Epson EcoTank ET-2800/ET-2803  Printer Review

This printer's plastic body feels relatively sturdy. There aren't any creaks or squeaky noises from moving parts, and the input connections feel solid. However, the paper tray cover at the top rear of the printer feels thin and flimsy. The design isn't particularly user-friendly, as it's difficult to access the sheet rollers to remove paper jams, and there isn't a dampener to prevent the scanner's lid from slamming down.

This printer has a mediocre display. It's very small, so you must lean in close to see properly. There is no numeric keypad; only directional keys are available, making setting up the printer and connecting it to your network quite cumbersome. The screen doesn't have good viewing angles, meaning you'll have to look at it straight on. Fortunately, you can tilt the entire front panel a full 90 degrees upwards.

This printer doesn't use ink cartridges. It uses an ink tank that you can refill with bottles of ink. A full tank yields a large number of prints, so it's a great choice for high-volume printing. While you can technically use third-party ink refills, we didn't try it and don't recommend doing so. Low-quality ink can damage the printheads, and unlike standard inkjet printers, you can't simply remove a cartridge if there's a problem.

The ET-2800 yields significantly more cyan pages than either magenta or yellow. While it isn't clear exactly why this is the case, it's good news for people who intend to print blues often, like graphic designers working with a specific color palette or casual photographers specializing in landscape photos with lots of sky or ocean. It doesn't have an ink level sensor but instead monitors ink usage internally to estimate when the ink levels run low. To get the most accurate estimate, you need to fill the ink tanks properly and reset the ink levels manually in the printer settings. It's best not to allow the ink tanks to run too low, as this can introduce air bubbles into the tubes and damage the printer.

Like all inkjets, the printheads can clog if you don't print for a long time. If you experience clogging or other print quality issues, this printer has many built-in maintenance functions that can help resolve them, including printhead nozzle checks, regular and power printhead cleaning, and printhead alignment. There's also a paper guide cleaning function to remove dirt or loose ink to prevent prints from getting smeared as they go through the feeders.

You won't have to worry about refilling the ink tank frequently due to the printer's high page yield. Refilling the tank is easy, as the bottles have keyed nozzles that only fit the corresponding ink tank, so it's almost impossible to put the wrong ink into the tanks. On the other hand, the input tray will need regular refilling, as it only holds 100 sheets of plain paper or 20 sheets of photo paper. Also, it's difficult to access the sheet rollers to clear paper jams, as you have to raise the control panel first, pull down the front inner cover, then lift the scanning bed until it clicks into place. There's little in the way of clearance, and you must also be careful not to touch the printing tubes.

See the user manual.

This is an inkjet printer, which means it can clog if left unused for an extended period. Inkjet printers use liquid ink that flows through extremely fine printhead nozzles. During extended periods of inactivity, this ink can evaporate, thicken, or dry out, potentially blocking the ink flow. Environmental factors such as dry air, dust, temperature fluctuations, or direct sunlight can accelerate clog formation. Clogs may cause missing lines, faded colors, or complete print failures. To reduce the risk, we recommend printing periodically and storing the printer in a cool, stable environment. If clogs occur, most inkjet printers include built-in maintenance routines to help clear the printheads, which are detailed in the Expected Maintenance test box of this review.

If you don't want to deal with unclogging, laser printers use a different system with dry toner and a drum instead of ink and printheads, which avoids this issue.

This printer has non-replaceable printheads paired with a high ink volume, which helps resolve most clogging issues without needing a refill or a new cartridge. The large flushing volume partially compensates for the lack of replacement options for the printheads. However, if a clog exceeds what printhead cleaning tasks can handle, you will most likely need professional help to resolve the issue, which can be quite costly. 

• Start Here Guide
• Setup CD
• Power cord
• Epson T522 ink bottles:
• 1x black
• 1x cyan
• 1x magenta
• 1x yellow

This is a corded printer.

This printer's cost-per-print is remarkably low, thanks to its high page yield and cheap ink refills. Additionally, the printer comes with a set of full bottles in the box, rather than limiting you to half-filled starter cartridges that often need replacement shortly after you buy the printer.

This printer isn't all that fast. It takes a while to print out long documents, like reports or colored worksheets. Printing a typical photo also takes a while, much longer than most inkjet printers. On the bright side, initializing and printing single-page documents doesn't take too long. When printing double-sided documents, you need to manually flip the first set of printed pages over when prompted and reinsert them into the feeder so the printer can finish printing the other side. If you want an EcoTank that automatically prints double-sided, check out the Epson EcoTank ET-2850.

The print quality of black-and-white documents is great. Most text looks sharp, but smaller text on colored backgrounds looks blurry. All of the fine elements come through properly and more clearly than when printing in color. It has trouble converting the color yellow to grayscale, although that's normal for most printers.

The print quality of color documents is good. Again, except for some smaller text on colored backgrounds, most text looks clear. However, colors look slightly washed out, and not all of the finer details come through properly. If you want a similar printer that produces better color documents, check out the Canon PIXMA G4270.

This printer doesn't have a removable paper cassette; instead, it features an input feeder located at the top rear of the printer. You can set custom sizes between 2.12" and 8.5" in width and 3.39" and 47.24" in length. It has a plastic extender to hold sheets and a movable slider to properly align differently sized media types. However, you need to manually extend and retract the front output tray, which can be inconvenient, as printed sheets may fall off if not caught.

This printer only features a flatbed scanner, making it less ideal for individuals who frequently digitize multi-page documents. The scanner's lid hinges don't properly raise to fit thicker items, like textbooks, for scanning, unlike other printers. Instead, you can actually remove the scanner lid entirely. To do this, first open the lid fully, then gently push forward one hinge at a time until each one releases entirely from the hinge mechanism. Remember, the lid's white background won't cover any exposed spaces that the item you're scanning doesn't cover, so any direct copies will result in those exposed regions coming out completely black. This could potentially use up lots of ink or result in unusable prints.

If you want an EcoTank printer with an automatic document feeder, consider the Epson EcoTank ET-3850 or the Epson EcoTank ET-4800.

The scan quality is great. The scanner boosts the contrast and saturation. This is beneficial for text documents because it makes the text easier to read, but it may not be ideal if accuracy is your top priority. The image processing also removes some finer details. If you want a similar all-in-one with improved scan quality, consider the Epson EcoTank ET-2840 Special Edition.

This printer has a good color gamut. It can produce bright, saturated colors but struggles with darker shades of green and yellow.

The color accuracy is okay. Casual prints look great, with only a few noticeable differences from the original image, which is sufficient for printing out family photos occasionally. That said, it might not be accurate enough for enthusiasts or professionals.

This printer is outstanding at reproducing small details. The main issue is the halftones (dot effect), which makes edges and distant objects appear less defined.

The Epson Smart Panel mobile app is feature-rich. You can use it to print, scan, and copy, as well as perform maintenance tasks, like cleaning the printheads, checking the printhead nozzles, and viewing the estimated ink levels. You can also buy ink refills and update the printer's firmware. The app alerts you if some documents can't be displayed or printed properly; otherwise, it'll automatically convert most files into a printable format without any manual intervention.

This printer is fully compatible with the most commonly used operating systems. On Windows, you only need to install the printer's drivers if you just want to print, but you need to install the Epson Scan 2 software if you want to use all the scanning features. You can print and scan on Chrome OS and macOS devices without needing to manually install an application or drivers.