HP Envy 6055e Review

The HP Envy 6055e is one of the lower-cost printers in our lineup, and all things considered, it is not a bad choice for those looking for a very compact, low initial cost, high-quality photo printer. It does have fairly high operational costs, but if you only print every now and then, the 6055e is not a bad option.

Performance Comparison

Text Quality

The HP Envy 6055e did pretty well for its price point here. The text quality was generally decent, with some apparent faintness for lighter shades in the grayscale. Otherwise, the resolution was quite clear, and the characters were legible. The performance of the 6055e is nothing stellar, but is better than you'd expect from a small, inexpensive machine.

Graphics and Photos

The HP Envy 6055e performs surprisingly well for its low initial purchase price. It does a great job with the textures and details. Business graphics have vibrant colors and sharp text, which is impressive because even more expensive printers in our lineup struggled to print business graphics well. The overall resolution of photo prints is sharp, and the color display is awesome. The entire range of colors in the image shows up in print, even subtle colors.

However, there is some striping and color banding in the darker parts of images and inconsistency with some lighter or slightly washed out colors quality across photos, which docked the 6055e's score slightly. We were impressed with what this modest printer was able to do in this metric against more premium but less capable models in the test lineup.

Operating Cost

This is the biggest downside of the HP Envy 6055e. Its price per monochrome ream is about $18, and color reams will cost about $18.99. That's about $95 for every 500 photos that you print. Compared to the best printers in our lineup, that's an exceptionally high operating cost. The 6055e's edge is that it has a low initial purchase price; however, it becomes more expensive the longer you own and use it. At 15 cent and 19 cent costs per page, its print costs are nearly double the average for the entire test group.

Ease of Use

The HP Envy 6055e started strong in our testing but had some interface issues that led to a reduced score. The setup is super straightforward, and we connected the printer to a network without issues.

Once connected, the rest of the setup was very easy, and the HP website was simple and intuitive. However, our printer was not up to date and required updating before we were able to print normally. The HP Envy 6055e does not have a display screen, which hinders the navigability of its settings. Instead, the printer communicates what's happening via sounds that it plays for different functions. Otherwise, a couple of lights indicate activity and change hue depending on what's happening.

The light and sound indicators that the HP Envy 6055e uses are a little confusing, but the lack of screen and buttons may appeal to those looking for a more streamlined, sleek, low-profile printer.

Printing Speed

The HP Envy 6055e had a strong performance here and would've scored better, but it had some unusually slow speeds when printing mixed text and photo documents. This model completed our 10-page mixed media test in a painfully slow 4 minutes and 37 seconds and our full-page high-res photo test in 5 minutes and 40 seconds.

While it is painfully slow at mixed media and photo printing, it does a close to average job of printing 10-page duplex and simplex documents. It was able to finish our 10-page duplex document test in 1 minute and 17 seconds and our simplex document in 45 seconds.

Should You Buy the HP Envy 6055e?

The HP Envy 6055e has a low upfront cost, which will attract buyers whose priority is budget. However, its value over time is quite low due to its high operating costs — the more you use the 6055e, the more expensive it becomes. Although this compact, low-cost printer can produce high-quality photos, its high operating costs make it a poor option for anyone who needs to print frequently.

What Other Printers Should You Consider?