Epson EcoTank ET-3850 review: fast, affordable tank printer

Epson’s EcoTank ET-3850 is a compact and affordable all-in-one printer that comes with a two-year supply of ink. That’s enough to catch the eye of anyone that prints often and it’s particularly attractive to those with home businesses.

For a home office, you need a printer that’s versatile enough to handle anything, yet compact enough to manage easily. I reviewed the EcoTank ET-3850 to check out the speed and quality. I also researched ink costs and tested its scan and copy features to help find out if it’s the best printer for you.

Design

The EcoTank ET-3850 is an all-in-one inkjet printer with an automatic document feeder (ADF). It has an off-white body with gentle curves and four large ink reservoirs that extend forward about an inch on the right side. Epson takes some creative license in product photos, showing black, yellow, cyan, and magenta bars, but the ink actually appears dark gray in the translucent tanks. Still, it’s convenient to be able to glance at the printer to see if you need to replenish supplies soon.

A 2.4-inch color display is front and center on an adjustable control panel with buttons on both sides to make copies, adjust settings, and perform maintenance. The control panel tilts out and adjusts in a wide range from fully vertical to 13 degrees off horizontal.

It’s quite similar to Epson’s high-quality EcoTank ET-2850 I reviewed last year, but there are enough differences to require a critical look to check its quality, speed, and value.

There’s only one paper tray with a 250-sheet capacity. There’s no media tray, so I had to remove all paper when switching sizes or types. The ADF can hold 30 sheets at a time.

For an all-in-one, it’s a light and compact printer measuring 16.4 inches wide by 13.7 inches deep and standing 9.1 inches tall. In operation, the output bin slides forward, adding about six inches in depth. The weight is 14.8 pounds, making it easy to set up and move.

Printing performance

The Epson EcoTank ET-3850 is surprisingly quick for an inkjet tank printer, rolling out the first page in about 10 seconds. A long monochrome document averages 15.5 pages per minute (ppm) while color is a little over half that pace at 8.5 ppm. Since double-sided prints require pulling a page back into the printer before printing the other side, the speed drops to 6.5 ppm for black and 4.5 ppm for color.

If you need more speed, but like the idea of a tank printer that cuts printing costs to a minimum, check out my review of Epson’s EcoTank Pro ET-5850, a superfast inkjet tank that shoots out the first page in under 6 seconds and reaches 25 ppm for longer documents.

Print quality is very good overall. Fine print is crisp and easily readable and color documents look nic, with no lines or gaps in color blocks. There’s an option for borderless prints, which is always welcome in color printers. Full-page flyers, mock-ups, and reports look better without a white border.

Epson’s EcoTank ET-3850 handles photos well. The picture quality on glossy photo paper is excellent and plain paper pictures have good exposure and accurate color tone,s but saturation is a bit light. On lightweight paper, photo prints tend to curl, but that doesn’t happen with thicker paper.

Photographers and anyone with a critical eye will prefer a proper photo printer for top-quality pictures. Just be aware a printer that has more ink colors to improve dynamic range could cost significantly more.

Special features

The EcoTank ET-3850’s scanner can capture up to 1,200 dots per inch (dpi) from my computer and 600 dpi from my phone. While the arbitrary restriction makes no sense, it’s still double the mobile scan resolution of most all-in-one printers. Colors are vivid with good exposure for photo scans.

It’s easy to make copies with the ADF at acceptable speeds. The EcoTank ET-3850 can copy documents, reaching up to 11 ppm in monochrome and 5 ppm in color. The quality is good, but not quite as crisp as printing originals.

There’s no duplex copy option, but I can copy single-sided pages and output them as double-sided to save paper. Epson included options for reduction and enlargement and multipage. If you copy pages from a binder, there’s also a feature that removes punch holes.

Software and compatibility

After unpacking and plugging in the EcoTank ET-3850, the setup was simple with Epson’s Smart Panel. The mobile app guided me to fill the ink tanks with the large bottles included in the box.

Smart Panel warned me that the ink initialization takes over 10 minutes, but it let me connect to Wi-Fi during this time. I had no trouble with the initial connection, but I did notice interruptions a few times later when printing from my iPad. However, my computer and phone worked fine.

Epson’s EcoTank ET-3850 supports computer connections via Wi-Fi 2.4 and 5 GHz, Wi-Fi Direct, Ethernet, and USB. My Windows PC and MacBook recognized the printer and were quickly ready to print.

Next was printhead alignment, which involves selecting the best alignment from five multiple-choice graphs. It’s easy, but still took over 20 minutes to complete installation. Make sure you have enough time to finish before you need to print if you’re replacing an old printer.

I was pleased to see the EcoTank ET-3850 had an option for envelopes when using my phone. Mobile envelope printing is quite rare, but everything worked as expected.

Price

The Epson EcoTank ET-3850 retails for $400, but is often on sale for about $320. That’s a good price for a fast, high-quality tank printer with a flatbed scanner and ADF. With an inkjet, it’s always a good idea to consider long-term costs.

That’s not a concern with most tank printers and the EcoTank ET-3850 is indeed quite economical. An average monochrome page costs three-tenths of a cent per page, while color documents cost about eight-tenths of a cent per page.

As a tank printer, the EcoTank ET-3850 ships with four ink bottles, and Epson includes the full capacity, providing up to 7,500 pages in black only and 6,000 pages in color. That could last two years before it’s time to replenish supplies.

Is this the printer for you?

Epson excels at inkjet printers and has a wide range of inkjet tank printers that offer incredible long-term value. There are some excellent all-in-one printers that can challenge the EcoTank ET-3850. For example, HP’s OfficeJet Pro 9125e is faster and costs less, but it uses ink cartridges, so the print cost is higher.

If you print frequently throughout the day, the speed and economy of the Epson EcoTank ET-3850 will make a difference in costs and time spent swapping cartridges compared to cheap inkjet printers.

Picture quality is excellent on glossy paper, making this a good choice for a busy home office as it takes care of business during the day and doubles as a photo printer for personal use on the weekends. The EcoTank ET-3850 is a versatile printer that fills many needs.

However, small businesses might need full duplex copying, greater speed, and security features. A well-rated color laser printer often fits best in a hectic work environment.

If you need to send or  receive facsimiles, Epson’s EcoTank ET-4850 adds fax capabilities, serving as a direct competitor to HP’s equally fast and economical Smart Tank 7602.