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Laser printers are still the best option primarily for text and straight lines. They have a cleaner, crisper look to documents without too many gradients and little detail. I suspect this won’t matter for most home printers, where contrast and image quality are more important than perfect serifs.
Where the color laser printers I tested ran about three or four seconds per page in black and white, the EcoTank was exactly six per page with a full-color ink cartridge printer. The numbers the Epson’s trays can handle probably won’t sound too bad, but if you regularly print 50-100 pages at a time it can start to wear on you.
When printing wirelessly, there is sometimes a considerable delay of 30-45 seconds between hitting the print button and the printer actually starting. This is my biggest complaint about the EcoTank, and even printing multiple times a day, I often wonder if I’ve sent the command to the wrong printer, or if I need to pay attention to something before starting it, only to have it start spinning shortly after.
Print is about trust
Photo: Brad Bourque
Printer manufacturers are increasingly concerned about using microchips and QR codes to lock you into using first-party toner, which only drives up prices. Cartridges that come with printers also sometimes have less ink than replacements, so you may find yourself refilling more quickly. This has eroded the confidence of the people who print the most and is enough to send you into the hands of off-brand ink manufacturers of inconsistent quality.
With an ink tank printer, it’s like there’s a handshake agreement between you and the manufacturer that nothing dirty is happening. You can watch the tanks fill up when you set it up and watch them slowly drain as you print. For best results you should probably use the manufacturer’s ink, there’s no way for the company to force it. It’s just ink, and both you and the company know you can buy liquid gold elsewhere.
Although the Epson EcoTank ET-2980 may be more expensive than similar cartridge printers, the savings are significant and won’t take long to be felt. Especially if you don’t trust printer manufacturers because you’ve been burned by bad cartridges and shady practices, you’ll rest easy knowing you’re getting your money’s worth. Everything else didn’t give me a headache, which can’t be said about every printer in my house right now.
