mikenolan Loc: Lincoln Nebraska

Have any UHH-ers had experience with the Epson EcoTank printers, which supposedly use a refillable tank rather than expensive ink cartridges? (Canon has come out with similar printers, I think.)

Jimmy T Loc: Virginia

I have the Epson ET4550, $449.99 from Costco.
https://www.costco.com/Epson-WorkForce®-ET-4550-Special-Edition-EcoTank™-All-in-One-Printer%2C-Up-to-11K-Black-%2526-11K-Color-Pages.product.100249981.html?catalogId=10701&langId=-1&storeId=10301&krypto=yTR%2BlqzFcl%2BpPQADvxuzO5uCr7pQ4fVymrq%2BvuyTzDf9IJF7i%2F9A8N62krxJGQdCEHa8Ex7mpeRvH9QlsGzfagZAGS5S%2BUX6PXHN6nWF9W%2BK4KsESSXa%2FneVqMYeQKIm

It comes with two complete sets of ink refills. I have printed over 3K pages so far. None of which are pictures. It prints two-sided, has an automatic feed and very seldom has any miscues. Usually, the miscues are the result of operator error. The black ink tank is currently down to about ½ full and the yellow, magenta and cyan tanks are barely below the full line. The color ink refills are $12.94 each and the black refill is $19.49 on Amazon. The black refill is about twice the size of the color refills. About every 1K pages of printing you have to clean the heads. Simple and about 7-10 minutes of time to accomplish. I believe that this printer has already paid for itself since my HP Printer just eats yummy inkjet carts.

I have faxed successfully several times, both sending and receiving. scanned very few items since it scans in low resolution and is painfully slow. It will scan directly to your computer. You can also print from your Droid.Yes, I would buy this printer again. No, I don't have stock in Epson,
Haha. Good luck to you in your quest.

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

It seemed like a good idea so I bought the first Eco-Tank printer that arrived in Portland. The next day, I was the first to return one.

I know of no all-in-one that can come close to a dedicated photo printer for image quality.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

FWIW - I received an Epson ECO-Tank 25 ET 2550 a month or two back - it seems reliable, is a scanner and printer, mostly for documents, but it will print pictures and in high quality mode seems to do a good job with photo paper. I did buy a set of ink refill bottles, but have not needed to refill the tanks yet.

I like the idea of a tank on the side for ink versus a set of expensive cartridges with a small amount of ink in them.

The ET-2550 will connect via wifi, so it is easy to place anywhere convenient.

I prefer the eco tank over my older all in one Epson Ink Jet with USB connection.

Only CON I find is that the ET-2550 can only handle as large as 8.5x11 paper.

I would buy an eco tank printer again.

mikenolan Loc: Lincoln Nebraska

Oddjobber, I wonder if the limitations of that printer had much to do with the eco-tank features, though. I do tend to agree that all-in-one printers tend to do a number of things (mostly) adequately and none of them superbly.

For years I've thought that the printer makers should just give the darned printers away, they make their money on ink and toner cartridges. I was hoping that the eco-tank printers might finally change that.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

I use an Epson XP950 with CIS and it is quite successful. CIS, Contentious Ink Supplies, are an aftermarket eco-tank act alike. Once the monitor and the printer are tweaked to agree the 3rd party color question is no longer a problem. Reality is that affordability is a major major in the grid of decision maker.

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

My issues with the Eco-Tank had nothing to do with the printer setup. I still think it's a great idea. My entire issue was the photo print quality. I think about that every time I pay $135 for Canon cartridges. Now that my Pixma Pro is out of warranty, I'm ready to try third party ink.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

I have owned an Epson ET-4550 printer for almost 2 years. Still on the first set of ink -- make @ 3000 copies a year. Everything about it is good. I used medical gloves when filling the tanks so as not to get ink all over myself. I use it for business related printed, sometimes including photos, but it is far far from a photo printer. My Epson P800 fills that bill! Best of luck.