We welcome those interested in printers from Epson, Canon or HP . When shopping for an all-in-one inkjet or laser printer, you've probably noticed that these manufacturers' printers stand out for their quality and the excellent features they offer.
After reviewing dozens of models from these manufacturers and spending hours testing and studying page after page of print test samples, we can draw some clear conclusions about each brand's strengths and weaknesses
Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850
Great inkjet printer for small businesses
- Printer type: inkjet
- Functions: print, copy, scan, fax
- Display: 4.3-inch color touchscreen
- Ink/Toner: Four ink tanks (black, cyan, magenta, yellow)
- Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, free direct Wi-Fi, Ethernet connector, USB 2.0 port
Pros:
- High performance
- Low ink costs
- Large 4.3" color touch screen
Minuses:
- Paper feeding problem occurs randomly
- High starting price
The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 combines impressively low ink costs with an abundance of business-friendly features to earn its place as the best small business inkjet printer we've reviewed.
The EcoTank design uses refillable ink tanks and comes with enough spare ink bottles to print thousands of pages. Rated to print 3,000 pages per month, a small business printer can handle anything your office team throws at it.
The printer boasts scanning, copying and faxing capabilities, two 250-page paper cassettes, a 50-sheet automatic document feeder, and a large, easy-to-use 4.3-inch touchscreen for easy operation.
In our printer testing, the Epson ET-5850 produced the fastest print times and produced crisp text that rivals laser printer quality. The same fast and high-quality performance is seen in copying and scanning, making it an ideal printer for offices needing a full-fledged multifunction printer.
In terms of ink savings, the printer requires extremely low costs per page, 25 cents per text page and 1 ruble per color page. The initial price seems high, but the combination of quality, features and ultra-low running costs makes this the best investment you can make for your office.
We also recommend you the article - The best MFPs.
HP Smart Tank Plus 651
Low ink costs and unsurpassed print quality
- Printer type: inkjet
- Functions: print, copy, scan, fax
- Display: 2.2-inch monochrome touchscreen
- Ink/Toner: Four ink tanks (black, cyan, magenta, yellow)
- Connectivity: 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Ethernet, USB 2.0
- Price: 449,99 $
Pros:
- Extremely low ink costs
- High print quality
Minuses:
- Disappointingly slow printing, copying and scanning
- Small monochrome touch screen
The HP Smart Tank Plus 651 is HP's answer to the Epson EcoTank and other printers that reduce ink costs by using refillable ink tanks instead of expensive cartridges.
With thousands of pages of ink included in the printer starter kit, the Smart Tank Pro 651 delivers high-quality printing at a fraction of a cent per page . In addition to inexpensive inks, HP's printer also delivers high quality across the board, with sharp prints featuring crisp letter shapes and well-saturated colors, as well as natural-looking color when printing glossy photos.
Unfortunately, the level of print quality doesn't extend to the level of its speed, and the HP's print, scan and copy capabilities were limited by slow output. Additionally, the Smart Tank Pro 651 has a tiny 2.2-inch touchscreen to control printer functions, and we weren't impressed with its monochrome display.
Canon Pixma TS8320
A good all-in-one inkjet printer that is best for photo printing
- Printer type: inkjet
- Functions: print, copy, scan
- Display: 4.3-inch color touchscreen
- Ink/Toner: 6 cartridges (pigment black, carbon black, cyan, magenta, yellow, non-photo blue)
- Connectivity: 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, free direct Wi-Fi, USB 2.0 port
Pros:
- Fast photo printing
- High quality photo and graphic prints
- Duplexer for duplex printing
Minuses:
- Above average ink costs
- Text prints
The Canon Pixma TS8320 is a compact, versatile inkjet printer that prints, copies, scans and is especially good at printing photos. Documents were printed at average speed and quality, but the result was twice as fast as the category average.
Photo features include the printer's 6-ink system, an optional blue cartridge for better color in photos, and an easy-to-access SD card slot for printing directly from the camera's memory card. In addition to photo printing, Canon's printer has a large color touchscreen that makes navigation easy and offers many options such as cloud printing and CD/DVD label printing.
