Annual Update: Apart from the need to perform monthly printer cleaning and maintenance routines built into the printer software, this printer still works and remains my primary printer for documentation at home. I’ve only had to refill the inks once, and it’s still functioning well. I’ll keep you all posted if it happens to break down and needs replacement. If I do replace it, I’ll create a new video to review the printer that takes its place. 05/14/24: As of this date, we still use the printer as the home main printer and still works as good as new. We just noticed for the printer to always be printing all the colors out. Once a month we perform the printer maintenance built in the software to prevent the colors ink from dying out and causing problems. I am planning on uploading a follow up video because I’m still very impressed.
Curious as to why in 2023 you choose to use inkjet printers in preference to laser. I get that there are specialist users who need A3 and for plan printing A2 and larger, but you seem to be using an A4 inkjet for everyday use.
@@jeansmith313- agreed, as long as your fingers are completely dry.... but I would call that a specialist use. I only ever used them for documentation after moving up from dot matrix and that was 30 years ago!
Eventually it will require waste ink tank replacement, and page counter reset. Epson will sell you the waste tank but will not provide the code to reset the printer.
I have an Epson Eso Tank printer. I will give one warning for all printers. Use ALL your colors at least once a week to prevent the print head from drying out and clogging up. This is especially true of Eco Tank. You cannot remove the print head to clean if you forget, I have a test Excel page that I print once a week that print several large squares of each color.
I also have my own test page, (.docx) with color schemes downloaded from the Net and some random texts I prepared using 100% base-colors, both additive and subtractive color mixes. I print a page every month and never got a clogged head.
I’ve had an Epson for over a year and had zero problems. The quality is great. You need to print a picture every other week or so. I have yet to fill up any reservoirs yet.
I have the 2800 and my ink is full but when I do the head cleaning and when I print there is no color I bought mine in 2021 and hardly used it now it won't do color and black is weak. I have an extended warranty so I am taking mine back. I use mine for use with my cricut maker and I need rear feeding. Not sure what other Epson I should get instead
@@denben8530 When you get a new one, print something in color once a week. I use a color test page layout. Your print head or ink feed tubes dried up due to lack of use. This is best for all printers.
We have owned seven HP printers over the course of about three decades. Two years ago we got an Epson EcoTank instead and we have saved HUNDREDS of dollars in ink costs since then. Print quality was sometimes slightly better with the HPs but for us it is not nearly enough to justify the major difference in cost of ink.
I have had the ET-2500 for 7 years now and are only on my second full ink tank fill-up in all that time. It still performs well. A great all-round machine.
Thanks ... is it like cartridges where if you don't use it for a while, it has to go through a whole bunch of cleanings that just wastes ink? or is it pretty much always ready to go, even if you haven't used ti for a while?
@@frankdaeran352 I had it in storage for about 6 months, and after that I had to use the automatic cleaning feature because one color was missing on the prints. Worked fine after that. After 1-2 months I have not experienced issues.
You are someone who does not use the printer a lot. Nor do I and in choosing a new printer, I was concerned about the rumors that inkjets on EcoTank printers can dry up for lack of use. You made no mention of that as an issue which gives me hope. I just purchased a reconditioned 2850 for just $200 from Amazon tonight. (Nov. 2023)
Dude, I have an ecotank l355, I have had it for what feel like ages since 2015 when I was in college, it still is rocking, I have only buy new ink once, a clone ink that came in bottles of 1 liter for 25 USD each and they still have ink and the last time I refilled my printer, 5 months ago, the ink still was good. One of the best investments I ever made, so much that paper is my biggest expenditure with my printer.
This printer ROCKS!! The amount of copies you can print in color is insane. Have been a HP loyal fan for 20 years... until now! Have had it for a year and it makes me smile every time I use it. I love the feature that allows me to email what I want to print from the app and it's sitting waiting for me when I get home. Truly a game changer
@@voldy3565 I have a 7700 which should only be purchased if you like to print high quality photos, otherwise it’s overkill. So far it’s printed over 7000 sheets (imagine a stack of 14, 500 sheet reams). About 3000 were color and 1000 on high density photo paper which uses a lot of ink. I am still on the original two sets of ink.
The reason you had left over ink was because the ink levels drop once the ink travels to the print head, you can then top the tanks up with the leftover ink, if I remember correctly it does ask you once set up is almost complete.
I have the Epson 2750 and I have to say that compared to my old HP I print lots of pictures. With the HP I was always wary of the cost, with the EcoTank if I see a nice picture I print it. I try to print at least one picture a week as some people have mentioned drying-out issues if you don't use it regularly. Never going back to cartridges.
that was my issue on my ET-2550. i would print a lot at once, then not use it for weeks. might explain why the waste/over flow pads were beyond capacity ..
We bought the HP 2850 two months ago after getting tired of trying to find cartridges that did not print clearly. This EcoTank resolved that issue. It will be a money saver on ink. We love the wireless feature especially. I would buy again.
It's kind of funny, in Asia printers with ink tanks has been commonly available for like 15 years or something, probably because people in "emerging markets" couldn't afford cartridges. It's nothing new, and there's no wonder it was fairly quick for them to suddenly offer this "new eco friendly ink tank technology" in western markets, they already had them for years already! :)
Yup in india its been there for Decades because of demands in prints due to huge population, while western countries they don’t use in shops printer instead they buy inkjet printer so prices are cheaper for normal uses. And ink-tank printer are only used because companies in western market so demand are less
In india if you have a printer shop your printer ROI Can be covered up within 2-3 months if your shop is in near offices and School, court and colleges
I’ve had an Epson 2500 for 5 years and have saved a fortune in ink purchases. This eco concept is a blessing and don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise. The print is sharp and clear and well worth the money. I’m sure the other printer companies are jealous of the eco success….
@@FhshaoaksbdAre you a bot? We own 4 Ecotank Printers and the oldest is 5 years old at this point. They all work without flaws and the cost is minimal compared to hp that we previously used.
I owned multiple epson printer from T60 to eco tank series from L110 ,L121, L300 and L3250. I print a lot and epson is my go to printer since 2010 reliable repairable
I had the Epson ET-4500 for over six years and the top feeder quit working, but the rest is still working perfectly. Great printer and saved tons of $$$ on ink carts. Wouldn't go back to a cartridge printer. I bought this new ET-4850 and so far, it's exceeded my expectations. Great printer!
Have you had problems with the ink drying? That's my biggest problem with ink printers, I don't use them often, so when I want to print after a while, the ink doesn't works, seems dry, even though I only printed like 50 pages weeks before :(
@@JuanderBoyMusic that’s the problem with the cartridge printers. I have not had that issue with this one. You just have to clean the heads when they need it.
@@JuanderBoyMusic I think you'll like it. Even if you don't really need to print something important, print a page or two every week, just to make sure it doesn't dry up. When the color is off a little, go to maintenance and run the head cleaner.
The problem with these types of printers is that if they're not used often then the ink can clog requiring you to do a cleaning function. If you do this too many times then the printer will stop you from doing any more. Why? Cleaning uses up ink, where does the ink go? A sponge inside the printer. This sponge can only hold so much ink, so there's a counter that counts how many times you do a cleaning function, and once you reach that magic number then it wont allow you to do another clean. And thus your printer has been bricked. You can change the sponge, but you can't change the count value, so the printer will be unusable. Not sure if this is the case with all makes/models so make sure to check. If you plan on printer with it every week then there shouldn't be a problem.
I got tool i downloaded years ago that allow you restart these counters back to zero. BUT antivirus program detect it as virus but is not. If youare able find that sponge, Epson usually have some kind of plastic box with white cotton or something in in, you can replace it with small bottle like me. If you are interested, i can send dropbox link
I bought one of these a few years back, it sounded great. I was called away shortly after purchase on family business for a couple of months. Returning, my Epson would not print. Ink had solidified in the printer jets. You cannot simply replace the print heads like you can with a normal ink jet printer, they are not accessible. I wound up junking my entire purchase. So for anyone contemplating this printer, consider your usage. If your use includes significant times between print jobs (weeks perhaps ?), you may wish to reconsider. On the other hand, if you print something in color daily, you can save a lot on ink. BTW, I wound up with a HP multifunction laser jet printer. Yes, the cartridges are expensive, but I need not worry about this printer clogging up and refusing to work at the precise time I need a high priority print job to run. Plan ahead !
My 4 year old ecotank 2650 still runs perfectly, I’ve only had to buy ink once, and it was this year. Never had a connectivity issue, or really any issue whatsoever with this printer.
Wow yours lasted 4 years? Mine only lasted 2 😩. There’s a filter you can’t replace in the back, it’s just a tube with a pad. After each cleaning the ink is dumped on the pad and when it’s full or after a set amount it sets off a chip inside and boom it locks itself. At that point you need to get a new one. You can’t replace it or reset it not matter how hard you try
@@jcnyc55that pad can be replaced with 3rd party one or an external tank add on. I'm not sure where you get them, but a Google will surely help you out.
