Epson Ecotank ET-2850 Review – How we use our printer when travelling

If you have followed us for a while then you will know that we love to travel. Be that a day trip here in the UK, a weekend break in one of the UK’s wonderful cities, exploring Europe or even adventuring further afield. We very much subscribe to the ‘collect memories, not things’ motto. Yet we are a busy family with the boys normally in school until six each evening, a whole host of after-school clubs and both parents working. So as much as well love to travel we are always hampered by time. This is why we were excited to try out the family printer – Epson Ecotank Printers ET-2850.

Ad – We have been gifted the printer included in this blog post and I have been compensated for my time

How we use our family printer when travelling

For this reason, we would be lost without a family printer. So much of our travel planning is now done online and since the pandemic, there seems to be even more necessity to have a printer at home. For example, at the weekend we went to see Monster Jam UK. Which was amazing! But I am so glad that we had a printer as we used it to:

• Print out our tickets to make it easy to use the turnstiles at the London Stadium 
• Print out some free monster truck colouring sheets for Harry to colour in on the train
• Print out a tube map so the boys could navigate our journey
• Print out the walking route from the station to the venue so that Harry could lead the way. We find this helps to speed him up and keep him occupied
• Print out some sudko puzzles to keep us entertained over dinner
• And finally, print out some of the photos from our adventure for show and tell at school

Of course, if we were travelling out of the country then I would probably also be printing itineraries, covid certificates, boarding passes and restaurant recommendations. We really do need a printer at home and that’s before you start on all the homework the boys need to do. This is where Very comes in. As they offer a wide range of family printers catering for all different needs and for all different budgets. 

Epson Ecotank ET-2850

I have long been a fan of Epson Ecotank printers. They are designed specifically for families. Epson identified that many families were not using their printers at home because of the prohibitive cost of ink. Sometimes the expensive ink cartridges are more expensive than the printer itself. Epson Ecotank printers aim to address this. Instead of going through lots of printer cartridges which could cost th same as the printer. They have come up with a solution.

Ink cartridges for the Epson ET-2850

The Epson Ecotank ET-2850 comes with enough ink in the box to print 12000 black and white pages and 5200 colour pages. Which is a really high page yield. Meaning that it will last a long time. Not only that but the refillable ink tanks means that there means there is no need for costly ink cartridges. Instead of buying cartridges, you buy ink in bottles. The cost of replacement ink bottles are £12.99 for the black ink bottle (127ml) and £7.99 for each 70ml colour. This makes the price per page very low cost when you think a traditional ink cartridge has just 3.5ml! This means increased print volumes and higher page yields when compared to other printers and traditional cartridges. Despite the focus on low-cost printing, the EcoTank models use Epson’s Micro Piezo technology for clear, sharp and precise printing. 

The large ink reservoirs are at the front of the printer so it is easy to see at a glance the ink levels you have left. The printer came with two bottles of black ink and one of each of the colour inks for the refillable tanks. it is possible to find compatible ink bottles which are even cheaper than the Epson Ecotank ink mentioned above.

Set up of the Epson ET-2850

Setting up our Epson Ecotank ET-2850 could not be simpler. One of the things I hate about printers is the fact that inevitably something goes wrong on the set up. Either the printer drivers don’t work or even if they do the damn thing doesn’t print for some other reason. So I was dubious.

Although a normal printer drive disk is included. If you have a smartphone or tablet then you can easily set it up in a few minutes. Within the paperwork, there is a QR code which takes you to the Epson Smart Panel App. Download this and set-up is completed through a number of questions. The way it works it almost feels like you are talking to someone at the end of a chat. In order for it to work properly, you need to keep your smart device close to the printer. But it is a really simple process.

If this is not possible then you can use the disk. Or you can connect to wi-fi direct from the printer once the ink initialisation process has been completed. It really is very straightforward. All you do is follow the prompts on the control panel or on the printer itself. 

Wireless printing

Second to the amazing value offered by the Ecotank printers. The biggest second selling point is the wireless printing that you can do with the Ecotank ET-2850. As a family, we have numerous smart devices, laptops and mobile devices. The fact that they can all connect easily to the printer really makes a difference. Plus the convenience of being able to print directly from my mobile is great. No longer do I need to try and find the laptop, inevitable charge it before logging in and printing. I can simply just press print on my phone. So useful when we are getting everything ready for a trip away. 

Print Quality

As part of the set-up process, you configure the printer heads and print out a page looking at the quality of the printing. This will show any gaps in the printed lines which you can then correct. For the second part the printer will print out a series of different squares and you select the ones without lines. All this ensures that when you do print documents they come out clear and unblurred. I was very impressed with the quality of the print resolution that the Epson Ecotank ET-2850 produced. Over time the printer will suggest a maintenance process – printhead cleaning. This is done by pressing a few buttons following clear instructions which will ensure that the quality is maintained.  There is an automatic document feeder to ensure that the paper stays straight and to stop any paper jams.

Photo Printing – Epson Ecotank Printers

I must admit I do judge a printer by how good the photo printing is! We do print a fair few photos. I like to update our gallery frames frequently with our new adventures. The boys print photos out to take to school. And I like to add them to travel journals if I can get them to write that is! The photo printing on the Epson Ecotank ET-2850 is very clear, on glossy paper, it looks as though I have had glossy prints professionally printed. And thanks to the economical nature of the ink I do not need to worry about how many I print. As refills are so much cheaper than they use to be. 

Epson Ecotank ET-2850 functions

As well as the printing which I have written about above. The Epson Ecotank ET-2850 also works as a scanner and copier. The three-in-one functions mean that we have everything we need on hand to help with the boy’s school, running a home and a business. All you need to do is select the function on the menu at the front of the printer using the arrow keys. It really is that simple and perfect for home office use or a small office set-up.

Our Conclusions Epson Ecotank Family Printer

I know we will get a lot of use out of our new printer. It has already really helped with our trip to Monster Jam. Its ease of use, fantastic photo printing and simple refillable ink bottles make it the perfect family printer.

Things I love about the Epson ET-2850

• I was honestly blown away by the quality of the photos that came out of the printer and with the faster print speeds.
• I am no longer inhibited by what I print, as I no longer have the fear of spending a fortune on cartridges. Until now I didn’t realise I even had this fear about ink costs but I totally did.
• It is a great size, compact it fits easily onto a top of a unit. It’s sleek in design and very modern.
• Even I managed to get the printer set up its so easy to follow the instructions
• That we can print wirelessly from multiple devices, having an app for my phone is an added bonus. 

You can buy your own from Very where the Epson ET-2850 is currently on sale for £259.99.

Have you tried one of the Epson’s ecotank printers? I would love to hear about your experiences with home printing in the comments below. 

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