Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Making Memories & Setting Up Shop || Epson EcoTank ET-7750 Printer Review

Epson eco tank ET-7750 review value quality

Epson EcoTank ET-7750 Printer


Over the years I've spent a fortune having photos printed as well as printing my art work for selling and framing. Just recently I set up my Etsy shop, with the long term plan of providing print copies of my images and ultimately investing in a decent printer that would produce great quality prints to distribute from home. I'd also love to print my own photos to save money along the way and make sure our memories are shared and displayed, not just sitting in computer files for years to come. There's nothing better than flicking through actual photo albums is there?

As if by magic, I was contacted last month and offered the amazing chance to review an Epson EcoTank ET-7750 printer, the exact kind of printer I have looked at saving up for long term, so you can imagine my squeal of excitement when I found out. This printer would not only allow us to print our memories, but also create gifts and prints to sell via my Etsy store. This was really one of those dream come true review opportunities and I was so excited for the arrival of our new printer. I hate the fact that I have so many beautiful pictures just sat in files, but finally I can print them easily right here at home.


Epson eco tank ET-7750 review value quality


This is far more than your standard home printer though and has loads to offer. From printing high quality, low cost photographs that could apparently last a whopping 300 years in an album, to it's compact design and inclusion of up to three years worth of ink. Here's a little more technical info about the Epson EcoTank ET-7750 and what it can do;

Epson EcoTank ET-7750 Key Features


  • Cartridge free - has high capacity ink tanks instead. 
  • Comes with ink to print up to 3,400 10X15cm photographs. 
  • Mechanism built in to prevent incorrect colours in the tanks. 
  • High quality photo printing, photographs that can last up to 300 years in an album. 
  • 5 colour ink system including black photo ink. 
  • SD card slot. 
  • Borderless printing. 
  • Dual paper trays, prints up to A3. 
  • 6.8cm LCD display. 
  • Compact design. 
  • Easy mobile printing/ WiFi printing from smart devices using the Epson iPrint3 app to print photos, greetings cards and more. 
  • Three year warranty available upon registration. 
  • Scanner built in for scanning & copying. 
  • Printing resolution - 5,760 x 1,440 dpi 
  • Include in box - 2 sets of 5-colour ink (BK – 140ml, CMY&PB – 70ml), Main unit, Maintenance box, Power cable, Setup guide, Software (CD), Warranty document

Epson eco tank ET-7750 review value quality


Setting up the printer


My first thought after opening the pretty hefty box, was how compact the printer itself is and it's pretty light too. The bottles of ink are quite big but I was a little skeptical at just how mess free they would be. The instructions in the box have details for set up for computers without a CD drive like ours which was helpful and they were pretty straight forward to follow.




I started by removing all the packaging and laying out the box contents. I then got my printer sat on it's new desk and started to remove the sticky strips that hold everything in place. I love that despite the fact it prints to A3, it's not really much bigger than my old printer/scanner, looks much sleeker and is easy to navigate. It's pretty delicate so needs looking after, which I'm sure anyone would do having spent around £500 on a home printer.




Once all the packaging and labels were removed, I was then ready to begin the scary part - filling up the ink bottles with the various coloured inks provided.

Filling the ink bottles


With five different ink chambers to fill and a fool proof system to prevent the wrong colour going in the wrong place, I first needed to work out how to open the printer to get to the bottles.


Epson eco tank ET-7750 review value quality


It was actually so so easy, when you open the chamber with the ink bottles, you can see that each colour has its own lid which you lift and insert the ink bottle. Ink doesn't come out until it's clicked in place, so it's not a free flow bottle or anything like that. You can hear the ink filling up all by itself and it's so clever it even stops when it knows it's full, which takes just under a bottle for each colour.




I was pleasantly surprised at the ease of the ink filling, I actually find it a lot easier and less scary than putting in traditional cartridges and I love that you can clearly see how much ink is left of every colour without having to rely on the computer to tell you.


Epson eco tank ET-7750 review value quality


Setting up & connecting to WiFi


When it comes to printers I honestly have a terrible track history. When I worked in an office I'd just walk past them and they'd break, I was always causing paper jams without any effort and they just don't seem to like me. Our own (old) home printer is sat in a cupboard, dry as a bone and wondering what it's doing with its life. The reason it isn't loved is that it was too hard to work, it's huge, impossible to connect and the print quality was terrible! I will talk more about the new Epson and it's insanely good quality later, but knowing now what a printer is capable of, I can quite see why it's worth investing a little more money. I never knew home printing could be this good!


