HP Smart Tank Plus 651 Review – Is This Ink Tank Printer Worth It?

Quick Verdict

The HP Smart Tank Plus 651 wireless all-in-one ink tank printer delivers exactly what it promises: years of cartridge-free printing without the headache of squeezing messy bottles. If you print hundreds of pages per month at home, the upfront cost makes sense within six months when you factor in avoided cartridge purchases. That said, slower print speeds and the lack of automatic duplexing mean it is not built for high-pressure office environments. Check current price on Amazon to see if the bundle deal still applies.

What Is the HP Smart Tank Plus 651?

I set up the HP Smart Tank Plus 651 on a cluttered Sunday afternoon, wedging it between a monitor stand and a stack of cables. The box is heavier than your typical cartridge-based inkjet — those bundled ink bottles add weight — but the compact chassis (17.6 x 14 x 9 inches) still fits under most monitor shelves without protest. Out of the box, the tanks arrive sealed, and you crack the caps to fill them with the four color bottles included in the kit.

The whole process took under 25 minutes from unboxing to printing my first test page. You download the HP Smart app, connect to your 5 GHz Wi-Fi network, and the automated alignment routine handles the rest. There is no ethernet port, which caught me off guard since my previous office printer had one — but for a purely wireless home setup, it was not a dealbreaker.

Key Features

• Up to 6,000 black pages or 8,000 color pages included with purchase
• Mess-free HP ink bottle refill system — no squeezing, no spills
• Wireless connectivity with HP Smart app, AirPrint, and Mopria support
• Automatic document feeder for hands-free multi-page scanning and copying
• Print, scan, copy, and fax from a single compact unit
• Borderless photo printing up to 8.5 x 11 inches
• Two-year warranty with HP support

Hands-On Review

By the end of week one, I had printed roughly 200 pages — a mix of documents, a few borderless photos, and scanned a 15-page contract for my freelance work. The HP Smart Tank Plus 651 handled everything without complaint, though I noticed the color speed drags noticeably behind the black output. At 5 ppm for color drafts, a 10-page photo-heavy document took about 15 minutes to complete. That is fine if you are printing overnight, but plan ahead if you need a stack of full-color handouts before a morning meeting.

What surprised me was the print quality. I expected the ink tank design to sacrifice vibrancy for volume, but the HP Smart Tank Plus 651 holds its own. Text comes out crisp and dark, even at draft quality settings. Photos printed on HP Premium Photo paper show punchy reds and deep blues — not lab-quality, but genuinely usable for personal projects and client presentations where color accuracy matters less than visual impact.

The ADF (automatic document feeder) is a feature I underused until day eight, when I needed to copy a 12-page lease agreement. Instead of manually feeding each sheet through the flatbed, I loaded the stack and let the printer chew through it. It worked reliably, though I noticed slight misalignment on two of the pages — not enough to make the copies unusable, but something worth noting if you process a lot of legal documents where precision matters.

Will I keep using it? Probably, with one caveat: if your household prints fewer than 100 pages per month, the upfront investment takes longer to recoup. For my usage pattern — roughly 400 pages monthly between work documents, school assignments, and the occasional photo — the math works out in under five months compared to replacing mid-tier cartridge sets.

Who Should Buy It?

The HP Smart Tank Plus 651 targets home offices, remote workers, and families with students who print consistently. It earns a strong recommendation if you are currently burning through expensive ink cartridges every six to eight weeks and want to break that cycle. Freelancers handling contracts, invoices, and client materials benefit most from the ADF and wireless workflow.

Students living in apartments or dorms will appreciate the low running costs — a 135 mL black bottle costs roughly the same as two standard cartridges but lasts significantly longer. Families who print photos, homework, and seasonal documents will enjoy the borderless photo capability and mobile printing from phones and tablets.

Skip this printer if you print fewer than 50 pages per month and only need occasional document printing — a basic cartridge inkjet will cost less upfront and rarely sit idle long enough to justify the investment. Also skip it if you need automatic double-sided printing or ethernet connectivity, as neither is available on this model.

Alternatives Worth Considering

If the lack of auto duplexing is a dealbreaker, the Epson EcoTank ET-4760 includes automatic two-sided printing and a 250-sheet paper cassette while maintaining comparable per-page ink costs. It costs more upfront but eliminates the manual flipping step entirely.

For smaller spaces or tighter budgets, the Canon Pixma G5020 delivers a similar ink tank value proposition with slightly faster black print speeds (13 ppm) and a smaller footprint. The trade-off is a smaller ADF and no fax capability.

Power users who need ethernet, higher print volumes, and faster throughput should look at the Epson EcoTank ET-15000, which offers wide-format printing up to 11 x 17 inches and faster overall speeds — at a noticeably higher price point.

FAQ

Final Verdict

The HP Smart Tank Plus 651 wireless all-in-one ink tank printer carves out a clear niche for households and home offices that print heavily and are tired of cartridge costs eating into their budget. Two years of included ink, a genuinely mess-free refill experience, and reliable ADF functionality make it a practical choice for anyone who values print volume over print speed. Slower color output and the absence of auto duplexing hold it back from being a perfect all-rounder, but those limitations are easy to live with when the ink costs are this manageable.