Epson Eco-Tank printers perfect for families, home or office
If you’ve been putting off getting a new printer because of the ongoing dreaded cost of ink cartridges, then one of Epson’s two latest EcoTank Wireless Colour All-in-One Cartridge-Free Supertank Printers may be the right gift for this holiday season.
While the name is a mouthful, these two models from Epson feature easily refillable super-sized ink tanks that print incredible high-quality colour text and images.
The EcoTank moniker is quite relevant. One set of four ink bottles – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black – used to replenish the printer’s reservoirs can replace an equivalent of up to 90 ink cartridges, saving you over $1,000 for every ink replacement set. This means that you and your family can print thousands of pages – from gift cards and other crafts, photos, school reports, term papers or business proposals – before you need to refill. Of course, actual print results will depend on your usage.
 The Epson EcoTank ET-2850 |
 The Espon EcoTank ET-4850 printer |
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The small ink bottles in no way impact print quality. In fact, these EcoTank printers use a unique and impressive Micro Piezo Heat-Free Technology that does not require the printer to warm up beforehand – saving valuable time and energy. The printers also use Claria ET pigment black ink, which offers a better resolution as it prints the colour atop the paper’s surface rather than through the paper with typical dye-based dyes. The result is exceptionally sharp text in any size font – plus impressive colour graphics and photos regardless of the paper type used.
Printing can be done via USB, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet (on some models). Using the Epson Smart Panel App, you can also use Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant to work with hands-free, voice-activated printing from your iOS or Android smart device.
Epson has several different models to suit your family’s needs. Two of the newer models include the ET-2850 and the ET-4850.
The EcoTank ET-2850 Wireless Colour All-in-One Cartridge-Free Supertank Printer is the ideal budget-conscious choice for many families. It has a 100-sheet paper tray and can print up to 10.5 pages per min (PPM) in black or five PPM in colour. It will also print automatically on both sides at six PPM and four PPM respectively, saving you a lot of wasted paper. It also has a high-resolution 8.5 x 11-inch flat-bed scanner and a built-in 20-page PC-free copier for standard letter-sized paper.
The ET-2850 comes in either black or white and retails for $399.99. You can get it directly from Epson (currently $299 black only) or other retailers like Amazon, Best Buy or London Drugs.
For University students, small businesses, or families with added printing needs, the EcoTank ET-4850 Wireless Colour All-in-One Cartridge-Free Supertank Printer adds a number of premium productivity features not found on the ET-2850.
It prints faster than the ET-2850 at 15.5 ppm in black and 8.5 ppm in colour. It also features faster Automatic two-sided printing along with faster PC-free copying of up to 99 pages of legal or letter-sized pages.
Its built-in Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) can be handy when handling large numbers of documents rather than feeding pages one at a time. The high-resolution flat-bed scanner can scan 8.5 x 11” letter documents and up to 8.5 x 14” legally sized pages when using the ADF. Faxing is also available for the odd time you might need it.
The ET-4850 adds a wired Ethernet connection for solid and faster connectivity and less reliance on Wi-Fi. It also has a 2.4-inch colour touch-screen display (compared to the non-touch 1.4-inch) and a larger 250-sheet paper tray so you don’t need to replenish your paper as often.
The ET-4850 comes in black or white and retails for $649.99 ( $499.99 at the time of writing). You can get this model directly from Epson or other retailers like Best Buy, London Drugs or Amazon.
These are just two of the many EcoTank printer models Epson offers. Regardless of which best suits you or your family’s needs, both make great versatile family gifts.
The EcoTank printers come with up to two years of ink right out of the box and when you need more, replacement ink bottles will yield about 7,500 pages for black and up to 6,000 pages for each of the Cyan, Magenta and Yellow and only cost about $26 and $17 respectively.
These models come with a one-year warranty plus a bonus second year if you register your product.
Greg Gazin, also known as the Gadget Guy and Gadget Greg, is a syndicated veteran tech columnist, communication, leadership and technology speaker, facilitator, blogger, podcaster and author.
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