HP Sprocket Select Portable Photo Printer Review: Your Instant Memory-Maker Tested

In an age where our smartphones are overflowing with thousands of perfectly captured moments, a strange paradox has emerged. We have more photos than ever, yet we look at them less. They exist as pixels on a screen, buried in endless camera rolls and cloud storage, rarely seeing the light of day. I found myself in this exact situation—my phone held a digital scrapbook of my life, from travels and family gatherings to the simple beauty of a morning coffee, but my walls, desk, and journals remained bare. The act of printing photos had become a chore, involving trips to a store or navigating clunky online services. The spontaneity was gone. This is the very problem the HP Sprocket Select Portable Photo Printer aims to solve: to instantly and effortlessly bridge the gap between our digital and physical worlds, transforming fleeting moments into tangible keepsakes you can hold, share, and cherish.

What to Consider Before Buying a Portable Photo Printer

A portable photo printer is more than just a gadget; it’s a key solution for creatives, journalers, families, and anyone who wants to liberate their memories from the confines of a screen. It brings back the joy of the instant photograph, blending the convenience of digital photography with the nostalgic charm of a physical print. The main benefit lies in its immediacy. You can capture a moment at a party, edit it on your phone with fun stickers or filters, and have a physical, shareable copy in under a minute. This technology transforms scrapbooking, journaling, and event planning, allowing for on-the-spot creation without the delay or cost of traditional printing services.

The ideal customer for this type of product is someone who values convenience, creativity, and the tactile experience of a photograph. This includes scrapbook enthusiasts, bullet journal creators, students decorating their dorms, and parents wanting to create instant memories with their children. It’s also perfect for small business owners, like one user who uses it for aura readings, creating a unique and profitable customer experience. However, it might not be suitable for professional photographers or anyone seeking archival-quality, high-fidelity prints to frame and display as fine art. Those individuals would be better served by a dedicated desktop photo printer or a professional printing service that offers superior colour accuracy and resolution.

Before investing, consider these crucial points in detail:

• Portability & Design: The primary appeal is portability. A great portable printer should be slim, lightweight, and durable enough to be tossed into a handbag or backpack. Consider the device’s dimensions and weight (the Sprocket Select is a mere 180 grams). Also, look at the build quality—does it feel sturdy, or like a fragile toy?
• Print Quality & Technology: This is the most significant factor. Most portable printers use either Zink (Zero Ink) or Dye-Sublimation (like Kodak’s 4PASS) technology. Zink is faster and uses no ink cartridges, but its colour accuracy can be inconsistent, often producing a “vintage” or “Polaroid” look. Dye-sub is slower but generally yields more vibrant, true-to-life colours. Check the printer’s resolution (the Sprocket Select is 321 x 600 dpi) and manage your expectations accordingly.
• Paper & Cost Per Print: The printer itself is a one-time purchase, but the paper is an ongoing cost. Look into the price per sheet for the proprietary paper. Most, like the HP Zink paper, come with a sticky back, which is fantastic for crafting but might be an unnecessary feature for some. The paper capacity (typically 10 sheets) also affects convenience.
• Connectivity & App Experience: These devices are useless without a good app. The connection is almost always via Bluetooth, but the setup should be seamless. Evaluate the app’s features: does it offer robust editing tools like filters, frames, stickers, and text? Is it intuitive to use, or is it buggy and prone to crashing, as some users have reported with various apps?

Keeping these factors in mind, the HP Sprocket Select Portable Photo Printer stands out in several areas, particularly in its balance of portability and creative features. You can explore its detailed specifications and features here.

While the HP Sprocket Select Portable Photo Printer is an excellent choice, it’s always wise to see how it stacks up against the competition. For a broader look at all the top models, we highly recommend checking out our complete, in-depth guide:

Unboxing the HP Sprocket Select: First Impressions and Key Features

The HP Sprocket Select Portable Photo Printer arrives in a clean, lift-top box that immediately feels premium. Sliding off the lid reveals the printer itself, nestled securely in a moulded tray. Our “Eclipse” model has a sophisticated, dark grey finish with a subtle glittery sheen that catches the light beautifully, looking more like a sleek power bank than a printer. It feels solid and well-constructed in the hand, with a satisfying weight of 180 grams that speaks to its quality without being cumbersome. Beneath the printer, we found a Micro-USB charging cable and a starter pack of 10 sheets of HP’s 2.3 x 3.4-inch Zink Sticky-Backed Photo Paper. The real design highlight is the lid for the paper tray; it’s held in place by magnets, making it incredibly easy to open and reload—a small but brilliant detail that many users have praised. Compared to the original Sprocket, the Select feels more mature in its design, and the promise of 30% larger prints is an immediate and welcome upgrade.

