Comparing Brother J6530DW and Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850
Experts prefer Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 over Brother J6530DW
On 6 Aug 2022 (6 days ago) we went through 70 Printer expert endorsements .
Currently, Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 received 2 endorsements from Rtings.com (11 Jul 2022) and PCMag (18 Mar 2022). Meanwhile, Brother J6530DW did not receive any endorsements this month.
Curious to see this month's entire Inkjet Printers ranking? It's here
Endorsement summary:
- On 11 Jul 2022
Rtings.com ranked Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 as #4
Rank Printer Comment ... ... ... #4 out of 5 Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 Best Small/Home Office Inkjet Printer... ... ... Source: www.rtings.com - On 18 Mar 2022
PCMag ranked Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 as #6
Rank Printer Comment ... ... ... #6 out of 10 Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 Best High-Volume Office AIO / Editors' Choice... ... ... Source: www.pcmag.com
Customers like Brother J6530DW a bit more
At ReviewFinder we prefer to focus on professional product reviews, because customer reviews can be disproportionately affected by unrelated factors such as delivery, specific seller listing problems, and, of course, fake reviews. With that said, below is the summary of consumer sentiment.
Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850
CS of 10 is similar to a 4.8 star review, CS of 0 is similar to a 2 star review.
Brother J6530DW, the pricier option, tends to get more favorable reviews than Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850.
As can be seen in the chart above, median best-selling printer receives a consumer score of 7.0 (good). Both Brother J6530DW and Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 receive customer reviews that average out below that median threshold.
Brother J6530DW | |
Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 |
6.7 Good
|
Median best-selling Printer |
Brother J6530DW is more popular than Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850
It's fairly safe to say that Brother J6530DW is a more popular printer than Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850, based on its 200+ reviews. Popularity is determined based on product sales. Note that older and cheaper products tend to sell more.
To consider
Table: Top compared alternatives for Brother J6530DW and Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 | $950 |
6.7 Good
| 2 expert recommendations | |
![]() | Brother MFC-J995DW | $777 | 2 expert recommendations | Cheaper More Popular Better Reviews | |
![]() | Epson WF-7710 | $1134 | No expert recommendations | More Popular Better Reviews | |
![]() | Epson WorkForce WF-7720 | $1330 | No expert recommendations | More Popular Better Reviews |
Rank | Change | Price | Printer | Lifewire ![]() | TechRadar ![]() | BestReviews ![]() | Rtings.com ![]() | The Street ![]() | LD Products | Digital Trends ![]() | PhotoWorkout ![]() | PCMag ![]() | Gadget Review ![]() |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | +1 | $241 | ![]() | - | - | - | 3 | - | 1 | - | - | - | - |
2 | -1 | $349 | ![]() | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7 | - | 3 |
3 | - | $379 | ![]() | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - |
4 | +1 | $777 | ![]() | - | - | - | - | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - |
Show all rows |
Expert reviews [5]
- with a score: 4
- without a score: 1
Highest score by PCMag | 90 |
Average score based on 5 reviews | 88 |
Lowest score by Sylvia Juncosa | 80 |
Score distribution:
80-100 | |
60-80 | |
40-60 | |
20-40 | |
0-20 |
- Print and scan from almost anywhere - smartphone, tablet, laptop, and desktop computer. Break free and go wireless. Enjoy the freedom of wireless connectivity - and no router needed with Wi-Fi Direct
- Scan to popular cloud services directly from the machine, including Google Drive, Dropbox, Evernote, and more. Capture and digitize paper documents with Brother Cloud Apps for electronic storage or sharing, Easily navigate to powerful features with a 2.7" Touchscreen display, Two-year limited warranty and free phone support for the life of the product
- Read more
- Promo valid for ET-5150, ET-5170, ET-5180 ET-5800, ET-5850, ET-5880, ET-16600 or ET-16650 printers purchased from 10/1/2021 to 3/31/2023. Product must be registered within 30 days of purchase. Limit four 542 ink bottles per claim. Each claim cannot contain multiple bottles of the same color. Retain your empty 542 ink bottle for submission along with rebate form. Promotion applies to ink only. Printer covered by Epson 2-year ltd warranty with registration. For promo participation, you must register your product. See manufacturer’s website for details.
- Read more
Technical summary
Brother J6530DW is a $1200 wireless injket printer with a built-in scanner, copier and fax.
It supports automatic two-sided printing, borderless printing and prints at the speed of 22.0 ppm (20.0 ppm in color). It's recommended montly page volume is 2000 and maximum allowed page volume is 30000.
It can scan a stack of up to 50 papers (using Automatic Document Feeder), as well as custom-sized documents (such as passports) with its flatbed scanner. It has a couple of extra perks: sending scans to an email and converting scans to searchable PDFs.
Brother J6530DW allows printing via Wi-Fi, a mobile phone/tablet, AirPrint, a USB cable and an Ethernet cable.
Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 is a $950 injket printer.
Are they good for Occasional Home Use

