Epson C11CJ21501 EcoTank Photo ET-8550 6 Colour Multifunction Printer - Black
The EcoTank Photo ET-8550 wireless all-in-one prints lab-quality, wide-format color photos, graphics and everyday documents - all at an incredible value. Epson's cartridge-free, 6-color Claria ET Premium Ink system delivers vibrant colors and sharp text for all your creative projects. With low-cost replacement ink bottles, print 4" x 6" photos for about 4 cents each compared to 40 cents with cartridges. Print everything from borderless 13" x 19" photos to customized CDs/DVDs. You can even print on cardstock and other media up to 1.3 mm thick.
The EcoTank Photo ET-8550 wireless all-in-one prints lab-quality, wide-format color photos, graphics and everyday documents - all at an incredible value. Epson's cartridge-free, 6-color Claria ET Premium Ink system delivers vibrant colors and sharp text for all your creative projects. With low-cost replacement ink bottles, print 4" x 6" photos for about 4 cents each compared to 40 cents with cartridges. Print everything from borderless 13" x 19" photos to customized CDs/DVDs. You can even print on cardstock and other media up to 1.3 mm thick.
The EcoTank Photo ET-8550 wireless all-in-one prints lab-quality, wide-format color photos, graphics and everyday documents - all at an incredible value. Epson's cartridge-free, 6-color Claria ET Premium Ink system delivers vibrant colors and sharp text for all your creative projects. With low-cost replacement ink bottles, print 4" x 6" photos for about 4 cents each compared to 40 cents with cartridges. Print everything from borderless 13" x 19" photos to customized CDs/DVDs. You can even print on cardstock and other media up to 1.3 mm thick.
The EcoTank Photo ET-8550 wireless all-in-one prints lab-quality, wide-format color photos, graphics and everyday documents - all at an incredible value. Epson's cartridge-free, 6-color Claria ET Premium Ink system delivers vibrant colors and sharp text for all your creative projects. With low-cost replacement ink bottles, print 4" x 6" photos for about 4 cents each compared to 40 cents with cartridges. Print everything from borderless 13" x 19" photos to customized CDs/DVDs. You can even print on cardstock and other media up to 1.3 mm thick.
in 3 offers
The lowest price for Epson C11CJ21501 EcoTank Photo ET-8550 6 Colour Multifunction Printer - Black right now is $965.00 at OZ Toner, compared across 3 retailers.
The all-time low was $247.00 on 12 Mar 2026 — today's price is 291% above the lowest ever. It has been notably cheaper before — worth setting a price alert.
Prices last updated 22 June 2026.
Last updated at 22/06/2026 16:14:36
Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550 A3+ Colour Multifunction Inkjet Printer *Ex-Demo* (C11CJ21501_R)
Delivery between 25–30 June $26.45
Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550 Color Inkjet All-In-One Printer - White
Delivery between 27 June – 1 July $15.52
Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550 Wireless Wide-Format Color All-in-One Supertank Printer with High Resolution Scanner, Ethernet, USB, and Color Touchscreen
Delivery between 29 June – 2 July $29
originally posted on bhphotovideo.com
I ordered this unit on 9/12/22. I printed a few test pages, which came out perfect. However, when I wanted to print out over 150 4x6 photos on glossy photo paper for a Christmas photo album I am working on, the prints started to have black blobs of ink on the photos. I contacted Epson and was on the phone for over 2 hours running several tests with a representative from the Philippines. He logged onto my computer and had me send copies of the photos with the blobs on black ink through the scanner. The determination was that he thought it was because I was using Cannon Paper Plus Glossy II, and not Epson photo paper. Although, I have over 500 sheets of all sizes of Cannon photo paper, I ordered $60 worth of Epson photo paper. The problem still persisted after using ... MoreI ordered this unit on 9/12/22. I printed a few test pages, which came out perfect. However, when I wanted to print out over 150 4x6 photos on glossy photo paper for a Christmas photo album I am working on, the prints started to have black blobs of ink on the photos. I contacted Epson and was on the phone for over 2 hours running several tests with a representative from the Philippines. He logged onto my computer and had me send copies of the photos with the blobs on black ink through the scanner. The determination was that he thought it was because I was using Cannon Paper Plus Glossy II, and not Epson photo paper. Although, I have over 500 sheets of all sizes of Cannon photo paper, I ordered $60 worth of Epson photo