Best HP DeskJet 2855e Ink Cartridges for Wireless Printing
Installing ink in the HP DeskJet 2855e takes under a minute once you know where the cartridge door hides. Here's the whole process, step by step.
Reviewed by
Scott Ayres
Welcome to the Product Demo lab where I (Scott) demo products so you can make an educated buying decision. I keep it real, honest and laid back.
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The first thing I said on camera about the HP DeskJet 2855e was “it’s kind of down in here”, because the ink bay is buried behind the front panel and you can’t actually see the slots you’re aiming at. That’s the whole install story: not difficult, just designed in a way that makes you work by feel instead of by sight.
Quick Verdict
I dropped the black cartridge on camera and the install still took under a minute. The HP DeskJet 2855e ink bay is tucked down low and it’s “kind of hard to see,” but the cartridges pop straight in and the printer calibrates itself the second you close the lid.
Buy if you:
- print to-do lists, letters and recipes, not 200-page reports
- want scan and copy in one small 11.97 x 16.7 in footprint
- are fine on 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi and want to print from a phone
- want an ink swap you can do without reading a manual
Skip if you:
- need to see what you’re doing. The cartridge bay sits down inside the body and you’re working half blind
- run 5 GHz only. This printer is 2.4 GHz capable only
- want speed. 7.5 ppm black, 5.5 ppm color is the ceiling
| Dimensions | 11.97″D x 16.7″W x 6.06″H |
|---|---|
| Weight | 10 lbs |
| Print speed | 7.5 ppm black / 5.5 ppm color |
| Input tray | 60 sheets, 1 tray |
| Cartridge | HP 67 (black + tri-color) |
| Wi-Fi | 2.4 GHz only |
HP DeskJet 2855e Ink Cartridges: Tough Enough to Drop
Then I fumbled the black cartridge getting it out of the wrapper and it hit the desk. Don’t drop it like I did. It went in anyway and the printer registered it without complaint, which tells you something about how forgiving these little HP 67 cartridges are.
That’s the real question people type into Google about this printer. Not “is it fast.” It’s “where does the ink go.” So that’s what I filmed, and that’s what this post is.
The Access Door Is Up Under the Lip, Not on Top
Open the front, then reach up under the lip for the grab point. That’s the part most people miss on their first try. You open the front panel, and then up in there there’s a spot to open and grab. Pull it and the carriage moves over to the position where you actually install the cartridges.
While I had the front open I pointed out the other thing on that panel: the paper output has a piece that pulls out so your printed sheets come out onto it, like so. Makes grabbing a stack easier instead of chasing pages off the desk. The plastic output piece does a real job.
Orientation matters and it’s dead simple. Color goes on the left. Black goes on the right. The new cartridges that come in the box are labeled, one says color, one says black, so there’s no guessing which is which. If you’re in there because you’re replacing an empty one rather than doing a first-time setup, the layout is the same, you just pull the old one before dropping the new one in.
Here’s the part worth committing to memory. Open the wrapper from the bottom. Each cartridge has a little protector strip on it, and you don’t take that off until you’re ready to use it. Peel it right before the cartridge goes in the bay, not while you’re still hunting for the door. And don’t touch the contact strip either, by the way. Fingerprints on that surface are how people end up with a cartridge the printer refuses to read.
It Should Go Straight In Like So
The cartridge slides in straight and then pops into place. There’s no wiggling, no angling, no fighting a latch. I held the black one up so we could both see it, peeled the protector, and pushed it in. It kind of pops in a little bit at the end, and that pop is your confirmation. If you don’t feel it, it isn’t seated.
Then the color one, same motion, into the left slot. Two cartridges, maybe twenty seconds of actual hand-work once the door was open.
Close the lid and the printer calibrates itself, ink levels appear on the LCD within seconds. The useful part: error handling works in both directions. Seat a cartridge wrong and the 2855e flags it immediately, so you’re not discovering the problem on page one of a print job. Mine came back clean. Registered.
