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December 1, 2015

Epson Supertank Printer is the Wave of the Future

Hi Folks,

  Welcome back!

   As you might already know from my previous Blog Posts, I have tested a wide variety of Epson WorkForce printers, so I believe that my vast experience in reviewing these has now granted me the honor of reviewing the most advanced printer Epson has produced, in my opinion, the Epson ET-4550.

   The full title of the printer is the Epson WorkForce ET-4550 EcoTank, which is a 4-in-1 Supertank with Wireless & Ethernet, serving as a Color Printer, Scanner, Copier, and Fax. It is affectionately referred to as "Supertank", and you'll soon see why. I'll have to warn you in advance to watch out for any goofy references to Thanksgiving, as this review is being done the later portion of the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend.

   So, in order to give you an idea what angle Epson is coming from with this printer, I ask you to think back and remember what a hassle it is/was buying new ink cartridges, right? Remembering the model #, pricing it out, and ultimately, paying a fortune. Then we thought we found a shortcut with those refill kits, which were great, saved us money, and the ink was perfect. Sshhh! Epson was on to us the whole time, because the Supertank comes equipped with what's akin to fill-able cartridges in it. It starts with a large bay on the right side of the printer, where you load each bottle of ink into the corresponding "sub" bay. The ink is then automatically fed through tubes as needed. Very cool concept and very cutting edge. OK, let's get dirty. It's time for the ink!

   I opened the multiple bottles of ink provided, and I realized that this thing will be ready for battle with this amount of ink straight out of the box! I then put on the rubber gloves that were provided and began filling the tanks. This gave me sort of a "mad scientist" gleam. I felt evil for a while, but that feeling subsided fast when I realized I spilled some ink and got some on my arm. Note: No white shirts when refilling, and nothing near the carpet. So, with the tanks loaded up, I now felt confident and excited about testing out such a unique piece of technology.

   When this baby was locked and loaded with ink and paper, that's when the fun began. Faster than you can say, "Turkey leftovers" (don't say I didn't warn you!), this machine was humming along.
They claim 13 ppm for black ink, but when the clock hit 60 seconds, I had a 14th page out and a 15th page mid-stream. These were full, black single-spaced text pages (letter-sized paper) with no images, so I took this printer to task.

   Printing in Color was a snap and vibrant. I printed a Team Photo of my favorite baseball team and there was no smudging or running. It was truly at or above laser-printer quality.

Now, this Supertank comes with enough ink to print 11,000 Black ink pages or about 8500 color pages. You may wind up waiting 1-2 years to buy new ink, based on your printing capacity/requirements. That is a lot of ink capacity, thus the "Super-tank" name.

In my mad scientist mode, I skipped some important facts you should know about the setup
  * Setting up Wi-Fi direct was quite easy and was as simple as the set up on the other WorkForce printers I have tested.

  * I set up the print quality settings, which was a snap, and very easy using the screen on the printer.

  Now, we begin testing some of the most important features that are required by folks nowadays:
  *  Email Printing: Printing 101, very simple and easy to do, and very important to many folks, including myself. Intuitive and straightforward.

  * Remote Printing: From out and about I sent a Print job, and when arriving back, the print job was waiting right there for me!

  * Scan to the Cloud: Very easy to follow the instructions and scan documents to save in your online storage (Dropbox, etc). Very handy, as well.

  * Android Printing: Used my Android on Wifi and Remotely to properly and easily print a document.

  * Apple AirPrint: I'm not too Apple savvy, however, I did get this to work, with a few steps in between.

FULL SPECS:
Print
Printing Technology: Powered by PrecisionCore™ 4-color (CMYK) drop-on-demand inkjet technology
Minimum Ink Droplet Size: 3 droplet sizes, as small as 3.3 picoliters
Maximum Print Resolution: 4800 x 1200 dpi

ISO Print Speed:
Black: 13 ISO ppm†
Color: 7.3 ISO ppm†
2-Sided ISO Print Speed:
Black: 6.5 ISO ppm†
Color: 4.5 ISO ppm†

Copy
ISO Copy Speed:
Black: 11 ISO cpm‡
Color: 5.5 ISO cpm‡
Copy Quality: Color/Black-and-White: Standard/Best
Copy Quantity: 1 – 99 (PC-free)
Maximum Copy Size: 8.5" x 14"
Copy Features:
Auto 1-sided to 2-sided
Fit to page
Automatic reduction and enlargement (25 - 400%)
ID Copy
Collate
Adjustable Copy Density

Scan
Scanner Type: Color flatbed / ADF
Photoelectric Device: Color CIS line sensor
Optical Resolution: 2400 dpi
Hardware Resolution: 1200 x 2400 dpi
Maximum Resolution: 9600 dpi interpolated
Scanner Bit Depth: 48-bit color input / 24-bit color output
Features: Scan to: PC, Cloud including Email1