We were put off by the Pixma TS8320's high ink cost - those 6 cartridges fold up when it's time to refill - and document printing wasn't as sharp as some competing inkjet printers, but overall we found the Canon Pixma TS8320 to offer a lot of capability. for which you will love him.
We also recommend you the article - The best portable printers.
Choice according to needs
Each MFP has its positive and negative sides. For example:
- If a laser device sits idle for a long time, this will not affect its operation in any way.
- It's a little different with inkjet printers. Cartridge nozzles dry out very quickly.
Important! Of course, inkjet printers are indispensable when printing photographs, but if you have to print large volumes of black and white text information, it is better to opt for a laser device.
Text print quality
Consider whether paper documents or photo printing are important to you. While inkjet printers are not known for printing text on par with lasers, most inkjet printers do a remarkable job that comes close to lasers.
For some models, this is true if you are willing to spend the extra money to use high-quality paper. For example, in both our Canon PixmaTS6020 review and our Canon Pixma MG3620 review, the inkjet printers produced book text on high-quality paper.
HP models showed high quality text printing . Less impressive were Epson's two models, with one exception: Our review of the Epson WF-2760 noted sharply printed text as well as the fastest text document print times among inkjet printers.
You may also be interested in an article with the best photo printers.
If you're considering a model with a duplexer for duplex printing, make sure you get the same quality as single-sided printing. For example, the Canon TS6020 prints text more clearly when using a duplexer .
In the Epson WorkForce WF-6590 review, the printer produced double-sided printing of text documents that was just as crisp as single-sided printing. If you plan to print PDF documents, be aware that the quality of text and graphics varies.
While the HP models are consistently good, the Canon TS6020 produced the most graceful and sharp letterforms. The Epson WF-2760 also produced attractive text in our PDF, although our review of the Epson Expression XP-640 noted that text printed with fuzzy edges, even on matte presentation paper.
Graphics in PDF files printed on plain paper are a specialty of HP models. Both the HP Envy 5540 review and the HP OfficeJet 4650 review showed us detailed and well-saturated graphics prints with smooth transitions in photos.
Second place goes to the Epson XP-420, which did a better job of maintaining transitions between midtones than the Canon MG3620, which produced too dark shadows.
Text Quality Winner: Canon
The best all-in-one printer for high-quality text printing: Canon TS6020. Delivers high-quality text printing at 9.8 ppm, while the HP Envy 5540 (which earned an honorable mention for its high-quality text printing) did so at 8.1 ppm.
Where to buy PZK
The print head is a high-tech product, the development from scratch and mass production of which is not only expensive, but also a process reliably protected by patents. That is why there are no real non-original refillable cartridges (REC) from alternative manufacturers for such printers, because they would have to include PG.
But the originals are quite easy to refill - they usually have a simple design, and their chips do not block printing after the first cycle of use (unlike, for example, the chips of original Epson cartridges - they cannot be refilled). SCPs are also manufactured based on the originals - for example, the top cover is changed, as in these refillable HP 122 Color cartridges.
Color refillable cartridge based on the original HP 122
For the same reason, there are no regular, full-fledged CISS for these devices; you can only connect external donor containers to original cartridges.
Connecting the CISS cable with original ink tanks
You can buy refillable Bursten cartridges based on HP 122 (black and color), HP 650 (black and color), Canon PG-440/CL-441 and others - these are ordinary originals with a replaced cap. However, you need to keep in mind that these solutions have similar problems with the service life of NGs (they will have to be thrown away after several refills), and are more expensive, so they are not widespread, although they have many positive aspects.
Glossy photo prints
All of the all-in-one inkjet printers we've tested recently produce attractive, glossy photo prints . But there are subtle differences worth noting. Models from Epson and HP skew towards a warm print, which you may or may not like.
Results on Canon models tended towards a natural look, although the TS6020 and MG3620 produced more richness in deep reds than the other models.
The Epson XP-640 produced prints with plenty of fine detail and plenty of well-saturated color, but one of our test prints looked unnatural, with too much yellow.
