HP OfficeJet Pro 8125: The 8125e Without the HP+ Offer

Every OfficeJet Pro in this family uses HP's dynamic security. HP's product page says the printer works only with cartridges that carry a new or reused HP chip, blocks cartridges with any other chip, and receives firmware updates that can block cartridges that worked before. A reused HP chip is the route for remanufactured and refilled cartridges. A refilled HP 923 that kept its original chip should print, and a clone cartridge with its own chip should be refused.

On the 8125e, HP+ is a choice made during setup. Accepting it commits that printer to an HP account, a constant internet connection and Original HP ink for its whole life, and HP adds a second warranty year in return, according to HP's 8125e listing. The 8125's page carries no HP+ offer and a one-year warranty. Its owner stands where an 8125e owner stands after declining HP+, with the refill route open and without the free second year.

RTINGS rates the cost per page on the 8135e as low for a cartridge printer, helped by the yields HP gives for the 923 family: about 500 black pages and 400 per color for the standard cartridges, and about 1,000 and 800 for the 923e EvoMore versions. The setup set in the box covers about half of a standard load.

Signing up for Instant Ink is optional, and the lab notes that the subscription needs the printer online at all times. HP bills it by pages printed, whatever the color. A household that prints a lot of color pages can set that against a tank printer, where bottles of ink replace cartridges and their chips altogether.

HP rates the engine at 20 pages per minute in black and 10 in color to the ISO standard, with the first black page out in about 15 seconds. In RTINGS' test, black and color documents from the 8135e came out sharp, but printing over Wi-Fi was slow, and the lab counts slower output among the ways this generation fell behind the 8025e.

Photos come out slightly flat and muted, which the lab traces to a limited color gamut. Borderless printing works on photo and brochure paper up to letter size. All four inks are pigment-based, which HP says makes prints resistant to water, smears and fading, and the lab warns that the heads can clog if the printer sits unused for long stretches.

Paper loads into a single 225-sheet tray and lands on a 60-sheet output tray, with no second drawer for letterhead or photo paper. The document feeder holds 35 sheets and scans one side at a time, so a two-sided contract goes through twice. The flatbed takes letter-size pages, and the feeder accepts legal.

RTINGS found scan quality decent on the 8135e, but the default processing smooths away fine detail and the lid hinges do not rise for thick books. The lab also reports that this generation dropped the built-in text recognition of the 8025e, while HP's spec sheet for the 8125 lists TXT and RTF among its scan formats, so try a searchable scan in the HP app within the return window if you depend on one.

A couple of Best Buy owners who came from older OfficeJets describe the tray, the paper guides and the output extender as flimsier than before.

During setup the printer prints an alignment page, you scan it on the glass, and the software comes from 123.hp.com, as HP's setup guide for the 8120 and 8130 series lays out. The 2.7-inch color touchscreen is where RTINGS found the interface clunky, and a long-time HP owner on Best Buy calls the new menu harder to read than the old one.

The back panel has an Ethernet port, a USB 2.0 port for a computer and the power inlet. There are no phone-line jacks, because the 8125 has no fax, and HP points occasional faxers to a mobile fax service in its app. Wireless is dual-band 802.11ac with Wi-Fi Direct, AirPrint and Mopria, and HP rates the sleep draw at about 1 W.

The HP OfficeJet Pro 8135e is the same printer with a fax modem, and RTINGS lists the two as mechanically the same apart from the fax. A home office that still faxes from a landline has a reason to pay for it.

The stronger rival is Epson's WorkForce Pro WF-4830, which the lab rates better in practically every way: sturdier, easier to maintain, with a friendlier interface and a feeder that scans both sides of a page. It is also a much bulkier machine. HP's 9125e is the step up inside HP's range, with higher-yield cartridges and two-sided feeder scanning, though the lab found its feeder scans came out crooked.

The 8125 answers both with a lower list price than HP's fax and 9-series models and the same open door to refilled HP cartridges.