Document printers have been essential office gadgets for decades. Their ability to produce thousands of pages in minutes has made it much easier to distribute information or put presentations together. At home, however, you don’t always want to print text. There might be a few occasions where you want to print a photo in high quality on glossy paper so you can frame and hang it.
But both scenarios rely on one thing: the availability of ink. Especially with home printing, it can often seem like you just replaced the cartridge and now it needs another.
One way to deal with that is to get an EcoTank printer from Epson. These printers have extra-large ink tanks that hold a lot more than a regular desktop printer.
Shop this article: Epson EcoTank ET-4760 Wireless Color All-in-One, Epson EcoTank ET-2850 Wireless Color All-in-One Cartridge-Free Supertank Printer and Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5170 Wireless Color All-in-One Supertank Printer
While most of the EcoTank printer’s functions are identical to those of other printers, the most significant difference is in the size of the ink tanks. They're much larger and can hold almost three times as much ink. Another advantage is that you can refill the tanks yourself. Unlike other cartridges that you throw away after they run dry, an EcoTank is easily topped off with compatible liquids. Epson says that you can save as much as 90% on your ink costs.
To get the most out of your EcoTank (or any printer for that matter), you must use the correct device for your printing jobs. If your primary printing is black and white documents, then a monochrome printer is an excellent choice. Naturally, though, there are EcoTank printers that specialize in photo reproduction and printing on fabrics.
It often catches printer buyers off guard when they see the price tag of an EcoTank. Some can be as much as three times the price of a competing brand. But the maintenance cost of the EcoTank is much lower, as the heat-free printhead doesn’t need replacing. And the cost per page is dramatically reduced when comparing how much the ink costs and how many pages you get from a single bottle.
The days when you must struggle with an often-too-short printer cable are long gone. Through built-in connectivity such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, a good-quality printer lets you connect almost any device in your home. Bluetooth makes it easier to print social media photos from mobile devices, while Wi-Fi bypasses all the cables and lets you print from any desktop computer or laptop within range.
If you ask printer users the most frustrating thing about a printer, most will tell you it’s setup. A good-quality printer such as the EcoTank has an easy-to-use menu system with durable buttons. The functions must be clearly indicated, and setup shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.
Successfully printing a document is what you expect from a device that has one job. But unless you will only be printing and doing nothing else, a good-quality printer has extra functions and features to make your life easier. Wasting paper is combatted with automatic double-sided printing, and the automatic document feeder makes scanning multiple pages a cinch.
The answer largely depends on its functions and size. A smaller wireless printer retails for $200 to $300, while a much larger printer best suited for office work sells for $500 to $600.
A. Yes, but it also depends on how you use the printer. A pack of four sublimation bottles (black, cyan, magenta and yellow) of 13 ounces each cost about $40. That’s about double the price for regular inkjet cartridges. But it should last you about three times longer.
A. While Epson is the only company to use the EcoTank trademark, there are several other manufacturers that offer printers with larger-than-normal ink tanks. For example, Canon released its MegaTank printer range in 2017, two years after Epson’s supertank printer.
Epson EcoTank ET-4760 Wireless Color All-in-One
What you need to know: Even though it's rather bulky, this printer can produce up to 7,500 black and white pages.
What you’ll love: It's best suited for a small office, as the paper tray can hold 250 pages, it has a 30-page automatic document feeder and two-sided printing. There is a 2.4-inch touchscreen and it's voice-activated.
What you should consider: While it connects through Wi-Fi and an Ethernet cable, it doesn’t have a slot for SD memory cards.
Epson EcoTank ET-2850 Wireless Color All-in-One Cartridge-Free Supertank Printer
What you need to know: This is the perfect workhorse for a small office or printing at home.
What you’ll love: It has Wi-Fi connectivity and you can even print by using your voice. It’s designed to produce high-quality text as well as detailed photos on nearly any type of paper. The printer comes with an extra set of ink bottles, giving you about two years’ worth of ink.
What you should consider: Scanning multiple pages is a bit tricky, as it doesn’t have an automatic document feeder.
Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5170 Wireless Color All-in-One Supertank Printer
What you need to know: This printing beast will look at home in any busy office, as it needs no warmup time and can print one black and white page every 3.5 seconds.
What you’ll love: The scale of this cartridge-free printer makes it cost-effective, working out to about 2 cents per color page. It has automatic double-sided printing, a 2.4-inch touch screen and a 250-page paper tray.
What you should consider: Some users said it can struggle to wirelessly connect to Apple devices.
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Charlie Fripp writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