A Deep Dive into the HP Sprocket Select’s Performance

A portable printer lives or dies by its real-world performance. It needs to be fast, reliable, and produce prints that, while not professional-grade, capture the fun and emotion of the moment. We put the HP Sprocket Select Portable Photo Printer through its paces, focusing on the entire user journey from setup to the final sticky-backed print.

Seamless Setup and the HP Sprocket App Experience

Getting started with the Sprocket Select is refreshingly simple, a point echoed by nearly every user we came across. After unboxing, the first step is to charge the device using the included Micro-USB cable. While it was charging, we downloaded the free “HP Sprocket” app from the Google Play Store (it’s also available on the Apple App Store). Once charged, loading the paper was a breeze thanks to the magnetic lid. You simply pop it off, place the 10-pack of Zink paper inside with the blue Smartsheet on the bottom, and snap the lid back on. Powering on the printer and enabling Bluetooth on our smartphone was all it took for the app to instantly find and pair with the device. The entire process, from opening the box to being ready to print, took less than five minutes. This hassle-free experience is a massive win for a device built on convenience.

The app itself is where the magic happens. It serves as the command centre for selecting, editing, and printing your photos. The interface is clean and intuitive, allowing you to pull photos directly from your phone’s gallery or connect to your social media accounts to print tagged photos. The customization suite is impressively robust for a mobile app. We had a blast adding exclusive frames, whimsical stickers, and handwritten doodles to our pictures. You can adjust brightness, contrast, and saturation, which, as we discovered, is crucial for getting the best results from this printer. The app also includes a fun augmented reality (AR) feature that lets you embed hidden videos into your prints, which friends can view through their own Sprocket app—a novel, if slightly niche, party trick. While our experience was largely smooth, we did encounter what some users reported: the app occasionally became unresponsive, requiring a quick restart. It’s a minor annoyance in an otherwise polished and highly enjoyable software experience.

The Heart of the Matter: Zink Technology and Print Quality

This is the most debated aspect of the HP Sprocket Select Portable Photo Printer, and it’s essential to set the right expectations. The device uses Zink (Zero Ink) technology, which is a marvel of convenience. There are no ink cartridges to replace or leak in your bag. Instead, the paper itself contains colourless dye crystals that are activated by precise heat pulses from the printer’s thermal head. The result is a dry, smudge-proof, and water-resistant photo that emerges fully developed in about a minute.

Now, let’s talk about quality. With a resolution of 321 x 600 dpi, this printer is not designed to compete with an inkjet photo printer. Its output has a distinct character, which many users accurately describe as a “Polaroid classic vibe.” We found this to be true in our testing. The colours are not always a perfect match to the screen. As one user noted, “The colours are flat and dark,” while another observed that “skin color is definitely off.” Our tests confirmed this tendency; prints often came out darker and with a slight colour cast. Photos with large areas of white or light colours sometimes exhibited a blue or magenta hue. However, this isn’t a universal failure. We discovered, as did other users, that the printer’s performance is highly dependent on the source image. Photos that are already bright, vibrant, and high in contrast tend to print beautifully. Darker, low-light, or subtly shaded images are the ones that struggle. The key, we learned, is to use the app’s editing tools to boost the brightness and contrast of a photo *before* hitting print. Once you learn the printer’s quirks and how to compensate for them, you can achieve consistently pleasing results. The prints are for fun, for journals, for sticking on a laptop—and for that purpose, the quality is more than adequate; it’s charming.

Portability and Design: Your Creative Companion on the Go

Where the HP Sprocket Select Portable Photo Printer truly excels is in its role as a go-anywhere creative tool. Its physical design is superb. Measuring just over five inches long and three and a half inches wide, and less than an inch thick, it’s about the size of a modern smartphone, albeit slightly thicker. At just 180 grams, it disappears into a purse, backpack, or even a large coat pocket without a second thought. This is a device you will actually carry with you, which is the entire point. The “Eclipse” finish is not only stylish but also practical, resisting fingerprints better than a glossy plastic would. It feels dense and durable, ready to handle the rigours of travel or being passed around at a social gathering.

