Having two blacks means there’s no compromise in quality when you switch between printing photos and words. Most papers printed fine from the top rear-feed slot, although some of the heavier papers had faint roller indentations on them, which necessitated my using the straight path feed (and which printed those papers without any indentations).

The front paper feeds, which are for smaller or letter-sized paper, can sometimes be pushed too far into the printer, requiring some finesse to pull them back out. While most of our focus in this review is on the photo-specific aspects of the ET-8500, here are a few other things worthy of mention. The supertank class of high-capacity inkjets is designed to go head-to-head with laser printers, with low-cost black-and-white or color output, high-speed print engines, and good overall print quality. The user interface was designed by children eg if you go to turn off the printer it has usually gone to sleep so you have to wake it up before you can turn it off, then you press the off button and the stupid screen says oh do you want to turn me off?But, and the size of the "but" here depends upon how tightly-fitted your own perfectionist cap is, the colors aren't strictly accurate. Note : Uninstall Center cannot uninstall Easy Photo Print, Print CD and all other SW installed by VISE X. While Canon’s A3 printer can produce a stunning photo in just over three minutes, the ET-8550 takes well over ten minutes. The printer can be connected via USB, Ethernet or WiFi, and can be set up from either a Mac or Windows computer or an iOS/Android device. There, the wider gamut of printers like the P900 and the Pro-300 will produce more nuanced prints on uncoated media.

Epson Smart Panel and Epson Creative Print require a wireless connection and the Epson printing apps. You can easily access the ink tanks by lifting the printer's top and the tank's cover; the printer doesn't need to be on for the refill.

The Epson EcoTank ET-8550 also has 2 front cassettes, a rear feed and a straight pass feed to allow more versatility for a range of printing projects. Once that was done, it was just a matter of following along with the smartphone app and getting the printer connected to a wireless network, which was easy. My recommendation is to select the highest quality setting for all media types except Ultra Premium Glossy (unless close-up detail is important) and plain paper (where it just makes the printing slow and warps the paper). Quoted yields are extrapolated based on the ISO/IEC 29103 pattern with Epson’s methodology printing 10x15cm photos, and NOT based on ISO/IEC 29102.