Epson EcoTank ET-M1170 Review: The Monochrome Workhorse That Kills Cartridge Costs

We’ve all been there. You have a critical 50-page report to print for a morning meeting. You hit “Print,” and the printer grinds to a halt, flashing that dreaded “Low Ink” warning. It’s a scenario that plays out in home offices and small businesses everywhere, a frustrating and expensive cycle we call the “printer ink trap.” For years, the business model seemed simple: sell the printer for cheap and make a fortune on the proprietary ink cartridges that run out faster than you can say “cost-per-page.” This recurring expense doesn’t just drain your wallet; it creates workflow interruptions, last-minute trips to the store, and a mountain of plastic waste. For anyone printing more than a few pages a week, the frustration is palpable and the search for a more sustainable, cost-effective solution becomes paramount. It’s not just about printing; it’s about finding a reliable tool that supports your productivity instead of hindering it.

What to Consider Before Buying an Ink Tank Printer

An ink tank printer is more than just an item; it’s a key solution for breaking free from the high costs and waste associated with traditional cartridge-based systems. By utilizing large, refillable reservoirs, these printers slash the cost-per-page to mere fractions of a penny. The main benefit is, without a doubt, the long-term savings. You buy ink in bottles, not cartridges, getting thousands of pages of printing capacity for the price of one or two high-yield cartridges. This transforms printing from a recurring operational expense into a negligible one, bringing peace of mind and predictable budgeting to your home or office. Furthermore, it significantly reduces the environmental impact by eliminating the disposal of single-use plastic cartridges.

The ideal customer for this type of product is someone facing high-volume printing demands. Think small business owners churning out invoices, students printing research papers and lecture notes, or home office professionals who regularly handle multi-page documents. If your monthly print volume is consistently high and exclusively in black and white, a monochrome ink tank model like the Epson EcoTank ET-M1170 is designed specifically for your needs. However, it might not be suitable for those who require colour printing for marketing materials, photos, or presentations. Similarly, users who need integrated scanning, copying, and faxing capabilities would be better served by an all-in-one device. For those users, alternatives that bundle these features, often with colour capabilities, would be a more appropriate investment.

Before investing, consider these crucial points in detail:

• Monochrome vs. Colour: This is the most fundamental decision. Be realistic about your needs. If 99% of your printing is text-based documents like reports, manuscripts, or invoices, a dedicated monochrome printer will deliver faster speeds and sharper text at a lower cost. Don’t pay for colour capability you’ll never use.
• Print Volume & Speed: Consider your average monthly printing needs. A printer with a high page yield per bottle and a large paper tray, like the Epson EcoTank ET-M1170, is built for endurance and reduces the frequency of refills and paper loading. A print speed of 20 pages per minute (ppm) is excellent for productivity and rivals many laser printers in its class.
• Connectivity: How will you connect the printer to your devices? While Wi-Fi offers flexibility, a hardwired Ethernet connection provides a more stable and secure link, ideal for a fixed office setup. USB is a straightforward option for a single PC. Ensure the printer’s connectivity options match your network infrastructure.
• Functionality (Print-Only vs. All-in-One): Do you already have a separate scanner or copier? A print-only device excels at its one job, often providing better speed and quality for the price than a jack-of-all-trades multifunction unit. If space and budget are primary concerns, an all-in-one might be more practical, but for pure printing power, a dedicated machine is superior.

Keeping these factors in mind, the Epson EcoTank ET-M1170 stands out in several areas, particularly for users prioritizing cost, speed, and quality for monochrome documents. You can explore its detailed specifications and features here.

While the Epson EcoTank ET-M1170 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:

First Impressions: A Compact, No-Nonsense Workhorse

Unboxing the Epson EcoTank ET-M1170, the first thing we noticed was its surprisingly compact and efficient design. In a world of bulky, oversized office equipment, its modest footprint is a welcome sight. The build quality feels solid and business-like, with a durable plastic chassis that feels ready for a demanding workload. There are no flashy LCD screens or unnecessary embellishments; just a simple LED display and a set of straightforward push buttons. This design philosophy speaks volumes about its purpose: this is a tool, not a toy.

The real “wow” moment during setup comes from the EcoTank system itself. Included in the box are two bottles of black ink. Filling the integrated tank is an ingeniously simple and mess-free process. The bottles have a unique keyed nozzle that only fits the corresponding tank, preventing accidental spills or mixing of colours (on other models). You simply uncap the bottle, place it upside down on the port, and the ink flows in smoothly, stopping automatically when the tank is full. Watching the front-facing ink window fill up, knowing it contains enough ink for thousands of pages, provides a satisfaction that cartridge users can only dream of. It’s a paradigm shift in how you think about printer consumables.

