What is the best all-in-1 color printer? And which one has the best value for money? The Consumers’ Association responds.
You can choose from many different types of printer — a color printer or a black and white printer, for example — but there are also laser printers, inkjet printers, ink tank printers, and ink subscription printers. And maybe you’re looking for an all-in-1 printer that can also scan and copy. Each type of printer has its advantages and disadvantages. The best printer for you depends on what you print, how often you print, and the print quality you need.
The Consumer Association tests various types of printers for print quality, print speed, and ink or toner costs, among other things. All-in-1 printers also monitor scan and copy performance. A total of over 235 printers were tested, which are reasonably readily available.
Of the more than 165 color all-in-1 printers tested, one Epson printer came out on top in the test. An HP printer is the best buy.
Best in the test: Epson Ecotank ET-8500
This Epson printer is an ink tank printer. The advantage of an ink tank printer is that ink costs are very low. You can refill the built-in ink tanks yourself. According to Epson, you can print no fewer than 2,000 photos with the included ink bottles.
The ET-8500 excels at photo printing. It does this very well, especially for an ink tank printer. It works with six different ink colors and the prints look very nice on both matte and photo papers.
The printer can also print on both sides and has an additional paper tray for photo paper. In addition to connecting via WiFi or Ethernet, you can also print directly from a USB stick or SD card.
There are some downsides too. For example, it’s not exactly cheap to buy. But if you print a lot, you can compensate with low ink costs. It’s also not very good at printing text. It does this reasonably, but the letters aren’t completely sharp. And finally, he is not good at copying. The quality is much worse when copying than when printing.
Best Buy: HP Smart Tank Plus 559
This HP printer is also an ink tank printer. It is much cheaper to buy than Epson. Like the Epson, it comes with so much ink that you may never need to buy it again.
Print quality isn’t bad, but it certainly can’t match Epson’s. Images are sometimes a bit grainy and photos a bit bright. Black text could be a little sharper.
The printer scans accurately and realistically. Copying is reasonably fast, but the quality of the copies could be a little better. You can print via Bluetooth or WiFi, and you can print directly from a USB stick or SD card.
This printer also has some drawbacks. Unlike copying, printing is sometimes very slow. It still prints black and white text pretty fast, but images or photos take a long time. The printer cannot handle thick paper. 90 gram/m2 paper is the heaviest it can handle. And the printer lacks options like an automatic document feeder or automatic two-sided printing.
Responsibility
In this section, we write weekly about household appliances and appliances tested by the Consumer Association. This is a collaboration between the independent publishers of this site and the Consumers’ Association.
The Consumer Association tests thousands of products every year, together with qualified technicians, in specialized laboratories in the Netherlands and abroad. The products that are tested are bought in the shop, so they are not pre-handled by the manufacturers.
New models are tested as soon as possible after introduction. How fast varies by product. The best of the test is the product with the best test judgment, which is readily available. This can also be an older model, because a newer model isn’t always better. The Best Buy is the product with the best value for money.
The declared price of a product is the lowest retail price at the moment, as far as known to the Consumers’ Association. But the prices may vary from day to day. If no recent retail price is known, the target price is quoted.
Unfortunately, this content cannot be viewedWe do not have permission for necessary cookies. Accept cookies to view this content.
