The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 is an all-in-one supertank printer. It uses refillable ink tanks instead of traditional ink cartridges, which are compatible with Epson 542 Black, Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow ink. Its ADF-equipped scanner supports dual-pass duplex scanning, and it also offers fax functionality. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, USB, and Ethernet, and it can also print directly from a USB flash drive. It's compatible with the Epson Smart Panel app, which lets you perform tasks like printing and scanning, perform maintenance tasks remotely, and order ink and supplies.
There are several variants of this printer, each with different features and performance. See the Differences Between Variants section below for more details.
Our Verdict
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 is an amazing printer for family use. It prints sharp-looking documents and good-looking photos. Its photos aren't particularly color-accurate, but they're fine for casual photo printing. Its feature-rich scanner offers great versatility, from scanning long documents with its ADF to digitizing material from textbooks thanks to adjustable flatbed hinges, but scan quality is just okay. Scans tend to look oversaturated and lack some fine details. But on the bright side, this printer supports a wide range of connectivity options, so it's convenient and easy for the whole family to use.
Produces sharp documents.
- Superb page yields and cost-per-print.
- Produces good-quality photos.
Numerous connectivity options.
- Mediocre color accuracy.
Scanning image processing culls background elements.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 is a fantastic printer for small or home offices. Its refillable ink tanks yield thousands of pages, and it prints sharp-looking documents quickly. The feature-rich scanner touts an ADF with dual-pass duplex scanning, so processing multi-page and double-sided documents is a breeze. There are also many wired and wireless connectivity options; it's convenient to use regardless of your office's setup.
Produces sharp documents.
- Superb page yields and cost-per-print.
ADF-equipped scanner with double-pass duplex scanning.
Fast printing speeds.
Numerous connectivity options.
Scanning image processing culls background elements.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 is an exceptional printer for students. Thanks to its refillable ink tanks that yield thousands of prints, its cost-per-print is superb, and printed documents look outstanding. Its ADF-equipped scanner can perform dual-pass duplex scanning, so you can easily digitize handwritten notes or class handouts. Its many connectivity options make it easy for you and your roommates to share. This is a large printer, so it may not be the easiest printer to slot into a small dorm room or studio apartment.
Produces sharp documents.
- Superb page yields and cost-per-print.
Fast printing speeds.
Numerous connectivity options.
Scanning image processing culls background elements.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 is excellent for black-and-white document printing. Its supertank system provides an incredible black page yield and cost-per-print. It prints sharp-looking documents quickly and can perform automatic duplex printing. Its ADF also supports dual-pass duplex scanning to process long documents.
Produces sharp documents.
- Superb page yields and cost-per-print.
ADF-equipped scanner with double-pass duplex scanning.
Fast printing speeds.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 is good for casual photo printing. While this printer has a fairly wide color gamut capable of reproducing saturated tones and hues, its color accuracy is just okay and not suitable for use in a professional environment. Despite some graininess, photos look great for at-home use. The cost-per-print is superb thanks to this printer's refillable ink tank system, which yields thousands of prints. Finally, there's wide support for photo paper sizes.
- Superb page yields and cost-per-print.
- Produces good-quality photos.
Wide color gamut results in detailed prints.
- Doesn't support 2" x 3" format paper.
- Mediocre color accuracy.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850's color gamut is quite wide. It can reproduce saturated tones and hues, which helps produce detailed prints. By contrast, its color accuracy is just okay. Many colors are visibly inaccurate, particularly shades of blue. Despite this, photos don't appear unnatural.
Wide color gamut results in detailed prints.
- Mediocre color accuracy.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 produces outstanding black-and-white documents. Text is sharp, and fine elements, like lines on a graph, are clear. Just know there's a bit of banding present.
Produces sharp documents.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 offers a feature-rich scanner. Its ADF is capable of double-pass duplex scanning for processing long, double-sided documents, and the flatbed scanner's hinges are slightly adjustable for accommodating larger items like textbooks or magazines. As for the scan quality, it's just okay. Text is clear, and colors are vibrant, but the image processing is too aggressive in trying to remove artifacts; it also removes background and fine elements like lines on a graph or watermarks.
ADF-equipped scanner with double-pass duplex scanning.
Scanning image processing culls background elements.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 prints quickly. It can produce 25 black or color pages per minute, and the first page will be ready in nine seconds. Its photo printing speeds are also impressive, as it completes a 4" x 6" print in just over 29 seconds.
Fast printing speeds.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 has very low recurring costs. It uses a refillable ink tank system instead of traditional ink cartridges, which yields thousands of prints before you need to refill them. Replacement ink also isn't too expensive, resulting in a very low cost per print.
- Superb page yields and cost-per-print.
Performance Usages
Changelog
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Updated Feb 14, 2025:
We've rewritten the Introduction, verdict boxes, and the 'Compared To Other Printers' box to bring them in line with our current standards for printer reviews.
- Updated Sep 21, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 1.2.
- Updated Sep 08, 2022: Added mention of the Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550 as an alternative with SD card support.
- Updated Sep 01, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 1.1.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 in white. There are two other variants, the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5800 and the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5880, with different features and performance. See the differences in the table below.
| Name | Advertised Printing Speed | Maximum Advertised Print Resolution | Color | Additional Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5800 | 25 black/12 color ppm | 4800 x 1200 dpi | Black, White | N/A |
| Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 | 25 black/25 color ppm | 4800 x 2400 dpi | Black, White | N/A |
| Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5880 | 25 black/25 color ppm | 4800 x 1200 dpi | Black, White | PostScript and PCL print language support |
See our unit's label.