I had an Epson L3250 for more than 2 years by now, ever since the pandemic started. I have to say that it may be not one of the top printers on the market, but it is indeed one of the best cost effective I could say. And cost effective as something that makes it worth the price and pays up over time, but then even the printer itself was cheap for what it's worth. One "drawback" - not really one, but a characteristic of these kinds of printers - is that they need regular use, otherwise the ink might dry up and the printing quality won't be as good. But not regular as in printing something every day, all you need is at least once in a week, even a test page is enough to have all the tanks being put to use. Yet the printer's ink is the biggest strength, being extremely cheap compared to cartridges. I don't mind if it costs some of the printing quality, my main concern is to not spend a lot of money on something that is akin to a scam, when cartridges make ink cost more than gold. Even then, the printing is actually a lot better than my old cartridge printers. The Epson smart app is also a relief from the era where I had to use dodgy software to even make a black and white copy, all I need to do is to connect with the wifi. Speaking about it, the connection to the printer is consistent and easy, not only it works but it's one of the easiest I have used so far - and the only time it stopped working was when, by my own fault, disconnected some flat cables when removing clogged paper from the printer's feed. I wouldn't say the printer is all perfect, if you don't have wifi it's a bit harder to use, but I wouldn't say it's a scam. I would say it was a definite upgrade for my household, and for those who are concerned with either reducing waste (because you use only one bottle vs a bunch of plastic containers at a given time) or saving money, I would recommend it
Thanks for your review! Currently I’m using the Canon TR7550. My biggest frustration, and reason for looking for a new printer, is the bad connection with WiFi. Even when I’m standing next to the darn thing it says: printer is offline. No, it is not! 🤬😂 anyway, the prints in colour are pretty high in cost. That’s why I’m looking at the EcoTank, but…I don’t want to loose in printingquality. How is the quality of (coloured) prints in your experience?
@@Art_by_Nicole i say with the experience of a casual user that mostly prints stuff for my personal art projects. I don't usually print too complex kinds of patterns, but if I were to print a color picture, the quality is acceptable. Although some minuscule details get mushy, you have a decent overall quality to the picture to at least discern. Not super complex, but definitely not terrible either.
@@marcelo90z I use images in HD for my artprojects. It doesn’t require a real photo to print, but the print has to be really sharp. I hope you understand what I mean. My current printer has a overall good result, but the WiFi-connection is really bad.
@@Art_by_Nicole The print is sharp, just don't expect tons of details if there's too much color. But you can set the options to print in high quality to make the print sharper.
I've had my HP EcoTank for 3 years, and it's been great! I'm only halfway through the original black tank. The issue with all inkjets is that the heads tend to dry out, especially for someone who prints as infrequently as I do. So any print job may include several head-cleaning passes, before I can get a good result.
I purchased a Cannon G7020 tank printer over two years ago and am still using the ink that came with mine plus I still have the two extra black bottles of ink that also came with the printer. The printer is better than any ink cartridge printer I ever owned.
I really loved mine. Print quality decreased after 2 years and I was told that’s normal. Pretty annoying to spend 200-400 dollars on a printer knowing that it’s suppose to only last 2 years. At least that’s what I was told by someone that worked at Staples. Either way - it’s a great printer! Ink cartridges are HORRIBLE. Jeez. So expensive. I had an HP and I had to get new ink every couple of months but with the EcoTank, I actually got 2 years of use out of it without having to get more ink. I was in medical school so I did A LOT of printing.
I am not surprised. You might have to replace the physical cartridge every 2 years or so depending on how much you print. They are wear and tear item as well. Hence, most none-refillable inkjet printers make you buy new cartridge every time you run out of ink.
The great thing about the cartridge is that it has a integrated ink jet. If you could replace the worn/clogged ink jet on the tank printer it would work like new. Also the dreaded ink drying up if not using issue.
I have had my Epson Eco Tank for 5 years and it is still working fine. Have had occasional clogging issues but try to do print jobs frequently enough to avoid clogs.
I bought an Epson L375 in 2016, after years of cartridge rip-off. I share purchase of the ink tanks with my son, who has a similar model. A 1/2 tank set usually lasts for over 2 years. And it works beautifully.
I rarely print anything but when I do I need it working. So I bought an Entry Consumer Model ET-2814, no LCD, no fancies. Just a Scanner, Printer connected via USB to my PC, like old times. I think with easy refills it is not that big of a deal to have a same sized black tank, even the small tank is good for around 3500 pages which is still so much more than the usual cartridges.
Had a similar Canon printer. Print quality and ink price were good, but the printer locked in copy mode just after three months of use. When we finally reached a higher tech help level, we were informed that the firmware needed to be reloaded but that was not covered under the warranty and would cost $110. Check the fine print before any equipment purchase.
We have the Epson ST-3000 super tank printer. It's been in use for 1.5 years. No problems and prints great. We have saved a lot of money. Great review. If you look around ink cartridges come to several thousand dollars per gallon!!!
With the competition between Epson, HP and Canon, I chose an Epson 4850 mostly because they are the pioneers in the ink tank market. HP fought tooth and nail to keep folks into cartridges. Canon I'll consider down the road for photo prints. I have printed a full ream which would've had me running out for ink, I barely touched the ink levels on the Epson so far. Love it and highly recommend.
The real OGs are the CISS tank makers. Been running them over 20 years. The printer companies finally caved in and made their own tank & bottle versions. Still, many of them all have the problem with sponges filling up so we will need to hack into them to get all the waste ink out and reset the paper counts. To be fair though, tanks existed in the hardcore market like with stylus pro and all those, but I'm glad to see them in the average consumer section now.
I really loved my Epson ET-2760 for the first few months. Then I started having issues of printer being offline and constant errors of printing. The only way I can get it to actually print is to remove the printer and add it again to my network. I also have to use the run command to navigate to the printer spooler to stop the service and restart it. I do these things weekly. So I decided to use this one as a backup and went out to buy the ET-4850. Keep in mind, I spent $200 the first time and then 18 months later, I spent another $350. Now I am back to printing errors. Support for Epson isn't the best and it always falls back to something that is changing in my settings and becomes my fault. I really like using less ink and being able to refill the tanks because I print constantly through the day. I just won't be making another purchase for a third time. Eventually I will get fed up with "making it work" and just go out and buy another brand.
I got an Epson L365. It's an ecotank, but before they even came up with the name ecotank. It's either 8 or 10 years old this year, its internals are kinda rusty, and I had to swap out the ink sponge thingy and also use that Epson program thing to reset the ink pad counter. But by gosh, it still WORKS. It prints full color stuff on photo paper, and hundreds of bw/color documents every time I need it to (which was like, once every 2 months lol). If it ever got stuck, it's nothing 8 rounds of head cleaning wouldn't fix. And I've always used 3rd party dye ink (non waterproof) and I guess it's just, that robust or something. I guess that's testament to the ecotank line?
My printer is an Epson Eso Tank. I am going to issue a warning to all printers. At least once a week, use EVERY color to keep the print head from drying out and becoming clogged. This particularly applies to Eco Tank. I have a test Excel document that I print once a week that prints numerous large squares of each color, but you cannot remove the print head to clean if you forget.
My Epson 2711 i bought 4-5 years ago for 130 bucks including 4 bottles were not a scam. I still haven't needed to refill it yet and the printer is still as good as new today. I print a test page sometimes to keep it clean, so i never need to clean the printer.
After years of trying to thwart inkjet printers by refilling ink cartridges with syringes (a mess!), I bought the Epson ET-4750 Ecotank. It has refillable ink tanks, a paper tray, wifi, scanner and fax for $450. What I'm finding is that if I don't print something every week that requires all four colors, the jet head nozzles dry out and clog, and takes half an hour, 6-10 sheets of paper and a lot of ink, to get it to print a single decent page. All my ink tanks are half empty after printing a total of 40 or so pages, almost all of which were just black text. The print quality is poor to the point I would never try and print a quality picture. 20 years ago, I could put photo paper in my $250 inkjet printer, select photo quality and get a picture close to photo quality. The scam goes on.
The first ink jet printer I bought only printed in black and white. I only needed to print up homework, so it was cool. The first color printers looked kind of lame, so I didn't buy one. The second ink jet printer seemed okay, and it work well enough. The injet lasted a long time. I went to buy a replacement, and the price went from twenty bucks to seventy. I bite the bullet, and the ink lasted two weeks. I talked around, and that was the way it was. Noped out of printing at home. Some told me I could refill the cartrages, and I did refill. The bottles of ink lasted nine years, and even then I ran out black ink. I went to buy a new printer, and everyone told you could not refill them. So I noped out again. Then the ecoprinters came alonge, and they said we had to now pay for the printer because they were sold cheep to sell ink. The printers looked impressive, which means bigger. My first color printer looked like I over paid, when I paid eighty dollars for it. It was light, and made a racket. Thing is, it lasted for a whole decade, and I only stopped using it because the second bottle of black ink clogged the print head, and killed it. You shouldn't have to pay half a grand to print up something. We are being fucked aroound.
