Our Printer Ink Problem
This was a big issue with our last printer, which wouldn't let us print with black ink unless all of the colour cartridges were working. That printer was designed so that ink was being used up even when we weren't printing things, to keep the nozzle clear and wet. We went through so many colour cartridges each year, that we finally decided it would just be cheaper to get a new printer!
Cartridge-Free Printer
It was at this point that Ken's parents told him about their new printer with Epson's new "Eco Tank" technology. These Eco Tank printers are designed to work without cartridges! When Ken told me about it, we knew this was the ink solution we had been searching for- NO MORE CARTRIDGES! The printer has refillable tanks on the side of it that you simply top up any time they get low.
Enough Ink for 2 Years
The printer we got was the Epson ET-3600 and it has everything we need in a printer. It comes with two sets of ink bottles (one to fill your printer with, and one to refill it with later). The ink that comes in the box is enough for up to 2 years of printing (up to 8500 pages). To put this in perspective, that's equivalent to about 50 ink cartridge sets!!
Convenient Features
We were also excited that you can print wirelessly from your phone, tablet, or computer. You can even email a file to your printer! It has a great print dialogue box with many adjustable settings like quality, speed, noise reduction (for those late night printings while the kids are sleeping nearby), double sided printing and a tracker for the approximate number of pages that can be printed for each colour. All of the Eco Tank printers come with flat bed scanners. We love this because we do a fair bit of scanning (it can scan up to 1200 DPI)! This printer doesn't have a USB port to plugh a flash drive into, but with the wifi connection capability, I haven't ever wished it was there.
Saving Money
I know you're probably wondering about the price. It is so much cheaper to get refills for this printer (you'll save up to 80% on ink) that while the price of the Eco Tank printers is higher than many home printers out there, the convenience of not having to worry about changing cartridges, the length of time each refill lasts, and the savings in ink easily make up for that (even just with the ink that comes with it).
Refilling The Ink
You can watch our little video below to see how easy it is to refill the printer. We do a fair bit of printing around here and I'm surprised at how little the ink levels have dropped! It seems like refilling won't need to be done very often.
We were so excited when we found these printers because they took away all of our stress associated with printer ink! I knew I needed to share this discovery because I'm certain we're not the only ones who have been frustrated with the challenges of ink cartridges!
We've already done a couple of fun projects with the printer and some special craft paper that Epson makes. It's so nice not to have to worry about how much printing we're doing- even in colour. I'm excited to share one of our projects with you soon!
Disclosure: I received products from Epson in order to facilitate this post. All opinions shared are, as always, my own.
I love the convenience of having a printer at home but hated the expense of the ink. I had at one point given up on colour ink and bought a printer with just toner because it was so expensive! I love the price and how efficient it is at usage. (love that wireless option!).
ReplyDeleteYes, I know!! Yeah, it's so frustrating! I was so excited when I heard about these ones!
Deletewow are you serious? 2 years of printing? that is fabulous. Ours definitely do not last that long. and this printer doesnt look so heavy and bulky like the one i got
ReplyDeleteI know, isn't that wonderful?! I'm so excited about it! :)
DeleteWow! Super cool! I didn't know there was such a thing. I just ran out of ink and had to run all over town to find some.
ReplyDeleteI didn't either until I heard about my in-laws' printer- I was so excited about it!
DeleteHaving a reliable printer is great. Especially one that is easy yo use
ReplyDeleteFor sure!
DeleteLooks like a great product, next time we invest in a printer, I will be sure to look for this product. We are 99% paperless in our home, luckily so are the boys with their school work (thankfully everything is electronic); but when we do have a printer (it collects dust most of the time). We actually removed the use of printers from our lives about 6-7 years ago, specifically for the reason you mentioned above and the costs associated with it.
ReplyDeleteThat's impressive! I can't imagine being 99% paperless!
DeleteI have a black and white laser printer, I've had one new toner cartridge in 5 years. I have been thinking about a colour printer and this one sounds like the one I'd like the most - I'd not heard of this type before and think the idea is marvellous.
ReplyDeleteYeah, one new cartridge in 5 years is so much nicer than what we used to be dealing with!! I'm so glad we found this Eco Tank option for colour printing!
DeleteThe concept behind this printer with refillable ink sounds pretty good but I hope that as time goes on the price will come down. Almost $500 is a pretty steep price as compared to the HP printer I just bought on sale for $29, regular $99.
ReplyDeleteThat is quite a difference. I would assume that there are a lot of other features in the nearly $500 printer that wouldn't be in a $99 printer though, and there are less expensive Eco Tank printers (and of course there's the difference in cost over time for cartridges), but yeah, definitely more of an investment up front!
DeleteThe Eco Tank printer sounds like a great deal for people who print with colour. We stopped using colour because it got so expensive.
ReplyDeleteYes, definitely great for printing with colour! I totally understand why you would do that, it can get so expensive!
DeleteOh my goodness, how am I just hearing about this now?! My printer is constantly running out of ink even though I only print a few things per month. I will definitely be looking into buying one of these ones in the near future.
ReplyDeletehaha I know, that's what I thought when I heard of them!
DeleteI still don't have a printer at home but gotta get one soon!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of a cartridge-free printer, however I've seen some pretty bad reviews of this one due to them breaking down quickly, so I hope yours is still going strong.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Ours is still going strong! My in-laws also have one (same brand, different model) and have had theirs longer than ours- still good so far!
DeleteHmm, could have sworn I wrote on this recently - old age catching up with me I guess :-). I love this idea, no more cartridges but it has to be a printer that will last for years as I find the price very steep - my black & white laser printer was much cheaper.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think if that's what your printing needs require, that would probably be the more economical way to go
DeleteI know this printer is a lot more expensive to buy upfront but I think you end up saving because the ink costs less.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I think too.
DeleteThank you for this article! It’s worth my husband and I looking into it more.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea because ink is the most expensive thing about printers!
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome ! I need a new printer , after buying a bunch a ink it quit working ! I am going to check this one out , sounds perfect to me ! Way better !
ReplyDeleteThese are so smart. Why did it take so long to come up with this?
ReplyDeleteI know!! I have been thinking the same thing!
Deletewow, what a great printer! I hardly print anything and I'm lucky if it lasts me 6 months!
ReplyDeleteWow, you've convinced me, will be looking into getting this printer.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention all the cartridges staying out of the landfills! Thanks :).
ReplyDeleteTrying to fix my printer after I refilled ink.. definitely a would be nice to not have this problem.
ReplyDelete