HP OfficeJet 200 Mobile Printer Review

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Bottom line: A portable inkjet printer that works without a network, fits in a backpack, charges in a car, and has proven itself across four to five years of actual travel use across multiple continents. Not cheap. Not trying to be. The first portable printer reviewed on Scribbright, and the only one that has survived Crete.

Scribbright rating: 5 out of 5

Get the HP OfficeJet 200 on Amazon →

Three printers and counting

Most reviews of the HP OfficeJet 200 are written by people who have owned one for a few weeks and found it satisfactory. This review is written by someone who has owned two of them over the years, bought the second immediately after the first gave up the ghost, and then bought a third for a family member because the first two had been impressive enough to make the decision a no-brainer.

The first OfficeJet 200 traveled with me extensively and continuously — Uruguay, Barcelona, Crete, Manchester, and a number of other places I’ve probably forgotten. It lasted four to five years before finally surrendering to accumulated wear and tear which, for a portable printer that spent years in bags and hotel rooms and rental apartments and the occasional overhead bin, is a lifespan that deserves recognition. We also bought a dedicated travel case that proved so well-made it outlasted the first printer entirely and is still in service with the second.

That replacement printer is currently in active service. The third is doing similar duty for our son.

In the review business, this is known as a revealed preference. It’s not a situation where I liked a product’s look and tested it for a week. It’s a product I’ve repurchased twice because the alternative — finding something better — hasn’t been worth investigating.

→ If you’re building out a portable writing setup, the Scribbright reviews section covers everything from travel laptop stands to portable mice to writing tablets.

Why a portable printer

Writers produce documents that occasionally need to exist on paper. Contracts. Submissions. Manuscripts for annotation. Hotel checkout receipts you need to expense. The forms that every country on earth still insists must be completed in triplicate on physical paper, by hand, in ink, in the presence of a notary, for reasons that archaeology has yet to explain.

In a fixed office, this is the tethered printer’s problem. On the road, it’s yours, unless you have a solution. The HP OfficeJet 200 is the solution that has worked consistently across enough countries and contexts to have earned some love. How much? We use it as our at-home printer, too. But about the details…

The wireless situation

The OfficeJet 200 connects via Wi-Fi to a network, via Wi-Fi Direct without a network at all, or via USB. The Wi-Fi Direct option makes it genuinely portable rather than portable-adjacent: you don’t need a router. You don’t need a network. You connect your phone or laptop directly to the printer, same as you would to a mobile hotspot, and print. This is the feature that makes the printer useful in a hotel room with a wired-only connection, a rental apartment with a router you don’t have the password for, or a café where printing from the network is either not available or not something you want to obsess about.

In practice, connecting to Wi-Fi in hotels across Uruguay, Barcelona, Crete, Manchester, and elsewhere has been seamless more often than not. Hotel Wi-Fi has its own opinions, and occasionally those opinions conflict with the printer’s, but the Wireless Setup Wizard handles most situations without requiring a phone call to anyone. The HP Smart app adds cloud printing from Dropbox, iCloud, and Google Drive for the times when the document lives somewhere other than your device.

The battery

With a full charge, the printer runs for a full week of normal printing and still has battery life remaining. I never pushed it that far, but I did get a couple days straight of battery-only output under medium printloads. Independent testing puts the physical page capacity at 50 to 55 sheets per charge. For a writer printing contracts, drafts, and the occasional boarding pass that the airline app has decided not to show properly, this is weeks of use between charges rather than days.

HP Fast Charge brings the battery to 90% while the printer is off, which means plugging it in for an hour before a working day is sufficient preparation for most printing tasks. The printer also charges in a car, which sounds like a minor feature until you’re on a road trip and realize you need to print something before you arrive.

The cartridges

HP 67 and HP 67XL cartridges. The XL high-yield versions are the ones to buy: the page yield is meaningfully better, and the cost per page drops accordingly. HP claims the highest page yield of any printer in the portable class for Original HP cartridges, and the cartridges last noticeably longer in practice than casual use might suggest. The trick, as with any inkjet, is to print occasionally rather than leaving the printer unused for months, which accelerates nozzle drying regardless of brand. On the road, where the printer gets regular use, cartridge life is good. In a drawer between trips, less so.

The ink is not a bargain. Printer ink is never a bargain. I’ve tried retread cartridges and knockoffs, and gotten sub-mediocre results. This is the eternal complaint about inkjet printing and applies here as it applies everywhere. The OfficeJet 200 is not exempt from inkjet economics; it’s just better than some other portable printers at stretching a cartridge.

Print quality

The OfficeJet 200 couldn’t be easier to use. Cartridges go in without ceremony, printing follows without drama. Print quality at up to 4800 x 1200 optimized dpi is good for documents and more than adequate for photos. This is not a printer for fine art reproduction, but for the business documents, manuscript pages, correspondence, and occasional borderless photo that writers actually need to print on the road, the output is clean, legible, and appropriately professional.

