HP ST 5000 All In One: In-Depth Review and User Opinions

to the HP Smart Tank 5000 All-in-One Printer

The HP Smart Tank 5000 is an all-in-one printer aimed at home and small office users looking for an affordable printer with low running costs. Part of HP's Smart Tank line, it uses high-capacity ink tanks instead of cartridges to deliver ultra low-cost printing.

This relatively new model sits above the entry-level HP Smart Tank 3000 series and below the higher-end 6000 series in HP's current Smart Tank range. First released in 2021, the Smart Tank 5000 brings enhanced print quality, faster speeds and more connectivity options compared to cheaper models. It retains the same low-ink costs and hands-off experience provided across the Smart Tank line.

With print, scan, copy and fax capabilities, the HP Smart Tank 5000 is intended as an easy-to-use family printer suitable for both photos and documents. Key features include print speeds up to 18ppm, a 35-page auto document feeder for the scanner, dual-band Wi-Fi for wireless printing from multiple devices, and enough included ink to print up to 12,000 pages in color or 6,000 pages in black.

Compared against inkjet printers that use cartridges, the Smart Tank 5000 promises dramatically lower long-term running costs. HP ships the printer with up to 3 years' worth of ink in the box, with replacement bottles costing just cents per page. This makes it an affordable option for high-volume printing households.

Sleek and Compact Design

The HP Smart Tank 5000 is designed to fit on your desk or workspace without taking up too much room. It has a sleek, modern, and compact design with curved edges and a clean white and light gray color scheme.

Despite its small footprint, the build quality feels sturdy and durable thanks to the solid plastic construction. The paper tray sits tightly against the body of the printer and allows for easy access to change paper sizes or refill.

Overall, the Smart Tank 5000 is designed to seamlessly blend into a home office or workspace environment while taking up minimal space. The clean lines and matte finish help it look contemporary without appearing cheap or plasticky. For an ink tank printer, HP managed to achieve a design that looks more premium than other budget models.

Print Quality

The HP Smart Tank 5000 produces excellent print quality for both documents and photos. It has a max print resolution of 4800 x 1200 dpi, allowing it to render fine details and sharp text.

For documents, it prints crisp black text and vibrant colors on plain paper. Graphics and images also come out looking great. The ink dries fast so there's minimal smudging. Text pages print quickly at speeds up to 11 ppm in black and 5 ppm in color.

When printing photos, the quality is impressive. It can handle borderless photos up to 8.5 x 11 inches. Using the dedicated photo paper tray, photos come out with vibrant, accurate colors and a high level of detail. The color ink provides a wide color gamut for capturing the subtle tones in photos. Photos print fairly quickly at speeds up to 5 ppm in color.

Overall, the print quality from the HP Smart Tank 5000 exceeds expectations for an inkjet aimed at home and small office use. It provides professional looking documents and lab-quality photos that look great even when enlarged or framed. The fast print speeds are a nice bonus.

Scan and Copy Features

The HP Smart Tank 5000 comes loaded with scan and copy functionality to complement its printing capabilities.

It can scan documents and photos directly to your computer, email, or cloud services using the Easy Scan app. The scanner offers 1200 dpi optical scanning for sharp clarity on digitizing documents. You can scan up to letter or A4 size papers through the document feeder. For larger documents like receipts and photos, the flatbed scanner comes in handy.

The copy function allows you to make high quality duplicates without connecting to a computer. You get the convenience of making up to 99 copies in one go using the printer's control panel. It can copy documents in either black & white or color depending on your needs. To save paper, you can print 2 or 4 pages on a single sheet using the Page Layout feature. Reducing and enlarging copies from 25% to 400% is possible directly from the printer.

Overall, the scanning and copying features make day-to-day tasks simpler by digitizing documents for storage and making quick duplicates when required. It adds to the versatility of the HP Smart Tank 5000 as an all-in-one printer.

Connectivity

The HP Smart Tank 5000 has strong connectivity options to meet most home office and family needs. It offers dual-band WiFi so you can connect wirelessly to 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. Setting up the WiFi connection is simple with the HP Smart app.

For wired connections, it has ethernet and USB 2.0 ports. Connecting via Ethernet cable provides a fast and reliable connection. The USB port allows direct connection to a computer.

In addition, the printer supports mobile printing standards including Apple AirPrint, Mopria Print Service, and HP Smart app. You can print from your smartphone or tablet through these mobile and cloud printing options. The HP Smart app also makes it easy to scan directly to your mobile device.

Overall, with WiFi, Ethernet, USB, and mobile/cloud printing support, the HP Smart Tank 5000 provides versatile connectivity suitable for most home and small office environments. The dual band WiFi and wired ethernet offer reliable connectivity, while mobile printing standards allow printing from phones and tablets.

Ink System

The HP Smart Tank 5000 comes with an innovative ink tank system that significantly reduces the cost per page compared to traditional inkjet printers. Instead of using small, expensive ink cartridges, the printer has four large, refillable ink tanks - one each for black, cyan, magenta and yellow.

