I had an Epson CX7800 printer that I used for general text and photo printing plus the occasional photocopying. I was pleased with that printer except that it drank ink like a drunken sailor. After 10 years, it developed a serious smearing problem. It probably needed a new spittoon pad, but I figured it would cost more to repair than to replace it with a new printer.
I looked at Epson, Canon, and HP; all of which offered good quality and good pricing, but Epson was the only line that offered the Eco(nomy)Tank design. I bought the ET-2650 as it was the lowest cost model, and it offers the most streamlined design (note the tank access for the other models). I bought this printer two weeks ago and, so far, I simply love it! Note that this printer is really aimed at the home market, it may not be suitable for use as a shared office printer.
For instance, it can be simultaneously connected to one computer via a USB port and to any number of computers, smartphones, Kindles, etc. via WiFi. However, the printer lacks an Ethernet connection, so it cannot hang off a wired network. As well, the printer makes nice photocopies, producing hardcopy or PDF files, but it has no original feeder nor does it have a FAX capability. If these issues are important to you, you should look at the ET-3600 or higher.
Printer setup is a breeze. A "Start Here Installation Guide" hardcopy is provided with the printer, amounting to 4 pages of very specific instructions on how to install the printer. The instructions take you up to software installation, then hand you off to the instructions provided by the program. The instructions are specific, complete, easy to understand, and correct (what a concept!). If you run into a problem, they even provide a web site for chatting and a telephone number, should you need them. Epson also provides a "Quick Guide and Warranty" (8 pages, hardcopy) and a "User's Guide" (204 pages, on disk). The User's Guide is interesting to read after you've setup the printer and want to learn all of its ins-and-outs.
The only tricky part to setting up the printer is loading the ink for the first time. If you are used to snapping ink cartridges into place to ink a printer, you might find charging the ink to be unusual. If you have experience with charging toner to a photocopier, you will recognize the steps to charging the this printer's ink. Basically, you pop the cover off the top of the ink tank, open the ink bottle, pour the second into the first, recap the tank, repeat for all the other colors (4 total).
Make sure to pour the correct color into the (plainly marked) correct tank! The printer comes with ink bottles containing enough to ink to fill all of the tanks. Pay attention, spilled ink will stain whatever it lands on. Once done filling the tanks, the printer moves onto "charging," basically it fills its plumbing with ink to get ready to print.
The printer can be connected to multiple computers simultaneously (mine is connected to my desktop via USB and to two laptops and two Kindles via WiFi). The printer does not have an Ethernet connection. Connecting via a USB cable is mindlessly simple, though you will need to supply your own cable, be sure to get a printer USB cable, not a simple USB extension cable. Connecting to the WiFi is just a touch more tricky, I went through the procedure to install the printer on the WiFi network to connect the first device. After this initial setup, the software's automatic procedure worked for the second laptop. Connecting Kindles is fully automatic. Making a photocopy is as simple as placing the original on the glass and pushing one button. Scanning to a PDF file is a little more complicated, but easy to do once you read the instructions.
So, how does the printer print? Great! It's a little noisier than my previous printer, because it prints faster. Text is clean and well formed. Colors on plain paper are true, photos on plain paper are just so-so. But, photos on glossy photo paper are just gorgeous. I expect that a true photo printer would be better than this printer's product, but true photo printers run to $1,000!
And how about the ink consumption? Well, I don't actually know. After two weeks' worth of daily printing and printing of dozens of photos at high quality, the tanks have yet to show a dent in their ink levels. By now, I'd be looking at preordering new ink cartridges for my old printer. I am very happy with this printer, I would buy it again!
Update - coming up on 1 full year of use of this printer, still loving it, absolutely no problems. I print a lot of photos (that's my hobby), in sizes up to 8" x 10", full color. So, far, the ink tanks are still half full from the original charging in June, 2017! If I had been buying cartridges, I figure I would have used 3 sets of 4 different colors (12 x $30) just so far, so the Eco Tank design has paid for itself.
