The EcoTank ET-3760 is an All-In-One from Epson’s supertank line of printers. Epson’s supertank class of printers are some of the most economical inkjet printers available on the market. Although Epson may be known for their supertank printers, I found the quality output on this printer is exceptional.
Fitted with Epsons precision core, a production quality print head, the quality is remarkable for this consumer inkjet printer. More than just a printer, copy and scan functions are standard with this All-In-One (AIO).
A document feeder, 2.44 inch color touch screen, and faster print speed bestow a notable level up from the Epson Ecotank ET-2760. Wired and wireless connections are amply covered.
Whether its ethernet, USB, wireless or WiFi Direct there should be no problem finding a way to use this AIO. Easily connect tablet or mobile devices with the Airprint, Android and Mopria print services. The EcoTank ET-3760 has ample features to adapt to tasks required of any AIO.
Cost
One of the biggest advantages supertanks have over other inkjet printers is their total cost of ownership. On one hand there’s the initial cost plus cartridges over the life of the printer. Which can add up to much more than the sticker price.
On the other hand the sticker price includes 6,000 pages of ink. That’s equivalent to stuffing 60 ink cartridges into the box. Or 30 high capacity ones. Either way supertank printers represent significant cost savings. For about the same cost as a high capacity ink cartridge, a bottle of ink yields 6,000 pages.
There’s a one to one ratio for ink cartridges and print heads. In other words, 60 ink cartridges include the cost of 60 print heads. Epson supertank printers use one print head for life of the printer.
One durable print head is much cheaper than sixty print heads. The precision core print head is not only more durable, it’s also more efficient than the mass produced print heads on ink cartridges. The same amount of ink on one print head may yield 6,000 pages.
While another print head may only yield 4,500 pages with the same amount of ink. All this to say, super tank printers have a huge advantage over traditional ink cartridges when it comes to cost.
Setup
Setup is a snap. I removed some quality packing tape. I Plugged in the power. Adding ink is as easy as plugging in a power cord in my experience. The hardest part is waiting for the Ecotank ET-3760 to prime itself.
If there’s a way to get ink on yourself I’m prone to finding it. I didn’t find a way, at least from adding ink. If I even take one apart that may be a different story.
Once ink is added and the print heads aligned you can start copying. Printing is a matter of plugging in the USB and letting the automated systems do their thing. Wireless setup is done via a setup utility.
I’ve used many utilities in my day and will say the Epson setup utility is top notch. The automated setup worked for me. But I noticed the fallback method was thorough. With screen shots and instructions to manually setup the WiFi from the control panel. Much easier than searching through the manual. Or those awful picture only instructions.
Any further configuration I recommend using the web interface. As with most AIO’s today the expandable menus are easy to navigate. Email, security, shortcuts, or default settings can be modified through the wen interface.
Operations
Copying and scanning are done by a 2.44 inch color touch screen on the control panel. Paper is loaded in the rear, up to 150 sheets. I tested the print speed with my tax forms and small pictures of houses.
When I printed the color test pages the print speed clocked in at 9.4 pages per minute. A whole 1.4 pages per minute faster than the specs. My test pages had less coverage than the color ISO/IEC 19798 and 24711 test pages.
When I printed it the monochrome test pages the print speed clocked in at 15.3 pages per minute. A minute bit faster than the specs. My B&W test page didn’t have any graphics like the ISO/IEC 19752 standard B&W test page.
Still, I found the lack of warmup time and rapid processing seem to get the first page out quickly. While printing is auto duplex, the document feeder is not. Any 2-sided originals will need manually flipped to the second side.
The quality is outstanding. The other Epson printers I’ve worked with have always had great quality but the precision core printhead is such an improvement. Pictures are vivid and text is sharp. Definitely frame quality.
Printer Driver
Printing operations are done from the Epson print driver, mobile printing apps, or “driverless” print services. Airprint and Mopria are technically not driverless, they’re automated driver setups. Which is only becoming more popular as more people use mobile devices or tablets.
For convenience, Mopria and Airprint can’t be beat. Find the printer via WiFi, add it and start printing. They’re great for getting a PDF, office document, or certain web pages from a phone to paper. A simple alternative to installing the Epson print driver.
However, I recommend using the Epson print driver if you’re using a PC. It is worth the extra time and steps to install. Part of my regular job is knowing print drivers. Epson’s print driver is top notch.
Canons print driver is the only other consumer product driver I would say that about. A preview feature displays the effects of any selected changes before printing. Handy for getting a rough idea of what each setting will do to the final print.
The text enhancement feature will help sharpen odd fonts or characters. A bar code feature works for enhancing QR codes, shipping labels, or other pictures with fine lines. Basic color management is a nice find on an inkjet printer in this segment.
App features
In addition to the print driver, Epson offers two mobile apps for printing and scanning. As well as Epson scanning software. The mobile apps are fine as far as they go.
The creative print app allows rudimentary markup or editing of images. It also includes shortcuts for getting those images into Facebook or Instagram posts. The iPrint app is for printing and scanning documents.
It includes shortcuts to common cloud apps, such as Dropbox, Sharepoint, etc. If neither of those sounds appealing or your needs aren’t very complicated, I typically recommend installing the Mopria Print Service App. In addition to working with just about every printer on the market it has descent scan and print capabilities.
The EcoTank ET-3760 comes with scanning software capable of creating searchable PDF’s. While more expensive scanning software comes with advanced OCR features, this software’s strong point is ease of use.
It may not recognize 100% of a complex document, it does make getting a basic searchable document to the cloud simple. Part of the first time use is configuring it for cloud or local destinations.
Further Tests
I used a standard ruler and scale to test the weight and dimensions. I placed the printer on the scale which revealed a weight of 15.9 lbs. The test showed my printer weighed slightly less than the 16.1 lbs.
Then I used my ruler to measure its dimensions. My tests revealed the printer to be 16.4 inches deep, 20.1 inches wide, and 9.9 inches high. The test revealed my printer had no variance in depth. However, my printer was wider and shorter than 19.8 inches and 10.0 inches.
Summary
Overall this is a great little multi-function printer (MFP). The Ecotank ET-3760 easily adapts to a variety of devices, networks, or uses. It’s friendly with Chromebooks, iPads, Fire OS, or Android devices. As well as Windows, Windows server, or Mac enviroumnts.
All packaged within an extremely economical unit. Which makes for a fine All-In-One. But it doesn’t have just average AIO print quality. It has an industrial quality precision core print head with exceptional quality in my experience. Great features for an AIO combined with low printing costs make this an exceptional addition to any home office or small office.
The Copier Guy, aka Dave. I’ve worked on scanners, printers, copiers, and faxes over 23 years. When I’m not fixing them I’m writing about them. Although, I’m probably better at fixing them. I’ve worked with every major brand. As well as several types of processes. If it uses paper I’ve probably worked on one.
