The Epson ET-2500 Multi-function Printer

pinkoddy

9 years ago

What we use our Printer for

In today’s day and age a printer is a must have essential. My 12 year old son even has a school laptop and does the large majority of work on that, rather than exercise books. Of course we make copies of important documents (usually related to The Sensory Seeker) and not to mention the huge booklets my husband prints out for coding, the colouring pages I print for the kids, recipes, maps, coach tickets, and my youngest often requires photos printing out for school to share with others – but they do not need to be of the highest quality.
Ink can become expensive, not to mention when it runs out. Or even more annoying is when one colour has been used up but the whole colour cartridge needs replacing – what a waste! We also tend to photocopy important documents – so that is a must in a printer for us too. Our previous printer/scanner was accessible by WiFi but sometimes struggled to be found, especially when we got the HomeHalo. Now it has suddenly started printing the pages at an angle – so it was the perfect time to try something new.

Epson EcoTank Printers

Epson EcoTank printers can save up to 70% of printing costs* due to their integrated high-capacity ink tanks. These are refillable and last much longer than printers with traditional ink cartridges. The ink replacement bottles are low cost and come ready to use with 2 years worth of ink included in the box** – enough ink to print up to 4,000 pages in black and 6,500 pages in colour*** All five models use Epson’s Micro Piezo technology for clear, sharp and precise printing.

Throughout the EcoTank range there are advanced features including duplex printing, A3 printing, SD card slots, faxing, scanning, Wi-Fi, and LCD screens. The ET-2500 and ET-2550 offer print, copy and scan features, with the ET-4500 adding fax for 4-in-1 capabilities. It’s possible to print wirelessly on all of these printers using the Epson iPrint app for smartphones, while all have Epson Connect support, meaning that they can be used with a range of Epson printing applications for functions such as remote and email printing.

The Epson ET-2500

Initial thoughts on the Epson ET-2500

Are that it is well packaged and easy to take out of the box. It is rather bulky and apart from the lid looks does not look like a premium item (looks plastic), but this is not a major concern – especially as in our case it is for the family home. It is black, which I feel gives a smart appearance and would fit well in most homes and/or offices.

Set up of the Epson ET-2500

The quick start guide set up instructions assume you wish to connect via WiFi Protected Setup (wps) – this is where the router and device each have a wps button, and when they are pressed at roughly the same time devices can automatically be added to the network without needing any configuration information. However wps is not available on some older routers or may have even been disabled for security purposes. It is possible to connect but it is not obvious from the instructions. There is no Ethernet port (for hard wired network connections, this would be for if you don’t have Wi-Fi but still want the printer on a network) and no USB cable provided (needed if not using Wi-Fi or if trying to setup Wi-Fi without wps).

To set up the Epson ET-2500 there is a CD provided, but quick start guide takes into account not all devices have CD drives, so gives Internet address for getting drivers. There is no LCD display, so configuration of the printer is primarily done via the device (PC/Mac/smartphone/tablet) using it – there is a web interface for the printer if it is on the Wi-Fi network. There is also no memory card slot – so you cannot just print photos etc off without a device.

The loading of ink takes literally 20 minutes and this is clear in the instructions. I read a lot of reviews saying that gloves are a good idea because adding the ink is messy but the only time ink got on hands is after the bottles had been put down, and they were picked up again to put away, and a bit had leaked over. The draft text page printed quite quickly.

Epson iPrint App

The Epson iPrint App is the thing I love most about this printer. Simply switch on the printer (we turn everything we are not using off to save energy) and within a short time it is ready to go. Open the app, select what you want to print, size and borders (you cannot print it without a border), make changes, find the printer – approve and print! My youngest son often needs photos printing for school to show them what he has been up to. He does not need fantastic quality and in a hurry is great. I have to say I only printed on paper but the quality (colours) weren’t great. Perhaps if I used photo paper I would have a better experience. It also took longer to print than I would have liked for such a poor quality picture. In saying that the photo I printed was good enough for the need of my boy taking it to school. It was VERY simple to use (I hate new things!) and the app found the printer with no problems. Now to test out how far away I can be and it still work!

Thoughts on Epson ET-2500

The Epson ET-2500 was easy to set up once it was understood what was needed to be done (we have wps disabled). It is a good value for those who do a lot of printing. Although the draw back is that it does not do automatic double sided printing. You can see that the Epson ET 2500 is good value for money as the bottles hold a lot of ink (70ml) and refills are only £7.99 a bottle (RRP on Epson website). This means even replacing all colours is the price of 1 traditional cartridge – that does not last as long, and obviously you only need to refill the colours you have actually used. It has a higher initial price point but the ink should last 2 years – if you don’t print a lot you would be better to go for a cheaper outlay. It also slightly bulkier than other printers – but not when you consider the convenience factor of not having to keep replacing/running out of ink. It is fairly noisy but no more than the average printer. You cannot tip printer up as it will leak, this would be awkward if want to sell second-hand through the post as would be hard to make sure it’s totally dry. However, you do not need to worry about it being knocked and the ink leaking in general as there are loops to secure the ink closed.