and an above average cost per page, especially in color.

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