paper. The problem still persisted after using the Epson paper, even on the 8.5 x 11 Epson Ultra Premium Photo Paper GLOSSY that I had to use to print test prints for the Epson representative.I called the Epson Support number again, and after spending another hour on the phone, and running the same tests I ran last week, my photos still had black ink on them. Epson determined that the printer was defective, and they are now sending me a RECONDITIONED unit because the printer is over 30 days old. They also needed my credit card number and told me I would be responsible for $479.99 if I had done something to the printer, and they were not able to fix it. I ONLY added the ink to the printer.This printer is extremely slow. If you are trying to print a photo while another is printing, you will get an error message, and then it prints after the photo has printed out. The 4x6 tray 1 only holds approximately 18 sheets of photo paper. When you are doing a large project, it is rather time consuming, as you have to close the output tray, which is sticking out by closing it on the printers' display, then you can pull out tray 1 to add more photo paper.The unit itself is well built, but the paper trays are extremely flimsy. The photos come out beautifully, other than the black blobs of ink I started getting. I bought this printer mostly because of the ink tank capabilities. My ink has hardly moved at all, and I am now at 312 pages. The plain paper I am using to print documents has had no issues.After the glowing reviews I read on this printer, I'm not sure if I would purchase it again? It is now $50 less than when I purchased it in September of this year, I purchased $60 worth of Epson paper, which is definitely more expensive than the Cannon paper I have on hand, which I may not have needed, and did not fix the problem, and I am now receiving a reconditioned printer for a printer that is only 3 months old.
originally posted on johnlewis.com
I take and print photographs for my own pleasure and I use a Nikon DSLR with several lenses. I use mainly Lightroom for photo editing and printing. I had a very old HP photo printer which produced fantastic prints when it was new but latterly print quality reduced and then it died altogether - my opportunity to buy a nice new photo printer. Reading reviews, I was attracted by the eco tank system, accepting that colour gamut was a little limited and decided to buy the ET 8550. Setting up and ink filling was a breeze using the phone app and the printer was ready to use in very little time although I was surprised about how much ink it used to prime itself. I expect this was due to filling all the tubes to get the ink to the print heads but it's not serious since ... MoreI take and print photographs for my own pleasure and I use a Nikon DSLR with several lenses. I use mainly Lightroom for photo editing and printing. I had a very old HP photo printer which produced fantastic prints when it was new but latterly print quality reduced and then it died altogether - my opportunity to buy a nice new photo printer. Reading reviews, I was attracted by the eco tank system, accepting that colour gamut was a little limited and decided to buy the ET 8550. Setting up and ink filling was a breeze using the phone app and the printer was ready to use in very little time although I was surprised about how much ink it used to prime itself. I expect this was due to filling all the tubes to get the ink to the print heads but it's not serious since compared with buying cartridges, the ink is very cheap.My first photo print was disappointing but I didn't have any Epson paper so I was not surprised. I did have some Permajet paper so I downloaded the ICC file for the 8550 for that paper and tried that - not good. So I bought some Epson paper and tried that - much the same as the permajet print.At this point I contacted Epson support and they asked about monitor calibration. My 2 x 27" Dell monitors have been calibrated but some time ago so I bought a datacolour Spyderx Pro - no better. The monitors are old so I bought two new 27" 4K monitors which are well regarded for photo editing. After calibrating, careful setting up, using Epson paper and allowing the printer to control colour, prints were no better.Prints from this printer are not bad if you view them in isolation although they are not 'vibrant' as the reviews claim, and if you compare colours with the screen (and reality) they are not good. For example, there is a subtle blue cast which makes the prints look dull and uninteresting. The beige of a sandy beach looks grey and flat. I have spent so much money trying to get good faithful colour prints and I am just very disappointed with the result.
