Review of Epson EcoTank ET-3850: Fast and Affordable Tank Printer

The Epson EcoTank ET-3850 is a small and reasonably priced multifunction printer that comes with a two-year supply of ink. This is enough to catch the attention of anyone who prints frequently and is particularly appealing to those with home businesses.

For a home office, you need a versatile printer that can handle anything but is compact enough to manage easily. I reviewed the EcoTank ET-3850 to test its speed and quality. I also looked at ink costs and tested scanning and copying features to help determine if this printer is the best fit for you.

Design

The EcoTank ET-3850 is an all-in-one ink tank printer with an automatic document feeder (ADF). It has a yellow and white body with nice curves and four large ink tanks that extend about an inch forward on the right side. Epson gets some creative license in the product images, displaying black, yellow, cyan, and magenta bands, but the ink actually shows up as a dark gray in the transparent tanks. However, it’s convenient to be able to take a quick look at the printer to see if you need to replenish supplies soon.

There’s a 2.4-inch color screen front and center on an adjustable control panel with buttons on both sides for copying, adjusting settings, and maintenance. The control panel tilts outwards and is adjustable over a wide range from fully vertical to fully horizontal by about 13 degrees.

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

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

For a multifunction printer, it’s lightweight and compact, measuring 16.4 inches in width, 13.7 inches in depth, and 9.1 inches in height. During operation, the output tray slides forward, adding about six inches to the depth. It weighs 14.8 pounds, making it easy to set up and move around.

Printing Performance

The Epson EcoTank ET-3850 is remarkably fast for an ink tank printer, with the first page out in about 10 seconds. It averages 15.5 pages per minute (ppm) for long black-and-white documents, while color is slightly slower at 8.5 ppm. As duplex printing requires the page to be pulled 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 minimizes printing costs, check out my review of the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850, a high-speed ink tank printer that prints the first page in under 6 seconds and reaches up to 25 pages per minute for longer documents.

The print quality is generally very good. Fine print is clear and legible, and color documents look beautiful, with no lines or gaps in colored squares. There’s an option for borderless printing, which is always welcomed in color printers. Full-page ads, models, and reports look better without white borders.

The Epson EcoTank ET-3850 handles photos well. Photo quality on glossy paper is excellent, and regular photo paper displays good exposure and accurate color tones, but somewhat light saturation. On lightweight paper, printed photos tend to curl, but this doesn’t happen with thicker paper.

Photographers and anyone with a critical eye may prefer a photo printer for high-quality images. Just be aware that a printer with more ink colors for enhanced dynamic range may cost much more.

Special Features

The scanner of the EcoTank ET-3850 can capture up to 1200 dots per inch from my computer and 600 dots per inch from my phone. While arbitrary higher resolutions don’t necessarily mean much, it still doubles the scanning resolution over most integrated printers. Colors are vibrant with good exposure in scanned images.

It’s easy to make copies using the ADF at acceptable speeds. The EcoTank ET-3850 can copy documents at speeds of up to 11 pages per minute in black-and-white and 5 pages per minute in color. The quality is good, but not as good as the original print.

There’s no duplex copy option, but I can copy single-sided pages and output them double-sided to save paper. Epson included options for scaling, enlarging, and multiple pages. If I copy pages from a folder, there’s also a feature that removes hole punches.

Software and Compatibility

After unboxing and setting up the EcoTank ET-3850, it was quick to set up using Epson’s Smart Panel. The mobile app guided me to fill the ink tanks with the large bottles included in the box.

The Smart Panel app warned me that ink initialization takes over 10 minutes, but allowed me to connect to Wi-Fi during this time. I didn’t encounter any initial connection issues, but I noticed several dropouts later when printing from my iPad. However, my computer and phone are working fine.

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

Next was aligning the print head, which included choosing the best alignment from five multiple-choice graphics. It’s straightforward but takes over 20 minutes to complete the setup. Make sure you have enough time to finish before needing 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 very rare, but everything went as expected.

Price

The Epson EcoTank ET-3850 printer is sold at $400, but is often on sale for around $320. This is a good price for a fast, high-quality ink tank printer with a flatbed scanner and an automatic document feeder (ADF). With inkjet printers, it’s always good to consider long-term costs.

This isn’t a concern for most tank printers as the EcoTank ET-3850 is already very economical. The cost per page for black and white is on average 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 comes with four ink bottles, and Epson includes the full capacity, providing up to 7500 pages in black alone and 6000 color pages. This can last for up to two years before needing to replenish supplies.

Is This Printer Right for You?

Epson excels in ink tank printers and has a wide range of ink tank printers that provide amazing value in the long run. There are some excellent all-in-one printers that can challenge the EcoTank ET-3850. For example, the HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e printer is faster and more cost-effective, but it uses ink cartridges, making the cost per print higher.

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

Photo quality is excellent on glossy paper, making it a good choice for busy home offices that handle business during the day and can also be used as a photo printer for personal use on weekends. The EcoTank ET-3850 printer is a versatile printer that meets many needs.

However, small businesses may need full duplex copying, faster speeds, and security features. Color laser printers with a good rating often suit a busy work environment.

If you need to send or receive faxes, the Epson EcoTank ET-4850 adds fax capabilities, working as a direct competitor to the HP Smart Tank 7602, which boasts the same speed and economy.