- Wireless Printing
- Designed to print about 2000 pages per month
- Built-in Scanner & Copier
- Two-Sided Printing
- Status Display
- Touch Screen Status Display
- Flatbed Scanner
- ADF Scanner
- Borderless Printing
- Scan to Email
- Scan to PDF
- Scan to Searchable PDFs
- Colored Status Display
- No wireless printing
- Recommended Printing Volume
- No build-in Scanner/Copier
- Two-Sided Printing not supported
- No status display
- No touchscreen
- No flatbed scanner
- No ADF Scanner
Are they good for Small Office Use

- Wireless Printing
- Designed to print about 2000 pages per month
- Two-Sided Printing
- Status Display
- Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)
- Scan-To-Email
- Scan to PDF
- TouchScreen
- Flatbed Scanner
- Fax
- Ethernet
- Scan to Searchable PDFs
- Colored Status Display
- Wireless Printing not supported
- Recommended Printing Volume
- Two-Sided Printing not supported
- No Status Display
- No Automatic Document Feeder
- Can't scan to email
- Can't scan to PDFs
- No TouchScreen
- No Flatbed Scanner
- No Fax
- No Ethernet Port
Are they good for Heavy Office Use

- Wireless Printing
- Designed to print about 2000 pages per month
- Two-Sided Printing
- Status Display
- Automatic Document Feeder (ADF)
- Print speed is 22 pages per minute
- Scan-To-Email
- TouchScreen
- Scan to PDF
- Flatbed Scanner
- Fax
- Ethernet
- Scan to Searchable PDFs
- Colored Status Display
- Wireless Printing not supported
- Recommended Printing Volume
- Two-Sided Printing not supported
- Does not have a status display
- No Automatic Document Feeder
- Print speed
- Scan-to-Email not supported
- No TouchScreen
- Can't scan to PDF
- No flatbed scanner
- No fax
- No Ethernet port

Is the price difference of $250 worth it?
The four main functions of printers are: printing, scanning, photocopying, and faxing. Either your device will be print only, print/scan/copy, or an all-in-one printer that does printing, scanning, copying, and faxing. Note that scanning and copying almost always come together, since the hardware for these features overlaps significantly. Generally speaking, all-in-one printers are larger, so those with space constraints may find this to be an inconvenience. Additionally, printers with a fax feature are typically more expensive. It would be wise to only consider this feature if you plan to fax often. If not, you’ll be satisfied with a print/scan/copy device.
Network printers can be wired or wireless. A printer with a wired network connection uses an Ethernet cord that connects directly to your router. A wireless printer connects to your home or office Wi-Fi network. Any computer also connected to your network can use your printer, whether it’s wired or wireless. You will have to install software, or printer drivers, on the computer before you can print. Also, there is a setup process for the printer to get it on the network. If your printer is not wireless, you’ll need to connect it directly to your computer via USB cable, which is not ideal if you have multiple users that need the printer simultaneously.
Outside of Wi-Fi, there are a number of ways a device can connect to a printer. If the printer is not wireless, you’ll have to connect to your printer via USB cable. Some people prefer using the wired connection because it allows for faster data transfers and quicker printing. Depending on the speed of your Wi-Fi and how strong the signal is, it can take time for the document to send from computer to printer over the network. Using a wired connection eliminates this issue. Other connections you may have are: Ethernet for wired connection to your network; Airprint or Google Cloud Print for quick direct printing over the cloud/internet; USB hard drive or memory card to print directly from storage devices; or PictBridge to print directly from cameras.
Printers with an LCD screen/display give you the option to control some settings directly on the printer, such as a one-touch print, scan, copy, or fax. You may also be able to adjust print quality, preview the print job, and/or view connection settings. Some screens are programmed to offer setup instructions for easy installation. For those who are not particularly tech savvy, this could be helpful.
- Letter
- Legal
- Ledger
- Executive
- A3
- A4
- A5
- A6
- Envelope (Com-10)
- Envelope (DL)
- Envelope (Monarch)
- Photo (3.5" x 5")
- Photo (4" x 6")
- Photo (5" x 7")
- Photo (5" x 8")
Brother J6530DW is a well-known option at the top of the price range. It's in the top 3 bestselling printers and has dozens of popular alternatives in the same price range, such as Epson WorkForce ET-4550 or Epson SureColor P900 .
Brother J6530DW is $800.05 more expensive than the average printer ($399.95).
Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 is a well-known option at the top of the price range. It's in the top 3 bestselling printers and has dozens of popular alternatives in the same price range, such as Epson Stylus C88+ or Epson SureColor T3170 .
Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5850 is $550.04 more expensive than the average printer ($399.95).