The EcoTank Pro ET-5800 is one of the latest professional All-in-One offerings from Epson. This professional class AIO is a smart buy for any business looking for a color printer that’s easy on the budget and can reliably handle its needs.
For an entry level professional AIO, it has more to offer than the competition in terms of paper capacity, duty cycle, dependability, and economy. It’s also able to deliver lower operating costs without skimping on features. Not something the typical AIO has been able to do in the past. However the supertank class of printers are a game changer.
In terms of economy, supertank printers are the way to go. The cost per page is 2 cents whether it’s color or B & W. That’s lower than any of the office equipment I used to work on.
The supplies for this printer amount to a few bottles of ink, which last for thousands of pages, and don’t cost much more than a typical ink cartridge. Adding ink from a bottle is also easier than any of the laser or inkjet printers I work on. I’d be the first to know if using these bottles is messy but it is no harder than plugging in a plug. Fill it up on Monday and print all season.
Setup
Setup is made simple with Epson’s utilities. A setup utility is fairly standard with any brand nowadays but what isn’t standard is the pictures with alternate manual steps. The automated methods are great when they work, still it’s nice to know the back-up procedure will get the job done if need be. The hardest part of the setup is waiting the 10 minutes or so while it primes itself.
The connection options are generous. USB or ethernet for the wired options. WiFi, WiFi direct, or Bluetooth for the wireless options. The device solutions include Androids, iOS, and cloud apps. Between all those any smartphone or tablet will have a way to connect to the EcoTank Pro ET-5800.
Even the more advanced features such as scanning to the cloud are easy. The first time using many features will launch a setup routine to walk you through any configuration. Then store it for the next use. It can always be changed through the web interface or in the menus if need be. I always recommend using the web interface instead of the control panel whenever possible.
Operations
The control panel has a 4.3 inch touchscreen. Which has a very simple copy menu. It can be easy to overlook how complicated some brands make simple operations, so I appreciate a well laid out ops panel when I see one. Accidentally making color copies instead of monochrome, for example, is probably not going to happen with this layout. Not that it matters since the cost is the same for color or monochrome. Still I thought I’d mention it since I work with so many brands.
Paper is loaded among two cassettes and a rear tray. The rear tray bypasses the curved paper path so is better suited for envelopes or special paper. Not that they couldn’t be feed from the cassettes, just that the bypass may have fewer issues.
This type of doc feeder is an unusual find in this segment. It has a 50 sheet capacity and single pass for 2-sided originals. Other AIO’s I looked at didn’t have the single pass feature and only a few had the same capacity.
The ID card copy, remove 3 hole punch, and fax forwarding are handy features. A front USB port is convenient for scanning or printing.
To test the speed I printed some emails and pictures of dogs. My test pages had less coverage than the ISO/IEC 19752 standard B&W test page or the ISO/IEC 19798 and 24711 standard color test pages.
My tests clocked in at 9.6 pages per minute for color and 17.2 pages per minute for B&W.
The speed is fair, better than average for an inkjet printer. Though expect a wait for 2-sided color prints.
Printing Operations
Printing operations are handled by your choice of the Epson print driver, two printing apps, or printing services. A PC would have the option of the Epson driver or the printing services (Airprint & Mopria). Mobile devices would have the option of the printing apps or printing services.
The Epson driver is proprietary, meaning it isn’t PCL or PS. Yet it is surprisingly well done. There’s a built-in job arranger. Which is able to combine documents or images from various programs into one print job. Some basic color management is included. Then there is practical features such as preview, bar code, or skip blank page. The bar code feature is for shipping labels or QR codes that may need enhanced.
What the apps and print services sacrifice in features they gain in ease of use. Mopria and Airprint are point and print. As long as your device can see the EcoTank Pro ET-5800 it can print. Same for the printing apps, once installed they just need to identify the Epson and printing can commence.
Software
Included with the EcoTank Pro ET-5800 is some scanning and printing apps. The printing apps are rudimentary ways for mobile devices or tablets to scan and print. Creative print is primarily for light touch-up of scans before sending them to Instagram or Facebook posts. While iPrint is primarily for printing. It can also scan from the Epson and send it to the cloud or as an attachment. These apps are fine as far as they go but I usually point out the Mopria Print app functions about the same. With the additional benefit of being compatible with every printer available, not just one brand.
The Smart Scan software is for Windows. It’s basic work flow makes scanning easy. From scanning an original to sending it to the cloud, Smart Scan holds your hand every step of the way. Whether it’s emailing, saving, OCR, or simple touch up and then printing, Smart Scan will walk you through. Professional document management software also handles the archival and retrieval. Yet for freeware Smart Scan is good at what it does.
Additional Tests
For these tests I used a standard scale and ruler. I placed the printer on my scale and it had a heft of 40 lbs. Slightly more than expected.
For the next test, I measured the proportions. My measurements revealed a width of 16.5 inches, a depth of 32.2 inches, and a height of 18 inches. Although I found the exit tray sticks out when printing.
Summary
The greatest selling point is the operating costs. Saving operating costs typically comes at an expense of quality. Epson has raised the bar with their precision core print head. Not only is it made for industrial applications with high standards of quality. Durability is critical in those applications. These precision core print heads are also inside the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5800. The industrial applications use 6 or more colors to achieve such high standards of quality. So the 4 color process won’t be at that level. Still, it is well above par for any business class All-in-One.
Being able to lower operating costs without sacrificing quality should get any businesses attention. But also backing it with a two year warranty should get their business.
This will be a popular AIO at any 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.