Several models were unable to reproduce all the fine detail in the pronounced shadow areas of our landscape photography. The Epson XP-640 printed with shadow areas that appeared flat, lacking fine detail, while the Canon TS6020 and HP 5540 offered some detail in the shadow areas. Additionally, glossy prints from some models were cloudy: prints from the Epson XP-420 and WF-2760 appeared light.
However, in our review of the Epson XP-420 we saw good shadow detail , while the Canon TS6020 showed some difficulty in glossy photo prints.
Glossy Photo Winner: Canon
The best all-in-one printer for glossy photo prints: Canon TS6020. Produces glossy photos with plenty of pop, with well-saturated colors that look natural.
Where to buy non-original cartridges
In stores you can find cheap non-original cartridges for such printers, but in most cases these are refilled original cartridges that are recycled. Often they change the plastic case, cover, sponge and chip plate (so that when installed, the ink level is displayed at 100%), but the print head in 90% of cases is only original; no one except HP and Canon can make it - due to its high cost and complexity and patents. That is, in fact, these are remanufactured cartridges, which is why they often have printing defects and rarely withstand even one refill. We at Mnogokhnil do not sell such inkwells due to unstable quality. Another thing is non-original cartridges for more expensive printers with more than 3 cartridges (that is, with a print head on the device). Such non-originals are completely new refilled plastic cases of complex shape with non-original chips; they have stable and predictable quality.
It is worth noting that currently, completely new cartridges with new heads can be found on sale for old two-cartridge HP printers, but this is an exception to the rule. For example, the 123XL Black and 123XL Color cartridges are cartridges produced from scratch, not remanufactured.
Copy and scan quality
HP models did the best job of reproducing color on paper, with smooth transitions and lots of small detail. The HP Envy 5540 has made some beautiful copies. Surprisingly, the HP OfficeJet 4650 made copies that didn't show small details well and darkened the shades a lot compared to the Envy 5540 copies.
Additionally, OfficeJet grayscale copies had mottled textures and rough midtone transitions. Disappointingly, black and white copy quality deteriorated when using the OfficeJet 4650 Automatic Document Feeder (ADF).
You may also be interested in the article about the Ultimaker 3 3D printer.
Copies from Canon models had rougher textures than the HP Envy 5540. However, the Canon TS6020 reproduced colors well, although dark areas lost some detail. Copies of the MG3620 produced edging, and the lack of transitions had a smoothing effect. In addition, the text looked rougher than in the original.
Of the Epson models, the XP-640 was the best copier : although its copies were lighter than some others, Epson's all-in-one printer produced smooth transitions in its color graphics copies. The other two Epson models reproduced the same graphics too darkly.
Scan quality was impressive on models from Canon and HP, as well as the Epson XP-420. But testing revealed a couple of oddities in two other Epson models. The XP-640 sometimes produced PDF text scans that looked rough around the edges, especially when the original was slightly skewed on the scanner glass.
Additionally, it was difficult to create an attractive scan on the Epson WF-2760 without previewing the scan.
Plain Paper Color Winner : HP
The best all-in-one printer for color graphics copies: Both the HP Envy 5540 and HP OfficeJet 4650 produce detailed, rich photographic prints on paper.
Scanning Winner: Canon
Best all-in-one printer at scanning: Most inkjet all-in-one printers produce high-quality scans, but models from Canon like the Canon Pixma TS6020 do it in a fraction of the time of Epson and HP models.
Which printer is better Canon or HP
Which printer is better? Epson, Canon, HP, Brother. After choosing the type of device (laser or inkjet), the user is faced with a choice: which printing equipment manufacturer is more preferable. 1. Mechanical reliability.
Epson – 10 points.
HP – 7 points. Canon – 6 points. Brother – 8 points Since the printer performs many actions when printing: paper feeding, constant movement of the print head, pulling up the paper when printing. Therefore, the mechanical part of a printer or MFP is an important component characteristic when analyzing manufacturers. Epson is considered the standard in mechanics. Printers starting at $140 are already built not on a rail, but on a shaft with a diameter of 0.8 cm. The other 3 manufacturers are an order of magnitude inferior to Epson but practically hold together, and only Kenon is slightly behind Brother and HP.