Prints high quality in both full color and greyscale, and ink is so much cheaper that it's a no brainer. I used an Epson XP-800 before this and switched because I was tired of paying $71 for a set of replacement cartridges that I would go through every 4-6 months. By my estimate, it will pay for itself in about a year and a half at my current printing volume.
I ordered this printer a month or two ago for our family after our last wireless household printer (purchased in 2012) started having daily network problems. It was a little scary to set up properly for the first time (I actually had to read the directions), but definitely worth it. The printer is located in a corner of our basement, at the opposite end of the house from the wifi router, yet it remains connected to the network just fine even when our PCs down there have wifi spottiness. It also prints (finally) for my Chromebook and our Android phones-- not just for PCs! Our other wifi printer never managed that. I do not use this printer for quality photo printing, so I can't comment on photo quality but text looks crisp in both black and color. Reason: this is not labeled as a photo printer-- it's an "Eco" printer and it helps saves the environment, it stays connected, and it works across multiple devices. Follow the included directions (don't try to wing it) and you'll be happy.
After trying an Epson 620 on which I installed a 3rd party continuous ink system and having nothing but trouble, I opted to buy the et-2650 for my wife and daughter to use for their school work. And they print a lot of stuff. I could have probably purchased another cheaper printer like the 620 and then another CIS and saved money, but was afraid I'd have the same troubles. (I've been using a CIS on my Epson 1430 for 2 years with no issues).
Anyway, setup was breeze, for a change. It takes 25 minutes for the print heads to charge, but it all worked perfectly. I also set it up to be used wireless instead of connecting via USB. Very nice. No issues. Now I send all my regular letter sized stuff to this printer and save the 1430 for wide paper and photo prints. And my daughter connected right off the bat with her MacBook Pro. My wife and I have PCs. One running Win 7 and mine is running Win 10. We all connected and can print. I can even print from my tablet, phone or any phone, even when I'm not in the house. Cool!
So far, printing has been fine. Fast enough (faster than the 620) and looked great without playing with setting.
The best thing is that I no longer have to stop what I'm doing whenever on of the girls had to print something because that 620 either jammed or didn't recognize the cartridges. (yes...i refuse to pay those exorbitant prices for underfilled ink carts).
Great printer so far.
The tanks are fabulous! Works well, although a bit slow making a copy from a scan. Quality is very good.Small and compact.
Feature Product
- Cartridge-free printing - comes with up to 2 years of ink in the box (1). The maximum print resolution is 5760 x 1440 optimized dpi and the minimum ink droplet size is 3 droplet sizes as small as 3 picoliters
- Includes enough ink to print up to 4,000 pages black/6,500 color (2) - equivalent to about 20 ink cartridge sets (3)
- Save up to 80 percent on ink with low-cost replacement bottles (4) - plus easy-to-fill, supersized ink tanks
- Built-in wireless, plus Wi-Fi Direct (7) - easily print from iPad, iPhone, Android tablets and smartphones (5); print wirelessly without a network
- Unbeatable combination of value and convenience - the freedom to print anything you want in color, without worry
- Small Business printer - Compact but powerful printer can be used for daily printing
- NOTE:Please refer to the user manual before use
Description
1. Based on average monthly print volumes of about 150 pages.
2. Included ink bottle yields based on the ISO/IEC 24712 pattern with Epson’s methodology. Actual ink yields will vary considerably for reasons including images printed, print settings, temperature and humidity. Yields may be lower when printing infrequently or predominantly with one ink color. All ink colors are used for printing and printer maintenance, and all colors must be available for printing. For more information, visit our official site.
3. About 20 cartridge sets estimate based on print yields of the included Black and color ink bottles as compared to standard-capacity ink cartridge sets for similarly-featured cartridge printers as of July 2016.
