Epson EcoTank Pro ET-16650 Wireless Wide-Format Printer

The printer is a big beauty. It dwarfs my old Epson EF-3540 dual tray all-in-one, which I used to think was huge. This printer essentially provides a new version of my old workhorse, but enlarged to work at tabloid size. You really need a substantial stand with a pad of 21w x 16d to accommodate the base. But that’s only part of the story. It requires at least 11-12 more inches behind it to allow for the rear feed tray to fully unfold. And it has this really glamourous MOTORIZED output tray that extends to the front by a good 9 inches when you print something (It auto-retracts when it is powered off.) So your real working area is 24w x 32d. Not trivial in a small office.

I have printed and copied letter and tabloid (11×17) using the automated document feeder, and can attest to that function. The fax checked out and got dial tone. It has two paper feed cassettes, both of which can hold full tabloid sized paper. The manual incorrectly states that the maximum size is A3 (11.7 × 16.5 inches). Keep in mind that the cassette(s) actually expand toward the front to hold this larger paper, so they stick out of the front of the printer by about 6 extra inches when loaded with tabloid. One thing I noted is that when I first expanded the cassette, placed the tabloid paper, and inserted the cassette, it felt ‘funny’, and sure enough, the printer said that there was a cassette load error. I got around this by making the cassette normal sized, inserting it (it felt better), then reaching in and pressing the expansion button to make it large again. I could then insert the paper and print. I will have to troubleshoot this to understand why that bottom cassette had to be ‘babied’.

I manually set up the printer for fax and network, set up my paper loads, then loaded the driver on my PC and printed away. Everything worked as expected. I printed an 11×17 graphic from PowerPoint (I had specified the tabloid size in the page setup), by simply printing it. I didn’t have to choose the paper feed tray, the printer/driver figured it out.

Which brings me to a praise – and a concern. This is not your father’s all-in-one. With the elegant high definition touch panel, the Lexus-like motorized output tray, and soft sounds, it feels like a multiple thousand dollar office printer. Lots of control over what is happening and elegance. But what concerns me is the fragility of the thing. If I lift a corner of the printer it flexes. My old WF-3540 did not do that; it was much stiffer. The feed trays feel like if I am not careful, I am going to break one. They may well last me another 9 years (They’d better after spending 9 bills!), but I really can’t drop one or jam it in hard. A soft touch will be required to ensure longevity.

Based on a not insignificant minority of people who experienced failures right at the one year point, I did something uncommon for me, I bought the extended warranty. That means I’ll probably never need it!

This was an expensive purchase for me and so far a good choice. Easy set up, connects to WiFi easily. I’m still trying to get scan to work, some options are not easy to set up. I like that I can choose 3 sizes of paper without physically changing the tray.
Expensive and glad I saved all my points to get the amount owed down. Never had an Epson, quality, nothing flimsy.
Like the ink options so far.

The ink supply provided in the box is inadequate. There is a 2 year “free” two year inksuppy program which you have to find in their web site. It requires the buyer to return the empty bottles along with a receipt for the replacement bottles. Postage was C$17.00

All the Epson printers I have purchased have produced wonderful images. All of them have had inscrutable manuals and complicated instructions. Epson Ink cartridges have always been very expensive. I have tried generic versions which were not too bad. Epson has worked hard to prevent this and ink bottles are part of this. I like my ET-16650 very much for its large format abilities but the learning curve is frustrating. Using the touch pad controls and the computer controls cause a lot of error signals at the begining.

Have not used it a lot yet. So far this is a great printer with many features. Make sure you allow enough room for it – any 11×17 printer has a big footprint, especially with all trays used. Double sided scan is great.

Packaging seems good. Was obvious that at sometime between manufacturer and me, the box was dropped or took a hard blow to two bottom corners. Styrofoam was cracked but spread the impact over sufficient areas that the printer was not damaged.

Does everything a small office needs to do and some. You can see the actual ink tank levels on the front of the machine. The tanks hold a lot of ink too. We have been using it for about 6 weeks now. Set up takes a bit of time of course (loading software and other set up)

The printer is state of the art. It is neat and sophisticated and is a quality product to purchase. I have just acquired the printer and so far no problem.

I own another Epson printer – the 8550 and love it so I decided to get this one. I thought I would save some money by purchasing a renewed one. I don’t know if they didn’t fix it right or what cause this thing was a LEMON. The print head got stuck almost immediately and had to reset. This happ multiple times. Then the paper got jammed for absolutely no reason and when it did print – black smears on everything. SO incredibly disappointed. Also the ink they include does NOT even fill the damn tank. You would need two bottles of each color so you are already behind right out of the box. Also, it does not use the same kind of ecotank ink as the others so I would have had to buy straight from epson or amazon at full price (I get a lot of ink deals on ebay for ink people are not using but are genuine bottles). This was a huge waste of an entire day. I do NOT NOT NOT recommend. Run from this hunk of junk!