HP Smart Tank 580 All-in-One Printer vs. Cartridge Printers: What Our Quality Testing Found

Four years into reviewing printer hardware for our office supply company—roughly 30 models a year—I've learned to trust verifiable results more than manufacturer claims. In 2024 alone, about 12% of first deliveries didn't pass our verification checks, usually due to print quality inconsistencies or paper feed issues. So when our procurement team asked me to evaluate the HP Smart Tank 580 all-in-one printer for our approved list, I ran it through the same two-week gauntlet I use for everything else.

This comparison covers the HP Smart Tank 580 against a typical cartridge-based inkjet printer. I'm deliberately not naming competing brands here, because the point isn't brand rivalry. The point is understanding which printing technology—a refillable ink tank system or a traditional cartridge machine—actually serves you better. We evaluated four dimensions: cost per page, output consistency, WiFi setup and connectivity, and paper handling.

Before the data, one caveat: what I observed was accurate as of January 2025. Prices, ink yields, and even paper costs shift. Verify current numbers before budgeting.

Cost Per Page: The Tank Wins, But Only if You Print Enough

The Smart Tank 580 uses refillable ink bottles rather than cartridges. A complete set of bottles costs roughly $45 to $55 and is rated for about 6,000 black pages and 8,000 color pages. That translates to roughly one cent per black page and two to three cents per color page. A typical cartridge inkjet uses black cartridges that cost $25 to $30 and last 200 to 300 pages—eight to ten cents per page. Over 10,000 pages, that difference adds up to several hundred dollars.

But here's the tension: the Smart Tank 580 costs more upfront. When I first ran the numbers, the spreadsheet said cartridge printers were the sensible choice for our cost-conscious teams. The data said cartridge. My gut said our staff print substantially more than they think they do. So I pulled the actual usage logs.

Turns out our facilities department prints around 1,200 pages per month. At that volume, the Smart Tank's ink savings cover its higher upfront cost within the first year.

The conclusion on cost per page is decisive: the Smart Tank wins for any office printing more than 500 pages monthly. Below that, the cartridge printer's lower upfront price makes more sense.

Output Consistency: The Result I Didn't Expect

This was the dimension that genuinely surprised me. We ran a blind test with our staff: the same 20-page color document printed daily on both machines at 9:00 AM, using identical paper and settings. Staff ranked the output each day without knowing which printer produced which pages.

The cartridge printer turned out clean pages for the first six or seven days. Then, as the ink level dropped, we saw banding and lighter text on about a third of the pages. It stayed within an "acceptable" tolerance—you'd need to be looking for it—but it was definitely there. The Smart Tank held steady for the entire two weeks. Same density, same saturation, no banding. The tank's constant ink supply means the printhead doesn't experience the pressure drop that cartridge printers do as they deplete.

I expected the opposite. Cartridge technology is older, more mature, and better documented. But in our test, the tank system simply kept quality flatter for longer.

One caveat about the Smart Tank: initial setup requires pouring ink from bottles into the tanks. It's not complicated, but if you overfill a tank, you will make a mess (ask me how I know). Allow 15 extra minutes during setup and don't rush the fill lines.

On output consistency, the Smart Tank wins—and it wasn't close.

WiFi Setup and Reconnecting: The Practical Test

The support request we hear most often is some variation of "connect hp printer to new wifi." So in our test, we changed the office network name and password, then attempted to reconnect both printers.

The HP Smart Tank 580 took about two minutes. The touchscreen menu walks you through Settings > Network > Wireless > choose network > enter password. The HP Smart app does the same thing from your phone, which our less tech-inclined testers appreciated. The cartridge printer took longer—closer to four minutes—and we had to download a current driver from the manufacturer's site because the disc in the box had outdated software.

One tip from that experience: if you're reconnecting any HP printer after a network change, reset the network memory first. On the Smart Tank 580, hold the Cancel and Wireless buttons together for three seconds to clear saved profiles. Otherwise, the printer may try to reconnect to the old network and throw a confusing error. I wish I'd known that before our first attempt—it would have saved us a support call.

On connectivity, the Smart Tank 580 gets the nod. It's faster to set up and less painful when your network changes.

Paper Sizes and Handling: What Fits in the Tray

A frequent source of confusion is paper dimensions, so let's make it concrete. The standard US printer paper sizes are:

• Letter: 8.5 × 11 inches
• Legal: 8.5 × 14 inches
• Tabloid: 11 × 17 inches

The Smart Tank 580 handles Letter and Legal sizes. Tabloid is not supported on this model. If you need 11 × 17 output, this isn't the printer for you—you'd be looking at a larger all-in-one. For paper weight, the 580 accepts 20 lb bond (75 gsm) for everyday copying and up to 24 lb bond (90 gsm) for premium letterhead. That aligns with what most modern inkjets handle.

For most offices, standardize on 20 lb Letter paper. It feeds reliably, costs the least per ream, and its brightness (around 92 to 96) is perfectly fine for internal documents. Keep 24 lb in the supply closet for client-facing letters.

There's no clear winner on paper handling between the two—both handle standard office sizes and weights. It's a tie, so choose based on the other three dimensions.

The Bottom Line: Which Should You Choose?

If you print more than 500 pages per month, get the HP Smart Tank 580. The per-page cost is dramatically lower, the output stays consistent even as ink depletes, and WiFi setup is quicker and more intuitive.

If you print fewer than 200 pages per month, a cartridge-based inkjet will save you money upfront. You'll pay more per page, but your total annual spend remains low because you're simply not printing much.

In between? Here's what I recommend: track your actual printing for two weeks. Count every sheet, not just the documents you consciously sent. Most offices discover they print more than they think—our facilities team estimated 400 pages but logged 1,200.

One more thing: verify the current price of the Smart Tank 580 and its ink bottles before buying. The figures here were accurate as of January 2025, and the market changes fast. And if you manage multiple offices, keep the same printer model across your sites. Standardization makes paper, ink, and support predictable—which, for someone in my position, is exactly what we like to see.