If you need the best duplex printer available, you shouldn’t just look at any one factor, especially not just its duplexing performance. The HP OfficeJet Pro 8720 is a great choice because it performs well in almost all aspects, not just duplex scanning or printing. But wait, are these features enough for it to be rated the best printer in its category? Let’s find out at the end of this review
Related: You may also check the HP Officejet Pro 8710 review
Why We Like It – HP OfficeJet Pro 8720
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8720 is a superb little color inkjet printer. It features a great design that doesn’t need any annoying paper tray to catch the prints. And it comes with support for a wide variety of paper types and sizes.
- Support for high yield ink cartridges (e.g., Original HP 952 ink cartridge)
- Up to 37 PPM black ink print speed
- Wi Fi direct support, active internet connection is not required
- Original HP ink cartridges are very costly
Related: Our reviewers recommend the HP Officejet Pro 9015 review
Speed
This HP printer can reach up to 37 ISO PPM print speed if you are printing monochrome prints at a low enough quality setting. The page yield is pretty good too. However, the duplexing print speed is much lower than that, as you can expect. Still, it beats even the legendary Brother HL-L2350DW in terms of print speed.
Print Quality
The print quality of the HP OfficeJet Pro 8720 wireless printer is actually pretty good as well. According to the product information section at HP.com, you can select up to 2400 x 1200 true DPI as your print resolution while printing on a photo paper. That should be enough for most people who are just going to perform copy fax print on it. However, if you need more detailed and sharp looking results, go for the Epson WorkForce WF-3540 instead.
Efficiency
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8720 Inkjet Printer is obviously more power-efficient than a laser printer. It’s fairly ink efficient as well. However, HP has a pretty bad reputation for not letting users select third party high yield ink cartridges. And the original ink cartridges from HP (e.g., black ink cartridge, magenta ink cartridge) cost way too much (at least $50-$60 each). Brother is a much better manufacturer in that regard, and if you pick up the Brother MFC-J880DW instead, you can easily use third party ink cartridges.
Advanced Features
Because this printer features Wi Fi direct, mobile printing is possible without needing an active internet connection. Also, you can print from your cloud storage by signing up on HP.com with your email address. And the automatic document feeder is perfect for wireless printing. Overall, it’s a great printer in all four aspects (print scan copy fax).
Value
It’s clear to us that HP did not make any efforts to mark down the price on this one printer. And if you do get it, you’ll be stuck with the HP Instant Ink service as it is the only cost-friendly way of replacing the ink cartridges in the United States. And HP support is not that great as well. So, all in all, the value proposition of this printer doesn’t seem very good.
HP OfficeJet Pro 8720 Wrap Up
The HP OfficeJet Pro 8720 is a pretty good printer if you can find a good deal on it. But, if you can’t find a good deal, there are much better printers available out there at lower price brackets.
