There’s a universally dreaded sound in any home office or small business: the sputtering cough of a printer, followed by a stark on-screen message—”Low Ink.” For years, I felt like I was in a constant battle with my printer. It was a cycle of frustration: printing a critical report only to have the colours fade halfway through, making late-night trips to the store for overpriced cartridges, and watching my expenses climb with every page. I remember one particularly stressful afternoon, trying to print a 50-page proposal for a client, when the cyan cartridge gave out on page 12. The replacement cost more than a nice dinner out, and I lost valuable time. This experience, shared by countless professionals and families, is precisely the problem that the supertank printer category was designed to solve. It’s a rebellion against the razor-and-blades model of printing, promising a world where you think about ink in terms of years, not months.
- Save a ridiculous amount on ink (1) with revolutionary Cartridge-Free printing — save up to 80 percent with low-cost replacement ink bottles vs. standard-capacity colour laser toner cartridges (1)
- Built for speed — up to 17 black/9.5 colour ISO ppm print speed (ƚ); no warmup time; fast first page out
What to Consider Before Buying an Inkjet Printer
An All-in-One Inkjet Printer is more than just an item; it’s a key solution for consolidating office tasks into a single, efficient machine. In today’s world of remote work and bustling home businesses, a reliable device that can print, scan, copy, and fax is the central hub of productivity. The primary benefit of moving to a “supertank” or “ink tank” model is the dramatic reduction in long-term operating costs. By replacing tiny, expensive cartridges with large, refillable ink reservoirs, these printers slash the cost-per-page to mere fractions of a cent, freeing up budget and eliminating the constant anxiety of running out of ink at a critical moment. It transforms the printer from a recurring expense into a one-time investment in efficiency.
The ideal customer for this type of product is someone facing high-volume printing needs. This includes small business owners producing invoices and marketing materials, educators printing classroom resources, project managers reviewing drafts, or busy families with multiple students. If you find yourself buying ink cartridges more than a few times a year, you are the prime candidate for a supertank printer. Conversely, it might not be the most cost-effective choice for those who print only a handful of pages per month. For such light use, the higher upfront cost may not be justified, and a more basic, traditional cartridge printer or even a local print shop service might suffice.
Before investing, consider these crucial points in detail:
- Dimensions & Space: While designed to be a central office hub, printers still need to fit into your workspace. The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5170 Wireless All-in-One Supertank Printer boasts a surprisingly compact footprint for its capabilities, measuring just 37.6 cm wide by 34.8 cm deep. Always measure your intended desk or shelf space to ensure a comfortable fit, leaving enough room for ventilation and for accessing the paper trays and scanner lid.
- Capacity/Performance: This is where supertank printers shine. Look beyond just print speed (PPM) and focus on page yield and paper capacity. The ET-5170 offers an incredible yield of up to 7,500 black and 6,000 colour pages from a single set of ink bottles. Its 250-sheet paper tray means less frequent refilling, which is a significant time-saver for large print jobs.
- Materials & Durability: A printer is a long-term investment. The ET-5170 is built around Epson’s PrecisionCore permanent printhead, which is engineered to last the entire life of the printer. This is a stark contrast to many budget printers where the printhead is integrated into the disposable cartridge. The overall construction feels solid and ready for the demands of a busy environment.
- Ease of Use & Maintenance: The primary maintenance task on an EcoTank is refilling the ink, a process Epson has made remarkably simple and mess-free with keyed, auto-stop bottles. Beyond that, consider the user interface. The ET-5170 features a 2.4″ colour touchscreen and can be fully managed via the Epson Smart Panel mobile app, making setup, monitoring, and printing from any device straightforward. You can see its full feature set and user reviews to gauge its user-friendliness.
Choosing the right printer means balancing upfront cost with long-term savings and ensuring its features align with your daily workflow. For many, the move to a supertank system represents a significant upgrade in both convenience and economy.