I have a ET-7750 and I have had an X-Rite’s i1 Software professionally made profile for my 24" Ilford Galarie glossy paper. The results are amazing and the B+Ws are neutral. Even using cheaper glossy paper the results are really good. I use it for A3 drawings, 600mm x 297mm panorama prints. I'm very pleased with it. I regularly dab the print head resting pad with soft tissue paper to prevent smudges.
We have an Epson L6190 with 24000 pages printed, more than 22000 in colour, office documents. I believe we are at the second set of ink bottles but all printer's reservoirs almost full, needed some cleaning from time to time but all nozzels in perfect condition, fast printing, best inkjet printer we owned and we had lots of them.
*I have printed many 10s of thousands of full-color sheets with my Business Ecotank ET-15000. I've found a set of all four colors with the bigger black ink bottle, 127 ml, for less than $20 bucks a set! And the print quality is just as good if not better, than the OEM ink. I've only had to refill only once! This Ecotank workhorse has paid for itself many times over.*
I bought an Epson L360 with eco tank in 2018 and it's August 2023 and I still haven't changed the cartriges using the printer once a week in average.. I still can't beleive it! Also I have never had any problems cleaning the printing heads, I really recomend Epson printers 100%
Thank you, for sharing your review of this printer. For many years, I had been using an Epson Artisan 725 (in arctic white) which, used six (6) ink cartridges until it died. So, to replace it about 18-months ago, I picked up an Epson ET-8500. This unit does everything as well if, not better than my old Artisan 725 and, I am very happy to have purchased it (smile...smile).
the concept us great, with that said, we are on our 3rd in less than 2 years, 1st one just died, 2nd one used by my wife via wireless, but just " froze" for no reason. we had geek square tech out here on each one. now on our 3rd, it has had its issues, our D-I-L has one for last 3 plus years, works flawlessly, she home schools 5 kids, and prints 1000's of pages a month
I have had now my Epson ET-4760 now for quite a few year now with no issues at all. The ink bottles fill up the reservoir and there could be some ink let, just put the cap back on and use when it gets low maybe... I have not had to refill now for way over a year maybe almost two years. I also replace all my work printers with Epson EcoTank's. The print quality is great , just as good as my HP's can IBM's....
There is extra ink in die bottles because when you set up your printer it uses that amount of ink to fill the head. So it is a selling feature as there is no lost ink due to set up. There is also no heat components in these machines and Epson is the only brand that includes their print heads in their warranty.
I'm taking delivery of the 3850 (from Costco) in a couple of days and can't wait to put it to the test. Replacing an HP6500A + after the paper feed roller finally crapped out for the last time. (Repaired it twice) I should mention also there are a few other upgrades the 3850 has over the 2850 that weren't mentioned. (higher print speeds, an ethernet connection and a larger LCD screen to name a few)
I just moved my ET-4760 cross country and suffered some ink clogs that the cleaning feature (not power clean) fixed. Don't use the power clean if you don't have to, it uses way too much ink according to those that used it, and that may saturate your cleaning pads.
I see no mention of the waste pads filling up, which may be an issue down the road. If it counts how many times it has been used like Canon, it may be a terrible thing. If you can just clean/replace it it would be great. Canon got very criticized because of this and they put the sponge in a tray called "maintenance cartridge" with a chip. At least the chip is relatively easy to read and write. Another advantage of the Canon from what I've read is that the head is detachable, so you can replace it or, better, just clean it.
ProTip: Sam's Club carries the "special edition" ET-2850SE (with 2 bottles of black ink) and ET-3850SE (with 3 bottles of black ink), and both at $30 below MSRP. Just sayin' ...
You don't need USB to setup these printers with your PC. Just use its control panel to connect to your WiFi, then download the software from their site and the installer will handle setting up the network printing. Heck, Windows 10/11 can often auto-detect the printer after it's on the WiFi and set it up on your PC without you having to even ask it, though you'll be missing more advanced features if you do that(like free OCR Scanning to PDF).
If you want a printer with a doc feeder you have to get the Epson ET-3850 which is significantly more expensive but you also get 2 sided printing. Personally I can save even more by buying a HP OfficeJet Pro 9015 for hundreds less + buy 1 set of extra cartridges $100 + 1 top quality ink refill kit $65 + 1 printhead cleaning kit $20 ( this is applicable for the Epson as well ). I've learned how to refill cartridges and clean the printhead ( RUclips videos ) and now I save a lot more money. There's not a lot of difference fill a tank on the Epson or filling an ink cartridge on the HP. It's just a little more clean with the Epson but eventually you will have print quality issues that require you clean the print head with a manual operation.
Yes, two print head cleanings in almost four years with my ET-3750. It has doc feeder and two sided printing with no paper jams. With the discounts at the time I bought it, it cost me around $150. That is far less than what you paid, and I am still using the free ink supplied with the original purchase. No loss in print quality! I have refilled assorted different cartridges over many years with varying degrees of messiness. I will never voluntarily go back to that again!
ok - I will b purchasing to print my small self published booklet. Is this printer compatible with hp 2000 laptop? Did I hear u say it does double sided? thanks for answering my question! How fast do docs print? 🥰 Why did u not show it printing? does it take forever???
I purchased the Epson ET-2720 model in the uk. After some time, and hot weather, the heads have clogged. Only the Black and Cyan colours will now print. I have run many head cleans, but still not printing all the colours. The top section does not open up, and so impossible to gain access to the print heads, to manually clean/flush. I note from some video online that it has a standard looking ink cartridge system to which the pipes of the tanks are attached, and so in theory the dummy cartridges could be lifted out and access could be gained to the print head nozzles. This is a model I would avoid in the future. It seems that I may have to attempt to disassemble at some point.
I got the Epson ET-2850 and I'm satisfied with it. For home use, just what I need and produces sharp images. With the eco tank and no ink cartridges, the amount of copies seem endless. However, to nick pick, the color looks faded and dull compared to high end printers with a four digit price tag. Guess you get what you pay for.
HP had a monthly charge for ink. $6.99 a month. I've had my printer for 3 years and have only gotten ink once. Plus, it limited me on how much I can print. I'm fed up with printers. Now I'm looking into refillable.
I got one of these printers. I am extremely happy with it. I have spent the amount of a cheap new car on other printer cartridges. (I am talking about YOU HP!)
I bought an Epson T-2711 in November 2019, never had a problem - yet to refill any of the tanks although the black tank is down to about 25%. The scanner side is pretty good although I do also have an Epson Perfection V-0370 Photo scanner for scanning photos & 35 mm slides and negatives. Compared with my previous HP 7000 printer - far, far cheaper to run with very similar results, very pleased. Wondering if HP stands for High Price?
I have been an HP loyal for 8 years. I subscribed to their cartridge refill service where you get charged a minimum of $6 a month ( you get charged more if you print more) I canceled my subscription and have ordered the ET 4850. Am excited 😊
Good video! I have the lower end model. Print quality is excellent. The teeny, tiny screen is ridiculous and their menu commands are not particularly user friendly. TIP: I used to refill my HP cartridges so I had left over bulk ink supplies. I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the black ink refill bottle and added ink which worked just fine when it was time to add black ink to the printer. (you have ton use their special bottles)....worked like a charm! I simply taped the hole and store the bottle upside down. When I run low in the color inks, I will refill the other Epson bottles. I probably voided the warranty by not using their ink, but a year and a half later, so what!
I'm now on my third Epson eco-tank, really not sure why I buy them - probably because I live in a regional area and have left over link to use. So I have had an Epson 2820; 4750 and 4850 eco tank printers. The 4750 stopped working after about 6 years. It had done less than a year's work in that six years, still (apart from black) half full with original ink. Comes up with a scanning error and cannot get it fixed, unless I want to pay pretty much the same price. The 2820 lasted less than a year before it stopped working, so got a refund and used it to get the latest 4850 - less than a month old, so far so good, but not really keen on the life of these things.
I love this printer I got mine when Eco Tank first came out and it cost me about $500. I had spent around $300 dollars on ink that year that I just had to by me an Eco tank. It was a perfect solution, I want to print out more photo but not spend so much on ink. I literally would go buy trusted off brand ink refilled for the Epsom Eco Tank ET-2225 and the photos would come out beautiful. I’m sure spent less than $200 on ink in over 7 years, when I had my first printer I spent 300 in just a few month. It was a very good investment it was pricing at first but they’re a lot cheaper now compared when it first came out. I printed pretty much everything you can think of including business card, photos, portrait, and labels.