2. Print head.
Epson – 9 points.
HP – 4 points. Canon – 5 points. Brother – 8 points There are 2 types of print heads: thermal inkjet and piezo inkjet printhead. The difference is in the way the ink comes out of the nozzle (the thickness of the nozzle is less than a human hair). In a thermal inkjet print head, ink flies out of the nozzle due to a sharp increase in the temperature in the print head to 400 C. This technology has a number of advantages: printing speed and relative simplicity in its manufacture. But besides the advantages, there are also disadvantages. These shortcomings are quite significant. Due to the fact that sharp heating and sudden cooling constantly occur in the print head. This limits the longevity of the print head. Therefore, the manufacturer, knowing that the life cycle of the print head is not designed for the life cycle of the printer, makes the print head removable. The cost of such a print head is approximately 40-45%. Thus, when buying a printer with this type of print head and planning to print large volumes on it, you get not one consumable material, but two cartridges and print heads. In a piezojet printhead, ink is ejected from nozzles by arching a membrane when 9 volts of electricity is applied to it. This technology is a little slower and more expensive to produce than alternative technology, but it also has a number of advantages. Since there are no heating and cooling processes in it, such a printing service life is practically unlimited and is equal to the service life of the printer. Another additional advantage is that by reducing and increasing the power supplied, it becomes possible to regulate the size of such a drop. This technology is called variable drop technology. It allows you to fill homogeneous areas with large drops, and draw small details with small ones. Epson and Brother have a piezo inkjet printhead, while Canon and HP have a thermal inkjet printhead.
3. Functionality.
Epson – 10 points.
HP – 8 points. Canon – 7 points. Brother – 6 points A modern printing device can be equipped with: Scanner, card reader, direct printing from a USB flash drive or camera without using a PC, WiFi, LAN (network function), duplex printing (the printer turns the page itself), fax, monitor or touchscreen (monitor with the ability to control by touching them) Epson is the leader among the presented manufacturers. He developed printing devices with all these features. The user can easily choose a good model with exactly the functions that he needs and not overpay for those that he does not plan to use. Other manufacturers are doing worse when it comes to functionality.
4. Range of models.
Epson – 9 points.
HP – 6 points. Canon – 6 points. Brother – 5 points The range of models is determined by two parameters. This is the functionality and print format. And if we talked about functionality in the last paragraph, here we will pay more attention to print formats and the number of models in each of them. Among the popular print formats: 10x15, A4, A3+, A2+, A1+, A0, B0 and wider) Epson has the widest range - more than 150 models on the market at the same time.
5. Original consumables.
(ink volume/cost) Epson – 2 points.
HP – 6 points. Canon – 6 points. Brother – 8 points Brother has the highest rating for two reasons: Its cartridges are not chipped at all (they come from the manufacturer without a chip) and they are the largest in size. Canon and HP have chips and the volume of their cartridges is an order of magnitude lower than that of Brother, but they can be refilled and the chips can be reset, turning the cartridges into full ones. Although this process is quite complex and time-consuming. Epson received the lowest rating because its cartridges are not only negligible, but the chips cannot be reset in any way. That is, the cartridges are 100% disposable. During printing, irreversible processes occur and it is impossible to return the chip to its original state!
Summing up we see:
Epson - 40 points, Hp - 31 points, Canon 30 points, Brother - 35 points
. Epson is the clear leader among all manufacturers. The only fly in the ointment in this ointment is consumables. There is a way out of this situation, this is to buy an Epson and install a CISS on it, or even better, buy a printer, MFP or plotter immediately with a CISS installed.
Print speed
Based on text documents, Canon, Epson and HP models were not very different. They each averaged 7.7 ppm, 7.9 ppm and 8.6 ppm, respectively. The fastest models were the Canon TS6020 (9.8 ppm), Epson WF-2760 (9.9 ppm) and HP OffIceJet 4650 (9.1 ppm).