Fax
Fax Settings: Black & White and Color
Fax Speed: Up to 33.6 Kbps – as fast as 3 sec per page
Memory: Up to 100 pages
Speed Dials: 60 (max.)
PC Fax: Supported

Paper Handling
PC-Free Paper Support:
Plain (letter, 8.5" x 14", A4)
Photo (4" x 6", 5" x 7", 8" x 10", letter, A4)
Paper Sizes: 3.5" x 5", 4" x 6", 5" x 7", 8" x 10", letter, A4, A6, half letter, executive, user definable (3.5" #8211; 47.2" in length)

Maximum Paper Size: 8.5 x 47.2 inch
Paper Types:
Plain paper
Epson Bright White Paper
Epson Presentation Paper Matte
Epson Premium Presentation Paper Matte
Epson Premium Presentation Paper Matte Double-sided
Epson Premium Photo Paper Glossy
Epson Ultra Premium Photo Paper Glossy
Envelope Types:
No. 10
Plain paper
Bond paper
Air mail
Input Paper Capacity:

150 sheets plain paper
10 envelopes
20 sheets photo paper
Output Paper Tray Capacity: 30 sheets

Ink
Ink Type: EcoTank Ink Bottles
Ink Palette: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black
Ink Configuration: 4 individual ink bottles
Replacement Ink: 774 Black, 664 Color: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow
(ISO Yield, Epson Methodology - Black: 6,000, Color: 6,500)

Connectivity
Standard Connectivity:
Hi-Speed USB (compatible with USB 2.0 specification)
Wireless LAN (802.11 b/g/n)2
Wired Ethernet (10/100/100 Mbps)
Wi-Fi Direct2
Mobile Printing

Epson Connect™: Epson® Email Print, Epson iPrint™ Mobile App, Epson Remote Print3
Other: Apple® AirPrint™, Google Cloud Print™, Kindle Fire™, Mopria

General
Operating Systems:
Windows® 10
Windows® 8, 8.1 (32 bits, 64 bits)
Windows 7 (32 bits, 64 bits)
Windows Vista® (32 bits, 64 bits)
Windows XP® SP3 (32 bits)
Windows XP Professional x64
Mac OS® X 10.6 – 10.10.x4
Server Systems:
Windows Server 20125
Windows Server 2008 R25
Windows Server 20085
Windows Server 2003 R25
Windows Server 20035

Display: 2.2" Mono graphics display

Printer Language: ESC/P-R

Temperature:
Operating
50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)
Storage
-4° to 104° F (-20° to 40° C)
Humidity:
Operating
20 – 80% RH
Storage
5 – 85% RH (no condensation)

Sound Level:
Power: 6.4 B(A)
Pressure: 50 dB(A)

Rated Voltage: AC 100 – 240V Universal (Automatic)
Rated Frequency: 50 – 60 Hz
Rated Current: 0.5A – 0.3A

Power Consumption:
Approx. 11 W ISO 24712 (Standalone copy printing)
Approx. 4.4 W (Ready)
Approx. 1.5 W (Sleep)
Approx. 0.3 W (Power off) ENERGY STAR® qualified

Monthly Duty Cycle: Up to 3,000 pages (Recommended monthly page volume: up to 800 pages6)

Safety Approvals: Safety standards UL60950, CSA C22.2 No. 60950 EMI FCC Part 15 subpart B class B, CAN/CSA-CEI/IEC CISPR 22 class B

Telecom Regulations: FCC Part 68 (USA), IC/CS03 (Canada)

Dimensions:
Printing: 20.3" x 22.0" x 9.5" (W x D x H)
Storage: 20.3" x 14.2" x 9.5" (W x D x H)
Weight: 16.3 lb

Software Included: EPSON printer driver, EPSON Scan, PC-Fax : Internet access is required to install OS X drivers and software.

Country of Origin: Indonesia


   All of the key factors that you want or are promised to you are right at you fingertips. I was very impressed by this printer, and still in awe over the foresight of Epson to ride the wave of the refillable ink world. Now that is smart technology folks. That's what you want standing in your corner if you run a business or it's what you want in your home. Something to be proud of and save money with at the same time. Kudos, Epson, nice work !!
   I'd love to hear your comments and questions!

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Have a Great Week, and Happy Rent-to-Owning !
Regards,
Rob Eisenstein
HomeRun Homes - Rent to Own Homes, since 2002
"Located at the Corner of Technology and Real Estate"
Rent to Own Homes and Real Estate Blog for HomeRun Homes: http://blogging.lease2buy.com
HomeRun Homes Websites: http://www.lease2buy.com and http://www.homerunhomes.com


TAGS: #epson #scanner #documentscanner #scan #supertank