- Table of Contents
- Intro
- Our Verdict
- Test Results
- Differences
- Compared To Others
- Deals
- Discussions
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 is a supertank inkjet printer that's suitable for a wide range of uses. It has four refillable ink tanks that yield a lot of pages before needing a refill. This leads to an exceptionally low cost-per-print, whether printing in black only or with colors. Unfortunately, its printing speed is bad, and even a simple black text document takes quite some time to fully print. Also, the flatbed scanner is only passable as it lacks an automatic document feeder and duplex scanning. That said, this printer has a fairly compact and lightweight design, and you can easily connect it to your router or use your mobile device to print.
Our Verdict
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 is a good family printer. Even though its photo printing quality is only decent, its cost-per-print is exceptionally low, making it an economical option for most households. Its flatbed scanner has fantastic resolution and allows you to easily digitize family documents, though it lacks additional features like duplex scanning, which means you have to manually flip the pages when scanning double-sided documents. On the plus side, you can easily connect the printer to your router or your mobile device.
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Exceptionally low cost-per-print.
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Small, lightweight design.
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High black and color page yield.
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Very slow black, color, and photo printing speed.
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Only has a flatbed scanner.
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 is mediocre for home office use. Unfortunately, it's slow to print black text documents, and some may find that only having a flatbed scanner is limiting. On the plus side, this compact printer has a supertank system that yields a lot of pages before the tank needs to be refilled, and it also has an exceptional cost-per-print for both black and color ink.
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Exceptionally low cost-per-print.
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Small, lightweight design.
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High black and color page yield.
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Very slow black, color, and photo printing speed.
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Only has a flatbed scanner.
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Paper jams are hard to get to.
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 is excellent for student use. Its cost-per-print is exceptional, and you're able to get a lot of black text or color documents out of this printer before you need to refill the ink tanks. The printer is also fairly compact, and you can connect it via Wi-Fi to your router or use your mobile device to print things. On the downside, it takes a while to print documents, which isn't so good when you're in a rush.
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Exceptionally low cost-per-print.
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Small, lightweight design.
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High black and color page yield.
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Very slow black, color, and photo printing speed.
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No Bluetooth or external storage support.
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 is only decent for black and white use. Thanks to its outstanding supertank system, it yields an exceptional number of black pages before needing a refill, so the cost-per-print is incredibly low. However, the printing speed for text documents is bad, though the first page doesn’t take too long to print. The design is also mediocre as the output tray feels flimsy, and paper jams are hard to get to.
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Exceptionally low cost-per-print.
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Small, lightweight design.
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High black and color page yield.
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Very slow black, color, and photo printing speed.
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 is a decent choice to print casual photos. It allows you to print pictures without borders, which is great, but there's some banding in the grayscale, and color accuracy is disappointing. On the plus side, the cost-per-print is exceptionally low, but take note that it takes almost a full minute and a half to print off a single 4’’ by 6’’ photo.
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Exceptionally low cost-per-print.
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Small, lightweight design.
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High black and color page yield.
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Very slow black, color, and photo printing speed.
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Disappointing color accuracy.
- 7.6 Family
- 6.2 Small/Home Office
- 8.7 Student
- 7.3 Black & White
- 7.0 Casual Photo
- Updated Jan 28, 2021: Updated review for accuracy and clarity.
- Updated Dec 03, 2020: Updated Text File (TXT) support to 'Yes'.
- Updated Jul 07, 2020: We've retested this printer's duplex printing capabilities.
- Updated Jun 08, 2020: Converted to Test Bench 0.8.1.
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Test Results
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 has a mediocre design. It's easy to access the ink tanks and load paper. However, the output tray is flimsy, and if you have a paper jam, there isn't any rear access. There's a door underneath the display screen, but it can be difficult to get at paper jams from there if you have larger hands. Additionally, it's hard to scan bulkier items like books as the scanner lid can't extend to accommodate them. Also take note that after initializing and not using our unit for a month, we needed to conduct four head cleanings before we were able to start printing.
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 is a compact and lightweight printer. Although the supertank slightly juts out, the footprint should be small enough for most home offices or student dorms.
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 has a passable screen. The display console swivels to allow you to see the screen better, and it has good visibility whether you're seated or standing. While there isn't a touch screen, push buttons surround the screen, though you may need to press them several times to get to the command you're looking for.
- User manual
- Epson EcoTank 522 ink bottles
- 1x Cyan
- 1x Magenta
- 1x Yellow
- 1x Black
- Installation CD
- Power cable
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 has an exceptional supertank system. It uses four high-capacity ink tanks that you refill yourself and yields a lot of both black and color pages before you need to refill the tank again. There's also a pop-up message on PC to periodically check your ink levels, which is great if you aren't keeping a close eye on your ink tanks.
While it's technically possible to fill the supertank with any third-party ink, we didn't try it and don't recommend doing so as low-quality ink can damage the print heads and, unlike regular cartridges, they can't be removed if there's a problem. Using third-party ink could also void your warranty.
The Epson ET-2720 scanning features are mediocre. It only has a flatbed scanner, so documents have to be scanned page by page, and if you need to scan double-sided documents, you have to flip the pages manually, which is time-consuming. The Epson EcoTank ET-4760 is a similar printer with a sheetfed scanner and a fax.
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 has an exceptional cost-per-print. Black, color, and photo printing are all extremely cost-effective. If you need to refill the tanks, you can purchase a multipack ink package or each ink bottle separately. If you want a supertank printer with a lower cost-per-print for photos, check out the Canon PIXMA G2260.
The Epson ET-2720 has poor printing speed. Although the first page doesn't take too long to print, additional black text pages aren't much quicker. Color pages are slow to print, and it takes almost a minute and a half to print off one 4" x 6" photo.
