Ink tank printers were introduced a few years ago to address this pain point and the Epson® EcoTank® printer line is one of the most popular ink tank options around. If you’ve seen any of the EcoTank ads you know their big tagline is “cartridge free printing”. Instead of using ink cartridges to print, EcoTanks rely on ink bottles and a refillable ink tank system to power your printer. Similar to filling up your epson photo printer car with gas, when a specific color is low in the tank, all you need to do is fill it up and you can continue printing. For a small office, the Epson Workforce range of inkjets deliver professional capabilities even for the home office. Choose from options including wide format print and revolutionary cartridge-free EcoTank printers that come supplied with up to two years’ ink for ultra-low costs per print.
Our tests matched Epson’s claims of approximately 20ppm for both black-and-white and color print jobs. Text, charts and diagrams are sharp, and we struggled to tell the difference between a print from the WF-4630 and a mid-range laserjet. With a maximum resolution of 4800 x 1200 dpi, we found printing photographs less impressive.
With an outstanding performance and low ink costs, the Epson ET-5850 is ideal for the busy office or home office. Convenient front panel controls make it effortless to access printer functions, and business class options offer advanced security features that prevent unauthorized access and simplify remote printer management. High-speed paper handling technology achieves both faster and high quality printing. Dot control technology makes prints of amazing quality regardless of any type of paper. After this point, you could probably still use the cartridge but the print quality may decrease, as the cartridge’s sponge begins to dry up and wear out. All-in-one printers combine scanning, printing, copying and faxing into a single device.
The company adds a wide-format model for home offices and a new generation of small-biz models to its lines of bottle-fed printers. At this writing the PRO-200 costs $280 less than our top pick, and after generating more than 50 prints, many in the large 13-by-19 format, we still haven’t had to replace the ink cartridges. You can now improve your label inventory management while improving the look of your labels by using one of Epson new color ink jet label printers. You’ll find the current set of Epson LabelWorks printers on its own section of the vendor’s website.
The Epson’s black ink is a bit darker, but the ink has also spread a bit further than the Canon. Click on the larger images to see the actual texture of the paper and notice that the Canon printing seems to have produced more jagged edges. If you’ve spent any time printing specialty paper and non-standard card sizes, you’ve likely spent a proportionate amount of time in your printer’s driver.
It’s acceptable for general photo printing, but pale compared to professional photo printers. Inkjet printers are a great choice for home office, personal, student, or business use. You can print documents in black and white or in color, print out full-color business brochures or important family photos, and much more, all for a price that won’t bust the family or business budget. Inkjet printers are generally more economical than laser models and are also often easier to set up and configure.
Desktop inkjet printing offers unmatched resolution, color accuracy, archival properties, and larger media sizes. The EcoTank Mono sub-brand (also referred to on Epson’s site as EcoTank Black & White) is Epson’s answer to mono lasers. It’s designed for small and home offices epson photo printer that print lots of documents and don’t need color. The models in this category range from a single-function printer to a four-function AIO with an ADF that supports manual duplexing. All come with two years of unlimited ink, with no subscription needed and no fee.
The printer’s speeds are fair- for us, mono A4 pages came out at 32ppm. But we won’t complain about a machine putting quality ahead of speed for photo printing (and it does print quietly, at least). With an impressive 5760 x 1400 dpi print resolution and a scan resolution of 1200 x 4800 dpi, you can expect incredibly accurate printing and photocopies. In all of our tests, the Epson EcoTank ET-8550 performed well, with crisp quality prints across the board.