- 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, as well as small and big businesses. Aside from their specialty printers such as label printers or disc printers, their consumer-level all-in-ones are mostly inkjets, as they've stopped making laser printers for a number of 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
- 07/28/2020 Epson WorkForce WF-2860 reviewed
- 07/10/2020 Epson EcoTank ET-4700 reviewed
- 06/29/2020 Epson Workforce Pro WF-3730 reviewed
- 06/25/2020 Epson Expression Premium XP-6100 reviewed
- 06/15/2020 Epson WorkForce WF-2830 reviewed
Best Epson Printers
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Best Epson Printer For Small/Home Office
Type All in OneTechnology InkjetWireless YesColor YesSuperTankYesThe best Epson printer for small or home offices that we've tested so far is the Epson EcoTank ET-3760. This is an all-in-one printer that has a refillable ink tank, which allows you to print at a high volume without having to constantly replace the ink cartridges. Replacement ink is relatively inexpensive and each bottle of ink is equivalent to multiple cartridges, making it an eco-friendly option. Needless to say, the cost-per-print is superb for both black and color printing. The scanner is equipped with an automatic document feeder to scan multi-page documents quickly; however, you still have to manually scan double-sided documents due to the lack of duplex scanning capability.
Unfortunately, although this printer has good printing speed compared to other inkjet printers, it's no match against laser printers that are meant for high-volume printing. It can get the first page of a document out fairly quickly, but it doesn't get much faster for subsequent pages. Printing color documents and photos is also excruciatingly slow, and the input tray can only hold 150 sheets of paper, which means that you'll have to reload the paper tray frequently during a big print job. Its color accuracy is passable and printed photos look decent, albeit with a fair amount of graininess in the pictures. It has great connectivity options, including an ethernet port for a reliable connection, but it doesn't support any external storage devices. It works with Epson's exceptional mobile companion app, so you can perform most tasks using just your smartphone. Overall, the lack of duplex scanning capability may be a dealbreaker for some, but for most small and home offices, this printer is a great option.
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Best Epson Family Printer
Type All in OneTechnology InkjetWireless YesColor YesSuperTankNoThe best Epson family printer that we've tested so far is the Epson WorkForce WF-7720. Although its name suggests that it's designed for work, this printer performs quite well as an all-in-one solution for the whole family. It has an outstanding build quality and it comes with a full-feature scanner that includes an automatic document feeder and duplex scanning capability. You can connect to the printer wirelessly through your existing Wi-Fi network or use the printer's Direct Wi-Fi, and it also supports wireless printing from mobile devices using AirPrint or Mopria. It's designed to provide easy access to paper jams, but changing the ink cartridges can be a pain, as it requires the printer to be on and be in its 'Ink Replacement' mode.
This printer's cost-per-print is great, but only because its ink cartridges are cheap, as you still need to replace the cartridges often due to their low yield. That said, printing in color is more expensive and the long-term cost rises significantly faster than printing in black only. You can increase the printer's yield, as there are high-yield and extra high-yield cartridges that are compatible with this printer. Unfortunately, it's quite slow at printing, whether it's black documents, color documents, or photos. Thankfully, it has a large-capacity input tray that can hold up to 500 sheets of paper, so you can leave a big print job running without worry. Its photo printing quality is good despite its sub-par color accuracy and it can print on glossy photo paper. On the whole, it's an all-around great printer for most families, as long as you don't mind its slow printing speed.
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Best Epson Printer For Photos
Type All in OneTechnology InkjetWireless YesColor YesSuperTankNoThe best Epson printer for printing photos that we've tested so far is the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-3720. This is an all-in-one printer that's meant for small offices; however, it's quite competent when it comes to photo printing. It has good color accuracy, it prints decent quality photos, and although its color page yield is just okay, the ink cartridges aren't overly expensive, so the long-term cost remains fairly low. It has a great build quality and it's well-designed to provide easy access to paper jams. Its outstanding connectivity options include nearly everything except Bluetooth, and it's also compatible with Epson's exceptional mobile companion app. The scanner has an automatic document if you need to scan multi-page documents, but it can't perform duplex scanning.
As mentioned, this printer can print very decent photos that have a good amount of fine details and vibrant colors. However, the pictures look a bit grainy and there's the presence of color in the grayscale. It can print on glossy photo paper and it supports most photo paper sizes, except for 2" x 3". Unfortunately, its photo printing speed is on the slow side, so a bit of patience is required. Lastly, this printer accepts high-yield cartridges and it also accepts third-party cartridges. Overall, while this printer isn't technically made for printing photos, it's the best one that we've tested so far.
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 for 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 doesn't make any laser printers.
- Photo printing quality isn't as good as other brands. Although Epson has dedicated photo printers, the photo printing quality of their general all-in-one printers isn't as good as other brands.
Although Epson printers are very 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 on a regular basis. Their EcoTank printers are extremely successful, though, and are usually among the best in terms of 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.
Notable Mentions
- Epson EcoTank ET-4760: The Epson EcoTank ET-4760 is almost identical to the EcoTank ET-3760, but it comes with fax capability and a touchscreen display. See our review
Epson is one of the top brands when it comes to printers and they offer a variety of printers to suit most needs. Aside from their hugely popular EcoTank printers, the rest of their lineup doesn't stand out in any way. It's also a bit disappointing that they don't 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.
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