10 Best

Ecotank Printers

of September 2023

If you need to print reports or brochures with impressive color quality in your home or office, you’ll choose between inkjet printers or color laser printers. Laser printers have a toner cartridge that can print over 1000 pages, while inkjet printers usually win out in terms of the quality and resolution of the print. That’s also a big plus if you want to print photos. But inkjet printers guzzle up ink quickly. In fact, most inkjet printer manufacturers sell the printer at a loss, because they know that they’ll make a profit on the proprietary ink cartridges! But, Epson has made an exception to this rule, with their line of EcoTank printers.

An Epson EcoTank printer is around 20% more expensive than a comparable inkjet printer. But it comes with cartridges that are already filled with as much as 2 years’ worth of ink! And instead of having to buy new cartridges all the time and installing them, you simply buy bottles of ink and refill the existing cartridges! Not only does it save you the hassle of buying cartridges all the time. An EcoTank printer is also more ecologically sound. You won’t be throwing out ink or toner cartridges!

But, Epson makes three lines of EcoTank printers. Which one is best for you will depend on your printing needs and how much you intend to print. We’ll lead you through some of the specifications, to help you decide!

Epson offers four different types of Ecotank printers, depending on their purpose and workload:

• EcoTank for home and office: This type of printer is mostly intended for light amounts of color printing, of approximately 125 pages per month. That’s about the amount you’d expect in a home, considering school projects or reports. An example is the Epson EcoTank ET-2800. It’s an all-in-one printer that is capable of also scanning and photocopying.

Epson EcoTank ET-2800

• EcoTank Photo: This is principally for printing photos and high-quality graphics. An example is the Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8500. It’s capable of printing on photo paper, fine art paper, crafting paper, thin vellums, and thick posterboards. It has a 4.3” touchscreen, which allows you to view the photo before printing it.

Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8500

• EcoTank Pro: This series of EcoTank printers is for industrial workloads or as much as 66,000 pages per month! An example is Epson’s EcoTank Pro ET-5850 Wireless Color All-in-One Supertank Printer. If you print a large amount, it eventually comes out cheaper even than using a color laser printer!

Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 Wireless Color All-in-One Supertank Printer

• EcoTank Monochrome: If you only need to print in black or grayscale, Epson also offers a monochrome EcoTank series. Their EcoTank ET-M1170 Wireless Monochrome Supertank Printer is one such model. It’s capable of helping you save 75% of the cost of a monochrome laser printer.

EcoTank ET-M1170 Wireless Monochrome Supertank Printer

Here are some customers' impressions of the EcoTank printer that they purchased:

• How often do you have to print: The decision whether to buy an EcoTank printer or a color laser printer depends also on how often you print. If you expect to go long periods without printing anything, there is a risk that the inkjet ink will dry out inside the printer nozzles. In such a case, a laser printer is a better choice, since the toner in the toner cartridge will not dry out. You’ll have to look at the specs for each particular printer to see the volume of printing that is necessary to justify buying an EcoTank over a laser printer.

• Different types of black: Note that the EcoTank Photo Printer models require 6 bottles: cyan, magenta, yellow, gray, black, and photo black. The regular black is more for black text, while the photo black is for photographs and graphics.

• Wireless and voice-assistant printing: Many of the EcoTank printers have WiFi capability so that you can print from any mobile device. Some, such as the Eco Tank ET2800, also allow for voice-activated printing.

Here are some specs that can help you decide which EcoTank printer is best for you, as well as how to get the optimal use out of your printer:

• Pigment-based versus dye-based ink bottles: You’ll notice that Epson will warn you to use only genuine Epson ink to fill their cartridges. This is not just in order to ensure that you purchase more of their ink! For example, their EcoTank ET-5850 Printer uses pigment-based ink. This means that the ink is a suspension of small particles, as opposed to a dye-based ink, where the ink is in fact a solution that mixes with the water perfectly. Using the wrong type of ink will void the warranty on the printer, and can cause irreversible damage by clogging or burning the ink nozzles!

• Number of pages per bottle: You’ll notice that EcoTank printers will differ greatly in how much they can print from one bottle of ink. The EcoTank WorkForce Printer (Model ET3750) is capable of printing 14,000 pages in black, and 11,200 pages in color., which is enough for 30 cartridges! For comparison, The EcoTank Photo Printer (Model No. ET-8500) has special high-yield bottles, with each bottle with enough ink for 100 individual cartridges!

• Cost per page: The cost per page for EcoTank printers is also a big plus. A 4” x 6” photo printed on a typical inkjet printer can cost 40 cents, while the same size photo on an EcoTank printer will be as little as 4 cents!

• All-in-one printers: All of the EcoTank printers also have the ability to scan and photocopy. But, not all are capable of faxing. The EcoTank ET-4760 can also send faxes if you’re still in need of such an option.

Final Verdict

All told, an Epson EcoTank printer is a great investment if you need moderate to heavy amounts of prints. They’re economical, in that they print for as much as 1/10th of the price of a typical inkjet printer. And an EcoTank printer is also better for the environment, since you’re not throwing out used-up ink cartridges every month. Look through the Best Reviews Guide list, and select the best Epson Ecotank printer for your needs!