HP Sprocket 2×3″ Instant Photo Printer

Pros: portability, ease of use, great value (quality:price)

Cons: battery at <50% after printing 7 photos, slight difference in color from screen to print (to be expected in *all* digital print jobs, not just photos), slight striping (see picture)

Purchased for recording memories and journaling away from home and to print photos as a school fundraiser. The printer had to pause for a cool down period (~1 minute) after ~5 photos so will still work for the latter purpose as long as I keep it plugged in throughout the fundraiser. While this printer will work for the former purpose (on the go journaling/scrapbooking), I will need to be conservative with printing if I am not near a power source. My guess is you can probably get ~10 photos printed on a full charge. Neither of these issues are deal breakers given the affordability of the printer and paper.

There does seem to be occasional striping when printing large swaths of similarly colored areas without much variation/texture (skies and ocean specifically, see photo). Again, not a deal breaker, but should be noted if you plan on printing lots of sunrise/sunset/oceans photos.

8/10 would recommend

This is a great little printer *for what it is*. It’s incredibly small and lightweight, and the app is well-designed and easy to use. The print size is a smidge larger than other printers, which I like, and the sticky-back Zink paper is perfect for journaling. But (and DO NOT come at me over this) you should not expect to get the best results without a little effort. There’s a reason that photographers use apps like Photoshop and Lightroom and it’s because NO printer will reproduce exactly what you see on a screen. Some of that is due to the printer calibration and some of that is your screen/device/camera calibration. If you demand high quality image reproduction, you don’t want a pocket printer — they all return worse quality in color, sharpness, etc., than a half-decent desktop inkjet printer. You are buying *convenience* with pocket printers. THAT SAID, a fair number of people are reporting a pink (magenta) or blue (cyan) cast to their prints that other manufacturers’ models do not seem to have, which is decidedly disappointing. Mine has a pink cast, hence my -1 star.

There are instructions from the manufacturer for resetting the unit to address this problem, and you should use the calibration card in each Zink packet as recommended (and keep it for recalibration). If those things do not work, there are some simple edits you can make to your photo (before you open it in the HP app) to correct for the color cast if you otherwise like the Sprocket Select and are willing to sacrifice a few prints in the process. The suggestions below will not be news to most photography enthusiasts (let alone professionals) — I’ve included them here because even though I think that HP has considerable room to improve the thermal control of this printer (which is how the colorization occurs with Zink paper), I still think this little printer has a lot going for it and casual photographers can get much improved prints from it.

1) The simplest method: You can counteract color casts by finding the “tint” setting in your photo editor (ALWAYS be sure to make and work on a copy of your original image if you’re not sure you can revert the image to its original state by undoing the edits). If your prints have a blue/cyan cast, use the tint adjustment to push the image towards red/magenta; if your prints are pink, move the tint towards green. For relatively simple editors (e.g., iOS Photos), you might start by making a 100% adjustment and then backing off from there in 10-20% increments for subsequent prints (of the same image) if you’ve gone too far. The image may look horrible on screen, but that’s not the point. Whatever setting you decide gives the best result, apply it to future images (or their copies) before you open them in the HP Sprocket app; this won’t work 100% of the time, but should help in many cases. Also be aware that various editing apps for different devices will apply differing amounts of adjustment at comparable settings (e.g., “50%” in one app on one phone may be “75%” on another phone or in a different editing app), so you may want to follow some of the additional steps below to dial in the best possible correction, albeit at the price of a few more test prints.

2) If you’re willing to put in a bit more effort: pick a photo that is representative of your most common subject (e.g., landscape, portrait, nighttime) and choose one with a good range of values (light to dark) and that is not under- or overexposed. Convert this to black and white (monochrome) in your phone/tablet/computer photo editor (no fancy enhancing filters, just a basic conversion) and print the image. This will allow you to see which values in the image have the greatest color cast (highlights, mid-tones, or shadows), which can be hard to see in a color image.

3) Go back to the original color image (or your copy!) and target your tint correction by looking at the values (areas) of the image with the worst color cast in the black and white version. This is inherently subjective, and remember it’s not meant to look good onscreen. Make a print and assess whether you need more or less tint correction. Rinse and repeat until you’re satisfied enough, recalling that you’re not aiming for perfection from this convenience printer.

