Epson Ecotank ET-7700

This Epson comes with nearly a pint of ink

Epson ‘Ecotank’ printers come with high-volume ink tanks, which you can replenish with bottled ink. The ET-7700 is supplied with two sets of high-capacity ink bottles, sufficient for up to 14,000 mono documents and 3400 6x4-inch photos.

Ink levels are easy to keep track of, with the tanks being positioned behind viewing windows in the front panel. Scanning, copying and printing from memory cards are based on a pushbutton interface with a 2.7-inch screen, rather than a touchscreen. Wi-fi and Ethernet are built in, along with a USB 2.0 interface. Large and small internal paper cassettes are supplemented by a rear single sheet feeder.

Performance

Photo print speeds are pretty pedestrian, especially compared with the Canon A4 printers on test, which use a similar combination of dye and pigment ink types. Quality is good overall but, while colour rendition is quite accurate, tonal accuracy could be better. Bright highlights can look slightly dull and dark lowlights are a little lacking in definition.

N-photo verdict

Ink is cheap but the printer is expensive, so you have to print an awful lot of photos to break even.

Ink cost (per ml)

Although ink is cheap, the printer is relatively expensive, so you’re effectively paying for everything up front.

Print speed (mins)

Photo print speeds are relatively sluggish compared with all of the other A4/8.5inch printers on test.