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 has disappointing color accuracy. While it may be okay for the occasional pop of color on an assignment or office document, it isn't ideal for work that requires accurate color reproduction. If you want better color accuracy, check out the Canon PIXMA G1220.
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 photo printing quality is decent. There's a bit of banding in the grayscale, and the yellow lacks vibrancy.
These results are based on the actual physical photo, not the scanned image provided for reference above, which may not be representative of the printer's photo print quality.
If you want a supertank printer with better photo printing quality, check out the Canon PIXMA G6020.
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 has one adjustable input feed in the back of the printer, and it supports most popular paper sizes. It doesn't print tabloid-size paper, but if that's important to you, check out the Epson EcoTank ET-15000.
The Epson ET-2720 has decent connectivity. You can hook it up wirelessly by using your Wi-Fi via your router, or you can use Wi-Fi Direct. If you're using a mobile device, you can also use Apple AirPrint or Mopria Print Service. On the downside, you can't use an ethernet cable with it, and it lacks any external storage support. If you want a similar printer with external storage support, check out the Epson EcoTank ET-2760.
The Epson iPrint app is outstanding. Accessible on Android and iOS devices, you can print, scan, and copy photos directly from the app. Take note that while it doesn't print .txt files natively, it automatically converts them to a PDF to print. You can also perform maintenance tasks.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
While we tested the white version, the Epson EcoTank ET-2720 is also available in black.
Compared To Other Printers
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 sets itself apart thanks to its exceptional supertank system that yields an incredible number of both black and color pages. Accordingly, its cost-per-print is amongst the lowest we’ve tested, whether you’re printing in black only, in color, or photos. However, its printing speed is really bad and unusually slow compared to other printers we’ve tested. For more options, check out our recommendations for the best all-in-one printers, the best home printers, and the best inkjet printers.
The Epson EcoTank ET-4700 and the Epson EcoTank ET-2720 are quite similar, but the ET-4700 performs a little bit better for most uses. It has a sheetfed scanner, slightly better color accuracy, and an Ethernet port. On the other hand, the ET-2720 yields more pages before needing to refill the ink tanks, and its photo printing quality is also just a little bit better.
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 and the Epson Expression ET-2750 are similar printers, but the ET-2750 is slightly better-performing overall. The ET-2750 can print black-text documents quicker, and it has duplex printing and external storage support. On the other hand, although it's still sub-par, the ET-2720 has better color accuracy and yields more color pages before needing to refill it, though the ET-2750 yields more black pages.
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 and the Epson EcoTank ET-2760 are very similar printers, and they even have almost the same features, but the ET-2760 is slightly better performing overall. The ET-2760 feels a bit better built, it can automatically print double-sided sheets, and it has external storage support. It also yields more pages and costs a bit less per print. However, if you intend to print photos often, the ET-2720 might be a better choice since it has slightly better color accuracy and photo printing quality.
The Epson EcoTank ET-4760 and the Epson ET-2720 are both good family printers, but the ET-3760 is better overall. It yields more pages at a slightly lower cost-per-print and prints significantly faster. Also, it has a much better color accuracy and it has an Ethernet port if you want to plug it directly into your router. The Et-2720 does produce somewhat nicer-looking photos, but the difference is slight.
Overall, the HP Smart Tank Plus 551 and the Epson EcoTank ET-2720 have very similar performance. The Epson has a better display screen, it prints higher quality photos, and its replacement ink is cheaper. However, the HP yields more black and color pages per cartridge, and it has much better color accuracy.
The Canon PIXMA G3260 and the Epson EcoTank ET-2720 are both good family printers with supertanks. However, the Canon yields more pages and offers a slightly lower cost-per-print for photos and color printing. It also has better color accuracy, slightly better photo quality, and you can print double-sided pages manually, whereas the Epson doesn't have the option at all. However, the Epson prints black-only documents much faster.
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 and the Epson EcoTank ET-4760 are both good family printers, but the ET-4760 is better overall. The ET-4760 has a higher page yield at a slightly lower cost-per-print, a sheetfed scanner, a faster printing speed, and an Ethernet port. While its photo printing quality isn't as good as the ET-2720, the color accuracy is significantly better.
The Epson EcoTank ET-15000 is better overall than the Epson EcoTank ET-2720. The ET-15000 is better-built, has a sheetfed scanner, and prints pages much faster. It also has an Ethernet port and can print tabloid-sized paper. However, the ET-2720 takes less time to print photos.
The Brother HL-L2390DW and the Epson EcoTank ET-2720 are two very different printers. The Brother is a monochrome laser printer with better build quality and quicker printing speed. However, the Epson is a color inkjet supertank that can yield more pages before needing to be refilled. The Epson's cost-per-print is more affordable and its photo printing quality is quite decent. If you print only black-text documents, the Brother is a good choice, but if you need color printing and don't mind the slower print time, go for the Epson.
The Canon PIXMA G2260 is slightly better than the Epson EcoTank ET-2720, especially if you intend to print photos. The Canon yields more pages and costs less per print for color documents and photos, and it produces much more accurate-looking colors. It also prints photos significantly faster. However, the Epson is better if you value wireless printing and a mobile app to check ink levels, perform maintenance tasks, and print from.
The Epson EcoTank ET-2720 is a better family printer than the Canon PIXMA G1220. The Epson features a flatbed scanner, and it supports wireless printing via Wi-Fi, Apple AirPrint, and Mopria Print Service. It also has an incredible mobile app. However, the Canon yields more pages at a lower cost. Also, if you plan on printing a lot of photos and color documents, the Canon has better color accuracy.
| Retailers' prices | Amazon.com | BestBuy.com | B&H |
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| White Epson EcoTank ET-2720 |
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| Black Epson Eco-Tank ET-2720 |
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