HP OfficeJet D145 Inkjet Multifunction

This machine is conceptually great, but very unreliable. It breaks down quite often, and there are constant problems with the scanner and print heads.

It recognizes expired ink carts and pretty much disables the machine. I can't believe it. We loaded up on ink at one time when we had money, and now we're forced to throw away all this "expired" ink, which would most likely work just fine. This is an obvious ploy to keep you buying more ink, and I'm offended by it. I will be checking for this feature (flaw) when I shop for my next printer.

We purchased this machine several years ago, new, for ~$350. Considering how sparingly we used this boat anchor, it had a voracious appetite for ink. Since the ink came in a tri-color cartridge, when one color ran out you had to pitch them all.

Once we didn't use it for 2 weeks (on vacation) and when we returned we found that the cyan print head had completely clogged and the blue had partially clogged. Heavy amounts of cleaning would help, but the heads would just clog up again in another couple of days. So; in less than 1 year our color printer became a monochrome printer. That was until a few weeks later when the internal power supply fried and this thing would only emit a high pitched squeal. For the money we paid I'd expect better quality. My next multi-function will be a Canon PIXMA. My father in-law has had one for a year now and absolutely loves it. Separate cartridges for each color too.

HP laser jets are OK, except for their tendency of developing a multi-page feed problem after a year or so, but their ink jet printers are pretty bad. Stay away from this one.

I purchased the d145 in January 2003; approximately two months after the one year anniversary of the purchase (and the end of the warranty period), it ceased to function. Having owned at one time or another : a Lexmark X73, a Compaq bubble jet BJC-600 and a Brother laser MFC 4550, and NEVER having had a problem with any of them more serious than a paper jam, I suppose I was defying the odds when I elected not to purchase the warranty upgrade. I thought HP was just a reliable as some of the others; now other wiser individuals tell me they have faced similar problems with HP, namely breakdown of one part or another just after warranty expires.

Specifically, whether from a computer copy or from the copy function itself, it became impossible to complete anything without the message "Scanner System Failure" appearing as the machine shut down. For a time I was able to trick it in to making a single copy by shutting it down, then turning it back on fast. However, soon even that "trick" no longer worked. Of course, all the troubleshooting hints failed as well. At one point I even thought perhaps the room was too cool for the printer and went so far as to swaddle it in blankets! That generated two copies!!

I finally got around to calling about printer repairs, having pressed the Brother back into action, but the answer is almost universal, that for an ink jet it is usually cheaper to buy a new one than to repair an old one. A laser printer is far easier to repair, I am told, as the parts are easier to access.

My advice, if you want to buy the hp d145 do so ( it WAS wonderful when it worked), but protect your investment, buy the extended warranty.

this is a terrible machine. it is the noisiest piece of equipment we have ever purchased. it eats toner. it feeds paper 2, 3, 4 or more pieces at a time, especially if copying on reverse side. it goes thru so many motions to print one copy that you almost forget what you were there for. when working from computer it reduces copy to one tiny corner of paper for no reason, in the middle of a run. it is a piece of junk and we will replace it as soon as we can get over the 500 bucks we were ripped off. the only guarantee we can give is that we will NEVER buy an hp item again!