They say that the printers they are the only peripherals capable of smelling fear and urgency, so they tend to run out of ink just when you need it the most.
Jokes aside, the printer is a key device for homes with students or for professionals who work from home or have their office there.
Epson EcoTank ET-2850 It is a compact and versatile multifunction printer that does not take up too much space in your office and allows you to perform printing, copying and scanning tasks at a very low cost, starting at a price of 250 euros.
The secret of its success lies in the ink system, which instead of using traditional cartridges or toners, opts for an efficient and simple refilling system with ink bottles in an internal tank that reduces waste and allows you to use every last drop of ink without staining your hands.
Analysis of Epson EcoTank ET-2850 by sections:
Epson EcoTank ET-2850 data sheet
Epson EcoTank ET-2850 makes the difference by betting on a cartridge-free ink system that bets on a much more practical and simple refill system.
Compact size and efficient ink system
we started this Epson EcoTank ET-2850 review talking about your design. Due to its multifunction condition, the shape and size are highly conditioned by the size of the scanning tray and the rear admission tray for up to 100 sheets of paper, as well as the internal carriage with the nozzles.
In general, although there are somewhat more compact multifunction options, even within the Epson catalogue, their dimensions 375 x 347 x 187mm and its 5.4 kilos of weight make it a good alternative that will not occupy as much on your table as other professional options, contributing to a significant savings in printing costs.
On the front, the attention is drawn to the 4 ink tankswhich allow you to see the level of each one of them, the black ink being twice as large as the colored ones.
On the front we also find the folding control panel, which rises slightly to facilitate its use when you have to use it standing up. This panel is made up of the function buttons and a small 1.5 inch LCD screen which displays the configuration information.
This screen is even smaller than my old (but robust) Epson Expression Home XP-442 and it is not tactilewhich would have been very beneficial to stay in the line of ease of use that prevails in the rest of the operation of the printer.
Instead, the tiny screen forces you to navigate through menus and options that look like something out of the early 2000s.
This without taking into account how uncomfortable it is to insert the connection parameters to the WIFi network using the buttons on the crosshead to select characters on a tiny keyboard. Fortunately, this process also it can be done from an app installed on your smartphone.
If we lift the cover of the scanner, a base is exposed that allows comfortably scan A4 documents, as well as other smaller sizes and formats. Simply place the document aligned with the indicator marks for each measurement.
By lifting this scanning base, the injector carriage is exposed and the ink tank filling system is accessed.
This cartridge-free system is based on a anti-drip filling valve system in which the only thing that must be taken into account is filling the appropriate tank with the correct colour, something very simple since it has a very clear indication on each of the filling nozzles, and each has a series of notches that make it impossible to fill a reservoir with the wrong color.
Just have to insert each bottle into its valve and fill the tank with ink as if you put water in the coffee maker tank and without fussing with opaque ink cartridges that do not allow us to see if every last drop of ink is really used. Each refill of color ink has a capacity of 70 ml in front of the 127 ml of black ink.
Personally I found it to be a very practical and clean printing system because literally, the ink level is always in view even with the printer turned off and there are no last minute surprises, when you are going to print something and the ink in the cartridge has run out.
Connection by USB, WiFi or from the mobile
Connectivity is an important point for a printer, and it is not always taken into account when choosing it. When you take it out of the box and find a place for it in your office, you discover that sometimes the distance between the computer and the printer makes the cable connection unfeasible.
Epson EcoTank ET-2850 features WiFi connectivity as the main connection route and the truth is that it is very easy to connect to the WiFi network. As we have already mentioned, the most direct way to do it is from the configuration options of the printer itself. But due to the size of the screen and the absence of a touch screen, it does not make it the most comfortable way.
Instead, I recommend doing it from the app Epson Smart Panel available for iOS and Android mobiles and take advantage of the touch functions of the mobile.
On the other hand, the Epson EcoTank ET-2850 maintains the cable connection with a USB connector that allows direct connection between a computer and the printer.
At this point, I would have liked to find some option of additional connectivity, such as an SD card reader (like the one my Expression Home does mount), which allows me to print photos directly from the card without having to go through any additional computer or device.
In the same way, also I liked finding the option to send documents via Bluetooth. Especially thinking about mobile devices or to send photos directly from the camera to the printer.
In any case, I understand that the reason for not including the SD card reader or the Bluetooth connection may be because, although it does a good job with the photos, we are not dealing with a strictly photographic printer and it shows in the precision of the colors represented.
Its comfort zone is found in the volume of document printing, both in black and white and in color, much more common in office work. In this sense, the brand ensures that, with the original ink load (the same as in the replacement refillable bottles), the The Epson EcoTank ET-2850 can print up to 14,000 pages in black and white and 5,200 pages in color.
Since I am reviewing the EcoTank ET-2850 He has printed about 130 pages in black and white, and about 30 in color including photographs. The ink level has barely moved, so these numbers don’t seem outlandish.
Not the fastest printer on the market, but fast enough so that jobs with many copies don’t take forever. Printing a 5-page text document can take around 42 seconds to print, while a 5-page document with multiple graphics insets took 1 minute and 15 seconds.
I found especially useful the two-person automatic printing systemwhich allows you to leave print jobs scheduled and not worry about them until they are finished, without having to worry about turning the pages to print them on the other side.
As usually happens in this range of products designed for domestic use, the scanning and copying system is manualso it will be necessary to have exclusive dedication and place each of the documents to be scanned.
The Epson EcoTank ET-2850 allows you to make direct copies from the printer without requiring the intervention of any intermediary device, or generate PDF or JPG files with the scanned content.
Epson EcoTank ET-2850, the opinion of Computerhoy.com: is it worth it?
After almost a month of use, it is time to take out my conclusions about the Epson EcoTank ET-2850. I personally identify myself as a target audience for this type of printer, intended for occasional print jobs, primarily documents or graphics. A user who does not want to give up good print quality, but without the cost per page skyrocketing.
Self-employed professionals, remote workers or students will find in the EcoTank ET-2850 a good ally with a pretty contained cost per page. For reference, the complete replacement of color and black inks costs 39.28 euros, while each color bottle separately costs about 8.50 euros each and 13.99 euros for the black ink that comes in a bottle with more capacity.
Epson EcoTank ET-2850 makes the difference by betting on a cartridge-free ink system that bets on a much more practical and simple refill system.
The EcoTank tank system seemed to me a much more comfortable and simple alternative than I imagined, and surprisingly clean. Before using it I could imagine my hands full of ink trying to refill the tanks. Nothing is further from reality.
Not a perfect printer and at €250, it’s priced slightly above its rivals. I would have appreciated a screen more in line with what is expected of a 2023 device, but when opening the door to the printer configuration from the mobile appEpson has solved the problem by keeping the simplicity of use as the flag for this printer.
