Professional’s Score
Professionals
- Cheap picture prints
- Nice print high quality
- Mess-free ink refills
Cons
- No show
- No scanner / copier
- Costly to purchase
Our Verdict
The ET-18100 is able to wonderful print high quality, and really quick prints when required. But it surely’s costly to purchase so is simply for individuals who actually need to print quite a lot of A3 pictures
Epson’s EcoTank system has been with us for nearly a decade now. It answered the issue of low-yield cartridges that led to comparatively high-cost pages by introducing large-capacity ink tanks within the printer that might be refilled individually.
This additionally solved the issue of getting to throw away unused ink in color cartridges that mixed all three colors into one.
The draw back, after all, is that EcoTank printers price extra to purchase within the first place and must be used pretty recurrently so their nozzles don’t clog up with dried-out ink.
The brand new ET-18100 is geared toward photographers (and different creatives) who need to print bigger than A4 and don’t need their printer to double-up as an workplace workhorse. That’s why this specific EcoTank doesn’t have a scanner or doc feeder and doesn’t print on either side of the paper.
Options & Design
- Six ink tanks
- Handles as much as A3+ media
- Can print ID playing cards & CDs
Contemplating it’s an A3+ printer, the ET-18100 isn’t as huge as you may anticipate. Nevertheless, it does want a good quantity of desk area when the paper trays are absolutely prolonged.
Not like some EcoTank fashions, there’s no show on this one. As an alternative, you’re anticipated to arrange and print from a cellular gadget, together with your telephone or pill changing the printer’s display.
You possibly can print from a PC or Mac, after all, and you may go correctly old-school in case you like and hook up the ET-18100 with a USB, though Epson doesn’t embrace one within the field.
You do get a full set of ‘107’ ink – six 70ml bottles – which is greater than sufficient to brim the tanks with ink left over.
They comprise: black, cyan, magenta, yellow, gentle cyan and lightweight magenta.
Jim Martin / Foundry
The paper tray is on the rear, however because it isn’t coated, it’s finest to insert picture paper solely once you’re able to print. The good thing about a rear feed is that the paper doesn’t should be turned 180° on itself because it does with a entrance feeder and this lets you use thicker inventory.
As you may anticipate, the ET-18100 can print pictures proper to the perimeters of the paper no matter dimension.
One uncommon inclusion within the field is a plastic tray that may maintain a CD / DVD and two PVC ID playing cards. This seems like an anachronism in 2023, however in case you nonetheless burn CDs or house films then it may show helpful.
Setup
Whenever you unbox the ET-18100 there’s quite a lot of folded paperwork with no apparent quick-start information. However as soon as you discover the sheet in your language and realise you may scan a QR code you may obtain the Epson Sensible Panel app which guides you thru setup.
It really works like a chatbot, explaining every step to take and warning you to not depart the printer alone. Emptying the ink from the bottles to the tanks is easy: every one has a coded sample and can solely match into the proper slot for that color, so it isn’t doable to by chance pour within the fallacious color.
No ink escapes the bottle once you flip it the other way up: it empties solely when seated into its slot, and mechanically stops when the ink reaches the max. line.
Jim Martin / Foundry
After this, the printer initialises the ink system which primes the printer – you’ll see the degrees drop a bit within the tanks. This occurs on the primary time when the printer is new, and also you’ll get much more pictures from subsequent bottles.
The app by some means makes establishing Wi-Fi a 30-step course of, however as soon as that exact irritation is out of the best way you may then begin printing.
It’s value noting that you just don’t want a smartphone or pill: it’s doable to observe the directions on the included sheet to fill the tanks and prime the system.
After which you could go to the web site within the remaining instruction and obtain the Home windows or Mac software program which you’ll want in an effort to arrange Wi-Fi.
Nevertheless, in case you configure Wi-Fi through the telephone app first, Home windows will discover the ET-18100 in your community and mechanically set up a driver so no further software program is required. You’ll in all probability need to set up at the least Epson Picture+, although, because it makes it simpler to print pictures in addition to letting you print picture collages and, after all, these CDs and ID playing cards.
Jim Martin / Foundry
Efficiency
- A3 print in underneath two minutes
- 6x4in print in 30 seconds
- 7ppm for normal high quality A4 pages
Even when pace isn’t your precedence, the ET-18100 is impressively quick in its ‘Customary’ mode, which is the default in each the cellular app and Picture+ desktop software program. A borderless 6x4in picture takes simply 30 seconds and a full A3 picture just one:50.
Crank it as much as the best high quality and a 6x4in snap takes 60 seconds and an A3 print roughly 5 minutes – faster than different A3 printers we’ve examined.
Jim Martin / Foundry
If you could print A4 paperwork on plain paper, they’ll seem at about seven pages per minute at normal high quality (an eight-page doc took 70 seconds), however that pace will increase dramatically in case you solely want draft high quality.
It slows down in case you select to collate a number of copies of a doc, however since this can be a picture printer it’s extremely unlikely you’ll be doing that very a lot.
It additionally explains why there’s no auto-duplex: you may print on either side of the paper, however you’ll must reinsert the pages into the enter tray.
