Epson L3210 Review: Is It the Right Printer for Your Home or Office in Kenya?
The Epson L3210 appears in more Kenyan homes, schools, and small offices than almost any other printer. At KSh 21,500, it costs less than most cartridge-based printers while dramatically reducing the ongoing cost of ink. Here's a thorough look at whether it earns its popularity.
The EcoTank Concept
The fundamental innovation of the L3210 is its ink tank system. Instead of proprietary cartridges that cost KSh 800 to KSh 2,000 per replacement and yield 100 to 300 pages, the L3210 uses large ink bottles that cost around KSh 300 to KSh 500 each and yield thousands of pages. The numbers are dramatic: the cost per page on the L3210 is estimated at KSh 0.20 to KSh 0.40, compared to KSh 3 to KSh 8 per page on a cartridge printer.
For anyone who prints regularly — students, teachers, small business owners, remote workers — this difference adds up to significant savings over the printer's lifetime.
Print Quality
For text documents, the L3210 produces sharp, clear results that are indistinguishable from more expensive printers. Business letters, reports, and academic documents look professional.
For photo printing, the quality is decent for everyday purposes — family photos, reference prints — but not the standard you'd expect from a dedicated photo printer. Colours are accurate and the output is pleasant, but serious photographers will want something with a wider colour gamut.
The L3210 handles A4 paper confidently. It doesn't support A3.
Speed
This is the L3210's most noticeable limitation. Print speeds are modest — approximately 10 pages per minute for black and white, slower for colour. For low to medium volume printing (10 to 50 pages per session), this is fine. For print shops or offices running hundreds of pages daily, this printer would become a bottleneck.
Scanning and Copying
The flatbed scanner is a useful addition. Document scanning for M-Pesa business records, ID copies, contracts, and academic work is straightforward, and the resulting digital files are clean and legible. The copy function works well for standard documents.