Graphics printing speed varied more. The Epson's 3.1 ppm beat the averages of the Canon (2.8 ppm) and HP models (2.1 ppm). Taking only the fastest model from each company, the Epson XP-640 doubled the speed of HP's fastest device: the Epson XP-640 printed graphics at 5.1 ppm, while the HP Envy 5540 lagged behind at 2.6 ppm. The Canon Pixma TS6020 printed graphics at 3.1 ppm.
These same three models were the pinnacles of glossy photographic printing . The Canon TS6020 was the fastest, printing a letter-sized photo in 1 minute 54 seconds. The HP Envy 5540 took 2 minutes and 12 seconds, and the Epson XP-640 finished in 2 minutes and 33 seconds.
We also suggest that you familiarize yourself with the list of the best 3D printers 2021.
Print Speed Winner: Canon
The fastest photo printer: The Canon TS6020 produces high-quality, glossy photos and graphics on paper in record time.
Copy and scan speed
When it came to making copies, Canon and Epson set the pace, while HP lagged behind. Epson models produced a black-and-white copy in 11.4 seconds, while Canon's all-in-one printer produced a copy in 13.4 seconds. HP models were significantly slower, averaging 24.2 seconds.
Canon models were the fastest to produce a color copy , averaging 23.3 seconds. The Epson devices did it in 27.9 seconds, while the HP models did it in 35.2 seconds. The results were similar when performing high-resolution color scans.
At 600 dpi, Canon models completed JPEG scanning in 49.2 seconds, while Epson (1 minute and 10 seconds) and HP (1 minute and 31 seconds) lagged behind. However, the fastest Epson model in this test keeps pace with the fastest Canon model: the Epson XP-640 scanned in 41.6 seconds, just behind the Canon MG3620 (39.4 seconds).
Scanning speeds for black and white PDFs did not vary much. The Canon MG3620 finished fastest at 8.9 seconds, followed by the HP Envy 5540 (9.7 seconds) and the Epson XP-420 (10.9 seconds). The slowest model, the Epson XP-640, completed the scan in 16.1 seconds.
Copy and Scan Speed Winner: Canon
Fastest at copying and scanning: Canon MG3620, which excels at both color and black and white scanning.
Ink price
Don't be swayed by a low purchase price - at least not with budget models. Whatever significant difference there is, it will likely soon be swallowed up by excessive ink costs if you buy a voracious model. And a lot of that cost depends on how much you print.
We're talking pennies, but pennies add up. Epson provides the lowest cost per page of text, an average of 4.4 rubles per page of standard cartridges. Canon follows at 5.2 rubles per page, and HP at 5.8 rubles per page.
Thanks to high-yield cartridges, Epson reduces the cost of a text page to 3.15 rubles, followed by Canon (3.8 rubles) and HP (4.5 rubles). On average, the cost of ink per color page is not much different when using standard cartridges: Canon (13.3 rubles) versus Epson (14 rubles) and HP (14.7 rubles).
Using high yield cartridges is where you will see a dramatic difference in operating costs. Canon models deliver an average of RUR 6.9 per page, followed by Epson (RUR 9.4) and HP (RUR 11.7).
The two models with the lowest prices for color ink are Canon TS6020 (5.4 rubles) and Epson XP-640 (6.3 rubles). To offset these costs, some companies offer ink subscription plans that can save you money.
Ink Cost Winner: Canon
Best Printer for Ink Cost: The Canon TS6020 offers low ink costs, and the Epson XP-640 is equally impressive.
Laser permanent connection
If you're focused on business tasks and don't need to print glossy color photos, a monochrome laser all-in-one printer is a good choice. Laser printers are faster. In our tests, they printed text at an average of 13.7 ppm versus 8 ppm for inkjet all-in-one printers.
By the way, Epson is not included in these comparisons - this company specializes in inkjet printers. Canon models had the fastest print speeds for laser MFPs .
