Thank you for the comparison. That made very clear that I can not expect what I would from the 18100. I'll be looking at the 8550.

Thanks, Keith, wouldn't have understood the distinctions and similarities without your videos.

Thank you so much, this comparison was super useful!

Thanks so much for these videos. I’m now a very happy ET-8550 owner 😊

Once again a very interesting video, and this orchid print is truly spectacular. Very curious about that ID print option!

That gloss black wow, take my money please! Thanks Keith - you’re a legend!

Hi Keith, thank you once more for this video (we like comparisons).

As usual a great help, many thanks.

I appreciate very much your your research, thank's a lot!

Great work Keith, given both printers are about the same price it really does help to understand exactly what use case each one is designed for. I'm still undecided which way to go however lol 🤪

Thanks, Mr. Keith!!

Very, very helpful. I am 100% after a printer for photo-printing only, so this is very relevant. I could have never read this info on an Epson website or something. Cheers!

Hi Keith. I have an Epson SureColor SC P600. I use it for printing archival reports of historic buildings (in Australia). I chose it because it is a pigment ink printer and that's what the specifications call for. I know dye inks have improved a lot over recent years, but they are known to be not as light fast as pigment inks. (not that any of these reports would ever see the light of day after they have been submitted). My printer is not used a lot, it is expensive to run and I have a constant battle keeping the head clog free. The shared black ink line is a horrible thing. I really want to get an EcoTank printer but the only A3 one with a full pigment ink set is the ET-16600, which is not known to be good at printing photos (although I have never seen a print from it). I am pretty keen on the ET-8550, if I can get them to change their mind about submitting reports on dye ink. Do you think this ink with a good fixative would be fairly stable? The photos don't need to be gallery grade, just clear.

keith, thanks so much for this, exactly what i needed.

This is how you review a product. Thanks🙏🏻

Nice comparison Keith…for me the 8550 is far more versatile. My results with B&W printing are very good… Very easy to use. Cheers..

Nice review. Very helpful.

Good comparison video Keith

This helps with my printer choice thanks

Hi Keith, Im very happy to report that my ET8550 has the range with various photo papers and i am willing to take the very small hit on quality in high gloss prints particularly as i learn more. Oh and i thought the prints on metallic gloss papers that ET8550 produced were very good. Having more range in media settings and paper choices that the et8550 has, was the reason for my choice and i am extremely happy about it👍

Great video as always!

Thanks, that's useful to know. I'll happily stick with my 8850s for now I think as I do print some black and white and I'm getting good results. . When an 8850 eventually stops working (possibly when the non user replacable ink pad is full) I'll likely replace with the newer model without the scanner and screen.

Thanks for the comparison. I still think the versatility (and the pigment black) of the 8550 makes it the better choice for me. But I wonder why the ink prices are so different. For example the same amount of yellow cost 40% less for the ET18100 than the ET8550. The bottles have the same capacity and look identical, but I supposed they are mechanically incompatible, aren't they?

excellent presentation.

Hi Keith, I have the ET-8550, and I like to use matt papers, but I am having trouble getting a neutral B&W rendering. There seems to be a color cast to my prints. So far I have used Epson Ultra Premium Presentation Matte, and Epson Velvet Fine Art Paper. I have also tried these papers on my old Epson Stylus Photo R-2400 with better results. It has the A-B&W mode, and I can't seem to find it on my ET-8550. I do have the Velvet Fine Art setting though. I would like to try some of the Epson Legacy Papers, but there doesn't appear to be any settings available for either of my printers. Anyway I would like to find some matte papers that would behave without a slight color cast. I shoot infrared B&W and am looking for rich blacks and desent contrast. Any suggestions for different papers and their profiles? Thanks, Steve

Im autistic and mainly got a printer (et-2400) to save money on printing pictures of a character, close up of RK900 in Detroit: Become Humans' gallery, and occasionally other things, such as pets. I've been trying to work up to getting the et-8500 or et-8550, but haven't had the money. These pictures are pretty much alive to me and are very important and I'd like them to be as good and as accurate as possible, just as the screenshot was taken. The 2400 has been doing really great. Ultra Premium/Premium Presentation Matte paper seems to be the best paper and most accurate to the picture. The glossy is also weirdly sticky and I carry these pictures around and everything. I usually laminate them, though. And not to mention the glossy is more expensive, so I've stuck with Matte. I just saw an article pop up about this printer and figured it was new, so now I have to see which one is better for me to get now. Edit: typos and: I think the 8550 would still be my goal.

thanks for the review Keith. im still hesitating, I want to print color photos but also stickers. which one would suit best you think?

Hi Keith, great review as usual. I am looking at replacing my old P3800 and my ET-7700 (worst family printer purchase ever) by a single device. On the P3800 I mainly use Luster papers like Epson Premium Luster, and Ilford Smooth Pearl. Would the ET8550 be a match for the P3800 when it comes to luster?