The printer is also notably quiet, which matters in a hotel room at 11 pm when you’re printing something for a morning meeting and the alternative is waking whoever is in the adjoining room.

The weight and size

At 4.85 pounds and 13 inches long, the OfficeJet 200 is not small. It fits in a (big) backpack or a dedicated carry-on slot, but it’s not something you forget you’ve packed. For travel with a car or checked luggage, this doesn’t matter. For travel with a single carry-on and the specific anxiety of the overhead bin, it’s a trade-off you’ll make consciously or not make at all. I’ve also put in in checked baggage, though I’d really recommend having a case for it if that’s your jam.

So a dedicated travel case is worth talking about: it adds minimal bulk while protecting the printer against the specific indignities of bag life. The fact that ours outlasted the first printer says more about the case than about the printer, but traveling without one isn’t something I’d advise.

The ruggedness has been adequate across several years of actual travel. No printer is truly indestructible, and the first OfficeJet 200 eventually accumulated enough wear to retire. Four to five years of active travel use before surrendering is a lifespan that most portable electronics, let alone printers, would be happy to deliver.

Pros

• Wi-Fi Direct prints without a router; works anywhere without network dependency
• Battery lasts a week of normal printing; Fast Charge to 90% while off
• Proven durability across years of international travel use
• HP Smart app enables cloud printing from Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive
• HP 67XL high-yield cartridges give best-in-class page yield for portable category
• Quiet operation; hotel-room appropriate
• USB printing available as backup
• Dedicated travel case available and worth buying

Cons

• Print-only; no scan or copy function
• 4.85 lbs and 13 inches long; not a printer you forget you brought
• Inkjet economics apply; cartridges aren’t cheap and irregular use dries nozzles
• $179 to $199 is a real price for a portable-only device
• 2-inch control panel is functional rather than pleasant to use

The verdict

The HP OfficeJet 200 is the portable printer that has survived more travel than most of my luggage, been replaced once out of necessity rather than dissatisfaction, and been purchased a third time as a gift because when something works across Uruguay, Barcelona, Crete, and Manchester over the better part of a decade, the recommendation writes itself.

It’s not cheap. The ink isn’t cheap. The travel case is an additional expense worth paying. The alternative — not having a portable printer and improvising — is cheaper and considerably more aggravating. For writers who travel with work and occasionally need to produce paper, the OfficeJet 200 is the answer that keeps answering.

Get the HP OfficeJet 200 on Amazon →

Michael Semer is a writer and editor who has owned three of these printers, which either says something about the printer or something about how much printing he does on the road, and he suspects it’s both.

→ More gear worth knowing about: Scribbright reviews writing tools, notebooks, keyboards, and desk essentials for writers who take the work seriously.

Frequently asked questions

Does the HP OfficeJet 200 need Wi-Fi to print? No. The Wi-Fi Direct feature connects your phone or laptop directly to the printer without a router or network, the same way you’d connect to a mobile hotspot. This is the feature that makes it genuinely portable: you can print in a hotel room, a rental apartment, a car, or anywhere else without needing access to a network.

How many pages does the HP OfficeJet 200 battery last? Approximately 50 to 55 pages per charge in independent testing, with a full week of normal printing available before the battery depletes. HP Fast Charge brings it to 90% capacity while the printer is off, typically in around an hour. The printer also charges via car charger.

What cartridges does the HP OfficeJet 200 use? HP 67 black and tri-color inkjet cartridges, or HP 67XL high-yield versions for better page yield and lower cost per page. HP claims the highest page yield in the portable printer class for Original HP cartridges. Third-party cartridges are available but may affect yield and print quality.

Is the HP OfficeJet 200 good for travel? Yes, with the honest caveat that it weighs 4.85 pounds and measures 13 inches long. It fits in a biggish backpack or carry-on and is durable enough for sustained travel use — the printer this review is based on lasted four to five years of active international travel before wearing out. A dedicated travel case is worth buying alongside it. For car travel or checked luggage, the size is irrelevant. For minimal carry-on travel, it’s a conscious trade-off.

Can the HP OfficeJet 200 scan or copy? No. It’s a print-only device. Scanning and copying require a different model — the HP OfficeJet 250 adds those functions at a higher price point.

What is the print quality like on the HP OfficeJet 200? Up to 4800 x 1200 optimized dpi for color, which is good for documents, correspondence, and photos. For professional documents and manuscript pages, the output is clean and appropriate. For fine art print reproduction, this is not the printer. For everything a traveling writer actually needs to print, it’s sufficient.

How does the HP Smart app work with the OfficeJet 200? The HP Smart app connects the printer to cloud storage services including Dropbox, iCloud, and Google Drive, enabling printing directly from cloud documents on a phone or tablet. It also allows scanning via the phone camera when a physical scanner isn’t available.