The 6 Best And 4 Worst Costco Printers (According To Customers)

When searching for a new printer, it can be difficult to identify which ones are good and which are not. However, if you're a Costco member, you'll be able to use the ratings system on the retailer's website to help you with your decision on which printer to purchase.

We tagged Costco as one of the major retail stores with the best electronics departments, as members are able to access frequent discounts on all kinds of devices. However, this doesn't mean that every single printer in its catalog is worth buying. For every top-rated option with a complete list of features and a relatively affordable price, there's another one with frequent issues and disappointing performance.

In this roundup, we feature the best and worst printers that you can buy from Costco, based on average ratings from reviews left behind by the retailer's customers. These scores are supported by comments on other shopping platforms, as well as posts on social networks, to help you form your decision on your next printer. One of the reasons to buy your electronics at Costco is its generous return policy, so it's fine to make a mistake, but it would be much less of a hassle if you didn't have to take advantage of it.

The Epson EcoTank 8500SE Supertank Photo Printer shares the honor as the highest-rated printer on Costco, with an average rating of 4.5 stars after 416 reviews. Available for $499.99, this inkjet printer comes with refillable ink tanks, so there's no need to deal with cumbersome cartridges. It prints, copies, and scans borderless documents and photos up to a size of 8.5 inches by 11 inches, and can wirelessly receive files from smartphones and tablets.

According to most Costco customer reviews, the Epson EcoTank 8500SE Supertank Photo Printer is very easy to set up and produces excellent print quality. The most common praise for the printer, however, is its ink longevity, with similar positive comments appearing in shopper reviews on Amazon and Best Buy. A Redditor even claims that after printing "a boat load of photos and thousands of documents," they were still using the ink that came with the printer.

The Brother MFC-L3765CDW Digital Color Printer also carries an average rating of 4.5 stars on Costco, albeit with fewer reviews from 332 shoppers. It's one of the Costco gadgets that every home office should have, because at $459.99, you'll get a laser printer, a copy machine, a scanner, and a fax machine, all in a single device. It prints colored documents at a rate of up to 27 pages per minute,  and it can receive files wirelessly through the Brother Mobile Connect app.

Costco customers love the efficiency of the Brother MFC-L3765CDW Digital Color Printer, though some said that it was heavier than expected. On the Brother website, this model also received favorable reviews for its easy setup and operation, including its wireless printing and scanning capabilities. Redditors are generally fond of Brother printers for their durability, and there are posts on the social network that the Brother MFC-L3765CDW Digital Color Printer, in particular, is a sturdy machine.

For $259.99, you can get the Brother MFC-J4345DWXL INKvestment Tank All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer, which currently sits at an average rating of 4.3 stars following 816 reviews. The printer is compact, so it won't take up much space, and it can print, scan, copy, and fax. The printer supports wireless printing through Wi-Fi, and according to Brother, it comes with enough ink cartridges to last for two years.

While some Costco customers pointed out difficulties in the initial setup and an issue of having to reconnect the device to their home's Wi-Fi network every time they turn it on, the general sentiment on the Brother MFC-J4345DWXL INKvestment Tank All-in-One Color Inkjet Printer is still mostly positive. The quality and speed of printing meet expectations, and ink longevity is as advertised. Meanwhile, on the Brother website, comments on the printer included mixed reviews on the ease of wireless printing.

Completing a trifecta of Brother models among the best printers you can buy from Costco is the Brother MFC-L2807DW Wireless Compact Monochrome All-in-One Laser Printer. With an average score of 4.3 stars from 148 shoppers, this black-and-white printer can provide print speeds of up to 34 pages per minute for $269.99. You can connect devices to send files for printing through a wireless connection, Ethernet, or USB, and it comes with enough toner to print up to 1,200 pages, according to Brother.

In Costco customer reviews, there is an overwhelmingly positive response to the Brother MFC-L2807DW Wireless Compact Monochrome All-in-One Laser Printer's ease of setup and its ability to print and scan on both sides of a page. The Brother MFC-L2820DW Wireless Compact Monochrome All-in-One Laser Printer, an identical machine available on Amazon and Best Buy, also received high ratings with buyers reporting similar strong points, but a few shoppers complained about the noise that it makes while printing.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) is a divisive brand in this list, starting with the HP Smart Tank 7002 Wireless All-in-One Printer. With a price of $318.99 and an average rating of 4.2 stars across 593 reviews, this printer uses refillable ink tanks with three years' worth of ink included, and Costco members will receive two extra bottles of black ink with this purchase. The printer also uses HP AI for automatic adjustments that make ink use more efficient and minimize wasted pages. It achieves print speeds of up to 15 pages per minute for black-and-white documents and up to 9 pages per minute for color.

Costco customers are generally impressed by the print quality of the HP Smart Tank 7002 Wireless All-in-One Printer, with decent speed and quick installation, though there are a few shoppers who experienced problems with its setup. In addition, as with any printer with ink tanks, the refill process can get messy, and as pointed out on Reddit, you'll have to use the printer regularly to make sure that the print head doesn't clog up.