Epson eco tank ET-7750 review value quality


Anyway, the setting up of the printer again was super easy. You are given easy to follow step by step instructions on screen and it's pretty fool proof. If you don't have a disc drive to use the included set up disk, you just visit the Epson website (details all included with the printer) and go from there. This was so easy and if I can do it, you can bet anyone can. You can also do all the colour checks and make sure everything is  calibrated correctly.




Setting up the WiFi part was something I wasn't looking forward to. Although my job is predominantly online and computer based, I'm not great with technology and reading instructions sometimes has my head in a spin. I never worked out how to set up WiFi with the old printer, but yet again the Epson was a breeze! Super easy to understand step by step instructions again for set up and it connected first time with absolutely zero problems - unheard of for me!

Once set up to our network, I can print from my phone or laptop wirelessly and with ease. This is such a handy feature and I was really happy with how easy it was and that I didn't have to ask for help!

Printing time


For us, this printer will do everything. It will print the kids school work when the time comes, print our photos, print items for me to sell on my Etsy store and be our home scanner and photocopier. We had high hopes for printing and wow - it really does not disappoint!


Epson eco tank ET-7750 review value quality


Firstly with photo printing. I got a few different types of paper, but started with a super market value 4x6 photo card pack to see what the quality would be like. I was blown away and I can 100% confirm that these were as good as having them developed professionally at a photo shop and super quick too. Seeing my gorgeous pictures come to life, for us to frame, share with family and enjoy has really made me happy! The cheap paper was stunning and I was really happy with the results, equally so on higher grade papers and card. You can print on different size photo papers by inserting the extra print drawer and sliding the paper guides to the right size. SO easy.


Epson eco tank ET-7750 review value quality


When it comes to printing for mt Etsy business, I haven't quite yet mastered everything I want to do. Sometimes I find it prints darker than on screen, but as that wasn't the case with photos I think this is more to do with the file format of my images. I have printed some off that have worked really well though and I love seeing my prints spring to life.I had a few issues trying to get cards to print as my paper was an odd size, but I know I'd have had no issues if I'd selected a more conventional size paper. I'm sure I can print to any size as there are options for manual sizing's, but I haven't quite mastered that part yet. There are really helpful guides on the print trays so you can make sure you have the paper in correctly from the off, ultimately saving paper and ink with less trials.




I love that we can now print to A3 too and it's just a matter of finding the right grade paper for selling my prints and getting started - exciting! They look just like original water colours/ink, which is exactly what I wanted. Like for like prints - perfect. If you're an artist working from home selling prints, this will be perfect for you.

The only issue I had was printing phone pictures via WiFi, where the quality seemed to drop. Printing those same pictures from the laptop though were perfect, so I may just have to tinker with the settings a bit to correct that.

Verdict


Although I expected to like this printer going by the features on offer and the higher price than we'd usually invest in, it has totally and utterly impressed me and blown my expectations out the water. I am so happy with the photo print quality that I won't need to have photos printed professionally ever again now unless I want them above A3 size which is very unlikely! I have the capability of creating photo cards and gifts for family now which I love and I can finally make some decent family albums up that we can really enjoy instead of occasionally bringing up on a screen.


Epson eco tank ET-7750 review value quality


Etsy wise, this printer prints to a stunning and extremely high quality, so I will be able to sell my own prints from home, without compromise. This will save me a lot of money, but also means I can print and pack my items to a standard I'm happy with, knowing I've sent my customers a perfect item, as opposed to having them printed and dispatched from elsewhere like a lot of sellers have to.

This printer is going to be used a lot, it's not going to meet the cupboard fate of its predecessor because it is amazing and has so much to offer. The kids are fascinated by the magic of photocopying and have enjoyed learning about copying pictures, printing our photos and how it will help my work.

Usually when it comes to things like this we buy cheap, but in turn the print quality is rubbish and cartridges rinse quickly. When it comes to printers, unless you are just printing texts, it really is a false economy not investing in a proper piece of kit like the Epson EcoTank ET-7750, that can give you the quality you need without having to buy elsewhere.




This is the perfect home business printer for anyone creative or that wants a high professional finish to their letters and marketing materials. This is also the perfect family printer, great for kids work, home working parents or just printing off those treasured memories. We love how clear and perfect the photo copier is too and tested it with one of the kids toys which printed with pure accuracy, where you could see every thread and fluff!


Epson eco tank ET-7750 review value quality


The Epson EcoTank ET-7750 retails for an RRP of £699.99 (inc VAT) and a full set of ink cost around £57. The ink lasts a long time and does work out a lot cheaper than cartridges in the long run. I'd absolutely 100% recommend this printer to anyone and hope that I've covered any questions you may have if you're thinking of buying one. If not, please do message me and I'll try and answer any questions you may have. I can't fault this, nor think of anything I wish it did but doesn't, it's great!


Do you print many of your photos?