Dec 15, 2015 10:46 AM
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My friend was looking for a budget friendly colour MFP. While browsing various sites we came across the Epson L350 All-in-One Ink Tank Printer. This concept had us intrigued since the printer was bundled with 4 separate bottles of ink(Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) along with an additional two bottles of black ink. The volume of each bottle was 70 ml. We did not give a second thought as Epson was a reputed brand and placed the order for the printer on Amazon India. The purchase price was Rs. 11750(including 10% cashback using HDFC credit card). The parcel was delivered within 2 days in good condition.
As we had no experience of using an ink-tank based printer we called up the Epson helpline on the toll-free number provided on the box. The phone call went smoothly. The operator took our order details and address to arrange for installation. A day later we got a call from the local service representative who came to setup the device. He unpacked the printer and placed in near our desktop. He went about making the connections and filling the ink-tank with the provided bottles. He then installed the required drivers from the CD provided in the pack and started to explain regarding the features. The startup took some time as the ink-tank had to charge the system with ink and flush the tubes before first use.
He then took some assorted printout to show us the quality of printing. He also tested the scanning and photocopying functionality. He was with us for more than an hour. I was impressed with his commitment. He gave us his card and asked us to call if there were any problems or to order the ink refill bottles. He confirmed that the set of replacement ink bottles would cost Rs. 1500 which works out to less than 40 paisa per colour page print. When we asked for the service charge, he replied that installation and first year service was free as per company policy.
After a month of use, I made a few observations. In draft mode, it prints at a speed of 28 ppm for mono and 12 ppm for colour(company claims 33 ppm for mono and 15 ppm for colour). The volume of colour ink provided per bottle lasted for around 4500 pages. A single black ink bottle however can be used for more than 6000 pages. It only supports manual duplex printing. The scanning quality is decent with an optical density of 600 dpi. The scanning speed is slow above 300 dpi. The system can makes up to 20 copies at one go. The system has a tiny footprint with low power consumption(12W).
A few precautions –
The ink dries up in the tubes if not used at least for a couple of prints per week. To counter this there is an automatic head cleaning mode and power flush mode which can be activated via the software. Automatic heading cleaning mode usually resolves the problem after 3-4 attempts. However, use power flush mode sparsely as this forces the ink to spill out of the tubes into a sponge receptacle in the printer. Once soaked, you will have to call the service engineer to replace it.
Keep the ink-tank outlet in lock mode if you plan on moving the printer about to avoid spillage and damage to the printer.
Overall a satisfactory product that will give you freedom from buying ink supplies regularly. Please rate my review and leave your comments. Cheers!