Great review! I'm considering displaying it in a shop located in a tourist village where we print photos for guests, considering the affordable maintenance costs. Currently, we use a Canon Pixma printer with dye inks and print on a 300g Marrutt Ultrapearlescent paper, which is semi-glossy. Would the suggested paper be a suitable replacement? Should I go for a glossy paper weighing 265g instead? Thank you, greetings from Italy.

Hi Keith, thank you for your insightful videos. Would you recommend the epson 4850? I am looking for a printer for cake toppers. Any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated x thank you

Very helpful. I generally print gloss photo, but when i can get an a3 printer, might look more at some ^fine art^. However, what puts me 0ff the 18100 most is the possible toller marks on thicker paper. Im also aware that some people also struggling with roller marks on thicker paper with the 8550 as weepll (eg jagos art channel). Surely it not expecting to much to print on 300gsm art paper with no roler marks?, thks mike

Looking at the 8550 amd this was a really helpful video. The glossy prints on the other option look superb but the general use case across different mediums of the 8550 judt ticks off more boxes for me. Csn you recommend any good close to glossy paper products for the 8850 please. Ive been a retoucher for 16 years but the printing world has scared but finally im fed up with a lack of good printing services for my basic needs and have decided to purchase this printer. Especially now that the ink system is refillable. Another question. Would you recommend buying a 5 year waranty for this printer from epson. Ive seen it available for maybe £165 (in danish krone) i think its a no brainer as ive seen so many printers go into ewaste.

Hi Keith i changed my XP 8500 ( i think its the Expression Photo Printer 4 cartridges ) for the ET-8550 , I do like to print a variety of colour pictures and photo's. the XP 8500 did do a great job on Photo Prints ( if you used the correct profiles for the paper your using ) and i was happy for a while with that printer. I decided i wanted a printer that used 6 colours and an Ecotank and after a lot of googling and watching reviews decided on the ET-8550 ( a lot more pricey than most i looked at ), i wasn't expecting the difference in the photo prints to be so far apart, The ET-8550 prints without any profiles was a lot better than the XP 8500 with profiles. I know some people will say its because it uses 6 inks instead of 4 but the difference is the ET 8500 is 5 dye inks and 1 pigment where as the XP was 4 pigment inks so if i'm correct the ET 8500 only uses 1 more ink when printing over the XP 8500 which should not make a huge difference, When i used a profile for the type of paper on the ET 8550 the difference was even greater. i would say if your looking for an all round printer then the ET-8550 is worth considering as with this printer it will do a lot more than just Photo's. All in all at the moment i'm very happy with the print quality of my ET-8550 and even though its a little pricey i still think it was worth the upgrade.

thank you, very informative, which printer would you recommend for dye sublimation/heat transfer printing?

Hello. Thanks for the video. Do you know maybe what is the difference between Epson 108 ink used in 18050 (107 in 18100) and Epson 115 Claria ET ink used in 8180 (114 in 8550) which are 50% more expensive? They are the same set I think 6inks with pigment black. Regards from Poland :)

What kind of glossy papers do you use? Are there any that arent sticky and moreso like cvs glossy photo paper? Or anything like shutterflys matte photo paper.

Hi Keith, Thanks for this wonderful comparison, I bought my brand new Ecotank ET-8550 after watching this I have a question about ET-8550 would it be okay if I add all Ecotank ET-8550 compatible pigment inks from 3rd party manufacturers in a brand new Et-8550 printer instead of 5 dye inks that we get. I got a set of an all pigment ink with small ink droplet size to avoid clogging but wanted to confirm with you before going ahead. Thankyou so much for your videos.

Thank you very much! Great review and very helpful! I'm seeking a printer that can produce both B&W and Colour photo prints, and looking to replace my Canon iP8750 as the print head is leaking ink. I guess the ET-8550 may be my best option, or maybe just replace the print head on my Canon!

Hi Keith, I see you have two printers I’m looking at buying but struggling to choose as I can’t see a side-by-side comparison. Which produces better photo quality: the Et-8550 or Canon Pixma-200? Thank you

Hi dear Keith Thank you so much for all the videos you posted. I've been watching your channel 24/7 for a week now :))) 1 thing in particular that I have in mind is if any of these printers can print on a 9*12 kraft or white rigid envelopes? I saw in the specification of 8550 that we can feed up to 1.3mm from the rear feed, which you also mentioned in your previous video (even we can alter the blue plastic to put a thicker cardstock). However, I couldn't find any resources that I could either feed a not-supported paper dimension (9*12 or 10*13 inch) or print on rigid kraft or white envelopes (coated or uncoated). Is it possible for you to check this and tell me? Any other printer would also be good for me. What I have in mind is to print full-color borderless (except for the last 2cm that 8550 cannot print) on rigid envelopes in bulk for my project (1000 or 2000). The prices of these custom rigid mailers are so high (2.5 to 3$ while the plain one is only 0.5$)

Thank you Keith! Such an informative video, however I still can't decide between these two for printing family photos mainly. Also, can you please tell me if the l8050 is the A4 version of the et-18100 (l18050)? Or is it a different printer? These model names confuse me a lot

Hi Keith, i am looking at purchasing the 8550, i want to do prints on matte A3 paper, do you recommend any specific matte paper for this printer ?