4. Savings comparison based on the purchase cost of replacement ink bottles and the cost of enough cartridges to achieve the total page yields of the bottles using the manufacturers' online prices and yields for the highest-capacity cartridges for the best-selling, similarly featured consumer inkjet printers priced at $499 or less per NPD, July 2016. Actual savings will vary based on print tasks, print volumes and usage conditions.
5. Most features require an Internet connection to the printer, as well as an Internet- and/or email-enabled device. For a list of Epson Connect enabled printers and compatible devices and apps, visit our official site.
6. Adapter may be required.
7. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED; level of performance subject to the range of the router being used. Wi-Fi Direct may require printer software.
8. 12 months of standard limited warranty. For an additional 12 months (total of 24 months), register your product and use Epson genuine ink bottles.
9. Requires an Internet connection, a free Epson Connect account and a destination email address or cloud storage account. For a list of supported cloud services, visit our official site.
10. Based on average monthly print volumes of about 150 pages (ET-2500, ET-2550, ET-2600, ET-2650, ET-4500), 300 pages (ET-3600, ET-4550, ET-16500), and 800 pages (WF-R4640).
11. ET-2500/2550/2600/2650/3600/4500/4550/16500 replacement ink bottle yields based on the ISO/IEC 24712 pattern with Epson’s methodology. WF-R4640 Ink pack yields are estimated based on ISO/IEC 24711 test in Default Mode printing continuously. Actual ink yields will vary considerably for reasons including images printed, print settings, temperature and humidity. Yields may be lower when printing infrequently or predominantly with one ink color. All ink colors are used for printing and printer maintenance, and all colors must be available for printing. For more information, visit our official site.
12. For convenient and reasonable recycling options, visit our official site.
13. SmartWay is an innovative partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that reduces greenhouse gases and other air pollutants and improves fuel efficiency.
This is my second Epson printer, and the best. Epson has improved the ink capacity so that the 2650 will hold an entire bottle of ink where as my older designed model 2550 needed to be refiled more often. (Filling can be messy. Users should wear disposable gloves per instructions). The 2650 also has a better ink feed mechanism than the 2550. The on screen ink level monitor should be more reliable.
Both the 2650 and the 2550 make very good prints, and at a fraction of the cost of cartridge printers. Replacement ink can be purchased on the inter net. A year supply costs about $70.00.
My color laser printer by Brother died. I called them and they said that the error message met I needed to take it to a service place and it would cost more to fix than buying a new one. By color laser printer did a terrible job with printing pictures (totally washed out) and I've heard good things about Epson Ink Jet printers.
A little research shows that I could buy an ink jet printer for $60, but it would cost $0.27 per color page. This Eco Tank is expensive for an ink jet printer but is only a couple cents per color page and about one cent for black and white. Within a short time the savings in ink will make up the difference in price.
I printed a couple pictures and was okay with the quality--a far cry better than I got with the Laser printer.
I am pleased with just about everything about this printer. At least to date.
I would have liked the "screen" to be a bit bigger; and, it took me awhile to understand some of the menu items and how to access them.
I was surprized that when I selected "two-sided printing," it simply printed every-other page and then instsructed me to reinsert. I had become used to a printer that dis both sides before ejecting the pages.
I like this printer. I bought it on the recommendation from a good friend. Previously, I had been a loyal purchaser of HP printers. I decided to try something different after I got tired of feeling ripped-off by HP due to the cost of HP ink cartridges. So I bought this Epson, and i like it except for two things: (A) printing on both sides of the paper requires me to manually print side one, then I must remove the page and place it back in the paper feeder to print page two. (B) When using the "scan" feature, the printer creates each scanned page as an individual .pdf file. So if I want to scan a three-page document, I end up with three separate .pdf files - one file for page one, a second .pdf file for page two, and a third .pdf file for page three. Very inconvenient. Apart from these limitations, the Epson printer is friendly, easy to use, and has a lower total cost of ownership than a comparable printer from HP.
This is easy to use and prints beautifully. I love the crisp print and quietness of the machine. Plus, the ink will last longer.
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