The practicalities of its portable nature hold up well. The internal battery is robust enough to print several packs of paper on a single charge, easily lasting through a party or a long crafting session. The 10-sheet capacity is standard for this class of device and strikes a good balance between size and convenience. Reloading is so quick with the magnetic lid that it’s never a burden. The only minor critique from a modern tech perspective is the use of a Micro-USB port for charging instead of the more current USB-C. This isn’t a dealbreaker, but it does mean carrying an extra cable if all your other devices have moved on. Ultimately, this printer is built to be a companion, enabling you to create and share physical memories wherever you happen to be, from a wedding reception to a quiet afternoon in a park. If you value this freedom to create on the move, you can find out more about the HP Sprocket Select here.

What Other Users Are Saying

Across the board, user feedback paints a clear picture of who loves the HP Sprocket Select Portable Photo Printer and why. The overwhelming sentiment is positive, with most praise directed at its convenience and ease of use. One user summed it up perfectly, calling it a “Really great gadget… so handy, so cool,” and noting that it “prints quickly too.” Many, like a reviewer who bought it for “book journaling/reviews,” find it to be the perfect tool for their creative hobbies, celebrating its “superb” print quality for that specific purpose.

However, the critique is just as consistent and centres almost entirely on colour accuracy. One of the most detailed negative reviews stated, “My main complaint on the print quality is regarding poor colour reproduction. The colours are flat and dark.” This sentiment is echoed by another user who noted, “the color correction is terrible. It couldn’t print a true white to save its life.” This feedback is crucial because it validates our own findings: the Sprocket Select is not for users seeking photorealistic prints. It’s for those who appreciate the convenience and are willing to embrace—or edit around—its quirky, retro-style output.

How Does the HP Sprocket Select Compare to the Competition?

The portable printer market is competitive, and while the Sprocket Select is a strong contender, it’s worth seeing how it stacks up against some popular alternatives.

1. KODAK Mini 2 Retro 4PASS Photo Printer Bundle

The KODAK Mini 2 Retro is a formidable rival that uses a different printing technology: 4PASS dye-sublimation. This process uses a ribbon to apply layers of colour (yellow, magenta, cyan) and a final overcoat. The result is noticeably superior print quality with more vibrant, accurate colours and a laminated finish that protects against fingerprints and water. However, this quality comes at the cost of speed, as each print requires four passes through the printer. The KODAK is for the user who prioritizes picture quality and durability over the instant, single-pass speed of Zink technology. If you’re willing to wait a little longer for a much better-looking photo, the KODAK is an excellent choice.

2. HP Sprocket Photo Printer

This is the Sprocket Select’s bigger sibling. The primary difference is the print size, with this model producing larger 3×4 inch photos. It operates on the same Zink technology and uses the same excellent HP Sprocket app, so the overall user experience, including the creative tools and potential colour inaccuracies, will be very similar. Choosing between the two comes down to a simple preference: do you want the more pocketable format of the Select with its 2.3×3.4 inch prints, or do you prefer a more substantial 3×4 inch photo at the expense of a slightly larger device? For those creating photo displays or who simply feel “bigger is better,” this larger Sprocket is the logical upgrade.

3. Canon Zoemini 2 Portable Photo Printer

The Canon Zoemini 2 is perhaps the most direct competitor to the Sprocket Select. It also uses Zink technology and is designed for maximum portability and ease of use. The Zoemini 2, however, boasts a couple of key hardware advantages: Bluetooth 5.0 for a potentially more stable connection and, most notably, a modern USB-C port for faster charging. It’s incredibly slim and comes in stylish colours like Rose Gold. The choice between the Zoemini 2 and the Sprocket Select will likely come down to brand preference, app features, and whether the convenience of USB-C charging outweighs the Sprocket’s slightly larger print size and slick magnetic lid design.

Our Final Verdict: Is the HP Sprocket Select the Right Choice for You?

After extensive testing, we can confidently say that the HP Sprocket Select Portable Photo Printer is a fantastic device for its intended audience. It is a triumph of convenience, design, and pure, unadulterated fun. For scrapbookers, journalers, students, and anyone who wants to instantly turn a digital memory into a physical sticker, it is an absolute joy to use. The setup is effortless, the app is packed with creative tools, and the hardware itself is both beautiful and durable.

Its only significant weakness—the one you must accept before buying—is its Zink-based print quality. The colours can be unpredictable and often lean towards a darker, vintage aesthetic. If you are seeking perfect colour fidelity, look elsewhere. But if you embrace its charmingly imperfect, Polaroid-esque output and prioritize the magic of creating an instant, tangible memory on the spot, this printer is one of the best you can get. It successfully frees your photos from their digital prison, and it does so with style.

If you’ve decided the HP Sprocket Select Portable Photo Printer is the right fit for your creative projects, you can check its current price and purchase it here.