FULL REVIEW: EPSON ECOTANK L3156 PRINTER
IS THE EPSON ECOTANK L3156 PERFECT FOR FAMILIES?
It’s been a long time that I haven’t made a printer review. Unboxing videos usually ended up on my youtube channel but most of the full reviews went here. But just recently, the family purchased our own printer, finally. The Epson Ecotank L3156 Printer. We’ve been planning to buy, but we got the chance to get one, only now.
Why do we need this machine!
The main reason? Kids’ homework. Syllabuses or syllabi. Reference material and other school related print outs.
Also, for our random needs especially when processing documents etcetera.
And I’m trying out shirt printing again, just for my own sanity, at least perhaps for now. Just to make use some of my idle time especially during weekends, and especially that the pandemic is still here and most of us are still at home. Check my separate vlog regarding that soon on my youtube channel.
For a printer, we are looking for these 6 factors:
1)EASY TO INSTALL
That same night when I did the unboxing, I have finished the installation right away.And It comes with a super easy to follow step by step instructions.
Charging the ink was so fast. With ink bottles that fit to the ink tanks conveniently without any leaks. You can not interchange the colors (which happens to some) as each bottle has it’s own corresponding shape of the nozzle to the tank. And the flow stops automatically when the ink level reaches the upper line. Which is cool. Those are bottles and not cartridges. Take note on that.
I did some printing quality check for several minutes and the next thing I did, I was already doing an actual print using my mobile phone, as the Epson iPrint app can easily be downloaded from the App Store or from Google Play for android users.
2)EASY TO OPERATE
Connecting to devices is a no brainer. Using a WiFi, or WiFi Direct. For us, we’ve installed the apps to all our computers here not just from our mobile phones and we can now print directly without even passing through a wireless router. And we can do that anywhere. Yes, like anywhere even when we are in the Philippines for vacation.
There’s no option for any cable or usb connection. Who needs them by the way.
Before the pandemic came, it was always a struggle for us, both the wifey and I when it comes to our kids homework assignments. Their teachers usually send them through email and most of the time we tend to forget to print them out somewhere before hitting home from our respective workplaces and after picking them up from their daytime nanny.
So now with this, and hopefully when everything goes back to normal, soon! We can just email any school related documents to our custom printer email address and gets the print out when we reach home. No more homework left undone with this one now.
3)QUALITY OUTPUT
It has that sound while printing but not a kind of noise that would annoy you and the people around. It’s at 6.5 decibel B.
Epson inks deliver quality and crisp prints. I am satisfied with the output especially that you can easily adjust the specs too from your app depending on your needs.
Epson ecotank printers have permanent Micro Piezo printhead. So it also do away the hassle of print head replacements. Although we still have to see until when that “permanent printhead” will last or will it still be functioning until I don’t know when.
They claimed that this can print up to 8,100 pages in black and 6,500 pages in colour. Those are good numbers for me.
4)AFFORDABILITY
We got this for Dhs 589/- (Php 7,988) which is right for the budget. It comes with a 3 year extended warranty, so that adds more icing to this affordable cake.
They say this could go for three years without buying more ink. Well, we have to check on that later.
But just in case depending on your usage, the bottle refill can be bought, as of this publication, for 35 Dhs for a 65 ml.
5)LOOKS
The design and looks, yup, it is somewhat sleeky. But my first choice actually was the black one but this white finish did not disappoint.
Its dimension which is 375 x 347 x 179, that is the width x depth x height respectively, is for me a perfect size for a home printer. Not too small and not too big.
And it only weighs 3.9 kilogram.
But I would just like to mention its ink tank. It protrudes a bit and I think that is the only thing that I don’t like in this printer. To me a perfect rectangular or square shape, helps in finding them a good spot or a corner in your house.
6)FEATURES
Remember this is a 3 in 1 machine. So you can print, copy and scan.
Printing speed is at 10 pages per min for Monochrome and 5 pages per min for Colour.
For scanning, with having a contact image sensor or CIS scanner type, it has an optical resolution of 1,200 dots per inch or dpi by 2,400 dpi.
This printer model is compatible for these operating systems: Mac OS 10.10.x, Mac OS 10.7.x, Mac OS 10.8.x, Mac OS 10.9.x, Mac OS X 10.11.x, Mac OS X 10.6.8, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Vista, Windows XP, XP Professional x64 Edition.
And the paper formats are these: A4, A6, A5, B5, 10 x 15 cm, 13 x 18 cm, 16:9, DL (Envelope), No. 10 (Envelope), C6 (Envelope), Letter, User defined, Legal.
So there goes my full review of this Epson Ecotank L3156 printer.
It works just great so far. No complains except for that small thing with the ink tank. But rest is great.
If you have the needs like what we have, and if you are looking for an affordable machine but won’t compromise with the output, I’d recommend this for you.
But you can always go for higher specced printer from epson as well if you need more sophisticated ones. Im leaving some links also in the description below so you can easily check them out.
I am giving this 9 out of 10 rate.
Check out this same Epson model on amazon.ae
Check out other Epson printers for outside the UAE on amazon.com