The HP Smart Tank 7302 Wireless All-in-One Printer is among the Costco electronics that customers swear by, and it just makes the cut for the best printers on this list with an average rating of 4.0 stars based on 973 reviews. It's actually very similar to the HP Smart Tank 7002 Wireless All-in-One Printer in that it includes three years' worth of ink plus two extra black ink bottles, with the same utilization of HP AI and print speeds. For a higher non-sale asking price of $369.99 (currently on sale for $259.99), the main difference is the automatic document feeder at the top of the machine, which can hold up to 35 pages for scanning or copying.

Some Costco shoppers experienced difficulties getting the HP Smart Tank 7302 Wireless All-in-One Printer to connect to their home's Wi-Fi network, in an issue that was echoed on Reddit. The problem was also encountered by some shoppers on Best Buy, though the general sentiment was that the printer was perfect for home office use because it was simple to operate and produced high-quality prints.

HP goes from the best printers to the worst printers in this roundup, with the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301cdw Wireless All-in-One Printer sitting at an average rating of 3.8 stars after 271 reviews. For $499.99, you'll get high-speed, double-sided printing at up to 26 pages per minute, HP AI that can convert scanned documents into ready-to-send emails, a 50-sheet automatic document feeder, and compatibility with dual-band Wi-Fi.

Among the major complaints about the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301cdw Wireless All-in-One Printer is that, for some Costco shoppers, the toner cartridges that come with it run out quickly. If this happens to you, you're looking at a sizable outlay for new cartridges. Redditors flagged that these replacements aren't cheap, and third-party cartridges are a gamble. Shoppers rated Amazon's variant, the HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 3301cdw Wireless All-in-One Printer, a bit higher, but there are complaints that its software is troublesome to use.

HP continues its slide with the HP OfficeJet Pro 8138e Wireless All-In-One Printer, which carries an average rating of 3.5 stars after 418 reviews. Sold for $199.99, it has print speeds of up to 20 pages per minute for black-and-white documents and up to 10 pages per minute for color documents. Every purchase also comes with a free six-month subscription to HP Instant Ink, a program that will automatically order new ink cartridges for you when the printer runs low.

While some Costco shoppers had an easy setup process with the HP OfficeJet Pro 8138e Wireless All-In-One Printer, other customers had the opposite experience. There were reported issues on the initial setup that consumed a lot of time, as well as problems keeping it connected to a Wi-Fi network. There were also some complaints about the durability of the device because of its flimsy parts, and these can also be seen in reviews on the printer by shoppers on Amazon.

The Epson EcoTank ET-3958 Wireless All-in-One Printer isn't inspiring many purchases at $379.99, as it's rated only 3.1 stars based on 61 reviews. As with the HP Smart Tank printers, this device comes with two bonus black ink bottles for Costco members, in addition to three years' worth of ink. The printer has print speeds of 18 pages per minute for black-and-white documents and 9 pages per minute for colored documents, and it also has an automatic document feeder.

There are several complaints about the Epson EcoTank ET-3958 Wireless All-in-One Printer from Costco shoppers, including unreliable Wi-Fi connectivity, below-average printing quality and speed, and frequent jamming of its document feeder. Some customers have a great experience with the printer's setup and wireless printing, but these are overshadowed by the negative feedback. Meanwhile, among Amazon shoppers, reported issues include problems with connecting the scanner and washed-out colors when printing.

The worst printer on this list, with an abysmal average rating of 3.0 stars after 52 reviews, is the Epson EcoTank ET-2988 Wireless Printer, which isn't making a case for Epson to shed its reputation as one of the least reliable printer brands. For $249.99 (currently on sale for $199.99), the printer comes with three years' worth of ink, like the EcoTank ET-3958, but with only one additional black ink bottle instead of two. The device promises easy wireless printing, two-sided printing, and speeds of up to 15 pages per minute for black-and-white documents and up to 8 pages per minute for color documents.

Unfortunately, Costco customers' comments were overwhelmingly negative, particularly about the printer's setup process and software. One shopper recommended connecting it directly to your computer via a USB port because its wireless connectivity isn't reliable. On Reddit and Walmart, another problem with the printer surfaced, particularly the size of its control panel touchscreen. They said it's too small, which makes it hard to navigate the device's menus and options. 

For this list of the best and worst printers that you can buy from Costco, we looked at all the available options on the retailer's website. Printers that have received an average rating of 4.0 stars and above were grouped as the best printers, while those that have scored below 4.0 stars were grouped as the worst printers.

However, for this list, we only included printers with at least 50 reviews from Costco customers to form a clear picture of each device's strengths and weaknesses. The reviews of the printers on the Costco website are supplemented by reviews on other shopping platforms, such as Amazon, and by comments on social networks, such as Reddit. This is to gather additional insights into each printer so you can make a more informed decision about your next purchase.