If you have been comparing sublimation printers, two Epson EcoTank models keep appearing: the ET-2810 and the ET-2862. They are priced close together, they look the same in photos, and the spec sheets read almost word for word the same. Most beginners end up stuck trying to work out what they are actually paying extra for, or worried they will buy the wrong one. Here is the short version before we get into detail: for sublimation, these are the same printer. Once you understand why, the choice gets a lot easier.
Both of these are A4 EcoTank machines that Sublishop converts for sublimation. The conversion is the part that matters. A printer bought from a high street retailer comes filled with standard Epson dye ink, which will not sublimate and is a real chore to flush out. The versions we supply arrive pre-filled with proper sublimation ink and ready to print onto transfer paper from the moment you switch them on. So the question is never whether one of these can do the job better than the other. It is whether there is any difference worth caring about at all.
The honest answer: they are the same printer
Epson replaced the ET-2810 with the ET-2862. The 2810 is the older model and has been discontinued from Epson's current range, with the 2862 stepping in as its successor. That is the whole story behind the two model numbers. It is not an upgrade in the way a new phone is an upgrade. It is the same chassis carried forward under a newer name.
Look at the two side by side and you would struggle to tell them apart, because the hardware is shared. Both use the same Micro Piezo print head and produce output at up to 5,760 x 1,440 dpi. Both are four-colour CMYK printers. Both are A4, both connect over Wi-Fi and USB, both scan and copy as well as print, and both use the same refillable tank system with four 65ml bottles that makes EcoTank machines so cheap to run. A sublimation transfer that comes off an ET-2810 and one that comes off an ET-2862 will look identical, because the part that creates the image, the print head, is the same on both.
Clearing up two common myths
A lot of comparison articles online claim the ET-2862 has a colour LCD screen and automatic double-sided printing that the ET-2810 lacks. Both of those claims are wrong, and they get copied from one site to the next until everyone repeats them.
Check Epson's own specification sheets and neither model lists an LCD screen. Both use a simple control panel of buttons and status icons, the kind you can see lit up across the top of the printer, not a display you read menus from. And both list double-sided printing as manual, meaning if you ever did want to print on both sides of a sheet, you would flip the paper and feed it back through by hand on either machine. Neither does it automatically.
For sublimation, that second point does not matter in the slightest anyway. You print onto one side of the transfer paper only, because the printed side is what meets the blank under the heat press. Double-sided printing has no role in the process whatsoever, automatic or manual. So even if there were a difference there, it would change nothing about how you actually work.
So which one should you buy
Because the ET-2810 is discontinued, the ET-2862 is the model to buy today, and it is the one we now supply pre-converted for sublimation. You are not paying a premium for extra features, because there are none to speak of. You are simply buying the current version of a printer that has earned its place as the go-to entry machine for UK sublimation sellers.
If you already own a converted ET-2810, there is no reason at all to trade up. It is the same printer. Keep printing with it. Anyone telling you the 2862 produces better sublimation than the 2810 either has not used both or is hoping you will not ask. Across the full range on our sublimation printers page, the genuine jump in capability comes when you move up to a larger or higher-tier model with more ink channels or A3 support, not when you step between two entry-level A4 machines that share a print head.
Buying the current model also keeps things simple on availability and support. The ET-2862 is the product Epson is actively selling, so spare parts and servicing sit with a machine still in production. That is a mild point in its favour for some buyers, but it has nothing to do with print quality.
What actually affects your results
Whichever model you end up with, the printer is only one part of the result. The ink and the transfer paper carry just as much weight, which is why it pays to buy paper and replacement ink matched to these machines rather than the cheapest option on a marketplace. You can find both on our consumables range, and the right paper weight makes a real difference to how cleanly colours transfer and how little ghosting you get. The same goes for your sublimation blanks: a quality coated blank takes ink far better than a cheap one, and no printer can rescue a poor surface.
Run your printer regularly. EcoTank heads can clog if a sublimation machine sits unused for weeks, so a quick nozzle check or small test print every few days keeps everything flowing. Keep your ICC colour profile installed and your driver settings correct, because sublimation colours look dull and wrong on paper before pressing and only come alive under heat. That catches almost every beginner out at least once. Store your transfer paper flat and dry, since damp paper curls and lifts during pressing.
Get those habits right and either machine will serve you well for years. The ET-2810 and ET-2862 were never really a choice between two printers. They are one printer with two names, and the only thing that has changed is which one Epson currently sells.