originally posted on bhphotovideo.com
Fantastic photo printer. I was blown away by the quality of the prints, leaving my Cannon Pro 100 in the dust ! There is enough ink in the bottles to refill the tanks after setup and printing a few 13x19 photos so this is definitely a huge savings.BUT.,, it is disgraceful that this printer does not automatically align the printheads and, in my case, there were ZERO perfect alignments to choose from on the calibration printouts. That said, it did not seem to have an ill effect on the end result.Individual print settings are difficult to impossible as access to all settings seems to be highly dependent on software compatibility.Try to print often to avoid clogging of the printheads. Mine was idle for 5-6 days and required 3 cleanings after ruining 3 sheets of ... MoreFantastic photo printer. I was blown away by the quality of the prints, leaving my Cannon Pro 100 in the dust ! There is enough ink in the bottles to refill the tanks after setup and printing a few 13x19 photos so this is definitely a huge savings.BUT.,, it is disgraceful that this printer does not automatically align the printheads and, in my case, there were ZERO perfect alignments to choose from on the calibration printouts. That said, it did not seem to have an ill effect on the end result.Individual print settings are difficult to impossible as access to all settings seems to be highly dependent on software compatibility.Try to print often to avoid clogging of the printheads. Mine was idle for 5-6 days and required 3 cleanings after ruining 3 sheets of photo paper before I noticed.Last night it failed to grab paper from the rear feed, made a grinding sound, and threw a paper jam error, however, there was no paper jam. I reset the printer and it was OK after, so, that is of some concern. Bottom line, the printer just sips ink and prints a fantastic image but is way more difficult to use than any other printer I have ever owned. It seems I'm constantly having to go to the printer to change a setting or to change the tray or approve a feed or even just approve a print job or to cancel because it decided to revert to the front tray or some other reason. My LOVE for this this printer quickly faded to LIKE.Sadly, were it not for the fantastic print quality, I would hate this printer.
Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550 A3+ Colour Multifunction Inkjet Printer *Ex-Demo* (C11CJ21501_R)
Delivery between 25–30 June $26.45
Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550 Color Inkjet All-In-One Printer - White
Delivery between 27 June – 1 July $15.52
Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8550 Wireless Wide-Format Color All-in-One Supertank Printer with High Resolution Scanner, Ethernet, USB, and Color Touchscreen
Delivery between 29 June – 2 July $29
I ordered this unit on 9/12/22. I printed a few test pages, which came out perfect. However, when I wanted to print out over 150 4x6 photos on glossy photo paper for a Christmas photo album I am working on, the prints started to have black blobs of ink on the photos. I contacted Epson and was on the phone for over 2 hours running several tests with a representative from the Philippines. He logged onto my computer and had me send copies of the photos with the blobs on black ink through the scanner. The determination was that he thought it was because I was using Cannon Paper Plus Glossy II, and not Epson photo paper. Although, I have over 500 sheets of all sizes of Cannon photo paper, I ordered $60 worth of Epson photo paper. The problem still persisted after using ... MoreI ordered this unit on 9/12/22. I printed a few test pages, which came out perfect. However, when I wanted to print out over 150 4x6 photos on glossy photo paper for a Christmas photo album I am working on, the prints started to have black blobs of ink on the photos. I contacted Epson and was on the phone for over 2 hours running several tests with a representative from the Philippines. He logged onto my computer and had me send copies of the photos with the blobs on black ink through the scanner. The determination was that he thought it was because I was using Cannon Paper Plus Glossy II, and not Epson photo paper. Although, I have over 500 sheets of all sizes of Cannon photo paper, I ordered $60 worth of Epson photo paper. The problem still persisted after using the Epson paper, even on the 8.5 x 11 Epson Ultra Premium Photo Paper GLOSSY that I had to use to print test prints for the Epson representative.I called the Epson Support number again, and after spending another hour on the phone, and running the same tests I ran last week, my photos still had black ink on them. Epson determined that the printer was defective, and they are now sending me a RECONDITIONED unit because the printer is over 30 days old. They also needed my credit card number and told me I would be responsible for $479.99 if I had done something to the printer, and they were not able to fix it. I ONLY added the ink to the printer.This printer is extremely slow. If you are trying to print a photo while another is printing, you will get an error message, and then it prints after the photo has printed out. The 4x6 tray 1 only holds approximately 18 sheets of photo paper. When you are doing a large project, it is rather time consuming, as you have to close the output tray, which is sticking out by closing it on the printers' display, then you can pull out tray 1 to add more photo paper.The unit itself is well built, but the paper trays are extremely flimsy. The photos come out beautifully, other than the black blobs of ink I started getting. I bought this printer mostly because of the ink tank capabilities. My ink has hardly moved at all, and I am now at 312 pages. The plain paper I am using to print documents has had no issues.After the glowing reviews I read on this printer, I'm not sure if I would purchase it again? It is now $50 less than when I purchased it in September of this year, I purchased $60 worth of Epson paper, which is definitely more expensive than the Cannon paper I have on hand, which I may not have needed, and did not fix the problem, and I am now receiving a reconditioned printer for a printer that is only 3 months old.
