Epson appears to have recognized the environmental cost of tiny ink carts. Good on 'em. I'm more than willing to pay upfront for a printer that avoids the inexcusable use of tiny carts. Unfortunately, I'm in the minority. These units have apparently been so-so sellers in other markets, despite the money savings in the long run.
For day-to-day colour prints, these printers make sense. Yes, I know they're only four-colour printers, but I believe for many uses they'll probably be good enough. Remember the Epson 1160? I still have excellent prints from those decade-old printers and they were CMYK only.
The bad news is they're letter-sized only and it appears that on all but the most expensive ET4500, (US$ 1200) the inks are dyes, not pigments. It remains to be seen how long-lived these dye prints are.
Thanks, Epson, for bringing these printers to the North American market. I'll be among the first in line.