Epson EcoTank ET-3950 Ink Cost Per Page: Tied for the Ink Tank Class Lead on Black
The Epson EcoTank ET-3950 is an ink tank inkjet that prints, copies and scans, with auto-duplex printing built in. It sells for $400 and runs at $0.29 in black and $1.08 in color per 100 pages. That black figure comes from its EP-502-BK cartridge, priced at $25 and rated for 8,500 pages.
A same-priced rival makes the running-cost gap plain: the HP LaserJet Pro 4006dw also costs $400 up front, but its toner runs $2.23 in black against the ET-3950's $0.29 per 100 pages, and it has no color mode at all. The HP prints at 47 ppm, far faster than the ET-3950's 18 ppm, and includes a touchscreen the Epson lacks, though it drops down to print only, without the Epson's copy and scan.
Within Epson's own EcoTank line, the $500 ET-4950 adds fax capability and a touchscreen but keeps the same black and color rates as the ET-3950, part of a four-way tie for the top black cost-per-page spot among the 30 ink tank printers InkTax tracks. Below it, the $160 ET-1910 and $240 ET-2900 both run $0.38 in black and $1.10 in color per 100 pages, well above the ET-3950; the ET-1910 offers print only while the ET-2900 adds copy and scan, and neither has auto-duplex.
The Canon PIXMA G3270 holds the color running-cost floor among the 30-model ink tank segment, at $0.97 per 100 pages, selling for $249 up front. Its black cost per page, though, sits at $0.38 — higher than the Epson's — and it prints at 11 ppm, well behind the ET-3950's 18 ppm, without auto-duplex. Across every type InkTax tracks, the ET-3950 ranks 3rd of 97 printers on black-and-white cost per page.