I have an older eco tank fax. I love it, scanning multiple pages with the feeder saves so much time. Only down side is the ink jets get clogged, and running head clean over and over again.
your suppose to have leftover ink to use it after the first setup. The setup uses whats left in the bottle for its first setup. So you need to top it off after your setup is done, and let the printer know it was filled up again. Then your bottle is empty
used it for 7y. even stopped using for 2-3 years. Printed total of 18 000 colored pages including books after books. No problem yet. Maybe spent less than 100 dollar on ink.
My Eco tank 2850 is working like a charm, I would much rather keeping the ink level up an be able to print (in my case) 205 pages to the 15 to an cartridge. If all I have to do is to keep the ink level full I'll take that any day!
Instead of having chips in the cartridge they add one to the maintenance box which is where they make up for some lost revenue. At least there are chip reset boxes available if you are able to clean the existing box or use a tank to store waste ink instead.
I have an ET-2550 for the last 5 years. and i have to agree 100% filling ink, not a cartridge, is so much easier. my only complaint, was after some research found out there was a 8000pg limit on printing, then you have to send it in or buy a reset code. i chose the latter. a minor gripe was actually cleaning the print heads. it involved unplugging the printer just as the print head was over the paper path, then using a ammonia soaked paper towel. depending on how often you "clean the print head, the waste ink pads may start to leak out of the printer.( simple enough to fix.) other than that. i would recommend any ET series printer to any one..
Been through two of these printers now in the space of the year because the sponge gets soaked with ink and you can’t do anything, these are good if you only print docs every so often but if you have a sticker and art print business like my partner and I then it is not worth it
the epson eco printer i use has been excellent. certainly good value compared to the other options. i have printed thousand of pages before needing a refill. did have with one saying maintenance was kit was required, load of rubbish! it happened after a few years and i was able to find a free program online that unlocked the printer and guess what its still printing.
I'm on my second eco tank and I've had more paper feed issues with these two printers than I've had with any other epson printers in the last 20 +years. I don't think I would ever buy another Epson because of this.
Loved this printer. Till my year was up and i needed a replacement part. My issue with this printer is that atleast for the ET-2850 the waste tank cannot be replaced easily. They have to send one with a $215 hold on your card, and they have to send a reset code. Which is not available but by then(i understand that) But having to spend more than what i did on the printer to replace I've part is stupid
Waste tank replacement is small concern. I do not print much so do not know if related to time and automatic cleaning or pages printed? Also heard that with the Ecotank printers longer pathway for ink to travel to the print heads so if not printing often the tubing travelling from the ink source to the print heads can be a source of clogging. I am using Epson ET-2800 but may replace with laser printer since do not do much printing and they can sit for long period of time without concern of ink clogging of lines or print heads.
Do a drop test. My gripe with Epson printers: if you move them and place them roughly, the feed chute cracks. The equivalent of a 5cm drop is enough for that to happen.
I bought a really great $99 black and white laser printer for 99% of my work. I only use my color printer/scanner when needed. Big problem with ink jets is that they consume a huge amount of ink when you "clean print heads" (code words for "clean out your wallet").
@HotshotTek This is a test you should have done with your refill. The title of your video is "are printers still a scam" because I think you are required to buy your ET 600 ink refills from Epson, the manufacturer... the bottles are not refillable? I now use my old Epson for scanning only. For printing, I send it to Staples and drive in my car to pick up my printout. So much easier.
I have the L3250 EcoTank, Wireless version, have it for almost 2 years, and it's GREAT! I don't careabout what other people say about the CISS system, for me it did what it was intended to do, ink saving!
Your annual ink replacement cost sounds similar to what I spend for INKvestment cartridges for my Brother MFC-J1215 "tank" printer (most recently replaced about a month ago). I like the display screen on your Epson EcoTank printer, though. What's the size of the paper tray on your printer? I only need/use a flatbed scanner at home on my Brother printer, but I'd love to upgrade to a tank printer with a display screen and a larger paper tray someday.
The espon ecotank printers have some cleaning sponge inside that needs to be replaced eventually. Once it needs to be replaced, they want you to mail it to them for repair. They expect many people to just buy a new printer at that point according to another RUclips video.
My old HP Photosmart Premium all in one which I had been running with an external CISS system for the last 12 years or so finally packed in. So I have replaced it with an Epson ET-2850. Very easy to fill the tanks up, and mine came with a spare black ink bottle, so I should be good for a long time :-)
Ink cartridge use to cost me anywhere from $67.00 to $ 87.00 for one printer I owned. They would not print anywhere near the amount of quality copies the Epson does. I have NOT had a single bottle refill spillage and the out side of the bottle is always clean. I have 2 Epson's ET 4750 and the ET 15000 and both are very reliable and I have used the 4750 for al,ost 4 years now without any problems. I had a job where I was printing a large amount of documents daily. Really like the EcoTank.
Great video. I think I am sold on the ET- 2800. I DON'T HAVE A SMART PHONE.....Can I use these printers on either my HP Windows 10 desktop, or my HP Windows 11 laptop? I have Bluetooth capability and tons of USB cables of all sorts (if needed). Your answer will decide if I buy or not....Thanks...
You must clean them every week if you don’t print in a week. I have must replace my printhead for the second time in 3 years. And that is very expensive.
You have just saved my whole life right now.....thank you for making this video because i was about to give up on epson seriously I have this peinter but with the cartridges and its so bad doesn't last and I just got the thing last year wish I waited.....I hope if I find this peinterit will work for me.
What about the waste ink tank? Can you replace it once it is filled? I don't want to spend $300 in a printer that i have to throw away a few years later because a stupid cheap sponge in the waste tank is full and the printer refuses to print any longer. For $300 i would also expect an automatic loader for scanning pages (at least single-side) since i can have it on less expensive printers.
Yes I'm very pissed at Epson pulled this kind of crap I have the ET 4800 and I can't use it because I have to get the counter reset after I replace the waste tank myself it's a scam to make money not happy never buying another Epson product
![Coheed and Cambria - Searching for Tomorrow [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hDsYGLbmadg/mqdefault.jpg)
Annual Update: Apart from the need to perform monthly printer cleaning and maintenance routines built into the printer software, this printer still works and remains my primary printer for documentation at home. I’ve only had to refill the inks once, and it’s still functioning well. I’ll keep you all posted if it happens to break down and needs replacement. If I do replace it, I’ll create a new video to review the printer that takes its place.
05/14/24: As of this date, we still use the printer as the home main printer and still works as good as new. We just noticed for the printer to always be printing all the colors out. Once a month we perform the printer maintenance built in the software to prevent the colors ink from dying out and causing problems. I am planning on uploading a follow up video because I’m still very impressed.
Curious as to why in 2023 you choose to use inkjet printers in preference to laser. I get that there are specialist users who need A3 and for plan printing A2 and larger, but you seem to be using an A4 inkjet for everyday use.
One good reason is that laser printers are unsuitable for printing photos - inkjets do a much better job.
@@jeansmith313- agreed, as long as your fingers are completely dry.... but I would call that a specialist use. I only ever used them for documentation after moving up from dot matrix and that was 30 years ago!
Eventually it will require waste ink tank replacement, and page counter reset. Epson will sell you the waste tank but will not provide the code to reset the printer.
@@nocturn791 In many cases, the EcoTank is actually cheaper than a laser. Even if you factor waste ink tank replacement codes in.
I have an Epson Eso Tank printer. I will give one warning for all printers. Use ALL your colors at least once a week to prevent the print head from drying out and clogging up. This is especially true of Eco Tank. You cannot remove the print head to clean if you forget, I have a test Excel page that I print once a week that print several large squares of each color.
I also have my own test page, (.docx) with color schemes downloaded from the Net and some random texts I prepared using 100% base-colors, both additive and subtractive color mixes. I print a page every month and never got a clogged head.
I’ve had an Epson for over a year and had zero problems. The quality is great. You need to print a picture every other week or so. I have yet to fill up any reservoirs yet.
I have the 2800 and my ink is full but when I do the head cleaning and when I print there is no color I bought mine in 2021 and hardly used it now it won't do color and black is weak. I have an extended warranty so I am taking mine back. I use mine for use with my cricut maker and I need rear feeding. Not sure what other Epson I should get instead
@@denben8530 When you get a new one, print something in color once a week. I use a color test page layout. Your print head or ink feed tubes dried up due to lack of use. This is best for all printers.
Some people complained about this but obviously if they never use it occasionally it is better asking a shop or a friend to print for them...
We have owned seven HP printers over the course of about three decades. Two years ago we got an Epson EcoTank instead and we have saved HUNDREDS of dollars in ink costs since then. Print quality was sometimes slightly better with the HPs but for us it is not nearly enough to justify the major difference in cost of ink.
