34 NOVEMBER 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 381
THEEPSONECOTANKET-M3180 is the
latest model in arange of inkjet devices
designed to competewith entry-level mono
lasers in small and home offices. When we
reviewed the EcoTank ET-M2140 from the
same range (Shopper374), we found that its
strengths were diluted by the lack of essential
office features, such as an automatic
document feeder (ADF), network interface
and faxmodem. The ET-M3180 has them all,
so does that make it strong all round?
SPEED FREAK
Whileacompetinglaserdevice mightcost less
than athirdasmuch to buy as the ET-M3180,
its higher running costs would soon leave you
worse off overall. This MFP’s sole ink tank is
refilled without fuss from high-capacity
bottles of black ink. There are two 120ml
bottles included, which Epson says will last for
about 11,000 pages, at least four times as
many as you’d get from the startup toner of a
competing mono laser.Once the bundled ink
is gone,replacement bottles work out at less
than 0.2p per page,which is farcheaper than
the 2-3p per page typical of cheap lasers.
Like most inkjets, you can’t set up the
ET-M3180’s wireless network connection until
it’s finished priming its ink system –a
frustrating wasteof10minutes that could
otherwise be spent installing software.
EPSON EcoTank
ET-M3180
★★★★★
£492•From uk.insight.com
MULTIFUNCTION PERIPHERAL
The same problem doesn’t apply to USB and
wired Ethernet connections, at least.
Once installed, it’s clear that this is a
serious alternative to entry-level mono lasers.
It could produce afirst page of black text from
standbyinjust nine seconds, before going on
to hit almost 20 pages per minute(ppm) over
our 25-page text test. Mono graphics printing
was also quitespeedy,reaching 14.8ppm over
24 pages, but at 7.3images per minute, duplex
graphical prints were slower than most lasers.
The same could be said formulti-page
photocopies, with a10-page copytaking
nearly two-and-a-half minutes.
Sadly the ADF doesn’t
support duplex (double-sided)
scanning, so automatic
double-sided photocopies
and faxes aren’t possible.
While the quality of scans
was up to Epson’s usual high
standards, scan speeds were
comparatively slow.There’s not
much wrong with apreview
time of 11 seconds, but taking
nearly 30 seconds to scan an
A4 page at low or medium
resolutions isn’t particularly
impressive.Wewondered if
the 100Mbit/s network
interface was acting as a
bottleneck, but scan times
were unchanged over aUSB
connection. The speeds were
all the more odd given that
the cheaper ET-M2140 was
fractionally faster across our print tests, and
significantly more so when scanning.
TANKSAND REGARDS
Ultimately,there’smuch to recommend the
ET-M3180. It’s as fast when printing as a
typical entry-level mono laser,its print quality
is amatch in most ways, and its scans are
better than we would expect from atypical
laser MFP.Despiteits high purchase price,it
destroys competing mono laser printers when
it comes to running costs, with the added
bonuses of less plastic wasteand lower
electricity consumption. Apart from faster
scanning and aduplexing ADF,the ET-M3180
has everything ahome office or micro
business needs from amono MFP; we’d
choose it over any entry-level laser equivalent.
SimonHandby
⬆Setting up the wireless network connection is slow,but worthwhile
VERDICT
IfyouwantthebenefitsofamonolaserMFP,
Epson’sEcoTankET-M3180isagoodpick,
despitebeinganinkjet
SPECIFICATIONS
Monospeed
Monographics
speed
Monopagecost
Colourpagecost
0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100
Seepage94forperformancedetails
TECHNOLOGYPiezoinkjet•MAXIMUMPRINT
RESOLUTION1,200x2,400dpi•MAXIMUMOPTICAL
SCANRESOLUTION(OUTPUTBITDEPTH)1,200x2,400dpi
(24-bit)•DIMENSIONS375x347x346mm•WEIGHT7.2kg
- MAXIMUMPAPERSIZEA4/legal•WARRANTYThree
yearsonsite•DETAILSwww.epson.co.uk•PARTCODE
C11CG93402BY
19.7ppm
14.8ppm
N/A
0.2p
This is aserious alternativetoentry-levelmono lasers.
It produced apage of black text in justnine seconds