I take and print photographs for my own pleasure and I use a Nikon DSLR with several lenses. I use mainly Lightroom for photo editing and printing. I had a very old HP photo printer which produced fantastic prints when it was new but latterly print quality reduced and then it died altogether - my opportunity to buy a nice new photo printer. Reading reviews, I was attracted by the eco tank system, accepting that colour gamut was a little limited and decided to buy the ET 8550. Setting up and ink filling was a breeze using the phone app and the printer was ready to use in very little time although I was surprised about how much ink it used to prime itself. I expect this was due to filling all the tubes to get the ink to the print heads but it's not serious since ... MoreI take and print photographs for my own pleasure and I use a Nikon DSLR with several lenses. I use mainly Lightroom for photo editing and printing. I had a very old HP photo printer which produced fantastic prints when it was new but latterly print quality reduced and then it died altogether - my opportunity to buy a nice new photo printer. Reading reviews, I was attracted by the eco tank system, accepting that colour gamut was a little limited and decided to buy the ET 8550. Setting up and ink filling was a breeze using the phone app and the printer was ready to use in very little time although I was surprised about how much ink it used to prime itself. I expect this was due to filling all the tubes to get the ink to the print heads but it's not serious since compared with buying cartridges, the ink is very cheap.My first photo print was disappointing but I didn't have any Epson paper so I was not surprised. I did have some Permajet paper so I downloaded the ICC file for the 8550 for that paper and tried that - not good. So I bought some Epson paper and tried that - much the same as the permajet print.At this point I contacted Epson support and they asked about monitor calibration. My 2 x 27" Dell monitors have been calibrated but some time ago so I bought a datacolour Spyderx Pro - no better. The monitors are old so I bought two new 27" 4K monitors which are well regarded for photo editing. After calibrating, careful setting up, using Epson paper and allowing the printer to control colour, prints were no better.Prints from this printer are not bad if you view them in isolation although they are not 'vibrant' as the reviews claim, and if you compare colours with the screen (and reality) they are not good. For example, there is a subtle blue cast which makes the prints look dull and uninteresting. The beige of a sandy beach looks grey and flat. I have spent so much money trying to get good faithful colour prints and I am just very disappointed with the result.
Fantastic photo printer. I was blown away by the quality of the prints, leaving my Cannon Pro 100 in the dust ! There is enough ink in the bottles to refill the tanks after setup and printing a few 13x19 photos so this is definitely a huge savings.BUT.,, it is disgraceful that this printer does not automatically align the printheads and, in my case, there were ZERO perfect alignments to choose from on the calibration printouts. That said, it did not seem to have an ill effect on the end result.Individual print settings are difficult to impossible as access to all settings seems to be highly dependent on software compatibility.Try to print often to avoid clogging of the printheads. Mine was idle for 5-6 days and required 3 cleanings after ruining 3 sheets of ... MoreFantastic photo printer. I was blown away by the quality of the prints, leaving my Cannon Pro 100 in the dust ! There is enough ink in the bottles to refill the tanks after setup and printing a few 13x19 photos so this is definitely a huge savings.BUT.,, it is disgraceful that this printer does not automatically align the printheads and, in my case, there were ZERO perfect alignments to choose from on the calibration printouts. That said, it did not seem to have an ill effect on the end result.Individual print settings are difficult to impossible as access to all settings seems to be highly dependent on software compatibility.Try to print often to avoid clogging of the printheads. Mine was idle for 5-6 days and required 3 cleanings after ruining 3 sheets of photo paper before I noticed.Last night it failed to grab paper from the rear feed, made a grinding sound, and threw a paper jam error, however, there was no paper jam. I reset the printer and it was OK after, so, that is of some concern. Bottom line, the printer just sips ink and prints a fantastic image but is way more difficult to use than any other printer I have ever owned. It seems I'm constantly having to go to the printer to change a setting or to change the tray or approve a feed or even just approve a print job or to cancel because it decided to revert to the front tray or some other reason. My LOVE for this this printer quickly faded to LIKE.Sadly, were it not for the fantastic print quality, I would hate this printer.
