Epson EcoTank ET-M3170 Wireless Monochrome All-in-One Supertank Printer with ADF, Fax and Ethernet PLUS 2 Years of Unlimited Ink*, White

Although the printer was delivered 2 days late it still was delivered in perfect condition and I’m proud of my purchase. I’m a tattoo artist and this printer is a next level stencil tool. I highly recommend!

I hate using printers because something always goes wrong. I’m happy to say that’s not the case for this one, which has been a delight to use compared to a Canon Pixma.

Installation took some time as the printer needed to be connected via the internet to update and print wirelessly. I’d say about 45m-60m tops to get everything up to speed. Wireless settings work well on my old MacBook Pro 2013 computer, as well as scanning documents. Phone connection is not compatible, but Epson has a feature where you can set up an email for this printer to print from anywhere! I’ve used these wonderful features while I was away from home and needed to print something for the parents at home. The caveat is that the printer needs to be on standby for this feature to work, unless the person at home turns on the printer.

The main selling point for this printer is that the ink is cheap. It comes with a bottle to fill up the tank, and it’s satisfying to do. The printer has printed over a hundred documents already, and the ink tank is slightly lowered. You can buy aftermarket 532 Ink, and it will work on this printer.

The documents come out surprisingly sharp coming from an inkjet printer. It’s not as crisp as a laser/LED printer, though it’s perfect for me. I love printing on this printer, and I highly recommend it.

A convenient printer when it worked, however getting it to recognize the networked computers for wireless connectivity was always hit or miss, and the print quality and speed were never very good. On top of the mediocre performance it was also fairly loud and the touchscreen is so tiny it’s difficult to use for anyone with fingers bigger than a toddler’s. Still while it worked I was willing to live with these shortcomings.

Over the last month, 24 months after purchasing it, the printer decided to stop printing. The scanner still worked but all the print functions simply resulted in blank white sheets (and yes I bought a new bottle of ink and topped off ink levels). I tried all the diagnostics over a week and half–nozzle cleanings, head cleanings, power cleanings—and went back and forth with Epson’s chatbots and finally got to speak to a human being.

I was told the printer was technically out of warranty because I purchased it at the end of the previous month back in 2020 and didn’t register it until I received it a week later, which fell into the following month. (How I could’ve registered the product at the time of purchase without having unboxed the delivered physical unit and had access to the serial number is an open question). So long story short the printer is out of warranty according to Epson and well: tough luck I guess.

The customer service rep did “generously” offer me up to a 40% discount on another refurbished printer and also locations of authorized repair centers I could take the unit to get it diagnosed and repaired at full cost to myself. When I was off the phone with him and following the emailed link it turns out the nearest repair center to me is over 250 miles away and second closest one after that is over 600 miles away.

So needless to say the economics and hassle of trying to get this printer serviced are absurd. I guess I could ship it, again packing this thing up and sending it would probably cost me $100 roundtrip shipping–and there’s no guarantee it can even be fixed.

I’ve never had a printer mysteriously stop printing for no apparent reason like this. But I won’t be making the same mistake again when replacing this 2yr old printer–I won’t be buying another Epson printer. It’s a shame because I’ve had good experiences with other Epson products like their projectors and flat-bed photo scanners but I honestly cannot recommend any printer from this company.

I had a Brother printer for many years, worked very well, until the company stopped making drivers for the model I had. It is a sign of disrespect to the customer to discontinue drivers on models that are still being used by customers, so i will never buy another Brother product. I searched and searched for a basic monochrome printer, not needing fax or scanner that I already have. So many are wifi only, which I eliminate for many reasons. It is amazing how companies make simple printers so unnecessarily complicated. I finally found this Epson which so far I am satisfied. There is no sound, the print quality is excellent, and very easy installation through their website software download. I like that I can do maintenance directly from the printer app. The only disappointment is that the first copy takes much longer to print than other printers I have owned or used. But overall, it is sturdy, and dependable and very easy to use. Works great with my MAC.

This printer cost a bit more than some inkjets, but it is worth the price. Two years after buying it, I just now replaced the ink it came with. A big bottle, that will likely last another 2 years, only cost me $17. After paying $50 every few months for ink cartridges in the past, this is amazing. The print has been excellent. I haven’t had to do a print cleaning or alignment to the best of my memory since I got it. I think it goes through self maintenance once or twice a day, because it occasionally makes a noise like it. It also handles faxes well without a dedicated line. Before this I got this I bought an HP laser all in one, which prints great but did not do well on picking up the fax signals. So it is now a back-up wireless printer when my wife or I have a lot to print. Before that I had another Epson, an older model, that handled the fax/answering machine switch well, so I bought this, and it has done well. There have probably been a few times it did not pick up when it should have, but they are in a small minority. Epson seems to be the only one that has got the hand-off between fax and phone working well. For an all in one office machine it is great. I would definitely recommend it.

Excelente

Wish it had a USB port for direct scanning

I purchased this product to use it as a tattoo stencil printer. It works great, but you have to use the Epson app in order to print from mobile devices.