Steep buying price, although you'll end up saving on ink
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Epson promises excellent savings in return for the hefty investment involved in getting the EcoTank ET-7750. With enough ink included to print you up to 3,400 photos and ink-efficient duplex printing, it’s easy to see how this will pay off over time.
The ET-7750 is Epson’s top-of-the-range multi-format printer. Being three-in-one means you can copy, scan and print, but not fax (the horror!). It boasts cartridge-free printing, automatic duplex, A3 printing, a high-quality scanner and plenty more. It’s main selling point has to be the ink bottles included. In the box you will get two of each of the five-colour system inks. This includes your dye CMYK inks, and a photo-specific pigment black for exceptional image depth.
It’s a great idea for Epson to move the tanks to the front of the machine so you can physically see how much ink is left, rather than relying on sensors. It is satisfying to see how much ink you are using and therefore saving. Each bottle has a key nozzle to avoid accidentally filling up the wrong tank and mixing your inks, plus a valve to stop the flow automatically and prevent overfilling.
The 6.8-inch display is not a touchscreen, and so navigation is done through the buttons next to the screen. This is no real problem, as the readability is fine, and the panel tilts forward for easier reading. It’s just when it comes to typing in a wi-fi password that it becomes pretty irritating. To access the paper trays, you have to tilt up the front display panel.
Here, you will find two paper trays and one printable CD/DVD tray. The rear feed tray is for A3 and speciality media. It is worth noting that it cannot print A3 glossy photos, but is meant for colour tabloids or poster etc. For all this functionality, it is heftier in build than some of the other models. The bulk of the machine is solid, but the various paper trays feel very flimsy and breakable.
You can connect virtually anyway. In the front, there is an SD card and USB slot, with one more USB slot at the back. You can also work over wi-fi or through various mobile apps. However, there is no NFC compatibility. The diversity is a wonderful thing. You can imagine yourself making super-high quality photo prints, as well as running off some nice Instagram snaps. Initially, prints came out streaky, which is discouraging. But after a few tests they were excellent.
The scanner can’t be overlooked as a resource. The ET-7750 scans at a crisp 1,200x2,400dpi using a compact image sensor. Scan in your sketches and hand-drawn art, and create assets for Photoshop with excellent results. It is unfortunate that the scanner bed is not quite A3.
Setup is nice and easy. In the box you get a simple user manual leaflet showing you the ink-loading procedure and where to download the setup wizard. Ink cartridge charging takes about seven minutes, and will run off a few test sheets. The ink bottles have slightly more in than will initially fit in the tank – a nice touch to make up for the ink used in the set-up process. You might feel the urge to put down paper to protect surfaces or wear gloves, but in test there wasn’t a drip in sight.
The ET-7750 comes with a hefty price tag, especially for a printer with a few mechanical shortfalls. But in the long run of buying cartridge after cartridge for a printer of the same quality and diversity, you are bound to save money.
Standout feature
Five-colour ink system
In the box, you’ll receive two bottle of each of the CMYK colours. You will also receive two double capacity bottles of pigment ink. This will make the blacks in your images all that more vivid, and shows this machine to be a specialist in photo printing.
5 key features
1. No mess refill
Each bottle has a drip-free nozzle that will only fit in the correct cartridge, meaning you don’t have to worry about accidentally mixing inks. The super-high capacity tanks mean you’ll hardly have to think about refilling anyway.
2. LCD screen
The 6.8-inch LCD display is on a hinged control panel at the front. From here, you can navigate through network and prints settings through bright and straightforward UI. However, it isn’t a touchscreen, which loses points.
3. Diverse media handling
The ET-7750 handles automatic duplex printing for your day-to-day printing needs. It also handles borderless photo printing for a crisp and professional finish. You can also print onto DVDs/CDs and envelopes.
4. High quality
Scan with a 1,200x2,400dpi compact image sensor and print with a 5,760x1,440 dpi Epson Micro Piezo™ print head. This printer doesn’t sacrifice any quality.
5. Print from anywhere
With modern printers, there is excellent accessibility, as well as a built-in SD card slot and USB input. You can also print via dedicated wi-fi apps like Epson Connect, Apple AirPrint and Google Cloud Print.
Verdict
Great for an office with a lot of colour printing and multimedia needs, though some mechanical flimsiness doesn’t initially make it feel worth the price.
Mark wrote for Photoshop Creative magazine until its closure in September 2018, demonstrating his mastery of advanced image editing skills. He is now a staff writer the leading soccer magazine FourFourTwo.