The printer provides very high quality photo output even on matte and specialty paper, without the super high ink cost. I have other Epson and Canon large format printers that cost more to purchase and have MUCH higher ink expense due to small cartridge size. The ET 8550 cannot produce quite the same color range as a 10 or 12 ink printer, but it is very, very close. Unless comparing prints side by side, the quality difference is really not noticeable. I have no qualms hanging the 8550 output at 13x19 print size on my wall, and smaller prints are even better. Note that I spend a lot of time getting the settings right and using ICC profiles for the print media in order to get great results. However, even a novice should be able to get good results on genuine Epson ... MoreThe printer provides very high quality photo output even on matte and specialty paper, without the super high ink cost. I have other Epson and Canon large format printers that cost more to purchase and have MUCH higher ink expense due to small cartridge size. The ET 8550 cannot produce quite the same color range as a 10 or 12 ink printer, but it is very, very close. Unless comparing prints side by side, the quality difference is really not noticeable. I have no qualms hanging the 8550 output at 13x19 print size on my wall, and smaller prints are even better. Note that I spend a lot of time getting the settings right and using ICC profiles for the print media in order to get great results. However, even a novice should be able to get good results on genuine Epson papers that the printer has inbuilt profiles for. I've made enough large format prints that I would have run through a $200 to $400 set of inks by now on my other photo printers and the 8550 tanks are still nearly full. That cost savings alone is remarkable. My experience is limited to printing on high quality photo papers. I've not tried other media, printing on CDs, etc., and I have not used the scanner, so I have no insight on how the 8550 performs in those areas. Regardless, the ET8550 is a really strong photo printer at a really strong value. I believe that all but the most serious pro photographers will be happy with the results they get if they take the time to use it properly.
I procured this printer after weeks of study. I have not made "fine art" or nature prints in a few years, due to a bad experience with an EPSON R3000 (PK/MK Issue - but due to a 3rd party warranty I received all my money back, less the $300 re-fill inks.) The R3000 made great prints, better than the R2200 and probably better than a large format printer of 20 years ago. Now I need CD/DVD printing, some smaller prints for family, maybe gift cards, and perhaps a 13x19 now and then. Don't anticipate a need to make 200-year archival prints and don't want to invest into something that requires $300+ to fill up. Historically I made a few matte prints but used Luster paper a lot. With the ET-85xx I expect to make gloss, luster and perhaps some matte/fiber papers (low ... MoreI procured this printer after weeks of study. I have not made "fine art" or nature prints in a few years, due to a bad experience with an EPSON R3000 (PK/MK Issue - but due to a 3rd party warranty I received all my money back, less the $300 re-fill inks.) The R3000 made great prints, better than the R2200 and probably better than a large format printer of 20 years ago. Now I need CD/DVD printing, some smaller prints for family, maybe gift cards, and perhaps a 13x19 now and then. Don't anticipate a need to make 200-year archival prints and don't want to invest into something that requires $300+ to fill up. Historically I made a few matte prints but used Luster paper a lot. With the ET-85xx I expect to make gloss, luster and perhaps some matte/fiber papers (low expectations for matte). Since the price of inks per mililiter for the ET-85xx is about 6x cheaper than a P700 printer, and 3.6x cheaper than a P900 pigment printer. (Though a P900 will cost $440 for a complete refill of 10 carts.) Some Canon offerings looked good except for smaller ink cartridges. With a lot of skepticism, I obtained the ET-8550, with its somewhat limited gamut of 4 color dye and 2 black inks. (Canon probably has the best color gamut using dyes at a reasonable price.)Received the unit in 2 days from B&H and I set it up for wireless printing for a Mac (High Sierra and Big Sur on 2 computers) over WIFI with little fuss. I had used EPSON CD printing software before - this version is barely adequate: all my artwork is set up in Photoshop then resized and masked in the Epson Photo+ app. I suggest full "density" and contrast in the photo to overlay, then use the transparency control to lighten it in the EP app. It's a bit tedious to print multiple CDs, but I have had no issues yet.I first made some real test prints on some old no-name glossy paper. The "rear (vertical) feeder" is straight forward for most such papers (60#). The horizontal rear sheet feed ("manual feed") is needlessly complex to set up but is needed for thick papers. Keeping