Just to take one example, our review of the Canon ImageClass MF217W showed text printed at 15.9 ppm and black and white graphics at 12.2 ppm. A review of the HP LaserJet Pro M127fw noted slow text printing speeds (13.5 ppm), but half the speed of the Canon when printing graphics, just 6.1 ppm.
In addition to fast speeds, laser printers offer low costs per page . Even when using high-yield cartridges, all-in-one inkjet printers cost an average of 3.7 rubles per page of text.
But laser models such as the Canon ImageClass MF229dw ($300) and MF217w ($209) print text for just RUB 2.2 per page using a RUB 6,407 toner cartridge good for 2,400 pages. Using a 1200-page cartridge, the Brother HL-L2380DW (15,255 rubles) prints text at a price of 2.3 rubles per page.
Models from HP were the most expensive: at a price of 2.7 rubles per page, the HP LaserJet Pro M127fw (15,255 rubles) uses a toner cartridge costing 4,881 rubles, designed for 1,500 pages.
If you need to print in color, you can buy a color laser model such as the HP LaserJet Pro M277dw, which uses the same black toner cartridge as the m127fw.
Prices for toner and ink vary. While searching for the best deal, I found that online prices range from RUB 686 for one of HP's black toner cartridges. Buying them in two packs will also help you get the benefit - just like buying multiple packs of the cartridges we use (if any) when calculating our costs per page.
All-in-One Laser Printer Winner: Canon
Best All-in-One Laser Printer: The Canon ImageClass MF217W, our favorite laser all-in-one, impressed us with its fast print time, high-quality output, and low cost per page.
Is there a difference: Epson vs Canon
How will the quality of the printing device depend on the manufacturer? Few people ask themselves this question before making a purchase. Often, when choosing a printer or MFP, we are accustomed to being guided by the advice of friends, professionals, and a set of necessary characteristics. And only some users first prefer to narrow the range of options and decide on the brand of their future assistant.
Eternal competitors Epson and Canon will show us their cards, and we will see which of them is right for us.
Print technology and print head
Epson. The company uses the principle of image application, which was first used back in 1984. Piezoelectric inkjet printing is based on the interaction of a piezoelectric element, a membrane and a current, due to which the ink gets onto the paper. This element, also called a crystal, contracts under the influence of electricity, causing the membrane to vibrate and push out a certain amount of paint.
There are several advantages.
Firstly, the service life of the printer's printing system is significantly higher than thermal inkjet devices, since there are no sudden temperature changes. Due to this, the head was made stationary. This means that it will last you as long as the printer itself. Secondly, due to the lack of heating, the choice of ink is significantly expanded. Third, the volume of the droplet can be precisely controlled by the current intensity.
The disadvantage is that the print head is significantly more expensive than its thermal inkjet sisters.
Canon. Thermal printing technology began to be used back in the late 50s. The principle came to be called “bubble” because of the way ink was pushed out of the nozzles. Under the influence of temperatures, which can reach up to 400⁰C, air bubbles form in the ink compartment. Their appearance pushes out the corresponding amount of paint.
The main advantage is the low price and simpler manufacturing technology compared to piezojet.
But the disadvantage is the temperature difference, which makes the printing system short-lived. That is why it is almost equal to consumables, and not to the main parts of the printer. It will work well if it is changed periodically, but this may cause problems. There are very few people supplying and selling print heads, so finding one will not be easy. And if the printer has already been discontinued, then it’s completely hopeless.
ink drop
Epson. Here the main, but not the only criterion remains size. The company managed to achieve an ink drop volume of 1.5 picolitres. This allows fine details of images to be printed much more clearly. Naturally, the smaller the droplet size, the more accurate and sharper the print will be.
But what about printing photographs that depict panoramas, for example, mountains? With a small drop volume, filling large areas is like using a thin marker where a thick marker is needed.
And here another criterion appears - the ability to print with a variable drop volume. Epson Variable size technology offers alternating droplet volume from larger to smaller. The software independently determines which area is best to use which size. Currently, up to 6 drop sizes are available in different models.
Canon. The manufacturer has achieved considerable results. The minimum drop volume in Canon flagships is 1 picolitre. But it is not entirely correct to compare the droplet sizes of Canon and Epson printing devices due to the difference in image application technologies.
