A small all-in-one that prints big
The Epson EcoTank ET-15000 all-in-one printer is best suited for offices that need to print on super-tabloid-size paper, and also print enough overall for its low running cost to make up for its high initial price.
The Epson EcoTank ET-15000 inkjet all-in-one printer ($699.99) has a lot in common with the proverbial glass that's both half full and half empty. Half full, because it's a highly capable letter- and legal-size AIO that can also print on tabloid (11-by-17-inch) and super-tabloid size (13-by-19-inch) paper. Half empty, because it offers only limited paper handling for the large sizes. But however you look at it, it's surprisingly compact for an AIO that can handle super-tabloid size at all. That makes it a good choice for a micro, home, or small office that needs to print at the larger sizes just once in a while.
The ET-15000 weighs 21.4 pounds and measures 9.6 by 19.6 by 14.1 inches (HWD) with trays closed. That makes it notably compact and light for a super-tabloid-capable AIO, at just two-thirds the weight of the closely competitive Brother MFC-J5855DW, and roughly half the weight of the MFC-J6945DW. (That latter model is our Editors' Choice pick among inkjet AIOs for tabloid-size printing in a micro to small office or workgroup.) The small size makes it easy to find room for even if space is tight, and also easy for one person to move into place.
Setup is typical for a tank-based inkjet. The four ink bottles are keyed, so you can't accidentally empty the ink into the wrong tanks. And ink doesn't start flowing until the bottle is firmly in place, which makes it hard to spill any. Setup instructions are straightforward and easy to follow, with a choice of connecting by USB cable, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Wi-Fi Direct. For my performance tests, I used Ethernet.
Epson provides a disc with drivers and other software, but also gives instructions for downloading the software from its website, which is the approach I took to ensure I had the latest version. After the setup program finishes, you should have drivers for both printing and faxing installed on your PC, as well as fax and scan utilities.
The printer also supports mobile print and scanning with the Epson Smart Panel app, which worked swimmingly in my tests using a Wi-Fi Direct connection. If you set up Epson Connect, you can add an assortment of features, including being able to print through your internet connection using Epson's remote printer driver, or print a file by sending it to the printer's Epson Connect email address. You can also set up Epson Connect to scan to several cloud sites, including Google Drive, Dropbox, Evernote, and Box. Once set up, you can then scan to any of the defined sites using commands on the front panel's 2.7-inch touch screen. Other touch-screen commands let you copy, scan, and fax.
For printing, the ET-15000 offers a 250-sheet drawer, for up to legal-size paper, plus a 20-sheet rear-feed multi-purpose tray for up to super-tabloid size. You can auto duplex for printing from either tray, but only for legal size or smaller. The combination is suitable for light- to moderate-duty letter- and legal-size printing in a micro, home, or small office, plus occasional light-duty printing for larger sizes. The recommended monthly duty cycle is 1,600 pages, but if you don't want to be reloading paper more than once a week on average, a 1,000-page maximum is more realistic.
For scanning, both the flatbed and the 35-page ADF can handle up to legal-size paper. The Copy menu offers a choice between copying single-sided originals to either single- or double-sided copies. However, the ADF is limited to scanning one side of the page. If you need to scan, copy, or fax a duplex document, the only way to keep all the pages in the right order is to place each side of each page on the flatbed manually, one at a time.
Any tank printer should score well on running costs, but the ET-15000 does better than many at 0.3 cent per standard mono page and 0.9 cent per color page based on ink costs and claimed yields. Epson actually advertises a more conservative 1 cent per page, without distinguishing between color and mono pages.
Compared with the directly competitive Brother MFC-J5855DW, the Epson printer can save 0.7 cent per mono page and 4.1 cents per color page (based on ink cost and claimed yields for both). But note that the Brother printer lists for less than half as much as the ET-15000, so which will cost you less in the long run will depend on how much you print. That is another way of saying that the number to focus on is the total cost of ownership—the initial price plus the running cost—rather than the running cost alone. Note that if you take the time to calculate the total cost for each, as we discuss in our guide to saving money on your next printer, you'll need to adjust the calculation to treat each tabloid-size page as equivalent to two letter-size pages.