Popular Printer Comparisons
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 is an outstanding all-in-one supertank printer for small or home offices. Its supertank ink system has incredible page yields and a very low cost-per-print. Compared to most other supertank printers we've tested, it prints very quickly, and its photo printing speed is especially impressive. That said, this isn't the best choice for photo printing; while photos look detailed, it isn't color-accurate enough for professional photo printing.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best printers for small business, the best office printers, and the best all-in-one printers.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 and the Canon MAXIFY GX7020 are all-in-one color inkjet printers with supertanks and are outstanding for office use. The Epson prints documents and photos much more quickly, and it can print slightly more black pages. On the other hand, the Canon can print three times as many color pages as the Epson at a lower cost-per-print for color documents and photos. Additionally, its ADF supports single-pass duplex scanning, which is much faster than the Epson which requires two passes.
The Epson EcoTank ET-4950 and Epson EcoTank ET-5850 have similar capabilities, but the ET-5850 is better suited for larger workloads. While their print capabilities and page yields are similar, the ET-5850 is much quicker, and its input drawers have much larger capacities.
Although the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 is much better overall than the Epson EcoTank ET-4850, they're two different classes of printers. The ET-5850 is designed for business settings with high print loads, while the ET-4850 is a home-office printer. To this end, the ET-5850 offers more features and better performance; it can dual pass duplex scan at up to 9 pages per minute, print up to 25 black or color pages per minute, and produce sharper color documents. By contrast, the ET-4850 has higher color and black page yields but prints slower at 14 black and seven color pages per minute.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5180 and the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 are both supertank inkjet printers with similar features. Choosing between these two models depends on what you care about more. The ET-5850 prints faster and has a larger input tray, but the ET-5180 yields significantly more pages, resulting in a lower cost per print. The ET-5850 has automatic duplex scanning, while the ET-5180's is manual, meaning you need to rearrange the pages through software.
Test Results
The Epson ET-5850 feels very well built with a sturdy body, which gives good access to paper jams either from the rear or inside by lifting the flatbed. The two front input cassettes have sliders for different paper formats, while the rear input tray has a cover to close and conceal it when not in use; however, it can feel flimsy or cumbersome to close. The ink tank levels are clear and visible, and the output tray slides out automatically when printing. You can also press the dedicated output tray touch button to slide it back in when the print job is complete. The scanner lid stays open on its own, and the hinges can raise, but only slightly, for scanning thin objects like magazines. The power cable is removable, which makes it easy to replace if it gets damaged.
Update 01/26/2022: We reshot our 'In Use Picture' since the initial one didn't have the input tray fully extended.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 has a great display, with a quick, easy-to-navigate menu with good tactile feedback. There are dedicated touch buttons on either side for Home, Output Tray, and Help, which launches how-to videos on the screen for different tasks. The screen has good visibility whether you're seated or standing, and it can also tilt up and down.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 has a fantastic supertank ink system that uses large, refillable ink tanks instead of disposable cartridges. The incredibly high yield for both black and color documents means that you shouldn't need to refill them often, even if you print frequently. Note, however, that if you run out of one color of ink, the printer won't let you continue printing until you refill the empty tank. If you want a laser model with even higher page yields, check out the Xerox VersaLink C500/DN.
While you can technically fill the supertanks with any third-party ink, we don't recommend doing so. Low-quality ink could damage the print heads, and unlike standard inkjet printers, you can't simply remove the ink if there's a problem. Using third-party supplies could also void your warranty.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 has a flatbed with hinges that raise for scanning slightly thick items like magazines or notebooks. It also has an automatic document feeder with double-sided scanning, which can scan Letter or Legal-size paper, with a capacity of up to 50 sheets. However, it needs two passes to scan double-sided sheets, which is noticeably slower than models like the Canon MAXIFY GX7020 that can do so in a single pass. Using the Epson Scan 2 software, you can convert your documents into a searchable PDF.
While Epson advertises that the ADF can hold 50 pages, the paper kept getting jammed, or the scanner would take in two pages at once. After removing ten pages, the ADF didn't have any issues, so the ADF capacity maximum is listed as 40 pages.
- Start Here guide
- Power cable
- CD-ROM for Epson software
- Epson 542 ink bottles:
- 2x black
- 2x cyan
- 2x magenta
- 2x yellow
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850's cost-per-print is superbly low, as its large ink tanks yield many black and color documents and don't need refilling often.
Even if you print only in black, most inkjet printers continue using the color tanks for servicing tasks, so you may still need to refill them eventually.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 has excellent printing speeds. It doesn't take long to print the first page, and subsequent pages are even faster.
During our initial test, we measured much lower than advertised speeds, but after unplugging the printer overnight and retesting, we experienced the speeds listed above. We don't expect this to be an issue as our unit has been working as intended since, but if you own this printer and are experiencing similar problems, let us know in the discussions below.
Epson specifies that the front input cassettes of the Epson EcoTank ET-5850 can hold up to 250 sheets each for a total of 500. The rear feeder can hold an additional 50 sheets. Along with the preset sizes, you can also print user-defined sizes from 2.52" x 5.0" to 8.5" x 47.24". This lets you print on A5-sized paper if you set the measurements manually.
The Epson EcoTank ET-5850 reproduces colors with mediocre accuracy. It should be fine for documents and casual photos, but it isn't recommended for tasks that require professional-grade color reproduction.
The Epson ET-5850 can print directly from USB flash drives. If you want an EcoTank printer that supports SD cards, check out the Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550.
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 is compatible with the Epson Smart Panel app, a refreshed and updated version of their Epson iPrint app meant for use with their latest printers. From there, you can print a variety of file types, scan directly from your phone camera, perform maintenance tasks like print head cleaning, alignment, and firmware updates, and even order ink and supplies. You can even share access to the printer with guests without requiring them to connect directly.
While you can print all file types through the Android app, you can't print Microsoft Office files or TXT files from the iOS version since the formatting doesn't get converted properly.