Only a few years ago, printers could be only seen in important offices and large commercial places, where they were mostly used for printing official documents, reports and correspondence.
However, printers have almost become a household appliance these days, a machine all home offices and study rooms have for convenience.
And why not? From printing recipes to class reports – printers are needed every day in our modern busy life!
There are clearly many options when you are thinking of investing in a printer, but Canon and Epson clearly stand out from the rest because of their brand value.
Indeed, both these names are the most popular ones when it comes to a printer for your regular needs.
At the same time, though they are both of excellent quality, both kinds of printers have their own uses. They are both good for different purposes, which should be a consideration when investing in one.
Before getting into the comparison, it is therefore, very important to gather as much information as you can about Canon and Epson printers.
What are Canon Printers Best Used For?
Compared to most other brands available in the market, Canon printers are undeniably the best for printing photos.
It is especially Canon Inkjet printers that are considered to be cost-effective, as they give a higher page yield.
With a basic budget and using very little ink, extremely good quality photos can be printed with most Canon Inkjet printer.
Canon has both laser and inkjet printers, and they are both very popular kinds of printers. Laser printers are better suited when you want to mainly print text documents or basic sketches, whereas inkjet printers are better suited for printing images and photos.
Even professional photographers and artists prefer using Canon Inkjet printers for printing their work, as colors become vivid and bright after printing with this particular brand of printers.
What are Epson Printers Best Used For?
Epson printers are also known as multi-purpose printers. They are the kind of printers that you can buy both for regular use at home, or for extended use at your workplace.
Because Epson is known to be a reliable and durable brand, they are considered to be a go-to brand for most kinds of printings.
The latest Epson printers come with the patented Micro-Piezo print head technology, which is designed while keeping both industrial and regular use in mond.
At a very high speed, printers with this technology produce laser-quality results both for printing text and colorful images.
Epson printers are small and compact in size, and can be conveniently placed in a corner of a room. This makes Epson printers a good model to consider for home offices, study rooms and small businesses.
They are also budget-conscious and require very little electricity to work, going on standby mode when not in use.
Epson printer ink is considered to be affordable compared to the other brands, yet they give a high-quality print. In fact, good quality prints cost almost 50% less with Epson printers than they do with other printers.
What are the Differences between Canon and Epson Printers?
Both Canon and Epson printers are considered to be extremely convenient, but they also come with some differences between them.
1. Multifunctional Printer
Definitely, Epson printers are known as “multipurpose” or “multifunctional” printers, because they are perfect both for household use and official use.
These printers are perfect for printing text documents and images, and can give equally good results for both.
On the other hand, Canon manufactures two very different kinds of printers: laser and inkjet printers.
Laser printers are known to be excellent for printing text, official documents, letters and correspondences, whereas inkjet printers are more used for printing brilliant images and photos.
Only when you have specific jobs in mind, either Canon Inkjet or Laser Printers will be perfect for the job, i.e. for printing text or for printing images.
Therefore, it can be concluded that Epson printers happen to be more versatile and more functional than Canon printers.
2. Consistency
Consistency, i.e. exactly how the printer will perform over the years is more noticeable in Canon printers than Epson.
Canon printers come with a base-line standard for their print quality and color, especially if Canon Printer Paper is being used for printing.
Over the years, Canon printers will certainly maintain its printing quality compared to as it was when the machine was new. If the quality degrades slightly, resetting the printer will revert it back to its original quality.
Although Epson is also a high-quality printer, its efficiency and quality of printing will probably decline over time as the printer becomes older.
3. Paper Feeding Technique
When it comes to paper feeding techniques, certain models manufactured by Epson are known for “paper skewing errors”, i.e. they become difficult to feed paper into as the machine ages.
This happens because dust – both from paper and the environment – accumulates inside the paper tray that’s almost impossible to remove.
To avoid this problem, a few Canon printers come with a vacuum transport mechanism, which keeps the paper feeder clean for years. For this reason, specific Canon printers doesn’t have any problem with the paper feeding tray even after regular use for years.
4. Simplified Interface for Printing
Epson printers are compatible with “Epson Print Layout” – a free program that simplifies the entire process with an easy-to-use interface. With this software, it is very easy to use this printer at home or at work.
A few Canon printers also come with an easy-to-use software titled “Print Studio Pro”, which is full-featured and very simple.
With this program, printing multiple pieces of paper can be printed simultaneously without having to go through the motions every single time.
The latest software from Canon is titled “Professional Print and Layout” which is actually a better interface to use. With this software, a whole bulk of pages can be printed at the same time, and more advanced settings can be interpreted.
5. Ink Cartridges and Tanks
Replacing the ink cartridges of the Epson printer is more difficult, as the ink tanks are placed behind the doors of the front side of the printer.
The doors need to be opened to refill or replace the ink tanks, which can mean opening up the printer and halting the printing process.
On the other hand, the entire process is easy with Canon printers. In most Canon printers, the ink tanks are loaded at the top and very easy to replace, remove or refill. Doing so doesn’t require opening up the printer or even halt printing.
If you go through printing a huge number of pages every day, and need to replace your ink tanks often, Canon printers would be easier to handle.
6. Replacement of Print Head
No matter how reliable the printer, it requires the print head to be replaced after a few years of use. On any Epson printer, this is an extensive and costly process and might even require professional assistance.
For Canon printers, the print head also needs to be replaced after a few years, but the process is relatively a simpler one.
Canon vs. Epson Printer: Which Works Best?
Canon and Epson are both extremely well known and popular brands when it comes to printers, and they are both reliable.
However, to choose between any particular model of Canon or Epson depends on one specific reason: what you need the printer for?
If you’re buying a printer for printing both documents and images, and are willing to compromise on adequate and good-quality print, Epson printers are known for being multipurpose or multifunctional printers.
They can print both official documents and photos/images with equal kind of proficiency.
However, for extremely high-quality printing of designs, photographs and images, it is Canon inkjet printers that are the best.
These printers are designed for professionals who only want the best possible printout of their work and won’t compromise with the quality.
Canon Laser printers are also quite reputable for printing pristine official documents and correspondences, and are a favorite of commercial businesses and offices.
Conclusion
Although it is completely a personal choice, the verdict is quite clear: Epson printers might be the perfect printer for you when you are looking for a multipurpose or a multifunctional machine.
But if you are quite particular about the outcome, it is definitely a choice between Canon inkjet and Canon Laser printers. They are both separate machines who are different in their uses and in their quality, and they are both absolutely perfect for either printing text documents or images, but not both together in the same machine.