These ink tanks can hold a high volume of ink - enough to print thousands of pages. HP claims the included ink is sufficient to print up to 8,000 color pages or 6,000 black pages. When it's time to refill, the tanks are refilled with bottles of HP ink which cost just cents per page. There's no need to replace expensive cartridges anymore.

With the estimated page yield and ink bottle prices, HP states the cost per page is around 0.3 cents for black and 1 cent for color. This makes home printing more affordable for families and home offices that do a high volume of printing. The ink tank system removes the frustration of frequently replacing cartridges and the shock of high ink costs with a simple, efficient solution.

Print Speed

The HP ST 5000 all-in-one printer offers fast print speeds for both black and color prints. For black text documents, it can print up to 12 pages per minute (ppm). When printing mixed text and color graphics, speeds are slightly slower at 10 ppm.

For full color documents with photos or graphics, print speeds are rated at 5 ppm. While not the fastest printer available, these print speeds are very reasonable for a home inkjet all-in-one model. The ST 5000 should be able to handle most home printing needs without long waits between pages.

When printing photos, the ST 5000 has a photo print speed of 35 seconds per 4x6 photo print. For letter or A4 sized photo prints, expect print times of about 1 minute 20 seconds. Again, not blazing fast but adequate for most home use.

One area where the ST 5000 does lag a bit is two-sided duplex printing. Print speeds drop to just 6 ppm for duplex black and white pages and 4.5 ppm for color pages. However, the auto duplexing feature does allow for easy two-sided printing to save paper.

Overall, while not the fastest on the market, the print speeds of the HP ST 5000 should suffice for most home office and family needs. It provides a good balance of print quality and speed. For very high volume printing, a faster business oriented printer may be preferable. But for typical home use, the ST 5000 delivers solid print speeds.

Ease of Use

The HP Smart Tank 5000 all-in-one printer is designed to be very easy to set up and use. It comes with an installation CD that guides you through the process step-by-step.

Once set up, the printer is fairly intuitive to operate. There is a 2.2” color touchscreen display that allows you to navigate menus and select options. You can print, copy, scan and fax right from the display.

The printer also works with the HP Smart app, allowing you to print and scan from your mobile device. The app makes it easy to send a document to the printer no matter where you are.

One of the best features for usability is the ink system. Since the ink tanks are integrated into the printer, there are no cartridges to replace. The tanks are transparent so you can easily see the ink levels. When one color gets low, you just have to open the tank lid and refill that color. This helps avoid wasted ink and messy cartridge changes.

Overall, the Smart Tank 5000 is designed for simplicity. With easy mobile printing, an intuitive interface, and an efficient ink system, it's a user-friendly option perfect for home or small office use. The simple maintenance means you spend less time managing the printer and more time creating.

Pros and Cons

The HP Smart Tank 5000 all-in-one printer has several noteworthy pros and cons to consider:

Pros

• Excellent print quality, especially for graphics and photos
• Very low printing costs due to high-capacity ink tanks
• Fast print speeds for both black and color printing
• Easy to set up and use, with a simple control panel
• Versatile printing, scanning, and copying functions
• Reliable wireless connectivity and networking
• Compact, space-saving design with clean, modern aesthetics

Cons

• Mediocre scan and copy quality compared to print quality
• Lack of fax functionality
• No LCD display; limited control panel
• No support for printing from flash drives
• Cannot print on specialty media like cardstock
• Only prints in A4, not legal or tabloid sizes
• Initial purchase cost is higher than standard inkjet printers

The key takeaway is that the HP Smart Tank 5000 delivers extremely low cost, high volume printing with excellent print quality. But the tradeoff is scan and copy quality, along with lack of robust features beyond basic wireless printing. For home and small office users focused on frequent, high-quality printing at a very low cost-per-page, it's an excellent choice. But it lacks the bells, whistles, and versatility of similarly priced all-in-one printers.

Conclusion

The HP Smart Tank 5000 is an excellent all-in-one printer for home and small office use. It offers high-quality printing, scanning, and copying capabilities along with robust wireless connectivity options. The innovative ink tank system allows you to print thousands of pages before needing a refill, making this a very economical printer long-term.

Overall, the Smart Tank 5000 produces vibrant, detailed prints at reasonably fast speeds. It's easy to set up on your wireless network and has a user-friendly control panel. The automatic document feeder scans and copies multipage documents efficiently. While print quality is not quite photo lab quality, it's more than sufficient for everyday use.

The Smart Tank 5000 hits a sweet spot between price and features. If you don't need professional-grade photo printing, this HP all-in-one delivers everything the average home and home office is likely to need in a printer. It's compact and stylish enough to fit into any workspace. For quality printing at an affordable cost per page over the long run, the HP Smart Tank 5000 is highly recommended.