I’m in the market for an Epson EcoTank printer. I like Epson printers. A lot. My two currently are the Epson WF-3640 (for office printing) and the Stylus Photo R280 (for, um, photo printing).
EcoTank however makes ink actually affordable. So it’s nice to see Epson pick up that torch from Kodak – which made the noble effort to cut ink prices, albeit way too close to the end (bankruptcy).
One thing I wanted to figure out was the difference between the two PrecisionCore versions. The two versions today are 1S and 2S. I knew there were two versions – having briefly used a WF-2650 (bleck). But I wanted to know what really was different between them.
The only real-world explanation of the two Epson PrecisionCore variants I could find, on the entire internet:
“… a 1S PrecisionCore printhead, meaning that it has two PrecisionCore printhead print chips, as opposed to the 2S WorkForce Pro models, which have four chips, making them faster—and cheaper to use, too.”
Source: Lifewire
In other words, PrecisionCore 2S uses less ink and prints way faster at the same time. But you have to go through four of the seven circles of hell to figure out which version an Epson printer has.
Don’t go by the model number, they almost appear to confuse on purpose. For example, an ET-3600 you would think has 2S, like the WF-3640. It even looks like a WF-3640, right down to the touchscreen and design language. But alas, it has a 1S print head. In fact, the only Epson EcoTank with 2S that I could find is the range-topping ET-16500. And, the WF-R4640 actually has PrecisionCore 4S! That’s right, the one EcoTank without ET in the model name, has a print head superior to all the others. Confused yet?
So now you know. PrecisionCore 2S, good. PrecisionCore 1S, not as good.
And yes, Epson still makes some printers that don’t use PrecisionCore – both on the cheap-end and the high-end. For instance, their range-topping Artisan, ET-7700 and ET-7750 printers don’t use PrecisionCore, because they are photo printers that need even tighter ink placement to produce Photo RPM print quality that matches industrial printers.
Article corrected once for EcoTank model number clarity…
PrecisionCore is deployed in only WorkForce and WorkForce Pro models and it’s very easy to determine which are 1S and 2S:
non-Pro = 1S
Pro = 2S
Not all EcoTank models have PrecissionCore printheads. On WF and WF Pro.
That’s not correct. The WF-3640 is not a WordForce Pro and has 2S, among many other examples.
Now, all WorkForce Pro models do have PrecisionCore 2S or higher. But not being a Pro does not mean 1S.
“Not all EcoTank models have PrecissionCore printheads.” – Never said they did. Especially high end units like the ET-15000 that favor high print quality, and low end models that clearly lack it because they use cheaper heads (which typically consume way more ink).