the manual feed paper aligned is another quirk. Don't forget to replace the "Paper feed unit", completely assembled, when using other paper trays. I have used bottom front paper tray (2) for plain paper only and have not tried the small "photo paper" (1) tray. A software setting can enable a reminder for the control panel to tell you what paper slot and paper type is currently set up, but the computer software can override this. I still try to make them similar (I'm still not sure what equates with what: Control Panel lists gloss papers as: Ultra Glossy, Premium Glossy and Glossy... The software driver offers "Photo High Gloss Paper", "Photo Glossy Paper", "Photo": So does Ultra Glossy = "Photo High Gloss Paper" ?) EPSON needs to be consistent. It appears that the 2 settings don't have to match to print, unlike some other printers.I obtained some Red River sample paper for this model printer. They have a wealth of ICC profiles for this. I'm not sure Photoshop CS6 (old) is doing all it needs to do here, so I proceeded with Capture One 22 (15.4.0). Using some metallic glossy papers, the images are astounding from the limited ink set. I'm a long way from knowing the limitations of this printer and 3rd party papers and ICC profiles or even EPSONs "signature worthy" papers. I found a kink in a couple of one supplier's ICC profiles with this printer and research is continuing with them. Also, some questions relating to implementation of render intent with some print drivers have also arisen (probably not a printer specific issue). Note that Red River provides version 4 ICC profiles .. many of these show gorgeous results with some of their glossy papers, printed through Capture One. I have not yet looked at ImagePrint or similar rasterizer image processors (RIPs). Some such software is more expensive than this printer.So far, I'm more impressed than I thought possible with the measly 4 color + 1 black photo inks. I've made 1-2 dozen letter size glossy prints, 6-8 CDs and the tank levels have not budged since the first priming. Looking forward to testing luster papers. I'm glad I got the extended warranty from B&H though. Squaretrade has saved me great expense in the past on EPSON hardware.
I bought this printer because my wife is a teacher, and I'm an engineer with a photography hobby, I wanted the most versatile printer I could find. We have put this printer through the paces with many different uses. My wife has 28 students, and as you may know, school systems are underfunded with supplies, so we end up printing a lot of worksheets, and other school use products for her class. I just finished printing 44 page booklets, including card stock covers, for 22 of her students, double sided. If you do the math, that is printing about 2 reams of paper which this printer just chugged along and completed without any problem. Our previous printer was a small laser printer that would overheat after 120 sheets. So this last project would have been impossible.I ... MoreI bought this printer because my wife is a teacher, and I'm an engineer with a photography hobby, I wanted the most versatile printer I could find. We have put this printer through the paces with many different uses. My wife has 28 students, and as you may know, school systems are underfunded with supplies, so we end up printing a lot of worksheets, and other school use products for her class. I just finished printing 44 page booklets, including card stock covers, for 22 of her students, double sided. If you do the math, that is printing about 2 reams of paper which this printer just chugged along and completed without any problem. Our previous printer was a small laser printer that would overheat after 120 sheets. So this last project would have been impossible.I don't print nearly that quantity, but I do print 11x17 drawings for work and I've also printed several of my photos at the full 13x19 size with luster paper and the quality is stunning. They look just as good as the professional services that I've used for photos. I also have printed bluray and dvd blanks and it prints those disks perfectly as well.In the month that we've been using this printer, we've gone through 4 reams of paper plus all the photo printing and the black ink is still about 70% full (most of the printing for school is black). The color ink is still 85% full.I only have two disappointments. One is that with the volume of printing we do, the paper cassette must be refilled frequently. The second is how long it takes to print on card stock. Each card stock sheet takes about 2 minutes to print, and it's single sheet feed so you need to be feed each sheet in manually. It's about as long as printing a full color photo. However, these are minor issues for me. Filling the paper is easy and quick. Also, we don't need to print a lot of card stock, and it is much better than paying 50 cents a sheet at the office supply store printing department which is a 15 minute drive for me.Overall, this printer has impressed me more than any other printer I've ever owned.