For our performance tests, I connected our standard PC testbed and the ET-15000 to the same network, using an Ethernet connection for each. Speed was not a strong point. Compared with three printers that all cost less, it came in dead last for both our Microsoft Word text file and the full business application suite. For our 12-page Word file, not including the first page, it managed only 15.3ppm (43 seconds), a bit slower than its rated 17ppm. The MFC-J5855DW came in at 31.4ppm (21 seconds), followed by the Epson WorkForce Pro WF-7840 at 27.5ppm (24 seconds), and the MFC-J6945DW at 18.3ppm (36 seconds).
For shorter documents, both Brother printers had the advantage of faster first page out (FPO) times than either Epson printer, but even including the first page for the Word file, the four printers finished in the same order, with the MFC-J5855DW in first place, at 26.7ppm (27 seconds) and the ET-15000 in last place, at 13.6ppm (53 seconds).
The ET-15000 was also slow enough to notice the lag on our business applications suite, due in part to the test including several files of four or fewer pages, along with documents that add graphics and color. The MFC-J5855DW came in at just 1 minute and 34 seconds (16ppm) for the full suite, while the WF-7840 and MFC-J6945DW were essentially tied for second place at 2:03 to 2:05 (12 to 12.2ppm). The ET-15000 took more than twice as long as the fastest printer in the group, at 3:21 (7.5ppm). For 4-by-6-inch photos, it averaged 1:12 per photo.
The good news for the ET-15000 is that the text and graphics output is top-tier for an inkjet. Every font in our tests that you're likely to use in a business document was easily readable at 5 points, and all delivered well-formed characters and proper spacing, even at 4 points. The only issue at the smaller size was that the strokes in some were thin enough to look gray rather than black. Impressively, one of the heavily stylized fonts with thick strokes in our suite was easily readable at 6 points. However, the one that's hard to render well tended to fill in loops and spaces between characters, making it hard to read at anything smaller than 12 points.
For graphics on plain paper, the ET-15000 offered vibrant color and evenly shaded gradients for most images in the test suite. It also did an excellent job maintaining a 1-pixel-wide line on a black background. I saw some subtle banding, but only on two full-page graphics with solid dark fills covering most of the page. Photos on the recommended Epson Premium Photo Paper Glossy stock I used showed some loss of shadow detail, and some colors were oversaturated. But they qualify as being at the low end of drugstore-print quality.
On our ink-smudge tests on plain paper, black text smudged easily from both water and applying a highlighter, but only slightly. Color inks resisted smudging from water, but the pages were left with water marks.
The key questions to ask if you're considering the ET-15000 is how often you need to print on tabloid- or super-tabloid-size paper, and how many pages at a time. If the answers are more than occasionally and more than 20 pages a week, consider the MFC-J6945DW, the WF-7840, or the Epson EC-C7000, the last of which is essentially identical to the WF-7840 except for its distribution channel. All three offer much better paper handling than the ET-15000 for both printing and scanning, with higher paper capacities than the ET-15000 and the ability to scan tabloid-size pages. Between them, the MFC-J6945DW offers a lower running cost, which is a large part of why it's our top pick for the category, while the WF-7840 and its twin can print at super-tabloid size.
If the ET-15000 offers all the paper handling you need, be sure to also consider the MFC-J5855DW. The two offer comparable features in most ways, but the MFC-J5855DW has a much lower initial cost and will probably be your preferred choice if you don't expect to print much. On the other hand, the ET-15000's lower running cost will save money with every printed page. Print enough, and it will be the better buy in the long run.
The Epson EcoTank ET-15000 all-in-one printer is best suited for offices that need to print on super-tabloid-size paper, and also print enough overall for its low running cost to make up for its high initial price.
Sign up for Lab Report to get the latest reviews and top product advice delivered right to your inbox.
This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
Most of my current work for PCMag is about printers and projectors, but I've covered a wide variety of other subjects—in more than 4,000 pieces, over more than 40 years—including both computer-related areas and others ranging from ape language experiments, to politics, to cosmology, to space colonies. I've written for PCMag.com from its start, and for PC Magazine before that, as a Contributor, then a Contributing Editor, then as the Lead Analyst for Printers, Scanners, and Projectors, and now, after a short hiatus, back to Contributing Editor.
Read M. David's full bio
PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering lab-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology.
© 1996-2022 Ziff Davis. PCMag Digital Group
PCMag, PCMag.com and PC Magazine are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of PCMag. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product or service, we may be paid a fee by that merchant.