A Deep Dive into the Epson EcoTank ET-M1170’s Performance

A printer’s value is ultimately determined by its real-world performance. It needs to be fast, reliable, economical, and produce high-quality output. We put the Epson EcoTank ET-M1170 through its paces in a busy home office environment, tasking it with everything from long manuscripts and financial reports to quick, single-page prints. After weeks of intensive use, we can confidently say this machine is a game-changer for anyone with high-volume monochrome printing needs.

The EcoTank Promise: A Revolution in Running Costs

The single most compelling reason to choose the Epson EcoTank ET-M1170 is its radical approach to ink costs. This isn’t just an incremental improvement; it’s a fundamental disruption of the old printer business model. Out of the box, Epson includes enough ink to print a staggering number of pages—often cited as up to 11,000. For the average user, this could genuinely last for years without needing a refill. We started by printing a 500-page manuscript, and the ink level in the transparent front-facing window barely seemed to move. This visual confirmation is incredibly reassuring, eliminating the “ink anxiety” that plagues cartridge printer owners.

Let’s break down the economics. A standard set of high-yield laser toner or inkjet cartridges can cost a significant portion of the printer’s original price and might yield 1,500-2,000 pages. A single replacement ink bottle for the ET-M1170 costs very little and provides another 6,000 pages. The cost-per-page plummets to a fraction of a penny. Over the three-year warranty period of the printer, the potential savings are not just hundreds, but potentially thousands of pounds for a small business or prolific home user. This makes the higher initial purchase price of the printer not just justifiable, but a savvy long-term investment. It completely changes your printing habits; you no longer hesitate to print a long document for proofreading, confident that the cost is negligible.

Speed and Efficiency: A True Laser Competitor

For decades, if you wanted speed, you bought a laser printer. Inkjets were relegated to slower, lower-volume tasks. The Epson EcoTank ET-M1170 shatters that stereotype. With a print speed of 20 pages per minute and a first-page-out time of just six seconds, this machine feels incredibly responsive. We tested this by printing a 20-page, single-sided report, and it completed the job in just over a minute, living up to its advertised speeds. This level of performance is critical in a productive environment where waiting for the printer is simply not an option.

Where the ET-M1170 truly shines is with its automatic duplexing feature. Printing on both sides of the paper is essential for saving paper, reducing binder thickness, and creating professional-looking documents. The mechanism is smooth and reliable. We printed a 100-page, double-sided document (50 sheets of paper), and the printer handled the task flawlessly without a single jam. While duplexing naturally slows the output slightly, the convenience and savings far outweigh the minimal time difference. This, combined with the large 250-sheet main paper tray, creates a remarkably low-maintenance experience. You can load it with half a ream of paper, know you have thousands of pages of ink, and effectively forget about it for weeks at a time, allowing you to focus on your actual work.

Uncompromising Quality and Rock-Solid Connectivity

Speed and economy are meaningless if the final output is poor. Fortunately, the Epson EcoTank ET-M1170 delivers exceptional print quality. Leveraging a maximum resolution of 1,200 x 2,400 DPI, the text it produces is outstanding. We printed documents with various font sizes, including fine print down to 6-point, and the characters were consistently crisp, dark, and razor-sharp with no smudging or bleeding. The output is easily on par with, and in some cases superior to, entry-level laser printers, making it perfectly suitable for any professional document, from legal contracts to academic papers.

Connectivity is the one area that requires careful consideration. The ET-M1170 forgoes built-in Wi-Fi in favour of USB 2.0 and Ethernet. For our testing, we connected it directly to our office router via an Ethernet cable. The setup was plug-and-play; our network instantly recognized the printer, and we were able to print from multiple computers (both PC and Mac) without any complex configuration. This hardwired connection is incredibly stable and fast, arguably the most reliable option for a permanent office fixture. Using the Epson iPrint app, we could also easily send documents to the printer from our smartphones and tablets as long as they were on the same network. While the lack of Wi-Fi may be a dealbreaker for users who need to place the printer far from their router without running cables, for anyone with a nearby Ethernet port, it’s a non-issue that provides a more robust connection. If you’re looking for a dependable workhorse that delivers on its promises, we found the Epson EcoTank ET-M1170 to be an outstanding performer in its class.