I bought my first one because I wanted to get a really solid sublimation printer that could print professional quality, larger scaler prints. I bought both printers via the same Amazon seller, roughly 5 months apart and use them for slightly different purposes.I craft, and have been getting into it more seriously and was debating opening a small Etsy shop. My goal was really to be able to pay for my supplies, and maybe a bill or two. Mainly I my purchase was for myself and my family. I want to create things and display them vs paying someone else to do so.I have used each printer a few times a week. I have not had the need to print a borderless print on the one I use for sublimation, however, I have tried to print borderless on the one I use for prints and small ... MoreI bought my first one because I wanted to get a really solid sublimation printer that could print professional quality, larger scaler prints. I bought both printers via the same Amazon seller, roughly 5 months apart and use them for slightly different purposes.I craft, and have been getting into it more seriously and was debating opening a small Etsy shop. My goal was really to be able to pay for my supplies, and maybe a bill or two. Mainly I my purchase was for myself and my family. I want to create things and display them vs paying someone else to do so.I have used each printer a few times a week. I have not had the need to print a borderless print on the one I use for sublimation, however, I have tried to print borderless on the one I use for prints and small posters. I bought the second one out of strong desire to see it in its intended use, as I was pretty satisfied with the sublimation one.Out of the 30+ prints I have done one the second one, using the driver provided by Epson (I am on a new MacBook), I have not once had a successful borderless print. 9.99999 times out of 10 the image itself is crooked when using the manual feed for thicker paper, or cut off, or both.Not to mention the number of times that you load, reload, cancel, cancel again, load, cancel, and reload the paper because the printer does not want to recognize the commands you have sent it when trying to print on larger paper. I have made the settings on the physical printer so that it should only recognize the commands from my print settings via laptop. Getting one page to load can sometimes take several minutes, let alone the frustrating experience of trying to print multiples when trying to print via the manual tray (thicker paper feed). Even loading the rear tray is a crap shoot in if the paper will jam if you are trying to load more than 2 pieces.The one I use for sublimation, is fine, but I probably could have gotten by with something smaller (which is my fault, not the printers). I wish I would have skipped purchasing this printer again, who gives a crap what the images look like if trying to actually get them printed makes you want to go all Office Space style on the printer itself up?Save yourself the frustration.
I've had the ET-8550 for a few weeks after waiting many months for it to become available. It produces impressive results printing documents, photos, and DVDs. But setting it up was a nightmare. The instructions about setup are scattered across several html documents with small print, lots of links, and numbered series of steps that sometimes don't seem specific or tell exactly what to do. There are also instructions on the printer's little screen, some of them hard to interpret and some at odds with the printed documentation. A number of crucial terms are unfamiliar and undefined. Getting the wireless connection to my computer to work took hours of trial and error. But that was nothing compared to the difficulties of getting the ET-8550 to print on DVDs (actually ... MoreI've had the ET-8550 for a few weeks after waiting many months for it to become available. It produces impressive results printing documents, photos, and DVDs. But setting it up was a nightmare. The instructions about setup are scattered across several html documents with small print, lots of links, and numbered series of steps that sometimes don't seem specific or tell exactly what to do. There are also instructions on the printer's little screen, some of them hard to interpret and some at odds with the printed documentation. A number of crucial terms are unfamiliar and undefined. Getting the wireless connection to my computer to work took hours of trial and error. But that was nothing compared to the difficulties of getting the ET-8550 to print on DVDs (actually Blu-Rays, though as far as the printer is concerned, there's no difference). I bought the ET-8550 to replace my Epson 1430, which used a separate app called "Print CD" for this function. Since I didn't find any instructions about how to print CDs on the ET-8550, I tried toe use "Print CD." Opening it led to an error message and a document that specified a series of steps that didn't work but led to the conclusion that the AirPlay protocol built into my Mac's OS wouldn't work. I took the steps of opening an Epson account so that I could connect via Epson Remote, and this ultimately led to an error message reporting that Print CD was missing a driver. I couldn't find such a driver anywhere. I called Epson support and over a period of three days had long sessions with about ten different service people, who mostly took the time to consult the online instructions that I had already seen and ask if I had downloaded the drivers that I had already downloaded. They promised callbacks from technicians at higher levels, some of which happened and some of which didn't. Finally, there was a technician who doubted that the ET-8550 could be used with the app Print CD and thought that the way to print on disks was to use a new app called "Photo Plus." The home page of this app in fact listed CDs as one of the eight options available, but it was the only one dimmed out. Hovering the mouse over it produced the message that it was not available with my printer (the printer's advertisements all include the feature of CD printing). Finally, another technician a day later suggested that I reinstall the driver and connect to the internet via a path that was neither AirPlay or Epson Connect. None of this is in any of the documentation! But it did work and the results are good. I'm grateful for the expertise of the woman who solved the problem. The reason for my three-star rating is the appalling inadequacy of the setup instructions and technical support.