Hey Keith, I bought the epson-et18100 and I was very satisfied with the print quality, this morning one of my sheet got jammed inside my paper, she removed it by herself, now it’s leaving black marks everywhere, and the print head are touching against my paper, do you know any solution to this?

Hello Keith, I print custom cards on glossy holographic paper, would you think the 18100 would be great for me, I would like to put black sublimation ink so the printer will not mix color..thanks in advance ☺️

Ηello Keith.I always enjoy your videos.Does the 18100 have rear paper feed for printing poster boards like the 8550?

Much appreciated Keith, excellent videos. Here is a tidbit to give you even more views, the Middle East / India model name is L8160 for the A4 model (no A3+) and you correctly identified the alternative names for the other printers (L18050..)

Hi Keith, just out of curiosity, how does it compare to the XP-15000 for glossy prints and with respect to gamut? If your covering that in your upcoming review no worries, I can wait. Thanks for the review.

Hi Keith! How good is the Epson Expression Photo XP-970 in comparison?

if i wanted to use this printer for doing things such as invitations etc would the et-8550 suit that role better or are there any other printers better for this.

Hi, can you print on acetate sheets on the ET-8550?

Hi Keith. I bought the Epson ET-8550 two years ago, for these reasons: EcoTank printer/scanner with as much colors as possible, as a family, home office and (semi-professional) photo printer. I was very glad to find your reviews, which gave me an idea of what I can expect. I still need to look at the full review and am interested in a list of compatible papers and their ICC profiles. I currently use the Premium Semigloss Photo Paper A3/A3+. Thank you for all these great videos. Can the scanner be used for profiling?

Hi, which one of these two would you recommend for sublimation conversion??

great vid , what would be the best photo paper for the 18100 for a best gloss finish in your opinion .

Hi Keith, can you foresee EcoTank printers for A2 format in the near future? Thanks.

Hi Keith! Thanks so much for your videos 🙏. After hours at looking at them, I finaly bought the Epson ET-8550. Can you help me? In Photoshop I made a file 8.5 X 11 inches. In it, there is a picture of 7 X 10 inches. The guide lines and ruler indicate it is really 7 X 10. But when I print on the actual 8.5 X 11 paper, the picture is 6.75 inches instead of 7 inches 🤔. I tried different options and they are not working. Thanks ahead for your help!

Is the 18100 much better for printing color photos on glossy and satin paper than the 8550? Here their prices almost the same, but the 8550 has lots of extra features, so for me looks like the latter is the winner, but I want to use the printer for printing almost only color photos on glossy, semi-glossy paper and I am afraid of the poorer ink selection of the 8550.

Hi Keith! Hiw was it, compared to canon pro 200?

Does the 18100 print borderless at 13x19?

May be off topic Good day, im quite new into printing, i have an Epson et8550 and i m experimenting a lot. I try to understand much as i can, from all different point of imaging print. Something what frustrating me a lot is this... Who i can understand if a print is good, very good, bad or present defect?... My answer to this is... Just experience and knowledge can do that.... I feel like a blind man that can not charge himself for an improvment or be proud of myself for the great work. Yes sound strange... I don't know how to charge my print... What's your point of view Enzo

Hi, can you help me please? Which one is suitable for matte coated photo papers (I print deep dark background graphics and light detailed watercolor graphics too, but I only use matte inkjet photo paper). Are the prints waterproof / drip-proof? (I am currently using the L3250 printer (this ink is 103 - waterproof), I want the same quality in A3+ size.) Thank you for your reply.

Can we use 300 gsm matte materials?

Right on Keith, who says at 10:08: "I'd love to see a big, larger sized, pro level, dye based printer…." C'mon Epson and Canon, please make larger sized dye based printers, since pigment inks are so dull in comparison. These shine!

can it print on heat transfer paper

How’s this glossy color printing quality compared to the CANON-100?

Does the 18100 print great on fiber based metallic papers? For that matter, are there metallic fiber papers or only RC style ?

is the 8550 an inkjet printer ?

If 18100 had gray ink...

the 8550 can do fax ? wow

Get a Brother laser printer.....

Not available from Epson in the united states