You already have read the title ofcourse, we’re talking about the HP Sprocket! Something that will take your Instax to a new level. I own the Hp Sprocket for some time now and I’d love to tell you how it works and if it’s worth your money!

I own the HP Sprocket for a while now and love to tell you all about the pro’s and con’s of this device.

With writing a lot in journals, printing pictures with the HP Sprocket makes it even more fun and a more visual thing!

Design

The first thing and something really important for me is the design of the Sprocket. I love it to show nice things on my Instagram and this thing looks very high-end and just really beautiful. The rose gold and white is an amazing color combination if you ask me!

It’s made from plastic and feels sturdy in your hands. I already dropped it one time (oops) but noticed nothing after falling so it can take a hit.

To refill the HP Sprocket, you simple slide the top part from the device to open it. Here you can put in the print paper for refill.

The really nice part from this device is that it’s small, and so you can put it easily in your bag when you’re travelling. Also it’s not too small, the pictures are perfect for a a5 notebook! (and those are my favorite journals to write in!)

How does it work?

The HP Sprocket works with Zink paper that you can buy specially from HP. The pictures are 5 x 7,6 cm big. ( that is around 2 x 3 inches ) I’ve seen video’s from Youtube where people cut up regular zink paper to the standards of the Sprocket so you save money on it. But my opinion is that I rather buy the paper than cut it myself, because it’s really not that pricy if you compare it to the Instax.

Pricing

So let’s make a good comparison between the Instax and the Sprocket.

The price of a new Instax is €65 ($74,55) and a Sprocket is €120 ($137,63).

A pack of photo paper for the Instax is €14 ($16,05) for 10 pieces of paper. This paper is also for their digital printer, the Instax share.

The Instax share is €169 ($193,83), if you were curious 😉

A pack of photo paper for the Sprocket is €9,95 ($11,5) for 20 pieces of paper.

To make a good comparison, we’ll take 20 pictures as the norm for this calculation.

HP Sprocket: €120 + €9,95 = €129,95

Instax 7 or 8: €65 + €28 = €93

Instax share: €169 + €28 = €197

Note: With the Instax you can’t choose which picture you would like to print. You take a picture and it prints that right after you pushed the button.

The Instax share and the HP Sprocket are roughly the same, only the price makes a big difference.

Because I don’t own the Instax share, I can’t say anything about the comparison of quality between the two, sadly.

The Quality

So there is a big con about the HP Sprocket. That is the quality of the pictures. It can print really beautiful pictures but also very low quality ones.

That is determined by three things:

1. The temperature the printer paper has been in;
2. Sunlight and finger prints are bad for the paper quality;
3. how charged the HP Sprocket is.

The HP Sprocket doesn’t have such a big battery, so it runs out of juice easily, making the pictures bad quality.

A big pro of the paper from HP? It are stickers! No hassle with glue of double sides tape or something. Just peel the backside off, and you can stick it right into your journal. I’m really loving that fact!

Also the pictures aren’t that bulky like the ones from the Instax, so it doesn’t  make your journal bulky really quickly.

End Opinion

Conclusion: It’s worth the money. I think it’s a nice piece of technology for your travels and to put your memories into your journal!

 

Do you already own a HP Sprocket?

 

Love, Joy