For a printer this size, that self-check is the feature I care about most. You don’t need to run a test page and squint at streaks to know whether you did it right. The LCD tells you.
The Bay Sits Too Deep to See Into
My one real gripe: you’re installing ink by feel, not by sight. The bay sits down inside the 6.06-inch-tall body, behind the front panel, and unless you’re standing directly over the printer with good light, you can’t see the slots you’re aiming at. I said it within the first ten seconds of filming because it was the first thing I noticed.
That’s also probably why I dropped the cartridge. You’re contorting to get a sightline while handling a small part you’ve just been told not to touch on one side. If HP raised that carriage half an inch or angled the opening forward, this would be a non-issue.
Practical workaround: pull the printer to the front edge of the desk before you start, and put a light on it. Do that and the whole job is a one-minute thing. Skip it and you’ll be the person on camera dropping ink.
Get it now
HP DeskJet 2855e Wireless All-in-One Printer
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A Household Printer, Sized Like One
This is a printer for the person who prints twice a week and forgets about it in between. HP’s own framing is to-do lists, letters, financial documents and recipes, and at 7.5 ppm black and a 60-sheet tray, that’s the right framing. It’s a 10-pound machine you park on a shelf.
Where I’d put it: a kitchen counter for school forms, a spare bedroom desk, a college dorm. The flatbed scanner handles the one task everybody needs a printer for eventually: scanning a signed document and emailing it back.
Where I wouldn’t: a home business cranking out invoices and shipping labels all day. The 60-sheet tray and the single-tray design tell you that story before you ever hit print. And if you’re the type who wants to print from the couch on a 5 GHz mesh network, read the listing twice. This printer is only 2.4 GHz capable, and that’s not a firmware thing you can fix later.
HP 67 Cartridges vs. an Instant Ink Subscription
The 2855e ships with a 3-month Instant Ink trial baked in, and that subscription is worth understanding before you activate it, because once the trial ends, a monthly fee kicks in whether you printed five pages or fifty. Path one is what I did on camera: buy HP 67 cartridges outright, install them yourself, replace when the LCD says low. Path two is the subscription, which ships replacements before you run out and removes the “which cartridge do I need” trip to the store entirely.
The subscription wins if you can’t be bothered to notice ink levels, or if you print in unpredictable bursts and hate the drive to the store. It also removes the “which cartridge do I buy” question entirely.
Buying cartridges outright wins if you print rarely. After 3 months a monthly fee applies unless you cancel, so a household that prints four pages a month is paying a recurring cost for a cartridge that would have lasted them a long time on its own. The trial is free to try, but set yourself a calendar reminder at the 3-month mark. That’s the trade-off, and the install process I filmed takes under a minute either way, so convenience isn’t really the deciding factor. Cost pattern is.
Do This Before You Open the Ink
Unbox the printer, plug it in, and get it powered on before you touch a cartridge. That order matters, because the carriage needs power to park itself in the install position. Cold printer, nothing moves.
Leave both cartridges sealed until you’ve found the access door and the carriage has slid over. The protector strip is doing a job right up to the second before install.
Open the wrapper from the bottom. I opened the black one that way in the video and it’s the difference between a controlled peel and the thing squirting out of your hand onto the desk.
And if the printer throws a warning after you close the lid, don’t panic and don’t start over. Reopen, pull the flagged cartridge, reseat it until you feel the pop, and close up again. Nine times out of ten that’s the whole fix. The 2855e is telling you something specific, so read the LCD before you do anything drastic.
Load the 60-sheet tray while you’re at it, extend that output piece so your first pages land somewhere sensible, and run one page to confirm both cartridges are flowing.