I had the 420 printer and it was a ink guzzler
I never owned an HP printer as they (and Lexmark) were always more expensive to run. Amazed that it took 30 years to realise that.
I just use hp instant ink, I've saved a ton of cash.
@@michaeltb1358 the power of lobbying 🤡
Thanks for this review! You just made up my mind! I've also had HP's up until now. I don't like the ink cartridge racket they run on us!
I have had the ET-2500 for 7 years now and are only on my second full ink tank fill-up in all that time. It still performs well. A great all-round machine.
Also very happy with my Epson EcoTank ET-7750 - ink lasts forever. About 4 years old.
Thanks ... is it like cartridges where if you don't use it for a while, it has to go through a whole bunch of cleanings that just wastes ink? or is it pretty much always ready to go, even if you haven't used ti for a while?
@@frankdaeran352 I had it in storage for about 6 months, and after that I had to use the automatic cleaning feature because one color was missing on the prints. Worked fine after that. After 1-2 months I have not experienced issues.
I am thinking of purchasing it for printing photos. How is it?
You are someone who does not use the printer a lot. Nor do I and in choosing a new printer, I was concerned about the rumors that inkjets on EcoTank printers can dry up for lack of use. You made no mention of that as an issue which gives me hope. I just purchased a reconditioned 2850 for just $200 from Amazon tonight. (Nov. 2023)
Dude, I have an ecotank l355, I have had it for what feel like ages since 2015 when I was in college, it still is rocking, I have only buy new ink once, a clone ink that came in bottles of 1 liter for 25 USD each and they still have ink and the last time I refilled my printer, 5 months ago, the ink still was good.
One of the best investments I ever made, so much that paper is my biggest expenditure with my printer.
This printer ROCKS!! The amount of copies you can print in color is insane. Have been a HP loyal fan for 20 years... until now! Have had it for a year and it makes me smile every time I use it. I love the feature that allows me to email what I want to print from the app and it's sitting waiting for me when I get home. Truly a game changer
How many full page a4 color images can you print?
Does it seem slow to you? I bought it and find it uber slow?
@@derbygirle maybe look at the print settings. Had this problem too until I chose "normal paper" instead of those other options
@@hunterr4226 thx! I will see if I can figure anything out.
@@voldy3565 I have a 7700 which should only be purchased if you like to print high quality photos, otherwise it’s overkill. So far it’s printed over 7000 sheets (imagine a stack of 14, 500 sheet reams). About 3000 were color and 1000 on high density photo paper which uses a lot of ink. I am still on the original two sets of ink.
The reason you had left over ink was because the ink levels drop once the ink travels to the print head, you can then top the tanks up with the leftover ink, if I remember correctly it does ask you once set up is almost complete.
I have the Epson 2750 and I have to say that compared to my old HP I print lots of pictures. With the HP I was always wary of the cost, with the EcoTank if I see a nice picture I print it. I try to print at least one picture a week as some people have mentioned drying-out issues if you don't use it regularly. Never going back to cartridges.
that was my issue on my ET-2550. i would print a lot at once, then not use it for weeks. might explain why the waste/over flow pads were beyond capacity ..
@goodmuzikfan Fortunately, you can at least change the waste ink boxes called Maintenance Boxes on some models
We bought the HP 2850 two months ago after getting tired of trying to find cartridges that did not print clearly. This EcoTank
resolved that issue. It will be a money saver on ink. We love the wireless feature especially. I would buy again.
It's kind of funny, in Asia printers with ink tanks has been commonly available for like 15 years or something, probably because people in "emerging markets" couldn't afford cartridges. It's nothing new, and there's no wonder it was fairly quick for them to suddenly offer this "new eco friendly ink tank technology" in western markets, they already had them for years already! :)
Thank you for your insight!
Yup in india its been there for Decades because of demands in prints due to huge population, while western countries they don’t use in shops printer instead they buy inkjet printer so prices are cheaper for normal uses. And ink-tank printer are only used because companies in western market so demand are less
In india if you have a printer shop your printer ROI Can be covered up within 2-3 months if your shop is in near offices and School, court and colleges
I’ve had an Epson 2500 for 5 years and have saved a fortune in ink purchases. This eco concept is a blessing and don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise. The print is sharp and clear and well worth the money. I’m sure the other printer companies are jealous of the eco success….
Are you a bot?? Epson is terrible
@@FhshaoaksbdAre you a bot? We own 4 Ecotank Printers and the oldest is 5 years old at this point. They all work without flaws and the cost is minimal compared to hp that we previously used.
@@Capyrkeysthere’s a wealth of comments to this video that provide evidence to how wrong you are
@@Fhshaoaksbd It’s like the weather outside. If your Smartphone says it’s raining but in fact it is sunny, you are wrong to say it’s sunny. 😂
@@Capyrkeyswell, if everyone except you thinks it sucks. Maybe it sucks? Maybe you’re dumb? Why are you simping so hard for a printer…?
I owned multiple epson printer from T60 to eco tank series from L110 ,L121, L300 and L3250. I print a lot and epson is my go to printer since 2010 reliable repairable
I had the Epson ET-4500 for over six years and the top feeder quit working, but the rest is still working perfectly. Great printer and saved tons of $$$ on ink carts. Wouldn't go back to a cartridge printer. I bought this new ET-4850 and so far, it's exceeded my expectations. Great printer!
Have you had problems with the ink drying? That's my biggest problem with ink printers, I don't use them often, so when I want to print after a while, the ink doesn't works, seems dry, even though I only printed like 50 pages weeks before :(
@@JuanderBoyMusic that’s the problem with the cartridge printers. I have not had that issue with this one. You just have to clean the heads when they need it.
@@terryjones8360 thanks for the reply. Tomorrow Costco will have it on sale, I'm pulling the trigger. Much appreciated 🙏
@@JuanderBoyMusic I think you'll like it. Even if you don't really need to print something important, print a page or two every week, just to make sure it doesn't dry up. When the color is off a little, go to maintenance and run the head cleaner.
@@terryjones8360 That won't be hard to do, as I have a 9 and 11 year old, they like to print and color. Thanks for the advice!
The problem with these types of printers is that if they're not used often then the ink can clog requiring you to do a cleaning function. If you do this too many times then the printer will stop you from doing any more. Why? Cleaning uses up ink, where does the ink go? A sponge inside the printer. This sponge can only hold so much ink, so there's a counter that counts how many times you do a cleaning function, and once you reach that magic number then it wont allow you to do another clean. And thus your printer has been bricked. You can change the sponge, but you can't change the count value, so the printer will be unusable.
Not sure if this is the case with all makes/models so make sure to check. If you plan on printer with it every week then there shouldn't be a problem.
So we should avoid using the cleaning feature and just do a regular colour print instead, is that right?
I got tool i downloaded years ago that allow you restart these counters back to zero. BUT antivirus program detect it as virus but is not. If youare able find that sponge, Epson usually have some kind of plastic box with white cotton or something in in, you can replace it with small bottle like me. If you are interested, i can send dropbox link
I got my Epson ET 2400 at christmas for 100.00 on sale. LOVE It. I do a lot of printing too.
I bought one of these a few years back, it sounded great. I was called away shortly after purchase on family business for a couple of months. Returning, my Epson would not print. Ink had solidified in the printer jets. You cannot simply replace the print heads like you can with a normal ink jet printer, they are not accessible. I wound up junking my entire purchase.
So for anyone contemplating this printer, consider your usage. If your use includes significant times between print jobs (weeks perhaps ?), you may wish to reconsider. On the other hand, if you print something in color daily, you can save a lot on ink. BTW, I wound up with a HP multifunction laser jet printer. Yes, the cartridges are expensive, but I need not worry about this printer clogging up and refusing to work at the precise time I need a high priority print job to run. Plan ahead !
Did you try cleaning them? These printers have at least two cleaning cycles!
My 4 year old ecotank 2650 still runs perfectly, I’ve only had to buy ink once, and it was this year. Never had a connectivity issue, or really any issue whatsoever with this printer.
Wow yours lasted 4 years? Mine only lasted 2 😩. There’s a filter you can’t replace in the back, it’s just a tube with a pad. After each cleaning the ink is dumped on the pad and when it’s full or after a set amount it sets off a chip inside and boom it locks itself. At that point you need to get a new one. You can’t replace it or reset it not matter how hard you try
@@jcnyc55 still going strong, but I have finally had to buy ink.
@@jcnyc55that pad can be replaced with 3rd party one or an external tank add on. I'm not sure where you get them, but a Google will surely help you out.
I had an Epson L3250 for more than 2 years by now, ever since the pandemic started. I have to say that it may be not one of the top printers on the market, but it is indeed one of the best cost effective I could say. And cost effective as something that makes it worth the price and pays up over time, but then even the printer itself was cheap for what it's worth.
