Epson EcoTank ET-5150 All-in-One Inkjet Printer Review

We print less and less, it's true. But in this age of telecommuting and home offices, it still comes in handy to have a device that can not only print, but also scan or photocopy documents. After all, you never know when you will receive a contract whose originals must be returned urgently, signed, by courier!

I recently had the opportunity to test Epson's EcoTank ET-5150 wireless all-in-one inkjet printer (coming soon) . A versatile product with a multitude of useful functions, although sometimes you have to get used to bizarre design peculiarities.

Specification

Technical specifications of the Epson ET-5150 printer
Print 17 pages per minute in black and white and 9.5 pages per minute in color, with no warm-up delay.
Duplex printing.
Color depth: 48 bits.
Photocopies at a resolution of 300 x 300 dots per inch; 10 copies per minute in black and white, 4.5 copies per minute in color.
Maximum resolution of 4800 x 1200 dots per inch when printed.
Maximum resolution of 3200 x 1200 dots per inch when scanning, enhanced to 9600 dpi by software.
Wi-Fi and USB connectivity (cable not included).
2.4 inch color touchscreen.
Four high capacity ink tanks: black, cyan, yellow, magenta. Yield: up to 7,500 black and 6,000 color pages.
Automatic document feeder with a capacity of 35 sheets.
30-sheet output bin.
250 sheet capacity paper tray.
Dimensions: 37.6 x 34.5 x 34.8 centimeters.
Weight: 7.6 kg.

First contact with the Epson ET-5150 printer
The ET-5150 printer comes with:

Two large bottles of black ink;
Three smaller colored ink bottles (one yellow, one cyan and one magenta);
A user's guide;
And drivers on CD-ROM… For Windows users who still have physical drives connected to their machines.
No trace of a USB cable, however. Wi-Fi connectivity is clearly seen as the default option.

The device is quite beefy: one and a half times the volume of my current laser printer, which also has a scanner. It is truly an office peripheral, which needs a dedicated surface to accommodate it: I find it very difficult to see how it could be inserted in a bookcase or hidden in a piece of furniture, for example.

Installation is relatively straightforward. You may need to reconsider your lifestyle choices as you try to enter your 32-character Wi-Fi router password on the 2.4-inch touchscreen, and not all on-screen prompts are correct. very explicit, but we get used to it. It only took a few minutes for me to connect the ET-5150 to my wireless network, download and install the Epson software suite on my Mac, and start working.

EcoTank technology

Epson relies heavily on EcoTank technology, which replaces small ink cartridges with large tanks that you refill yourself. The argument is appealing. Inkjet printer cartridges are expensive, run out in no time if you print a lot, and tend to dry out if you don't print enough. I have already shed a tear when I threw away a brand new, completely dry cartridge before I even unpacked it, which I had bought in anticipation of a big operation a few months in advance. (Never again!)

In theory, replacing cartridges with bottles could save you a huge amount of money. Up to 80%, in fact. Difficult to judge during a short test, but if the performance of the ET-5150 approaches the advertised 7,500 black pages and 6,000 color pages per bottle (s), the ink cost should not exceed 1 to 2 cents per page. Impressive!

I received the device with almost full ink tanks, but still tried to fill them up. As I am a congenital clumsy, it was not without causing me some concern. But Epson's ink tanks and bottles are very well designed and I'm happy to report that there hasn't been any ink damage to my floor. (A few spots on the fingers, but it's already a miracle, you shouldn't ask for too much!)

Print performance

In the case of a wireless printer, the fact that there is no long warm-up time before starting to print is somewhat misleading. Indeed, it is rather the time of transmission of the data from your computer or your mobile device which will determine the waiting time before printing, especially if your documents are loaded with photos. That said, once the printing has started, everything goes very quickly, even on both sides. And if, like me, you have the habit of staining your fingers by taking your copies too quickly out of the printer, know that Epson's ink dries very quickly!

Printing works smoothly from both a Mac and an iPad with the Epson Smart Panel app installed. Images look good even on plain paper. There is also a specialized photo printing mode, like on a dedicated device. I was unable to take full advantage of this feature due to a lack of photo paper, but even with plain paper the results were quite acceptable.

Oddly enough, the printed documents come out inside the machine. Difficult to recover them without twisting the paper a little. I guess you get used to it, but I found it annoying.

Note: Unlike other inkjet printers I've owned in the past, this one doesn't seem to have “draft” and “final document” settings. At least the macOS drivers didn't give me that choice. Finally, note that the paper feed motor is quite noisy, more than average. Nothing disqualifying, but I would avoid installing the device too close to the room of a baby with delicate sleep!

Copy and scan performance

The advertised resolution of photocopies is surprisingly low. You would expect the same precision as with ordinary scanning and printing, but not: only 300 x 300 dots per inch. In practice, this is quite sufficient for written documents, but more or less satisfactory for photos.

At 35 sheets, the capacity of the document feeder to be copied is more than adequate. It is possible to make double-sided copies, but only on output: your documents must be single-sided.

Scanning also works with the input tray. It is easy to use whether you start scanning from the device's touchscreen or from your computer, and the images are very good quality.

You can also scan a document that you place yourself on the scanner glass, like a page from an open book, but be careful! The document feeder takes precedence over the glass, even if it is empty. Result: If you forget to close the tray drawer, the scanner will wait forever for the tray to provide it with a non-existent document rather than scanning what is on its glass. A peculiarity that made me waste a lot of time ...

The final verdict

With its versatility, two-sided printing and copying, and most importantly the low cost of EcoTank ink, the Epson ET-5150 Wireless All-in-One (coming soon) could be a very useful addition to your home office. Compared to competing products, it will undoubtedly be even more advantageous if you print often and in large quantities.