The Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550 is an all-in-one photo printer with refillable ink storage tanks. Along with the typical cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink, it makes use of grey and photo-black ink; it's compatible with Epson 552 inks. It's a wide-format printer that supports approximately 13" x 19" paper size, and its flatbed scanner sustains as much as Legal-size paper yet lacks an ADF and fax capability.
Connectivity alternatives consist of Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, USB, and Ethernet. You can additionally print straight from an SD card, and there's mobile support for Apple AirPrint and Mopria Print Service. This printer works with an unique version of the Epson Smart Panel app, which provides additional functionality for image printing.
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| Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550 - epson.com |
The Epson EcoTank ET-8550 makes an excellent job of both, with an ink line-up that's a suitable compromise for both tasks. It's basically an upsized A3+/ 13-inch version of the cartridge-free A4/8.5- inch ET-8500 and works on specifically the exact same ink containers and substitute 70ml containers. Taking on likes of Canon's PIXMA G650 'MegaTank' A4/8.5- inch printer, it has likewise reduced running costs yet the Epson printers are far more pricey to purchase, so it takes longer to obtain your refund.
Epson EcoTank ET-8550 is different to dedicated A3+/ 13x19-inch dedicated inkjet photo printers being much more of a multi-purpose, multi-function device. This all-in-one printer has a pigment-based black ink for delivering crisp black message, in addition to 5 dye-based inks for photo result, comprising cyan, magenta, yellow, photo black and grey.
The grey ink not only enhances the shade room yet also enables higher integrity for black & white picture printing. That's ok as much as a factor, however it loses compared to A3+ printers like the pigment-based Epson SureColor P700 and Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-300, and the dye-based Canon PIXMA PRO-200, which operate on ten inks and 8 inks specifically.
As expert image printers, these have a significantly larger color space or range, compared to the ET-8550, in addition to having a bigger range of black and grey inks for superior black & white image printing.
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Epson EcoTank ET-8550: attributes
As with other Epson EcoTank printers, a key function of the ET-8550 is that it has containers of ink, as opposed to cartridges, which are restored using 70ml containers, at an expense of around $17.50/ ₤ 16 each. That compares extremely favorably with printers like the 6-ink, cartridge-based Epson Expression Photo XP-970 A3/11-inch version, which only has 9ml of ink even in its 'XL' cartridges, at a comparable price of around ₤ 16/$17 each.
Epson claims that the ink price is minimized by around 80 percent total and that, for photos, it boils down from around 40c/40p to about 4c/4p per 6x4-inch print. The other side is that the ET-8500 prices virtually 3 times as a lot to buy to begin with.
Although 70ml looks and sounds like a lot of ink per container, it's worth remembering that Epson's large-format A3+/ 13-inch SureColor P700 and A2/17-inch SureColor P900 printers run on upsized 25ml and 50ml cartridges. For the last, there's not a big difference in the ability of cartridges versus bottles. Even so, P900 cartridges cost around $42/ ₤ 38 each so are much more expensive than replacement ink containers.
One more variable is that the SureColor printers are marketed with low-capacity 'arrangement' cartridges, which just last for a few large-format prints, so you 'd require to get an expensive full collection of replacement cartridges extremely promptly. By plain comparison, the ET-8500 impressively includes a set of full-capacity 70ml ink containers, sufficient for publishing around 2,300 6x4-inch image prints.
As a printer that's far better suited to office work than expert large-format image printers, the ET-8500 features multiple input cassettes for filling different types and sizes of paper, vehicle duplex printing, and a large-format 8.5x14-inch scanner to enable straight scanning and copying.
Everything's brought together by a handy 10.9 cm color touchscreen with an intuitive user interface and, for remote operation using a mobile phone or tablet, there's the 'Epson Smart Panel' app. Connection choices consist of USB, Wi-Fi and Ethernet, and the printer also features an SD/HC/XC card port and PictBridge port.
For publishing on larger-format paper as much as A3+/ 13x17-inch, there's an upright feeder which brings up from the rear of the printer, plus a straight feeder that enables you to print banners and scenic photos as much as 2m in size, along with enabling professional media approximately 1.3 mm thick.