General, the ET-18100 is a improbable picture printer
As all ink – together with black – is dye-based, textual content isn’t fairly as darkish as you get from pigment black, however to place it merely, if doc printing is a precedence, that is the fallacious printer for you.
Jim Martin / Foundry
What’s essential is that picture high quality is superb. Feed it a picture with a suitably excessive decision (at the least 300 dpi) and also you’ll have the ability to see a shocking stage of element in prints. Colors are correct, too, with grass, skies and pores and skin tones showing just about precisely as on my iPhone display.
When you’re printing from a laptop computer or PC, you need to make sure that your display is calibrated utilizing a colorimeter if color accuracy is essential within the remaining prints.
And whether or not you’re utilizing a telephone, pill, laptop computer or PC, keep in mind that display brightness impacts how pictures look: it’s straightforward to assume they’re vibrant sufficient however prints seem too darkish. There, a histogram (present in a reliable picture editor) is your pal.
You’ll see a warning when printing from Home windows that enabling borderless mode may result in smears across the edges (a message you don’t get on cellular) and there have been just a few events the place a tiny quantity of black ink appeared in remoted locations on edges. Actually nothing actually noticeable, although.
I attempted printing just a few pictures that weren’t pictures to see if blocks of color matched their on-screen counterparts. They did basically, however yellows tended to be a bit darker and extra orange than they need to have been.
Nevertheless, general, the ET-18100 is a improbable picture printer.
Initially, the absence of a display appeared like a disadvantage. However after printing over Wi-Fi from a telephone or PC, I didn’t miss it in any respect: the apps provide high quality management over precisely the best way to place the picture you need to print, so even when it doesn’t match the paper’s side ratio, you may management what will get reduce off.
Wi-fi printing is totally dependable, too.
If there’s a criticism it’s that the templates supplied in Picture+ are fairly primary and aren’t editable. It’s high quality in case you just like the structure, however though one template seems prefer it is likely to be for passport pictures, it isn’t named as such and also you’re left to try to work out which paper dimension to make use of to get the correct picture dimension.
Value & availability
Epson’s official worth for the ET-18100 is £699.99. Nevertheless, it wasn’t in the stores from Epson’s web site in March 2023.
Because it was model new on the time of evaluation, it wasn’t being bought by many retailers on-line. Park Cameras, Harrison Cameras, Carmarthen Cameras and Digital camera Centre had it for £649.
It isn’t bought within the US, Canada or Australia.. at the least but.
EcoTank printers is likely to be costly to purchase, however they’re low-cost to run
If the ET-18100 is simply too costly for you, then you can go for a four-colour A3 printer (such because the ET-14000, though that’s extra for paperwork than pictures) or an A4 mannequin such because the ET-8500 (though that’s probably not less expensive).
When you just like the ET-18100 however desire a scanner as effectively, the ET-8550 can also be an A3+ mannequin, and that was on sale direct from Epson at £729.99.
You may as well see our suggestions for different fashions in our roundup of one of the best printers.
Working prices
EcoTank printers is likely to be costly to purchase, however they’re low-cost to run. Every ink bottle prices £9.99 and may print 2,100 6x4in (10x15cm) pictures. You will get multipacks (a full set of all six) however these I discovered have been dearer than shopping for bottles singly.
Every 6×4, then, prices just below 3p, not together with paper.
Epson doesn’t give yields for A3, however A3 is about 8.3x bigger than 6x4in, which means you may anticipate to print round 250 borderless A3 pictures earlier than needing one other set of ink.
Utilizing this estimate, every A3 picture prices 24p in ink, once more not together with paper.
The included preliminary set have a decrease yield of 1,500 6x4in prints, as a result of some ink is used to initialise the system.
When you solely printed paperwork with 5% protection, every bottle would final for five,700, which means a black-and-white A4 doc prices simply 1p.
If that web page had 5% protection of all six colors, that’s 6p.
These costs are increased than for Epson’s A4 ET-3850, however in case you are after a printer for churning out a great deal of A3 pictures, it’s aggressive.
Verdict
The ET-18100 is an uncommon printer, as a result of it’s fully targeted on low-cost picture printing and doesn’t actually do the rest. Residence customers will in all probability discover the printer’s worth a barrier, even when working prices are low, as a result of they merely gained’t must print pictures on the type of quantity the ET-18100 is designed for.
Certainly, Epson presents solely a one-year guarantee on it, or 50,000 pages, whichever is reached first.
However if in case you have a facet hustle on Etsy or ebay and need the choice to print art work and pictures larger than A4, it’s an amazing selection.
Specs
- 6-colour inkjet printer
- Ink kind: Dye tank fill
- Print decision: 5760 x 1440dpi
- Borderless: Sure
- Most paper dimension: A3+
- Enter trays: 1 (80 sheets)
- Output trays: 1 (100 sheets)
- ADF: No
- Double-sided printing: handbook
- Connectivity: USB, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct
- Dimensions: 523 x 369 x 150 mm (W x D x H)
- Weight: 8kg
- Power use: 0.6W (sleep); 19W (printing); 0.2W (energy off)
- Guarantee: 1 12 months