4) For the folks with more sophisticated photo editing apps that allow targeted editing of color balance in terms of value ranges — highlights, mid-tones, or shadows (e.g., Lightroom or Pixelmator Photo on iOS): Start with Step 2 to figure out where the color cast is the worst but instead of changing the image tint in the original color image (which affects the whole image), tweak the cyan/red or magenta/green balance for just the values in the image that need the most correction (e.g., mid-tones). If you’re not sure whether the cast is in, for example, the mid-tones or highlights, just pick one (mid-tones) and make a 100% change in the color balance relevant to the color cast your prints have — if the area you’re concerned with (from step 2) changes the most onscreen, you’ve got it. If not, undo and try the other value range. If you like the result and your photo editor allows it, save this setting as a preset and apply to future images before printing. (And you can edit two or all three of the value ranges with differing amounts of color correction!)

5) For the truly adventurous: follow step 4 with additional enhancements, such as slight bumps to settings like “vibrance”, “clarity”, overall brightness (if images print a bit dark) and contrast (if images look a bit flat). Your photo editor probably allows changes to brightness in the value ranges of the color balance section, too, if you want a targeted effect. Save as a preset and apply to future images before opening them in the HP Sprocket app for printing.

Using these techniques, I was able to get a *much* better, more true-to-life color print after five prints (original; B&W; 100% green tint; less tint correction and more brightness; and finally, targeted value range corrections to color and brightness with bumps to overall vibrance and contrast based on earlier prints). You may not want to have to do anything to your images before printing – in that case, move along or take your chances and be prepared to return you unit if you dislike the prints. But if you don’t mind a little twiddling, I actually recommend this little printer.

Bought this for the little ones in my family, who can instantly see pictures taken on a phone, but are not able to display them. The kids (and adults!!) love that I can print copies of their favourite photos and sent them home to display. They are a perfect size for wallets, pegboards, putting on the fridge, scrapbooking, ideas are endless. I also like that they have a peel-and-stick backing, for times like scrapbooking. The printer is small and light enough to toss in my purse, quickly charges; just add the paper and start printing. I have an iPhone and I have no connection issues.

I am SO impressed with this little dude! It was so easy to set up and is so quick to print. I am very happy and have already printed around 100 photos for a project I’m doing and couldn’t be happier 🙂

This little guy definitely deserves a 5 star review in my book.. but for those needing more info on how it actually operates here are the issues I have (to be expected from a $100 portable/ink-less printer)
– the color prints a little funky. It’s not the best quality but if you do a little pre editing you might be able to counteract the pink hue it prints in
– it’s battery life is pretty short so be ready to be by an outlet or make sure it’s charged all the way before taking it out with you
– it often has printer feed issues which can be slightly irritating.. but they are easy to fix, you just have to feed the blue barcode through again so it understands what’s going on

Those are just the minor honest issues I have with it to give everyone a better understanding of it outside of me saying how much I love it. But I truly am very pleased and would definitely buy again just for the ease and sticky paper backed photos! Super fun too :))

Hope this helps!

The HP Sprocket Portable 2×3″ Instant Photo Printer in Lilac has proven to be a valuable addition to my tech collection. Despite the initial investment, it’s well worth the price.

One thing to note is that the cost of the paper can add up quickly, but considering there’s no need for ink, the overall cost is reasonable.

I did encounter some connectivity issues initially, where the printer wouldn’t connect via the app. However, after uninstalling the app, restarting my phone, and starting over, the problem was resolved. Though I admit it was frustrating.

Another minor inconvenience is that the printer sometimes overheats and pauses unexpectedly. While this can be a little annoying, it hasn’t been a deal-breaker for me.

Additionally, the picture quality is surprisingly decent for a printer that doesn’t use ink. I printed over 100 pictures in one night, and they all turned out great. It’s also worth mentioning that if exposed to cold, the pictures may curl a bit, but this is a common issue with many printed photos.

Overall, I love using the HP Sprocket printer regularly, and it has held up well over the three months I’ve had it. It’s a convenient and fun way to print pictures from my iOS and Android devices, and despite a few hiccups, I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a portable photo printing solution.