While the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5170 Wireless All-in-One Supertank Printer is an excellent choice, it’s always wise to see how it stacks up against the competition. For a broader look at all the top models, we highly recommend checking out our complete, in-depth guide:
- Print, Copy, Scan: The PIXMA TS3720 is a true colour printer scanner copier all in one that is compact, versatile and easy-to-use with a 60 sheet rear tray that reduces the need to refill paper as...
- Innovative Cartridge-Free Printing ― No more tiny, expensive ink cartridges; each ink bottle set is equivalent to about 80 individual cartridges (2)
- FROM CANADA'S MOST TRUSTED PRINTER BRAND – The DeskJet 2855e is perfect for homes printing to-do lists, letters, financial documents and recipes. Print speeds up to 5.5 ppm colour, 7.5 ppm black.
First Impressions: Unboxing the Future of Printing
Pulling the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5170 Wireless All-in-One Supertank Printer from its box, my first thought was how compact and efficient it looked. As one user noted, it’s about half the size of older all-in-ones but packs in even more functionality. Weighing a manageable 16.1 pounds, it was easy for one person to lift and position on the desk. The design is clean and professional in a matte white finish that blends well into a modern office. What truly sets it apart, however, are the four prominent, translucent ink windows on the front panel. You can see the ink levels at a glance—a simple but brilliant design choice. The box contains the printer, a power cord, and four T542 EcoFit ink bottles (one for each colour: black, cyan, magenta, and yellow). The initial feeling is one of substance; this doesn’t feel like a flimsy, disposable piece of hardware. It feels like a serious tool designed for productivity, and seeing the large ink bottles next to the printer for the first time truly drives home the value proposition. This is not a machine that will be begging for new ink in a month.
Key Benefits
- Revolutionary ink economy with up to 7,500 black / 6,000 colour pages per bottle set
- Professional-grade print quality with crisp text and vibrant colours from DURABrite pigment inks
- Full suite of productivity features: Auto Document Feeder (ADF), auto duplex printing, and fax
- Zero-cartridge waste and mess-free, keyed refilling system
- Robust wireless connectivity options including Wi-Fi Direct and mobile app control
Potential Drawbacks
- Higher initial purchase price compared to traditional cartridge printers
- The 2.4″ colour touchscreen can feel small for users with larger fingers
A Deep Dive into the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5170’s Performance
A printer’s true worth is only revealed through rigorous use. We put the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5170 Wireless All-in-One Supertank Printer to the test in a real-world home office environment, handling everything from multi-page colour reports and legal documents to high-resolution photo scans and quick mobile prints. Over several weeks, it became clear that this machine is more than just a printer; it’s a reliable productivity partner built to eliminate the most common printing pain points.
The Setup Experience: From Box to First Print
Many potential buyers, as some user reviews confirm, feel a bit of apprehension about pouring liquid ink into a printer. I’ll admit, having dealt with messy third-party refill kits in the past, I shared that slight nervousness. However, Epson has engineered this process to be foolproof and remarkably clean. Each EcoFit ink bottle is uniquely keyed to only fit its corresponding colour tank, so it’s impossible to make a mistake. You simply uncap the bottle, place it upside down on the port, and the ink flows in automatically, stopping when the tank is full. Not a single drop was spilled. It’s a clean, simple, and deeply satisfying process.
The rest of the setup is guided by the 2.4-inch colour touchscreen. It walks you through charging the ink system, which takes about 10 minutes, and then configuring the Wi-Fi connection. I chose to use the Epson Smart Panel app on my smartphone, which streamlined the process significantly by finding the printer on my network and transferring the Wi-Fi credentials automatically. The entire process, from unboxing to printing the first wireless test page, took around 20 minutes. While some users noted it was more methodical than older plug-and-play printers, the instructions were clear and easy to follow. Once connected, downloading the drivers to my PC was a seamless background process.
Print Quality and Speed: Professional Results on Demand
This is where the “Pro” in the printer’s name earns its keep. The Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5170 Wireless All-in-One Supertank Printer is equipped with a PrecisionCore Heat-Free printhead and uses DURABrite ET pigment inks. This isn’t just marketing jargon. In practice, it means you get exceptionally sharp, laser-quality black text that is smudge, fade, and water-resistant immediately after printing. For business documents, this is non-negotiable.
