HP’s first full pigment –based printer was the Photosmart Pro B9180, released back in 2006. It offered good quality prints for both monochrome and color and had a series of very useful features that were pretty new on devices found on the market at the time. The B8550 has a similar purpose, except this printer is HP’s attempt to keep the price a bit lower (it was released with a price tag of $550). There are many similarities between the B8850 and the B9180 as both printers come with the same ink set (Vivera) and both the cartridges and print heads are interchangeable.

The capacity is the same as well and both printers can support 200 sheets in the bottom feed paper tray and also offer a special media slot for different media types. HP claims that the maximum size of printing is 13 by 19 inch but if you plan on using the specialty media tray you’ll discover that you can set a custom page size and print panoramic.

The similarities end at the Ethernet port (which is featured in the B9180 only). The B9180 can also handle thicker media than its brother (up to 1.5mm) and has a status display on the front size.

These features were dropped by HP with the idea of cost efficiency in mind. Users who don’t need networking won’t have to pay a higher price for the device. For a long period of time Epson was the ‘king’ manufacturer and produced some of the best photo printers when it comes to pigment ink. Since HP stepped up to produce such devices as well, and pretty good quality to boot, competition boosted the development of new technology a bit.

Just to keep things clear Hp’s B8850 targets the advanced amateur photographer (or photographers that don’t have networking requirements from a printer). Its price is more affordable than products from the competition or even HP’s line. The B8850 is somewhat dependent of a PC. It can work as a standalone but the front LCD display only shows a limited amount of info.  If you’re planning to keep it hooked to the same PC you’ll find that the software it comes with makes up for this little inconvenience and inform you on how low the ink levels are, among other things.

As mentioned before the B8850 uses the same print head cartridges and Vivera pigment ink, eight as number, as the B9180. Just like its older brother it offers excellent quality color prints. It features a simpler closed loop calibration system that works by printing a page with individual color blocks.

It then automatically pulls the page back into the printer where a sensor will scan each color block and measure things like color density. It will then compare the results with the factory calibration settings and decide if they are the same. In case there is a difference from factory settings, the printer will adjust itself as necessary to make sure it provides consistent color.Overall the HP Photosmart Pro B8850 is one of the best photo printers for advanced amateur photographers and will do well on the desk of a professional as well.