Pros
- Cartridges go straight in and pop into place. No latch, no angle, no force required
- Carriage slides itself into the install position once you open the access door
- The printer calibrates and reads ink levels automatically after you close the lid, and warns you if a cartridge is wrong
- Cartridges are clearly labeled color and black, and the slots are fixed left and right so there’s no mix-up
- The pull-out output piece catches printed pages instead of letting them slide off
- Survived me dropping a cartridge on the desk and still registered it fine
Cons
- The ink bay sits down inside the body, so you’re installing mostly by feel. Hard to see what you’re aiming at
- The access grab point is up under the front lip, not somewhere obvious
- 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi only, which rules it out for some home networks
- 7.5 ppm black and a 60-sheet single tray cap it at light household duty
What we’d improve
Two changes that wouldn’t be hard for the next DeskJet to fix:
- The cartridge bay is too deep to see into, raising the carriage or angling the opening toward the user would let people watch what their hands are doing instead of guessing.
- The access grab point isn’t marked, a printed arrow or a molded finger notch on the front panel would save first-time owners a minute of hunting up under the lip.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which ink cartridges does the HP DeskJet 2855e take?
HP 67 cartridges, one black and one tri-color covering cyan, magenta and yellow. The cartridges that ship in the box are labeled color and black so you can tell them apart at a glance. Color loads on the left, black on the right.
Do I need the HP app or an account to use this printer?
The app isn’t required to print over USB or from a computer, but it’s how you print, scan and copy from a phone or tablet. HP+ activation is what unlocks the 3-month Instant Ink trial, so if you want that trial you’re signing in to an account. If you skip it, the printer still works as a normal printer.
Will this work on my 5 GHz Wi-Fi network?
No. This printer is 2.4 GHz capable only. If your router broadcasts 5 GHz exclusively, or you’ve disabled the 2.4 GHz band, you’ll need to turn it back on or split the bands before the printer can connect.
Is there a monthly fee after the Instant Ink trial?
Yes. The trial runs 3 months with HP+ activation, and after that a monthly fee applies unless you cancel. Put a reminder on your calendar the day you set the printer up. If you print rarely, buying HP 67 cartridges as needed is the simpler path.
What happens if I touch the contacts on the cartridge?
You risk the printer failing to read the cartridge, which is why I said don’t touch that. If you’ve already smudged it, handle the cartridge by the plastic body only from here and reseat it. Oils and dust on that strip are one of the most common reasons a brand new cartridge gets rejected.
Can it print on photo paper and envelopes?
Yes. It handles plain paper, glossy photo paper and envelopes, with color output up to 4800 x 1200 dpi. It’s a single-tray machine though, so you’re swapping media in and out of the same 60-sheet tray rather than keeping photo paper loaded separately.
How many copies can it make in one run?
Up to 9 copies per run from the flatbed scanner. Copy speed tops out around 7.5 pages per minute in black. Fine for a permission slip, not the machine for duplicating a 40-page packet.
Does it get firmware updates, and what about warranty?
HP pushes firmware to these through the HP app and the printer’s own connection, so it stays current as long as it’s on your network. The listing shows extended warranty coverage available, and warranty terms change, so check the current details on the product page before you buy.
Will it fit on a small shelf or in a dorm?
At 11.97 x 16.7 x 6.06 inches and 10 pounds, yes, though leave clearance in front. You need room to open the front panel and to pull out the paper output piece, plus space above if you’re lifting the scanner lid.
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So that’s the whole job. If you’ve got the 2855e Wireless All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer sitting on a desk with two sealed HP 67 cartridges next to it and you were hoping this wasn’t going to eat your afternoon, it won’t. Pull it to the edge of the desk, throw some light on it, and it’s a one-minute thing. If a light-duty household printer with scan and copy is what your place actually needs, this is an easy one to try, and current pricing is on the product page.
Get it now
HP DeskJet 2855e Wireless All-in-One Printer
Get the best price on Amazon →This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
🛍️ Shop everything in this video
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🛍️ HP DeskJet 2755E Printer — check price on Amazon →
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About the reviewer
Scott Ayres
Welcome to the Product Demo lab where I (Scott) demo products so you can make an educated buying decision. I keep it real, honest and laid back.