What Other Users Are Saying

While we don’t have access to specific user reviews for this analysis, our expert findings align with the general sentiment often seen for high-performance EcoTank models. The most frequently praised aspect is undoubtedly the incredible value and freedom from expensive cartridges. Users often express a sense of relief, echoing our sentiment about the end of “ink anxiety” and praising the thousands of pages they get from the included bottles. The fast print speed and sharp, professional-quality text are also common points of positive feedback, with many confirming it performs as well as the laser printers it aims to replace.

On the other side, the most common point of confusion or criticism typically revolves around connectivity. Some users, accustomed to Wi-Fi being a standard feature on all modern printers, are occasionally caught off guard by its absence. This highlights the importance of checking specifications carefully to ensure the printer’s Ethernet or USB-only setup fits your intended location and network infrastructure. Similarly, some purchasers occasionally miss that it is a monochrome-only device, though this reflects a purchasing error rather than a flaw in the product itself.

How Does the Epson EcoTank ET-M1170 Compare to the Alternatives?

The Epson EcoTank ET-M1170 is a specialist, but the printer market is filled with excellent generalists. Here’s how it stacks up against three popular alternatives, each catering to a different user need.

1. Canon TS705

The Canon TS705 is a compact and versatile colour inkjet printer. Its primary advantage over the Epson is its ability to print in full colour, making it a better choice for users who need to produce graphics, photos, or presentations alongside text documents. It also features robust wireless connectivity, which offers more placement flexibility than the Epson’s Ethernet-only network option. However, the TS705 uses traditional ink cartridges, meaning its long-term running costs will be significantly higher than the EcoTank system, especially for high-volume printing. This is the ideal choice for a user with moderate, varied printing needs (both colour and mono) who values a small footprint and Wi-Fi convenience over the extreme low cost-per-page of the Epson.

2. Canon PIXMA TS6350 Wireless Photo Printer

The Canon PIXMA TS6350 is a multifunction device geared towards creative and family use. It not only prints in high-quality colour using a five-individual-ink system but also includes scanning and copying functions. This makes it a complete home office hub in a single unit. Its strength lies in its versatility and excellent photo printing capabilities. Compared to the Epson EcoTank ET-M1170, it’s a completely different proposition. The Epson is a single-function monochrome workhorse built for speed and efficiency with documents. The PIXMA is for the user who needs an all-in-one solution for a variety of tasks, including printing school projects, scanning documents, and producing vibrant photo prints, and is willing to accept higher running costs and slower document print speeds in exchange for that flexibility.

3. HP Envy Inspire 7220e Multifunction Printer

The HP Envy Inspire 7220e represents another approach to managing ink costs: a subscription service. This is also a colour all-in-one printer that can print, scan, and copy. Its key feature is its compatibility with HP Instant Ink, where you pay a monthly fee for a set number of pages, and new cartridges are automatically sent to you before you run out. For users with predictable, moderate print volumes, this can be a convenient and cost-effective system. However, the Epson EcoTank ET-M1170 offers a different kind of freedom—the freedom from any subscription. With the Epson, you pay upfront for the hardware and a massive supply of ink, giving you thousands of pages with no monthly commitments. The HP is for those who prefer a service-based model and need all-in-one colour functionality, while the Epson is for the high-volume user who wants to own their supplies outright and achieve the absolute lowest long-term cost-per-page for monochrome printing.

Our Final Verdict on the Epson EcoTank ET-M1170

After extensive testing, the Epson EcoTank ET-M1170 has proven itself to be a truly exceptional machine for its target audience. It is a master of its craft, delivering on its core promises with outstanding results. Its combination of incredibly low running costs, laser-like speed, and crisp, professional text quality makes it a formidable tool for any productive environment. The generous paper capacity and automatic duplexing are thoughtful features that streamline workflow and minimize user intervention.

This printer is not for everyone. If you need colour, scanning, or the convenience of Wi-Fi, you should look elsewhere. But if your world revolves around printing black and white documents in high volumes—be it reports, invoices, manuscripts, or academic papers—this printer is, without exaggeration, a game-changer. It represents a smart, long-term investment that will free you from the tyranny of expensive ink cartridges and pay for itself many times over in savings. We wholeheartedly recommend it to any small business, home office professional, or student looking for a dedicated monochrome printing powerhouse.

If you’ve decided the Epson EcoTank ET-M1170 is the right fit for your printing needs, you can check its current price and purchase it here.