One "drawback" - not really one, but a characteristic of these kinds of printers - is that they need regular use, otherwise the ink might dry up and the printing quality won't be as good. But not regular as in printing something every day, all you need is at least once in a week, even a test page is enough to have all the tanks being put to use. Yet the printer's ink is the biggest strength, being extremely cheap compared to cartridges. I don't mind if it costs some of the printing quality, my main concern is to not spend a lot of money on something that is akin to a scam, when cartridges make ink cost more than gold. Even then, the printing is actually a lot better than my old cartridge printers.
The Epson smart app is also a relief from the era where I had to use dodgy software to even make a black and white copy, all I need to do is to connect with the wifi. Speaking about it, the connection to the printer is consistent and easy, not only it works but it's one of the easiest I have used so far - and the only time it stopped working was when, by my own fault, disconnected some flat cables when removing clogged paper from the printer's feed.
I wouldn't say the printer is all perfect, if you don't have wifi it's a bit harder to use, but I wouldn't say it's a scam. I would say it was a definite upgrade for my household, and for those who are concerned with either reducing waste (because you use only one bottle vs a bunch of plastic containers at a given time) or saving money, I would recommend it
Thanks for your review! Currently I’m using the Canon TR7550. My biggest frustration, and reason for looking for a new printer, is the bad connection with WiFi. Even when I’m standing next to the darn thing it says: printer is offline. No, it is not! 🤬😂 anyway, the prints in colour are pretty high in cost. That’s why I’m looking at the EcoTank, but…I don’t want to loose in printingquality. How is the quality of (coloured) prints in your experience?
@@Art_by_Nicole i say with the experience of a casual user that mostly prints stuff for my personal art projects.
I don't usually print too complex kinds of patterns, but if I were to print a color picture, the quality is acceptable. Although some minuscule details get mushy, you have a decent overall quality to the picture to at least discern. Not super complex, but definitely not terrible either.
@@marcelo90z I use images in HD for my artprojects. It doesn’t require a real photo to print, but the print has to be really sharp. I hope you understand what I mean. My current printer has a overall good result, but the WiFi-connection is really bad.
@@Art_by_Nicole The print is sharp, just don't expect tons of details if there's too much color. But you can set the options to print in high quality to make the print sharper.
@@marcelo90z thank you for sharing your experience!
I've had my HP EcoTank for 3 years, and it's been great! I'm only halfway through the original black tank. The issue with all inkjets is that the heads tend to dry out, especially for someone who prints as infrequently as I do. So any print job may include several head-cleaning passes, before I can get a good result.
Epson*
@@I_discovered_civilization See? I haven't needed ink, so I don't need to memorize the brand.
@@stephenriggs8177 I will stick to cartridges thanks.
Print a color test copy every week will prevent it from drying out.
I purchased a Cannon G7020 tank printer over two years ago and am still using the ink that came with mine plus I still have the two extra black bottles of ink that also came with the printer. The printer is better than any ink cartridge printer I ever owned.
Just bought Epson L350 and before purchasing actually watched this video and read all comments so helpful thanks to the community team.
I really loved mine. Print quality decreased after 2 years and I was told that’s normal. Pretty annoying to spend 200-400 dollars on a printer knowing that it’s suppose to only last 2 years. At least that’s what I was told by someone that worked at Staples. Either way - it’s a great printer! Ink cartridges are HORRIBLE. Jeez. So expensive. I had an HP and I had to get new ink every couple of months but with the EcoTank, I actually got 2 years of use out of it without having to get more ink. I was in medical school so I did A LOT of printing.
I am not surprised. You might have to replace the physical cartridge every 2 years or so depending on how much you print. They are wear and tear item as well. Hence, most none-refillable inkjet printers make you buy new cartridge every time you run out of ink.
Which epson ecotank printer do you recommend?
Laser printers I think supposed to last much longer...buy once cry once?
The great thing about the cartridge is that it has a integrated ink jet. If you could replace the worn/clogged ink jet on the tank printer it would work like new. Also the dreaded ink drying up if not using issue.
@@BlkInc1 still need toner which is redic expensive for color
I have had my Epson Eco Tank for 5 years and it is still working fine. Have had occasional clogging issues but try to do print jobs frequently enough to avoid clogs.
I bought an Epson L375 in 2016, after years of cartridge rip-off. I share purchase of the ink tanks with my son, who has a similar model. A 1/2 tank set usually lasts for over 2 years. And it works beautifully.
I rarely print anything but when I do I need it working. So I bought an Entry Consumer Model ET-2814, no LCD, no fancies. Just a Scanner, Printer connected via USB to my PC, like old times. I think with easy refills it is not that big of a deal to have a same sized black tank, even the small tank is good for around 3500 pages which is still so much more than the usual cartridges.
Had a similar Canon printer. Print quality and ink price were good, but the printer locked in copy mode just after three months of use. When we finally reached a higher tech help level, we were informed that the firmware needed to be reloaded but that was not covered under the warranty and would cost $110. Check the fine print before any equipment purchase.
Yikes! 😬
Canon are pigs. My printer stopped working because it was programmed to do so after a certain time.
We have the Epson ST-3000 super tank printer. It's been in use for 1.5 years. No problems and prints great. We have saved a lot of money. Great review. If you look around ink cartridges come to several thousand dollars per gallon!!!
With the competition between Epson, HP and Canon, I chose an Epson 4850 mostly because they are the pioneers in the ink tank market. HP fought tooth and nail to keep folks into cartridges. Canon I'll consider down the road for photo prints. I have printed a full ream which would've had me running out for ink, I barely touched the ink levels on the Epson so far. Love it and highly recommend.
This is exactly why I went with Epson. HP are crooks.
The real OGs are the CISS tank makers. Been running them over 20 years. The printer companies finally caved in and made their own tank & bottle versions.
Still, many of them all have the problem with sponges filling up so we will need to hack into them to get all the waste ink out and reset the paper counts.
To be fair though, tanks existed in the hardcore market like with stylus pro and all those, but I'm glad to see them in the average consumer section now.
I have the Epson ET-3760 I print a TON and it seems to never run out of ink!!!! With Canon I was always buying cartridges. Love my epson
I really loved my Epson ET-2760 for the first few months. Then I started having issues of printer being offline and constant errors of printing. The only way I can get it to actually print is to remove the printer and add it again to my network. I also have to use the run command to navigate to the printer spooler to stop the service and restart it. I do these things weekly. So I decided to use this one as a backup and went out to buy the ET-4850. Keep in mind, I spent $200 the first time and then 18 months later, I spent another $350. Now I am back to printing errors. Support for Epson isn't the best and it always falls back to something that is changing in my settings and becomes my fault. I really like using less ink and being able to refill the tanks because I print constantly through the day. I just won't be making another purchase for a third time. Eventually I will get fed up with "making it work" and just go out and buy another brand.
I got an Epson L365. It's an ecotank, but before they even came up with the name ecotank. It's either 8 or 10 years old this year, its internals are kinda rusty, and I had to swap out the ink sponge thingy and also use that Epson program thing to reset the ink pad counter. But by gosh, it still WORKS. It prints full color stuff on photo paper, and hundreds of bw/color documents every time I need it to (which was like, once every 2 months lol). If it ever got stuck, it's nothing 8 rounds of head cleaning wouldn't fix. And I've always used 3rd party dye ink (non waterproof) and I guess it's just, that robust or something. I guess that's testament to the ecotank line?
My printer is an Epson Eso Tank. I am going to issue a warning to all printers. At least once a week, use EVERY color to keep the print head from drying out and becoming clogged. This particularly applies to Eco Tank. I have a test Excel document that I print once a week that prints numerous large squares of each color, but you cannot remove the print head to clean if you forget.
My Epson 2711 i bought 4-5 years ago for 130 bucks including 4 bottles were not a scam.
I still haven't needed to refill it yet and the printer is still as good as new today. I print a test page sometimes to keep it clean, so i never need to clean the printer.
After years of trying to thwart inkjet printers by refilling ink cartridges with syringes (a mess!), I bought the Epson ET-4750 Ecotank. It has refillable ink tanks, a paper tray, wifi, scanner and fax for $450. What I'm finding is that if I don't print something every week that requires all four colors, the jet head nozzles dry out and clog, and takes half an hour, 6-10 sheets of paper and a lot of ink, to get it to print a single decent page. All my ink tanks are half empty after printing a total of 40 or so pages, almost all of which were just black text. The print quality is poor to the point I would never try and print a quality picture. 20 years ago, I could put photo paper in my $250 inkjet printer, select photo quality and get a picture close to photo quality. The scam goes on.
Does the printer a “Prompt” to print all colors for maintenance. Thanks in advance
@@roller9158 not that I'm aware of.
… maybe because you turn it of when it isn’t in use?
