The Epson EcoTank ET-4760 All-In-One Printer is the frontrunner in the company's most recent line of small-office multifunction printers. Like many EcoTank models, this one delivers extraordinary results at some of the lowest running costs available.
Better yet, it has an attribute set that does not blatantly compromise performance advantages for reduced ink costs. This makes it an Editors' Choice for small and home offices that need to publish or replicate several hundred pages monthly without fretting about consumable rates.
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| Epson ET-4760 - epson.com |
Small and Mighty
Measuring 10.0 by 16.4 by 19.8 inches (HWD) and weighing 15 pounds, the ET-4760 is smaller than most of its straight rivals, including the Canon Pixma G4210, the HP OfficeJet Pro Premier, and the Epson WorkForce ET-4750. Despite its small size, the ET-4760 still manages to cram in a 250-sheet paper cabinet and a 30-sheet auto-duplexing automatic file feeder (ADF).
This version is notably different from past Epson models in that it's off-white rather than the black we're used to seeing from this company. (It's also offered in the standard Epson black.)
Walk-up functions, such as making copies, scanning to or printing from the cloud, sending faxes, and making configuration changes, are managed via the ET-4760's 2.4-inch touch-screen display, which, aside from the Power and Help buttons, serves as the entire control panel.
You may find it especially useful, however, to access certain functions, such as tracking consumables and creating usage records, from the ET-4760's built-in site, a feature offered on almost all printers nowadays.
As pointed out, the ET-4760's paper input capacity consists entirely of a single 250-sheet drawer, with no override or multi-purpose tray. That's the same capability as all the other equipment listed below, except the Pixma G4210, which holds only 100 pages.
Epson rates the ET-4760's maximum monthly task cycle at 5,000 web pages and its recommended monthly print volume at 800 web pages, which is a little bit on the low side for a printer at this cost. The Epson ET-4750 and WorkForce ST-4000 are ranked the same.
Canon doesn't release yield scores for its consumer-grade printers, and the HP Premier's duty cycle is 20,000 web pages higher than these EcoTank AIOs, with an advised monthly volume of 1,500 pages.
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Alleviate of Use.
The ET-4760 struggled a bit in these statistics. This is the only choice we tested that doesn't have ink cartridges or toners. Instead, the ET-4760 has replacement ink containers that you pour into the printer's onboard storage tanks.
The procedure isn't messy, yet it is a bit of a task. It then takes the printer 10 minutes to validate that ink has been replaced. This isn't a major criticism, given that you should only have to do this every three years, but it's worth keeping in mind.
We also experienced a jam on our first examination print, which also affected its initial setup rating. To initially set up the printer, you have to print several test web pages and select the best one, which also takes some setup time.
The ET-4760's WiFi setup is uncomplicated, involving downloading software from Epson's website, but it is a little bit longer than the various other printers that we tested. The ET-4760's user interface is easy to use; nonetheless, the printer jams rather quickly.
Cleaning jams isn't awfully hard, yet their frequency makes them a rather big hassle and lowers their overall rating in this classification.
Graphics/Photos.
The ET-4760 does just okay at printing images. While photos have an excellent variety of colors and respectable clarity, we did see occasional striping, and overall, images appear lighter than their originals. There were circumstances in which published images did not look like their originals, despite respectable print quality.
For organization graphics, shades appeared slightly fainter than their on-screen equivalents, and text was understandable, albeit a little fuzzy. The general resolution was sharp, yet it lacked clarity for lighter colors. Ultimately, the color quality was decent yet irregular, with noteworthy, pale pink striping in the top half of some photos.
Eventually, while the ET-4760 can print color pictures, it doesn't stand out at generating them. If photo prints are not a high priority for you, this printer is still a wonderful buy thanks to its gradually reduced operating costs.
Style and attributes.
The layout and design of the Epson EcoTank ET-4760 All-in-One Cartridge-Free Supertank printer are familiar to anyone who has used a home or office all-in-one printer/scanner/fax machine in the last couple of years. There are a couple of features that set it apart from the majority, yet overall it's what you'd expect.
Lifting the top reveals the huge flatbed scanner, which offers high-quality scanning for anything that fits on the bed.
And over that is a flip-out automated document feeder. This permits you to set a stack of papers to be checked in a batch. In my testing, it succeeded with flat, crisp documents; however, it usually failed with double-fed papers that had been wrinkled (like expenses with multiple pages creased from mailing), which caused some pages not to be backed.
The backpack is relatively empty, aside from a huge easy-access compartment for papers, which they did have to use several times during my testing. It is really easy to get rid of, and jammed papers are conveniently accessible and easy to remove. Nonetheless, they had many more jams with conventional printer paper than they had anticipated (3 out of ~200 prints).
They can't remember the last time my previous printer had the same issue with the same paper; I don't believe it happened more than once or twice before. Although the paper jams were easy to fix, it can be bothersome to have to reprint and unjam the paper. All of the paper jams accompanied double-sided printing.
The output tray pulls out and grabs printed records. If you neglect this, they splash out onto the floor/counter.
The paper tray is a single-tray event, yet easily adaptable to a variety of sizes. I evaluated mainly letter-size dimensions (8.5 x 11; printer paper and cardstock) and 4 x 6 photo prints.
The screen's angle can be readjusted or kept flat against the printer. I valued this; bright lights in my workplace create a strong glare on numerous electronics.
