Epson EcoTank ET-3830 Wireless Color All-in-One Cartridge-Free Supertank Printer with Scan, Copy, Auto 2-Sided Printing and Ethernet – The Perfect Printer Productive Families,White

I was interested in this printer, after seeing the commercial on TV. My current home office printer is the HP7210, multifunction color; print/scan/fax. Like most who have printers that take ink cartridges, this was getting quite expensive. I would purchase 3 cartridges a year, 2 black, one color, over $180! I said enough is enough. My HP7210x was over 10 years old. The cost of the Epson made the decision easy. I also researched the cost of additional ink, a no brainer for me to continue to purchase this printer.After research I purchased the ET-3830, I just needed printing and scanning. After unboxing, I was surprised how much lighter in weight this printer is compared to my older printer. I like the bright LCD panel with easy access to all the printers’ functions. For my installation, it is hardwired to my computer, I did not install WIFI/Network features, so I cannot comment on connectively. Setup is a breeze. The color ink bottles are fool proof, as each nozzle only fits into the corresponding color well. After ink is loaded, it takes about 10 minutes for the printer to complete setup. I do want to point out while the advertisement clearly shows each color in the wells, in actual the wells are not illuminated however you can clearly see level and a simple letter above each well indicates content. The main control panel can be tilted to any angle to make use that much easier. Lastly note the LCD panel is not a touch screen, not an issue for me.The Epson printer comes with all the drivers and applications to make using the printer simpleSo far, my printing experience has been great, output is crisp, clear and quick. Scanning is simple as well. I do like the smaller footprint of this smart printer. Ink is doing well also.I will point out, that turning the printer off, always must be depressing the on/off button, then responding to “turn off” printer on the LCD display. I found out the hard way when I turned off from my master surge strip, then at next use, printer when through a full recycle mode. So a simple step to remember!This is a great printer, recommended and do look forward to big savings on ink!!

Very impressed with this little printer. Has been about 10 years since I purchased an ink jet printer - previous units I owned were great for the first couple times use them but after that the ink cartridges would dry out and was simply a pain to use and cost $150 to buy new cartridges. This little Epson am impressed with the 'Best Quality' settings. The 'Normal' setting I don't really use for daily printing, I have an ancient LaserJet for that. Love the eco tank feature -- to be able to fill up the entire printer for $40, what??Couple of observations to keep in mind: First, when you load up the ink for the first time it uses about 1/4 of level in the tank...was surprised it loaded up that much into the print heads. Second, I use a Mac and I recommend spending a couple dollars to by yourself a true Printer >> USB cable. You can plug and print this unit without doing so but the software install was just the most basic of print drivers / utility. When connected via Printer >> USB was able to instal the entire Epson controls. --This has happened when installed printers in the past...could be me or my Mac set-up but is bit frustrating is not exactly plug and play for the full suite of the software. Once have the correct driver / utility installed can switch to Wi-Fi or LAN connection and don't need to use the USB cable.I bought this unit because of the LAN capability. I print high-res photos which are huge files so wanted the fastest connection. And, speaking of printing photos....I just printed 3 photographs using Epson's Ultra Premium Glossy paper and Oh My Word, this is the closest thing I have seen to a lab print coming off a small ink-jet printer in a long time. No joke. Do not be afraid of using the high gloss paper -- the gloss coating allows the ink to sit on top of the coating and not soak into the paper, so, your whites are whiter and overall range is improved. You probably frame the print under glass so the gloss will get dulled down anyways.As far as non-photo printing...I ran 300 black image only (no color ink) letters on my preprinted letterhead. Fantastic quality -- I used the 'Better' quality setting so it took about 3 hours to print 300 single sided sheets, but, the results were much nicer than using 'Normal' setting. The edges of the type were crisp, the black ink was a bit more black. The time to print is no biggie for me, just set it and let it run. Also, I printed a set of 250 business cards on a matte uncoated card stock. Again used the 'Best' setting, print time was slow but quality was on point. My BC's are 2-sided. I did NOT use the auto duplex feature, I simply printed the fronts then the backs because the fronts are black ink only and then I use a bit of color on the backer design. Why I bring this up---I set the 8.5 x 11" sheet to print 12-up business cards. When cutting the cards down, this little printer was accurate within about 1/8" at the worst, had a little bit of play but dahang, that is pretty tight for a little printer like this.For the price this is a great little printer.My biggest question is what will happen when I don't use it for a week, two weeks, right? Will the ink dry up? Will it get crusty? Am guessing Epson has finally worked some those issues out but will see. Yes, I recommend this printer. If do not want the LAN connection there is a version (I forget the number) of this which is maybe $50 less cost??Take a look at the photos I posted -- these photos of this guitar are roughly 8.5" wide x 6" tall on 8.5 x 11 paper. I think they look great!!

The best photo quality I've seen since inkjets became affordable for home users.Pros:Very good photo quality, compact size, EcoTank ink replacement rated at 6,000 + copies, Refill cost under 40 bucks, ease of setup, solid paper feeder, relatively quiet, standard print quality very good, USB / Wireless / Network ports, prints both sides saving paper, inexpensive photo printing, scans well in newer graphics programs.Cons:+ Expensive at purchase time+ no touch screen+ Careful scanning surface paper placement needed or document / photo edges are cut off.+ Windows driver software not the best. Scanning within an older graphics program give “memory not enough”.+ Poor software coordination between Windows print option settings and printer settings (changed Windows options require printer interaction)+ Draft print quality far too lightI bought this printer at this time because of availability, supply chain “not in stock” for other models. Would I buy it again? Probably, I am coping with the cons. BUT, I would spent the extra 20 to get the document feederPrinter vendors get their profits by selling replacement cartridges or selling printers with refillable tanks. Goodbye to the rip off of replacement cartridges. (Today’s price for my old inkjet cartridge of black / color of less than 700 pages- over 108 dollars, outrageous! Off brand cartridge replacements are not always of reliable quality or may not work at all because printer vendors lock them out).I choose Epson because of their reliability reputation. HP was taken off my list because of their intrusive software, cartridge expense, and my poor experience with their printers paper feeders on many models.