It’s become something of an age-old debate; are inject printers better than laser printers? But now, new technology is starting to upset the apple cart and change everything you thought you knew about home printers. While inkjet printers are traditionally more expensive to run than laser printers, when considering the price of the ink cartridge replacements, a new generation of cartridge-free ‘ink tank’ printers are changing the game.
Epson is leading the game with the introduction of a range of cartridge-free ink tank printers such as the Epson L3150 compact 3-in-1 EcoTank printer. This next-generation, cartridge-free printer is easy-to-use, compact, and offers features like WiFi Direct and mobile printing capabilities to meet all your printing needs.
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For those working from home, the L3150 is a dream; offering 3-in-1 print, copy and scanning capabilities to make working from home hassle-free. Plus, with ultra-low-cost printing, you can print up to 8,100 pages in black and 6,500 pages in colour using this new-tech printer.
Catridge-free printers: the future of printing
An ink tank printer is similar to the conventional inkjet printer in theory and features. The difference is in the ink reservoir. Inkjet printers are considered to be expensive to run. They require the ink cartridges to be replaced fairly frequently, with ink cartridges running dry after as little as 200 pages. However, ink tank printers offer a more eco-friendly solution, with a large ink reservoir or tank and a static head that does not need replacement. When the ink runs out, you simply need to refill the ink into the tanks — no more running to your stationary guy with an empty cartridge hoping to get it refilled.
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Say hello to the Epson L3150
The star of the show with the Epson L3150 is the print head. The semi-permanent micro-piezo print head ensures you at least 3 – 5 years of service time (or up to 8,100 pages in black and 6,500 pages in colour) before the ink needs to be refilled. Epson’s micro-piezo technology allows the print head to eject droplets of ink via mechanical pressure during the printing process. This mechanical pressure is created when piezoelectric elements in the print heads contract in response to an applied voltage.
During the printing process, the ink is sucked from the ink reservoir into the head using individual pipes for each colour. Plus, with both automatic cleaning and manual cleaning features, the printer ensures that the ink will not dry and ruin the head. Furthermore, Epson says its ink tanks are both spill-free and error-free, so there’s no need to worry about accidentally spilling and overfilling each tank when refilling. When refilling the tank, you simply open each bottle and place it upside down on the tank opening, before gravity takes over. According to Epson, the uniquely designed bottle mouth of the ink refill bottles ensure that the ink won’t spill out the ink during the refilling process.
Each bottle is also error-free. This means that if you want to fill, for example, only the magenta ink, the magenta ink bottle will only fit on the magenta tank and not the other three. This ensures that the user will never make an accidental fill into another colour ink chamber. Each ink tank also has a transparent side wall that faces the user, enabling the user to know how much ink is remaining, and when the tank needs to be refilled. Users can order a complete set of ink or individual ink bottles as required.
Hands-on with the Epson L3150
Ideal for home use and work-from-home small businesses, the L3150 offers a cost-effective home office printing device for all your printing, scanning, and copying needs. Compact in size, the printer, will fit comfortably on your desk at home and features a top-loading sheet feeder.
With wireless connectivity as well as conventional USB connectivity, this printer enables you to print from almost anywhere. With WiFi and WiFi Direct, your printer can receive documents to print from smart devices using the Epson iPrint app. Print from your laptop, tablet or smartphone with absolute ease whenever you need.
The control panel, located on top of the printer, is simple and straightforward to use. The printer features six touch buttons for power, WiFi, copying and error, and LED indicators for each of them.
The printer operates quickly and smoothly when executing a print job, with Epson claiming a printing time of up to 5 pages per minute or 10 pages per minute in Mono Speed mode. The quality of the prints is crisp, and the colours are highly saturated and clear with no bleeding or empty spots. Photo printing on the printing is also super impressive, although the quality will also depend on the type of paper you use to get vibrant photos or deeper and sharper blacks.
The scanner function is also top-notch. The printer offers 1200 x 2400 Scanner Resolution, resulting in clear, crisp scans that ensure great detail on documents.
Is the Epson L3150 the printer for you?
The Epson EcoTank L3150 is the ideal printer for anyone searching for a printer that offers a more cost-effective printing solution for home use. The printer offers more cost-effective printing yields, promising a saving of as much as 90% when compared to traditional inkjet printers. Plus, with a promise of approximately a one-year ink supply (with standard usage), the printer is a no-brainer for those looking for high performance, convenience and reliability.
Considering our current situation with loadshedding and power usage in South Africa, it is also worth noting that the Epson EcoTank L3150 requires low power consumption. Where many laser printers can be an energy hog, this Epson device operates at a maximum of 12 Watts in full peak mode and can remain in standby mode quietly, consuming as little as just 0.3 watts of energy.