When printing with thermal inkjet, image duality may occur. You've probably noticed that some symbols have faded twin brothers. This second circuit is formed at high printing speeds, when there are too many small drops that should not exist.
But although such unpleasant accidents may recur periodically, such print quality cannot be called a rule. As for variable volume, Canon used to have Drop Modulation technology. When the additional heating element was turned on, a smaller droplet was formed. But the company abandoned it in favor of a print head with rows of nozzles of different sizes.
Ink
This is not about the chemical composition or the cost of using printer ink, but rather about the ability to choose consumables.
Epson. Let's return briefly to the properties of printing technology and droplet size. With piezoelectric printers, you can use different types of ink and not be afraid of damage, since they will not heat up. In addition, the nozzle capacity, designed for a 1.5 picolitre drop, can cope with both photographic and pigment inks, although the number of cleanings will have to be increased. This makes Epson printing devices more versatile.
Canon. Almost all more or less modern printing devices from this company use a drop volume of 1 picolitre. For pigment inks, even if they are designed for thermal inkjet printing, an opening designed for this volume will not be enough. As soon as the printer decides that a minimal drop needs to be used for this photo, something irreparable will begin. After just a few prints, the print head will clog. Alternatively, you will be able to replace it with minor financial losses, but you will not want to take the risk again. So, in terms of ink usage, Canon printers are inferior to their opponent.
Software
Epson. The company's research is focused in several directions. Firstly, they are furiously fighting the installation of alternative consumables on their printing devices.
Secondly, they try to please users as much as possible when working with photographs. One solution is Photo Enhance. Basically, this technology directs its strength and skill to constructing color reproduction, which sometimes differs from the original. Despite this, in most cases the result is worth the change. In addition, the driver determines what exactly is shown in the picture (portrait, landscape), and then “cleans” minor color noise, as well as minor defects. Sometimes the program manages to “extract” more from the image than was in the picture itself. For example, the camera couldn’t cope with the lighting, and the shadows look like spots. In images processed by Photo Enhance, they will have their natural outline.
To help, many MFPs use Epson PRINT Image Matching (PIM) technology, which simplifies working with photo and video cameras. When connected directly, the program tries to save all user settings of the device for each photo. This means that bypassing saving to the computer, the printing device receives more information about sharpness, brightness, saturation and other settings, and then tries to reproduce it all with available resources. It turns out that Epson is trying to provide free photo correction services.
Canon. The company is not distributing its forces this way. The main priority is the fight against alternative materials. But there are not so many programs to help the user.
Color Image Processing System (CCIPS) will help slightly improve the quality of your photo when printed. All it can do for you is process overly light or dark areas and slightly filter out noise in the image. Sometimes this may be quite enough. You could even say that the printing device is not required to do this at all. But since we are already comparing, in this regard Canon is significantly inferior to Epson.
The lineup
Epson. Both completely new lines and updated models of proven series often appear on the market. The company is interested in the client finding a suitable device. Epson clearly differentiates printers and MFPs into the categories of “office”, “home” and “photo printing”. The company responds to user needs: do you need wireless printing, do you want more mobile services, or even a factory CISS? Whatever you want, just choose.
Canon. The company does not release new products so often and, of course, not so loudly. Models cannot keep up with some innovations. And it can be difficult to determine by eye whether it is an office horse or a home assistant. The company is in no hurry to expand its model range, but only from time to time releases a new product that gets lost among its older counterparts.
The result is not as rhetorical as expected. If we take into account the most significant criteria, then Epson still receives the championship crown. But in any case, everyone’s criteria are different, otherwise Canon would not have existed long ago.
Have fun printing!
Paper processing
If you plan to regularly switch between document printing and printing on glossy photo paper or other specialty media, consider a model with two input trays. Otherwise, you will have to change media regularly.
Using a duplexer for two-sided printing will save paper, but make sure you don't make the mistake of duplexing quality (as we noted above). Likewise, having an automatic document feeder (ADF) is convenient for multi-page copying .
