Are refillable printers worth it?

Canon Pixma G6065 VS Epson EcoTank Expression ET-2750

Refillable ink are the new technology in the printing world.  They claim to offer a clever solution to the dual problems of limited ink cartridge capacity, refilling and disposal issues. We compare refillable ink printers from two of the most innovative brands in the industry; Canon’s Pixma G6065 printer, and Epson’s EcoTank ET-2750.

Longevity

With it’s four integrated ink tanks and four ink bottles, the G6065 can print 7,000 colour pages and 6,000 black and white pages before it runs out of ink.

Canon predicts that the PIXMA G6065 has a lifespan of five years or a duty cycle of 15,000 pages.

Epson’s Expression ET-2750 is sold with ‘two years’ worth of ink’ which is to say it comes with eight bottles and can print 4,000 pages in black and white and 6,500 pages in colour on a four tank system before the tanks need to be refilled.

Most standard inkjet printers need their cartridges changed after 700 or 800 pages, so both refillable models are light-years ahead in terms of longevity.

 

Features

The ET-2750 is a multifunction with printer, scanner and copier functions as well as Wi-Fi and USB connectivity. The PIXMA G6065 is also a multifunction printer with print, scan, and copy, it also has an Auto Power Off setting, which turns the printer off automatically if it has been idle for a while, to minimize energy output.

 

Cost

Both Canon and Epson emphasise the low running cost of these refillable tank models in their advertising but this does not take into consideration the upfront cost, which is considerably more than what you might expect to pay for you average inkjet. To actually enjoy the savings offered by the refillable tanks, you need to print around 5,000 pages before the cost per use of the printer and inks falls below that of a standard inkjet. Whilst this is a reasonable figure for a workplace printer, in a home office context, the printing technology would probably have moved on by the time you’ve printed out enough pages to make any savings.

Print quality

The Epson ET-2750 produces crisp clean text as well as good colour graphics and photo output. The Canon Pixma G6065 produces a similarly high quality and uses Canon’s famous pigments to great effect, creating flawless images and smooth crisp text.

Refillable or Cartridges

All the refillable inks is really great for the consumer or business that prints substantial amounts over a period of time. 

But, what about those that only print minimal amounts? 

These days we are definitely printing less as we tend to scan and save documents to drives and the cloud.  Paper usage has declined so when looking at this type of printer, take into account and ask your self this question…  “Will I use the amount of ink given the time period, or will it go dry in the bottle much the same as paint left in a can for 2 years?”

Those that only print one or two pages each day, will certainly not use the ink supplied in the tanks and should carefully assess if a refillable ink printer is worth the initial price.  There are plenty of printers that start at sub $80.00  and provide 200 pages within the first cartridges.  A refillable printer will cost an initial $350 – $400.  

Food for thought….