The first ink jet printer I bought only printed in black and white. I only needed to print up homework, so it was cool. The first color printers looked kind of lame, so I didn't buy one. The second ink jet printer seemed okay, and it work well enough. The injet lasted a long time. I went to buy a replacement, and the price went from twenty bucks to seventy. I bite the bullet, and the ink lasted two weeks. I talked around, and that was the way it was. Noped out of printing at home. Some told me I could refill the cartrages, and I did refill. The bottles of ink lasted nine years, and even then I ran out black ink. I went to buy a new printer, and everyone told you could not refill them. So I noped out again. Then the ecoprinters came alonge, and they said we had to now pay for the printer because they were sold cheep to sell ink. The printers looked impressive, which means bigger. My first color printer looked like I over paid, when I paid eighty dollars for it. It was light, and made a racket. Thing is, it lasted for a whole decade, and I only stopped using it because the second bottle of black ink clogged the print head, and killed it. You shouldn't have to pay half a grand to print up something. We are being fucked aroound.
I have a ET-7750 and I have had an X-Rite’s i1 Software professionally made profile for my 24" Ilford Galarie glossy paper. The results are amazing and the B+Ws are neutral. Even using cheaper glossy paper the results are really good. I use it for A3 drawings, 600mm x 297mm panorama prints. I'm very pleased with it. I regularly dab the print head resting pad with soft tissue paper to prevent smudges.
Trust me! It's worth the price.I have had an EPSON EcoTank printer for over a year now and the ink level is still at 96% capacity.
We have an Epson L6190 with 24000 pages printed, more than 22000 in colour, office documents. I believe we are at the second set of ink bottles but all printer's reservoirs almost full, needed some cleaning from time to time but all nozzels in perfect condition, fast printing, best inkjet printer we owned and we had lots of them.
I Have a L6190 and have done 33500 pages and still going strong ! best printer ever!
*I have printed many 10s of thousands of full-color sheets with my Business Ecotank ET-15000. I've found a set of all four colors with the bigger black ink bottle, 127 ml, for less than $20 bucks a set! And the print quality is just as good if not better, than the OEM ink. I've only had to refill only once! This Ecotank workhorse has paid for itself many times over.*
I bought an Epson L360 with eco tank in 2018 and it's August 2023 and I still haven't changed the cartriges using the printer once a week in average.. I still can't beleive it! Also I have never had any problems cleaning the printing heads, I really recomend Epson printers 100%
The Epson Eco printer is the best. I’ve had mine for more than a year, and it’s perfect. And I use it frequently.
Thank you, for sharing your review of this printer. For many years, I had been using an Epson Artisan 725 (in arctic white) which, used six (6) ink cartridges until it died. So, to replace it about 18-months ago, I picked up an Epson ET-8500. This unit does everything as well if, not better than my old Artisan 725 and, I am very happy to have purchased it (smile...smile).
the concept us great, with that said, we are on our 3rd in less than 2 years, 1st one just died, 2nd one used by my wife via wireless, but just " froze" for no reason. we had geek square tech out here on each one. now on our 3rd, it has had its issues, our D-I-L has one for last 3 plus years, works flawlessly, she home schools 5 kids, and prints 1000's of pages a month
I have had now my Epson ET-4760 now for quite a few year now with no issues at all. The ink bottles fill up the reservoir and there could be some ink let, just put the cap back on and use when it gets low maybe... I have not had to refill now for way over a year maybe almost two years. I also replace all my work printers with Epson EcoTank's. The print quality is great , just as good as my HP's can IBM's....
There is extra ink in die bottles because when you set up your printer it uses that amount of ink to fill the head. So it is a selling feature as there is no lost ink due to set up. There is also no heat components in these machines and Epson is the only brand that includes their print heads in their warranty.
I'm taking delivery of the 3850 (from Costco) in a couple of days and can't wait to put it to the test. Replacing an HP6500A + after the paper feed roller finally crapped out for the last time. (Repaired it twice) I should mention also there are a few other upgrades the 3850 has over the 2850 that weren't mentioned. (higher print speeds, an ethernet connection and a larger LCD screen to name a few)
I just moved my ET-4760 cross country and suffered some ink clogs that the cleaning feature (not power clean) fixed.
Don't use the power clean if you don't have to, it uses way too much ink according to those that used it, and that may saturate your cleaning pads.
I see no mention of the waste pads filling up, which may be an issue down the road. If it counts how many times it has been used like Canon, it may be a terrible thing. If you can just clean/replace it it would be great. Canon got very criticized because of this and they put the sponge in a tray called "maintenance cartridge" with a chip. At least the chip is relatively easy to read and write. Another advantage of the Canon from what I've read is that the head is detachable, so you can replace it or, better, just clean it.
ProTip: Sam's Club carries the "special edition" ET-2850SE (with 2 bottles of black ink) and ET-3850SE (with 3 bottles of black ink), and both at $30 below MSRP. Just sayin' ...
You don't need USB to setup these printers with your PC. Just use its control panel to connect to your WiFi, then download the software from their site and the installer will handle setting up the network printing. Heck, Windows 10/11 can often auto-detect the printer after it's on the WiFi and set it up on your PC without you having to even ask it, though you'll be missing more advanced features if you do that(like free OCR Scanning to PDF).
If you want a printer with a doc feeder you have to get the Epson ET-3850 which is significantly more expensive but you also get 2 sided printing. Personally I can save even more by buying a HP OfficeJet Pro 9015 for hundreds less + buy 1 set of extra cartridges $100 + 1 top quality ink refill kit $65 + 1 printhead cleaning kit $20 ( this is applicable for the Epson as well ). I've learned how to refill cartridges and clean the printhead ( RUclips videos ) and now I save a lot more money. There's not a lot of difference fill a tank on the Epson or filling an ink cartridge on the HP. It's just a little more clean with the Epson but eventually you will have print quality issues that require you clean the print head with a manual operation.
Yes, two print head cleanings in almost four years with my ET-3750. It has doc feeder and two sided printing with no paper jams. With the discounts at the time I bought it, it cost me around $150. That is far less than what you paid, and I am still using the free ink supplied with the original purchase. No loss in print quality! I have refilled assorted different cartridges over many years with varying degrees of messiness. I will never voluntarily go back to that again!
ok - I will b purchasing to print my small self published booklet. Is this printer compatible with hp 2000 laptop? Did I hear u say it does double sided? thanks for answering my question! How fast do docs print? 🥰 Why did u not show it printing? does it take forever???
I purchased the Epson ET-2720 model in the uk. After some time, and hot weather, the heads have clogged. Only the Black and Cyan colours will now print. I have run many head cleans, but still not printing all the colours. The top section does not open up, and so impossible to gain access to the print heads, to manually clean/flush. I note from some video online that it has a standard looking ink cartridge system to which the pipes of the tanks are attached, and so in theory the dummy cartridges could be lifted out and access could be gained to the print head nozzles. This is a model I would avoid in the future. It seems that I may have to attempt to disassemble at some point.
I got the Epson ET-2850 and I'm satisfied with it. For home use, just what I need and produces sharp images. With the eco tank and no ink cartridges, the amount of copies seem endless.
However, to nick pick, the color looks faded and dull compared to high end printers with a four digit price tag. Guess you get what you pay for.
My ET-2875. Can print dobbelt sided but a fault in the App prevent printing a part of a file. Is this known generally
Does it print on card? If so up to what weight.
ive been and still using Epson L210 since 2015. i must say im grateful i bought it back then..... should i give it a try for this one?
HP had a monthly charge for ink. $6.99 a month. I've had my printer for 3 years and have only gotten ink once. Plus, it limited me on how much I can print. I'm fed up with printers. Now I'm looking into refillable.
I got one of these printers. I am extremely happy with it. I have spent the amount of a cheap new car on other printer cartridges. (I am talking about YOU HP!)
I bought an Epson T-2711 in November 2019, never had a problem - yet to refill any of the tanks although the black tank is down to about 25%. The scanner side is pretty good although I do also have an Epson Perfection V-0370 Photo scanner for scanning photos & 35 mm slides and negatives. Compared with my previous HP 7000 printer - far, far cheaper to run with very similar results, very pleased. Wondering if HP stands for High Price?
I have been an HP loyal for 8 years. I subscribed to their cartridge refill service where you get charged a minimum of $6 a month ( you get charged more if you print more)
I canceled my subscription and have ordered the ET 4850. Am excited 😊
Good video! I have the lower end model. Print quality is excellent. The teeny, tiny screen is ridiculous and their menu commands are not particularly user friendly. TIP: I used to refill my HP cartridges so I had left over bulk ink supplies. I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the black ink refill bottle and added ink which worked just fine when it was time to add black ink to the printer. (you have ton use their special bottles)....worked like a charm! I simply taped the hole and store the bottle upside down. When I run low in the color inks, I will refill the other Epson bottles. I probably voided the warranty by not using their ink, but a year and a half later, so what!