But not all models produce high-quality double-sided prints and copies, and some are slow, as is the case with the Epson WF-2760. If you plan to print and scan from a PC or smart device most of the time, you may not need a complex control panel.
The presence of a large number of buttons makes it easier to operate when you are using the all-in-one printer in standalone mode. Some models have a touch screen, which can be convenient. For example, the Epson XP-640's touchscreen worked reliably.
On the other hand, the Canon TS6020's touchscreen was sometimes unresponsive, and I wished there was a four-way button on the control panel. On the plus side, this Canon touchscreen allowed me to scroll my way through the selection menu.
Paper Processing Winner: Epson
Best duplexer: The Epson XP-640 prints two-sided documents faster than any other duplexer-equipped model, printing text at 5.5 ppm versus 3.6 ppm for the next-fastest competitor, the HP Envy 5540.
Is it dangerous to refill cartridges?
There is a chip on the cartridge that knows how much ink was filled into the cartridge at the factory. The chip calculates consumption programmatically, analyzing what is sent to print. When the ink counter in the chip runs out (usually at this moment they run out in reality), the printer reports that the cartridge is empty. However, the chip on many cartridges (for example, HP 123, 652, 655, 305 and others) allows them to be used even after the chip runs out of ink. To do this, you must agree with all the warnings about devastation and risks. And in order for the cartridge to actually print, it needs to be refilled with ink.
Why is this dangerous? If the print head (PG) is not on the cartridge, but part of the printer, theoretically it can be damaged by inept actions (and the PG is the most expensive part of the printer). You can ruin it, for example, by not refilling the cartridge, but by agreeing with the printer’s warnings - in this case, the device will “print with air,” which will cause the head to overheat and may partially or completely fail.
However, in the case of two-cartridge printers, there is no danger at all, because their PG is part of the cartridge. It has a short resource and sometimes burns out without even one refill, because the manufacturer only needs to guarantee that the ink volume in the original new cartridge will work out. On the other hand, often the head on a cartridge can work out 20 or more volumes of ink filled into the original cartridge at the factory, so refilling makes sense. And in any case, even if you damage the head, for example, by filling in the wrong ink, you will have a completely new PG on a new cartridge. And on a printer, you can only spoil the mechanics of movement for paper and cartridges.
Conclusion
So who won in our confrontation between printers from Epson, Canon and HP? Canon clearly have the edge in the competition, dominating seven categories. The Canon TS6020 performs particularly well as our top pick in several categories.
However, Canon's wins were slim in many categories. HP took top honors for color copies, and Epson also does well in many categories (we especially like how the XP-640 handles photo printing).
Our testing shows that Canon's multifunction devices are hard to beat .
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Main manufacturers
Let's take a quick look at three giant printing device companies: Canon, HP and Epson.
Canon
In 1933, two Japanese engineers from Tokyo wanted to create and sell film cameras for the 35 mm film format that could compete with the products of German manufacturers in terms of shooting quality and camera assembly. The founded company was named “Canon”, and from the early 1960s began to develop and produce office equipment.
Currently, in addition to industrial equipment, photo and video equipment, inkjet and laser printers, as well as multifunctional devices for home and office, come off the assembly lines of Canon factories.
Hewlett-Packard Inc. (HP)
In 2015, the giant American corporation Hewlett-Packard, the second largest manufacturer of electronics and industrial equipment in the United States, was divided. Hewlett-Packard Inc. continued to produce printers and other printing equipment. The company's history began on January 1, 1939, when Stanford University graduates William Hewlett and David Packard drew lots to determine whose name would appear first in the name of the newly formed company. Oddly enough, the victorious Packard decided that his last name would be his second.
Epson
The headquarters of Seiko Epson Corporation is located in the Japanese city of Suwa. The company began operating at the end of the 19th century, at that time its factory produced wall clocks. By the way, seiko means “precise” in Japanese; the company still produces precision mechanisms and electronics to this day. Dozens of Epson branches around the world sell document and photo printing devices for use at home and at work.