I was particularly impressed with its performance on plain, everyday copy paper, a sentiment echoed by users who were surprised by the clarity. Where many inkjets produce slightly fuzzy text that bleeds into the paper, the ET-5170’s output was crisp and precise. Colour graphics in reports and presentations were vibrant and accurate, without the muddiness that can plague lesser inkjets. The maximum resolution of 4800 x 1200 dpi ensures that even detailed images and charts look professional. In terms of speed, it clocks in at a respectable 17 ISO ppm for black and 9.5 ISO ppm for colour. While not the fastest on the market, it’s more than capable of handling the demands of a small office, and the fast first-page-out time means you’re not left waiting for short print jobs to begin.
The EcoTank Advantage: Redefining “Cost of Ownership”
Let’s talk about the single biggest reason to buy this printer: the ink. The traditional printer model hooks you with a low-cost machine and then charges a premium for ink cartridges that run out frustratingly quickly. The EcoTank system flips this model on its head. The initial investment is higher, but the long-term savings are astronomical. The included ink bottles are rated for up to 7,500 black pages and 6,000 colour pages. To put that in perspective, you would need to buy approximately 30 standard ink cartridge sets to get a similar page yield.
This completely changes your relationship with printing. You no longer have to hesitate before printing a large document or wonder if you should print in colour. The cost-per-page is so low that it becomes a negligible factor. This resonates strongly with users who were “so tired of buying ink all the time.” With the ET-5170, a set of replacement ink bottles—which provides another two years’ worth of ink for the average user—costs less than a single full set of toner for a comparable colour laser printer. Furthermore, this system generates zero cartridge waste, reducing your environmental impact. It’s a smart financial decision and an eco-conscious one, a combination that is hard to beat. The incredible value is a feature that really sets it apart.
Workflow and Productivity: More Than Just a Printer
As a true All-in-One, the ET-5170 is designed to be the hub of an office workflow. The 35-sheet Auto Document Feeder (ADF) is a game-changer for anyone who needs to scan, copy, or fax multi-page documents. I used it to digitize a stack of old invoices, and it fed them through smoothly without a single jam. The ability to automatically scan both sides of a page, combined with the printer’s auto-duplex (2-sided) printing, saves paper, time, and manual effort.
The 250-sheet front paper tray is generous and means you’re not constantly reloading paper. One clever design feature we appreciated is the face-down output, which keeps sensitive documents private and print jobs neatly stacked. Connectivity is robust, with options for Ethernet, USB, Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi Direct, allowing you to print from virtually any device, even without a network. The Epson Smart Panel app is surprisingly powerful, letting you print, scan, and monitor ink levels directly from your phone. These thoughtful productivity features demonstrate that Epson designed the ET-5170 with the daily grind of a real-world office in mind.
What Other Users Are Saying
Our positive experience is largely mirrored in the feedback from other users. The most frequently praised feature is, unsurprisingly, the EcoTank system itself. One user summed it up perfectly as “No more temporary ink,” celebrating the freedom from the constant cycle of buying cartridges. Many were initially nervous about filling the tanks but found the process “extremely easy” and mess-free. The excellent print quality on plain paper and the compact size for a full-featured machine were also common points of praise.
However, the feedback isn’t universally glowing. A recurring minor critique points to the 2.4″ touchscreen. While functional, some find it “too small for my thick finger,” making navigation a bit clumsy. The most significant negative feedback comes from a user who had a terrible setup experience and felt the printer was “Way over priced,” ultimately returning it in favour of a laser printer. This highlights an important point: while the value proposition is strong for high-volume users, the high upfront cost can be a major hurdle, and if you encounter technical issues, the frustration is amplified. It serves as a reminder that no single product is perfect for everyone.