I'm now on my third Epson eco-tank, really not sure why I buy them - probably because I live in a regional area and have left over link to use. So I have had an Epson 2820; 4750 and 4850 eco tank printers. The 4750 stopped working after about 6 years. It had done less than a year's work in that six years, still (apart from black) half full with original ink. Comes up with a scanning error and cannot get it fixed, unless I want to pay pretty much the same price. The 2820 lasted less than a year before it stopped working, so got a refund and used it to get the latest 4850 - less than a month old, so far so good, but not really keen on the life of these things.
Bought the ET-3850 today at Sam's for $299. It came with two extra bottles of black ink. I think the sale is good until January 6, 2024.
i have Epson l210 ecotank and it stills works fine its been a decade since i bought it
I love this printer I got mine when Eco Tank first came out and it cost me about $500. I had spent around $300 dollars on ink that year that I just had to by me an Eco tank. It was a perfect solution, I want to print out more photo but not spend so much on ink. I literally would go buy trusted off brand ink refilled for the Epsom Eco Tank ET-2225 and the photos would come out beautiful. I’m sure spent less than $200 on ink in over 7 years, when I had my first printer I spent 300 in just a few month. It was a very good investment it was pricing at first but they’re a lot cheaper now compared when it first came out. I printed pretty much everything you can think of including business card, photos, portrait, and labels.
I have an older eco tank fax. I love it, scanning multiple pages with the feeder saves so much time. Only down side is the ink jets get clogged, and running head clean over and over again.
I have one for three years now fantastic can’t complain just use epson ink only filled black once use for printing T-shirt paper !
your suppose to have leftover ink to use it after the first setup. The setup uses whats left in the bottle for its first setup. So you need to top it off after your setup is done, and let the printer know it was filled up again. Then your bottle is empty
used it for 7y. even stopped using for 2-3 years. Printed total of 18 000 colored pages including books after books. No problem yet. Maybe spent less than 100 dollar on ink.
My Eco tank 2850 is working like a charm, I would much rather keeping the ink level up an be able to print (in my case) 205 pages to the 15 to an cartridge. If all I have to do is to keep the ink level full I'll take that any day!
Instead of having chips in the cartridge they add one to the maintenance box which is where they make up for some lost revenue. At least there are chip reset boxes available if you are able to clean the existing box or use a tank to store waste ink instead.
I have an ET-2550 for the last 5 years. and i have to agree 100% filling ink, not a cartridge, is so much easier. my only complaint, was after some research found out there was a 8000pg limit on printing, then you have to send it in or buy a reset code. i chose the latter. a minor gripe was actually cleaning the print heads. it involved unplugging the printer just as the print head was over the paper path, then using a ammonia soaked paper towel. depending on how often you "clean the print head, the waste ink pads may start to leak out of the printer.( simple enough to fix.) other than that. i would recommend any ET series printer to any one..
Interesting! I have an ET-2610 Epson but I was never informed about a limit on number of pages printed. Not happy about that ...
Been through two of these printers now in the space of the year because the sponge gets soaked with ink and you can’t do anything, these are good if you only print docs every so often but if you have a sticker and art print business like my partner and I then it is not worth it
the epson eco printer i use has been excellent. certainly good value compared to the other options. i have printed thousand of pages before needing a refill. did have with one saying maintenance was kit was required, load of rubbish! it happened after a few years and i was able to find a free program online that unlocked the printer and guess what its still printing.
I'm on my second eco tank and I've had more paper feed issues with these two printers than I've had with any other epson printers in the last 20 +years. I don't think I would ever buy another Epson because of this.
Loved this printer. Till my year was up and i needed a replacement part.
My issue with this printer is that atleast for the ET-2850 the waste tank cannot be replaced easily. They have to send one with a $215 hold on your card, and they have to send a reset code. Which is not available but by then(i understand that) But having to spend more than what i did on the printer to replace I've part is stupid
The only bad thing about ecotank printers is that they are expensive the machine but the ink affordable in my country.
Waste tank replacement is small concern. I do not print much so do not know if related to time and automatic cleaning or pages printed? Also heard that with the Ecotank printers longer pathway for ink to travel to the print heads so if not printing often the tubing travelling from the ink source to the print heads can be a source of clogging. I am using Epson ET-2800 but may replace with laser printer since do not do much printing and they can sit for long period of time without concern of ink clogging of lines or print heads.
Do a drop test. My gripe with Epson printers: if you move them and place them roughly, the feed chute cracks. The equivalent of a 5cm drop is enough for that to happen.
My eco tank is superb… printed loads. Ink lasting ages and unlike my cartridge printers it isn’t dried up and useless if left a while between prints….
I bought a really great $99 black and white laser printer for 99% of my work. I only use my color printer/scanner when needed. Big problem with ink jets is that they consume a huge amount of ink when you "clean print heads" (code words for "clean out your wallet").
Buying the Epson Ecotank was the BEST purchase we ever made! Had it over 2 years & finally put some new ink in! I tell everyone about this!
Can you use non-Epson branded ink to refill?
@HotshotTek This is a test you should have done with your refill. The title of your video is "are printers still a scam" because I think you are required to buy your ET 600 ink refills from Epson, the manufacturer... the bottles are not refillable? I now use my old Epson for scanning only. For printing, I send it to Staples and drive in my car to pick up my printout. So much easier.
I have the L3250 EcoTank, Wireless version, have it for almost 2 years, and it's GREAT!
I don't careabout what other people say about the CISS system, for me it did what it was intended to do, ink saving!
Your annual ink replacement cost sounds similar to what I spend for INKvestment cartridges for my Brother MFC-J1215 "tank" printer (most recently replaced about a month ago). I like the display screen on your Epson EcoTank printer, though. What's the size of the paper tray on your printer? I only need/use a flatbed scanner at home on my Brother printer, but I'd love to upgrade to a tank printer with a display screen and a larger paper tray someday.
The espon ecotank printers have some cleaning sponge inside that needs to be replaced eventually. Once it needs to be replaced, they want you to mail it to them for repair. They expect many people to just buy a new printer at that point according to another RUclips video.
My old HP Photosmart Premium all in one which I had been running with an external CISS system for the last 12 years or so finally packed in. So I have replaced it with an Epson ET-2850. Very easy to fill the tanks up, and mine came with a spare black ink bottle, so I should be good for a long time :-)
Ink cartridge use to cost me anywhere from $67.00 to $ 87.00 for one printer I owned. They would not print anywhere near the amount of quality copies the Epson does. I have NOT had a single bottle refill spillage and the out side of the bottle is always clean. I have 2 Epson's ET 4750 and the ET 15000 and both are very reliable and I have used the 4750 for al,ost 4 years now without any problems. I had a job where I was printing a large amount of documents daily. Really like the EcoTank.
I got the same one for $220 2 days ago at BJ's. I have a still working good 2500 series one in use on my wifes computer.
It would have cost me $78 to buy two new ink cartridges HP 22 and HP 56.
what if you dont use the printer for a couple of weeks or so? do the nozzles get blocked and the printer starts printing very badly?
I love my Epson ET-2720 - I have had it for a couple of years and have only had to replace the ink once so far.
I think that pays of, I have this kind of printer about 10y now, still original cartridge still working fine, so win win.
Great video. I think I am sold on the ET- 2800. I DON'T HAVE A SMART PHONE.....Can I use these printers on either my HP Windows 10 desktop, or my HP Windows 11 laptop? I have Bluetooth capability and tons of USB cables of all sorts (if needed). Your answer will decide if I buy or not....Thanks...
My EcoTank needed the heads cleaning often as I did not print regularly. This eventually meant the printer heads failed.
No, it's your fault because the printer needs to be used from time to time, even if you don't need it, to keep the ink from drying out .
You must clean them every week if you don’t print in a week. I have must replace my printhead for the second time in 3 years. And that is very expensive.
You can also connect it directly to your router using an Ethernet cable, which is really handy.
You have just saved my whole life right now.....thank you for making this video because i was about to give up on epson seriously I have this peinter but with the cartridges and its so bad doesn't last and I just got the thing last year wish I waited.....I hope if I find this peinterit will work for me.
I have L6190 4 years now and have more than 130.000 with no problems
What about the waste ink tank? Can you replace it once it is filled? I don't want to spend $300 in a printer that i have to throw away a few years later because a stupid cheap sponge in the waste tank is full and the printer refuses to print any longer. For $300 i would also expect an automatic loader for scanning pages (at least single-side) since i can have it on less expensive printers.
Yes I'm very pissed at Epson pulled this kind of crap I have the ET 4800 and I can't use it because I have to get the counter reset after I replace the waste tank myself it's a scam to make money not happy never buying another Epson product
I still have my HP 970Cxi ... I think it's more than 20 years old (?) ... too bad they don't make the correct cartridges anymore 😕