I have owned and replaced three inkjet all-in-ones over the past five years, and the variable that keeps biting me is not print quality. It is ink cost, reliability over time, and how often the thing refuses to scan because the printer side ran out of cyan. After living with the current generation of AIOs for about a year, here are the five I would actually buy now.
| Printer | Ink System | Best For | ADF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Epson EcoTank ET-2850 | Refillable tank | Low cost per page | No |
| HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e | Cartridges | Home office | Yes |
| Canon PIXMA TR8620a | Cartridges | Photos and docs | Yes |
| Brother MFC-J4535DW | INKvestment tank | Small business | Yes |
| Epson EcoTank ET-4850 | Refillable tank | Family use with fax | Yes |
Epson EcoTank ET-2850
The ET-2850 is the printer I recommend most often to anyone who is sick of buying ink. The refillable tanks come pre-filled with enough ink for around 4500 black pages and 7500 color, which lasts most homes years. Print quality is sharp on text and respectable on photos. The flatbed scanner is solid, though there is no automatic document feeder. Wireless setup through the Epson Smart app was painless on my network.
HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e
If you run a home office and need an ADF for two-sided document scanning, the OfficeJet Pro 9015e is what I would buy. The 35-page automatic document feeder handles duplex scans, the touchscreen is responsive, and the print speed of around 22 pages per minute is genuinely fast for an inkjet. I am cautious about HP Plus subscription pressure during setup, so I always decline it and use standard cartridges instead.
Canon PIXMA TR8620a
The Canon TR8620a is my pick for households that mix office documents with photo printing. The 5-ink system, with separate pigment black for text and dye-based black for photos, gives noticeably better photo output than HP or Brother in this price range. The 4.3-inch touchscreen is the nicest in the category, and the ADF handles up to 20 pages. Ink cost is higher than EcoTank, so I would not buy this if you print hundreds of pages a month.
Brother MFC-J4535DW
Brother has a quirky middle-ground system it calls INKvestment, where the cartridges hold a tank-like amount of ink without the mess of refilling tanks. The MFC-J4535DW comes with about a year’s worth of ink in the box. Print quality is closer to a business laser feel, which I like for document-heavy use. The ADF, duplex printing, and fax functions make this one popular with small businesses that still receive faxed forms.
Epson EcoTank ET-4850
If you want the EcoTank cost savings plus an ADF and fax line, step up to the ET-4850. It is essentially the ET-2850 with a 30-page automatic document feeder, duplex scanning, and a more capable touchscreen. I set one of these up for my parents and the running cost is so low that they have not bought ink in two years. The footprint is bigger than the 2850, so measure your shelf first.
What Matters Most
Cost per page is the number that matters more than upfront price. A cheap cartridge printer can end up costing five to ten times more per page than an EcoTank over two years. After cost, prioritize an ADF if you scan more than a handful of pages per month. Duplex printing saves paper and time. And wireless reliability matters more than peak resolution numbers most home users will never use.
My Setup
I have an Epson EcoTank ET-4850 sitting on a shelf in my home office, connected over Wi-Fi to my laptop, phone, and tablet. AirPrint works without fuss, the Epson Smart app handles mobile scanning, and I print maybe 100 pages a month. The ink tanks are still full from when I unboxed it 14 months ago, which is the kind of result I never got out of a cartridge printer.
Common Mistakes
The biggest mistake is choosing a cheap printer to save 60 dollars, then spending three times that on ink in year one. Second is letting the printer sit idle for months and then being surprised when the nozzles clog. Third is buying a model without an ADF when half your scanning is multi-page documents. And fourth is enabling HP Plus during setup without realizing it locks you into subscription cartridges.
Final Recommendation
For most homes, buy the Epson EcoTank ET-2850 and stop worrying about ink. If you need an ADF and fax, step up to the ET-4850. If you specifically need fast office printing with strong document scanning, the HP OfficeJet Pro 9015e is the better fit. And if photo quality matters most, the Canon TR8620a is the one to grab.
Frequently asked questions
Are EcoTank printers really cheaper to run?+
Yes, dramatically so. Once you cross about 1500 pages, an EcoTank has paid for its higher upfront cost compared to a cartridge inkjet. If you print under 200 pages a year, a cartridge model is fine.
Do inkjet printers clog if I don't use them?+
They can. The fix is printing one color page per week, even just a test pattern, to keep the nozzles moving. EcoTank models are more tolerant of infrequent use than cheap cartridge inkjets.