How the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5170 Stacks Up Against Alternatives
The supertank printer market is competitive, and several excellent alternatives might be a better fit for your specific needs. Here’s how the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5170 Wireless All-in-One Supertank Printer compares to other popular models.
1. HP Smart Tank 7602 Wireless All-in-One Printer
- FROM CANADA'S MOST TRUSTED PRINTER BRAND – The Smart Tank 7602 is perfect for families printing a variety of color documents in high volumes. Print up to 15 pages per minute black and 9 pages per...
- FULLY LOADED WITH SAVINGS – Best for low-cost, high-volume printing—2 years of HP Ink included; get up to 8,000 color pages or 6,000 black pages right out of the box
The HP Smart Tank 7602 is a direct and formidable competitor to the Epson ET-5170. It offers a similar feature set, including cartridge-free printing, an auto document feeder, and robust wireless capabilities through the highly-regarded HP Smart app. HP’s ink refilling system is also designed to be clean and easy. The choice between the HP and Epson often comes down to brand preference, subtle differences in print quality (Epson’s pigment black is often lauded for text, while HP can excel in photo quality), and the user interface of their respective mobile apps. The HP Smart Tank 7602 is an excellent choice for those already invested in the HP ecosystem or who prefer the design and workflow of HP’s software.
2. Epson EcoTank ET-2800 Wireless Supertank Printer
- Innovative Cartridge-Free Printing ― No more tiny, expensive ink cartridges; each ink bottle set is equivalent to about 80 individual cartridges (2)
- Dramatic Savings on Replacement Ink ― Save up to 90% with replacement ink bottles vs. ink cartridges (1) – that’s enough to print up to 4,500 pages black/7,500 colour (3)
If you love the EcoTank concept but don’t need the “Pro” features—and want to save on the initial cost—the ET-2800 is the perfect alternative. It is Epson’s entry-level supertank model, designed for basic home use. It provides the same incredible ink savings and print quality for standard documents but omits features like the Auto Document Feeder, fax capabilities, automatic duplex printing, and the larger touchscreen. For a family primarily printing school assignments, recipes, and occasional photos, the ET-2800 offers the core economic benefits of the EcoTank system at a much more accessible price point, making it a smarter buy for light to moderate users.
3. Brother MFC-J4335DW INKvestment-Tank All-in-One Printer
- More uninterrupted printing. Up to 1 year of printing with the INKvestment Tank’s high-capacity in-box ink cartridges (approximately 150 pages/month) and 2-year limited warranty.
- More speed. Print speeds up to 20 ppm black/19 ppm colour—perfect for personal, home office use and hybrid work environments.
Brother takes a slightly different approach with its INKvestment Tank technology. Instead of refillable tanks, it uses high-capacity cartridges that hold a significant amount of ink, claiming up to a year’s supply in the box. The user experience is more familiar for those accustomed to cartridges, but with much longer replacement intervals. The MFC-J4335DW is a feature-rich machine known for Brother’s hallmark reliability and business-friendly features. It’s a compelling middle ground for users who want better ink economy than standard printers but are hesitant to switch to a liquid ink tank system. It’s an excellent option for those who prioritize a traditional but high-yield workflow.
Our Final Verdict: Is the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5170 the Right Printer for You?
After extensive testing, we can confidently say that the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5170 Wireless All-in-One Supertank Printer is an outstanding machine that delivers on its promise to free users from the tyranny of the ink cartridge. Its combination of massive ink savings, exceptional print quality for business documents, and a comprehensive suite of productivity features makes it a top-tier choice for any small business, home office, or high-volume household. The initial investment is significant, and that will be the primary barrier for many. However, if your printing needs are substantial, the long-term savings in both money and time are undeniable.
We recommend it wholeheartedly for anyone who is tired of the recurring cost and frustration of traditional inkjet printers. It’s a workhorse that streamlines your workflow and lets you print freely without worrying about the cost. If you’re ready to make a long-term investment in your productivity and say goodbye to ink cartridges forever, you can check the latest price and availability for the Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5170 right now.
Last update on 2025-11-07 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API