- Table of Contents
- Intro
- Updates
- Comparison
- Best Printers
- Conclusion
- Discussions
Epson is a company that makes a variety of printers to suit the needs of most common households and small and big businesses. Aside from their specialty printers like label printers or disc printers, their consumer-level all-in-ones are mostly inkjets, as they've stopped making laser printers for several years now. That said, they have a stunning number of inkjet printers for nearly any type of use, with the WorkForce, Expression, and EcoTank line being the most popular.
Updates
- 06/30/2021 Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 reviewed
- 05/27/2021 Epson EcoTank ET-3760 updated
- 03/09/2021 Epson EcoTank ET-2760 updated
- 03/08/2021 Epson Expression Home XP-4100 updated
- 01/28/2021 Epson EcoTank ET-2720 updated
Best Epson Printers
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Best Epson Printer For Small/Home Office
Type All in OneTechnology InkjetWireless YesColor YesSuperTankYesThe best Epson EcoTank printer for small or home offices that we've tested is the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850. This all-in-one color inkjet printer feels very well-built and uses a refillable supertank system for outstandingly high page yields at a superbly low cost-per-print. There's easy access to paper jams, high paper capacity in its two front input cassettes, and a great display with an easy-to-navigate menu. The overall print speed for documents and photos is great, and produced photos have good quality and impressively accurate colors. Its scanning features are fantastic, including a flatbed scanner with a good scan resolution and color depth, an automatic document feeder that can duplex scan, and built-in fax. It has outstanding connectivity options, including Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and it can print directly from USB flash drives. Notably, it comes with two sets of black and color ink bottles, which should last you a long time even if you print frequently.
Unfortunately, it takes a disappointingly long time to warm up to print the first page, meaning you'll need to wait often if you frequently make small, intermittent print jobs. Although the scan lid can raise for scanning thicker objects, it can only do so slightly for things like magazines. Also, while its page yields are superb, they still aren't as good as other options in Epson's EcoTank lineup. If you need better page yields at an even cheaper cost-per-print, check out the Epson EcoTank ET-3760. That said, its incredible scanning features, impressive overall printing speed, and superb page yields make it an outstanding printer for small or home offices.
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Best Epson Family Printer
Type All in OneTechnology InkjetWireless YesColor YesSuperTankNoThe best Epson printer for home use we've tested is the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-7840. While the WorkForce line is designed for office use, this all-in-one is versatile enough for family use. It has outstanding scanner features, including a large flatbed scanner with high resolution, integrated fax, and an automatic document feeder that can perform double-sided scans. Produced photos look a little grainy, but otherwise, they're decently detailed with impressively accurate colors. While the cartridge system is only okay, the cost-per-print is great for both black-only and color documents, as well as for photos, but the costs may add up quickly if you print in color a lot. It has good printing speed, and while the first page takes some time to come out, the subsequent pages are much faster.
Unfortunately, it doesn't have very high page yields, so you might need to replace the cartridges frequently if you need to print many pages often. However, there are high-yield versions for the black and color cartridges which should last longer, though we haven't tested them. It doesn't support Bluetooth, but there are many other options to choose from, including Ethernet and Wi-Fi, and it can print directly from USB flash drives. All in all, it has many great features for a variety of uses, making it an impressive printer for home use.
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Best Epson Printer For Photos
Type All in OneTechnology InkjetWireless YesColor YesSuperTankNoThe best Epson printer for printing photos we've tested is the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4830. While this model isn't designed for photos, it still prints well-detailed pictures, and it's very good at reproducing colors, although it's only recommended if you're using it recreationally. Also, it prints 4" x 6" photos decently fast, so it should take a little less than a minute for your image to be ready. It's equipped with a high-resolution flatbed scanner with a high color depth, which is great for digitizing old photos. It has a great cost-per-print for color documents and photos, but the costs can increase rapidly if you print only in color frequently. Thanks to the Epson iPrint app, you can print images and other file types directly from your mobile device. If you don't want to use the app, it also has Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service support.
Unfortunately, it doesn't yield many black pages, so you may need to replace the cartridge often, especially if you frequently print a lot of photos that require black ink. Also, it's quite slow at printing black and color documents. Nonetheless, it's a very good office printer that can print good-looking photos while still having all the features required to satisfy your work needs.
Compared to other brands
- Diverse lineup. Epson has a very diverse lineup that includes printers for home and business use, and they also have printers that are dedicated to printing photos, labels, discs, etc. They also make a good number of dot matrix printers.
- EcoTank. Epson's EcoTank ink system has one of the best yields for inkjet printers and can even compete with laser printers.
- Monochrome inkjet printers. Epson is one of the few companies that make monochrome inkjet printers.
- No laser printers. Epson no longer makes laser printers.
- Photo printing quality is only decent. Although Epson has dedicated photo printers, the photo printing quality of their all-in-one printers and their office printers isn't as good as other brands.
Although Epson printers are popular, they tend to get overshadowed by other brands, as their performance tends to be more middle-of-the-pack. Like other manufacturers, they have a diverse lineup, but Epson is the only one that doesn't produce any laser printers. Since inkjet printers generally have slower printing speed, they're less desirable for businesses that perform high-volume printing regularly. Their EcoTank printers are successful, though, and are usually among the best for page yield.
Lineup
Epson has a diverse lineup that caters to different needs, and they're generally separated into the two categories below. Although the EcoTank line is a separate line of its own, the EcoTank designation is also used in conjunction with some of the models below to indicate the use of a refillable ink tank system. Epson makes enterprise-grade printers as well, which are only available for businesses.
For Work:
- WorkForce: High-performance printers for small or home offices.
- WorkForce Pro: High-yield printers for small or home offices.
- Point-of-Sale: Receipt printers for small businesses.
- ColorWorks: Commercial label printers.
- Pro Imaging: Wide-format photo printers.
- Impact: Dot matrix printers.
- DiscProducer: Disc printers.
For Home:
- Expression: All-in-one family printers.
- PictureMate: Photo printers.
- LabelWorks: Label printers.
- SureColor P-Series: Professional-grade photo printers.
Recent Updates
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Jul 14, 2021: Replaced the Epson EcoTank ET-3760 with the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 for 'Best Small/Home Office'. Verified availability of picks and updated text for clarity.
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Apr 15, 2021: Verified that picks were still available.
Conclusion
Epson is one of the top brands when it comes to printers, and they offer a variety of printers to suit most needs. However, aside from their hugely popular EcoTank printers, the rest of their lineup doesn't stand out very much. It's also a bit disappointing that they no longer make any laser printers since a lot of small offices still rely heavily on the printing speed and efficiency of laser printers.
For other options, you can check out our recommendations for the best home printers, the best photo printers, and the best laser printers.