I bought this printer about a month ago (as soon as it became available in the Northeastern U.S.) from Office Depot--not the first place you would think of for a photo printer, but at least they had it in stock. The price went up by $100 compared to what it was last winter when I tried to order it. So much for our new period of inflation and broken supply chains.Nevertheless, I already own an Epson ET-3600 for conventional printing, two HP network laser printers and an aging Canon Pixma Pro 9000, which uses 8 inks--and they are becoming very expensive. The Canon printer still produces superb color, but black & white is another story. I was hoping the ET-8550 would produce better B&W images, and so far I have not been disappointed. Having printed silver prints with ... MoreI bought this printer about a month ago (as soon as it became available in the Northeastern U.S.) from Office Depot--not the first place you would think of for a photo printer, but at least they had it in stock. The price went up by $100 compared to what it was last winter when I tried to order it. So much for our new period of inflation and broken supply chains.Nevertheless, I already own an Epson ET-3600 for conventional printing, two HP network laser printers and an aging Canon Pixma Pro 9000, which uses 8 inks--and they are becoming very expensive. The Canon printer still produces superb color, but black & white is another story. I was hoping the ET-8550 would produce better B&W images, and so far I have not been disappointed. Having printed silver prints with my old Beseler 4x5 enlarger in the darkroom, I've found it impossible to get decent B&W prints on any inkjet printer. Until now. The ET-8580's output on (believe it or not) Costco's Kirkland glossy paper rivals anything I got out of my darkroom on conventional silver paper: blacks are black and gray scale to white is perfect. I have not yet tried matte paper, but I expect the results will be equally superb.With a minor density adjustment, I easily calibrated the ET-8550's output to match the Canon printer, which was initially calibrated to match 4-color offset printer results and my screen. This was an easy task compared to matching color in the darkroom--even with a darkroom color analyzer.At first, I thought the front door that opens when I print was a little silly. But I like the printer to be fully closed when in not in use. It can't catch dust when it's closed. The back tray for larger paper is OK for what I do. I haven't yet tried printing on both sides of ledger-based plain paper. This is something I would do only occasionally for print proofs.So far, so good! I'm pleased with the printer and the accessibility of the ink storage area, compared to the side-mounted ink vessels on the ET-3600.I have scanned images from old Kodachrome slides, 6x6 cm color and B&W positives and negatives, and 4x5 and 5x7 B&W negatives, all scanned on Epson photo scanners. The final output I get even from film more than 40 years old is amazing--easier and better than all the hours I spent in the darkroom.
I have generally spent my life with HP printers, and the last 10 years have been a rough go as their quality has tanked. My point of this printer was NOT to run millions of pages of documents but to be able to print high quality color on various media's beyond copies paper, and also print with Bleed (so all the way to the edge). I've had it now 3 weeks and am in love with this thing. The quality of the unit its-self is stunning and the ink philosophy is not only cost effective, but brilliantly implemented. I have not used it a lot, and with any inkjet printer - time is typically the problem. I'll say that this printer has an outstanding number of moving parts. (Metaphorically and physically), but it wildly exceeds my quality expectations in printing so far. On ... MoreI have generally spent my life with HP printers, and the last 10 years have been a rough go as their quality has tanked. My point of this printer was NOT to run millions of pages of documents but to be able to print high quality color on various media's beyond copies paper, and also print with Bleed (so all the way to the edge). I've had it now 3 weeks and am in love with this thing. The quality of the unit its-self is stunning and the ink philosophy is not only cost effective, but brilliantly implemented. I have not used it a lot, and with any inkjet printer - time is typically the problem. I'll say that this printer has an outstanding number of moving parts. (Metaphorically and physically), but it wildly exceeds my quality expectations in printing so far. On Premium photo material this generated 5x7 photos that exceed what I had reprinted at a professional photo place. (Mostly because I could do the corrections myself at home). The software that comes with it is 'meh', but I'm an adobe user, so beyond the drivers I don't care - and the drivers work. I did give the photo printing software a run, and it worked and made a stunning photo --- but then crashed the application on a MAC, which I thought was weird. But again. I don't care, I bought it for the printer not the silly amateur software (And anyone buying this grade of printer 'should' be in the same boat). So all in all, a really great value for what it can do. Again, my only concerns are how this will perform over time. Inkjets are notoriously bad with age. I hope Epson proves me wrong with this unit. I will also say - buy this printer for what it's good at. If your looking to run volumes of spreadsheets... This is not your printer. If your looking to print quality media adhoc like a professional print house would... Buy this.
