Consumer Reports officially announced that the Epson Ecotank was no longer available:
Unfortunately this came too late. I had bought this stealth shipwreck in the Spring of 2021 for $C335.The only good news about the Ecotank 2720 was that the tanks filled up with no apparent problems. But that was the last of the good news from the Epson 2720.
Now I have called this printer a Stealth Shipwreck, here is why. Already in February of 2019 Consumer Reports withdrew its Epson printer recommendations over reliability problems. Two videos from Printer Repair experts describe how complex and prone to error the Epson ink delivery system is. Note these problems are “hidden” as the Epson printer appears to work for awhile but then fails rapidly.
All of the above inside info on the performance and reliability problems with the Epson Ecotanks. are also hidden from most customers. Reviews of the Ecotank 2720 appearing in RTings and PCMag in late 2021 and early 2022 in which both did not raise any issues about printer reliability. So neither Epson nor Amazon nor BestBuy decided to take the printer off the market until late 2022
Yes of course, my Epson 2720 failed. First, color images showed visible striping which multiple nozzle checks and power cleanings failed to improve image prints. When I switched to B&W text-only prints the blank stripes became even more noticeable. However, the Epson gut kicker occurred when I bought a 522 Epson black ink tank and tried to refill the black ink. The 2720 Printer refused to refill despite several efforts using two different bottles. This was most distressing given that the original ink fillings went without any incidents. So now I had a Epson printer that would not refill and whose only functionality was as an image scanner.
Epilog: Epson Canada Repairs
Epson Canada Online repairs answered call queries promptly. But like the Printer itself things went downhill rapidly. The online people insisted that refill problem would be addressed by multiple nozzle checks and power cleanings, They did reduce but not eliminate striping in the subsequent prints.
But the essential problem was that I could not get any of the tanks [ black, red, yellow or cyan] to refill using official 522 ink jars. So then the repair staff asked if I had `used any 3rd party inks for refill . Yes an insult, because a)I had said that I was unable to do any refill and b)I was strictly using official Canon inks” and none have worked for the first refill” So then the staff asked if I could bring the printer in for repairs. I was willing, but I would like to know what the cost would be and when I could expect the repairs to be done. Epson staff would not respond to either even when I asked for ballpark ranges.
So I told Epson repair staffers I would look for 3rd parties for repairs. And for several weeks I I searched local Computer and Printer shops for help. No shops wanted to take on the Epson 2720 for repairs nor could they refer me to shop that would. At the end of three weeks I got an email from Epson repairs offering me a refurbished Epson Printer for $275 with no details on the warranty.
Summary
As seen above, Epson EcoTank Printers have very complex inkflow innards that have presented users a variety of reliability problems. In Spring of 2019 Consumer Reports removed its Epson recommendations based on these reliability issues.Epson support services are self-serving. So if you must buy an Epson printer be sure to buy 2 or 3 year warranties depending on frequency of use [more use means theoretically less clogging and nozzle dryout problems]. In case of Epson and inkjet printers in general, the motto is Caveat Emptor – Buyer Beware.