HP LaserJet Pro P1606dn review

This compact mono laser is aimed at small businesses, but home users will also find it has a reasonable set of features for the money. There’s an automatic duplexer for two-sided printing, and an Ethernet port. It’s compatible with HP’s Jetdirect ew2500 wireless print server, but this costs more than the printer itself – we’d recommend buying a wireless printer in the first place if this is a priority.

The LaserJet Pro P1606dn otherwise can’t be upgraded, meaning it may not keep pace with an expanding business. There’s a 10-sheet multipurpose feed that forms the dust cover for a 250-sheet paper tray underneath. The correct paper and envelope orientations are marked, but they’re hard to read in the dark plastic.

HP’s install program is a pain, as it requires so much user input before finally asking you to choose the printer model from a list of four. Its test page printed onto an envelope we’d loaded into the multipurpose feed, even though the main tray was stocked with A4 paper.

We found that the feed generally took priority over the tray underneath when the printer was left to auto-select its paper source. If you leave the feed loaded with envelopes or special media, some of it is likely to end up wasted.

The P1606dn is reasonably swift when printing text, but it was slower than many printers to spool graphical print jobs. Including this spool time, it delivered our mixed graphics test at just under 19ppm. Black text was crisp and dark, but it seemed as though the printer had boosted the contrast of photos, making them look artificial. Fortunately, this wasn’t as evident in illustrations and PowerPoint slides.

The LaserJet Pro’s print quality is broadly similar to the Canon i-Sensys LBP6300dn’s, and both printers use a single consumable that combines toner with an imaging drum. However, although Canon provides a 2,100-page starter unit that can be replaced with a 6,400-page item, HP’s is good for just 1,000 pages and replacements last for only 2,100 pages. As a result, it’s considerably more expensive to run, with each sheet costing 2.5p. For this reason, the Canon i-Sensys LBP6300dn is the better buy.