Konica Bizhub7000 v Xerox 700

[dmart]

Hi, I am about to upgrade to either the Konica 7000 or Xerox 700.
I have a small digital shop mainly producing business cards / leaflets.
Currently using Xerox 250 which has basically no registration - trying to get any sort
of paper back through the machine is a nightmare.

I am wondering if there are any users of both machines who can tell me the pros & cons of both machines.
I am swaying towards the Konica as the print quality seems better & the fact that letterheads can be produced on it.

Many thanks in advance

[smatros]

X700 is very choosy on materials - if you have a lot of full coverage full density prints, then you are limited to Xerox paper only, if you want decent results. I haven't tested KM7000 yet, but it is based on 8000 so registration should be better then with X700, which is not bad, but may be pretty inconsistent among printed pages in the same JOB, which makes cutting a wild guess.

[prepressdude]

Avoid the X700 at all costs!! Just run a search for it on this board and see the comments. We had one on trial over the summer and rejected it when the trial period was up. Nothing but problems. Registration bounced all over the place. Color consistency during the course of a run was iffy on a good day, horrid on a bad day. And we were testing it directly from a Xerox rep, not some other supplier licensed to sell Xerox (some on this board have mentioned that might make a difference, but not in our case). We had the machine on our floor for a little over 60 days. During that time we put around 170,000 impressions on it and had a technician servicing it 2-3 time a week. They said the only way that we would improve our registration and color issues was to purchase precut, digital only stock. We're a full service sheet fed print shop with a full bindery. The reps knew exactly what we were and what were looking for. There was no mention of having to purchase special stock before placing it on our floor, they told us we could run our house stock (60# Husky Smooth) on it all day with no problems. HA! The bottom line for me...I'm not even confident that the X700 would make a good boat anchor.

[George John]

Is there anyone out there who is successful with X700 and house stock?

[dmart]

Thanks for the replies - X700 seems very limited by all accounts - just now need to know if the Konica will be up to the job for me so I would be very interested to hear from someone who has operated the konica

Thanks

[UberTech]

The x7000 is based on the sucsessful c6501. So it has a bit of heritage, I haven't seen one yet but from what I have read it has some pretty cool additions. Xerox under estimated the c6501 and came up with fast plastic, which just doesn't cut it.

[X33]

I am swaying towards the Konica as the print quality seems better & the fact that letterheads can be produced on it.

how is that a fact? letterheads on a digital machine? Either you need to tell us the secret, or understand that letterheads printed on digital machine are not guaranteed by anyone.

[X33]

They said the only way that we would improve our registration and color issues was to purchase precut, digital only stock. We're a full service sheet fed print shop with a full bindery. The reps knew exactly what we were and what were looking for. There was no mention of having to purchase special stock before placing it on our floor, they told us we could run our house stock (60# Husky Smooth) on it all day with no problems.

so sorry for your bad experience with the Xerox 700. But I'm sure you wouldn't put diesel in a car that uses gasoline, would you?

Rule #1 of digital printing: use digital papers. There's a reason why they exist and are different.

[UberTech]

Or you can unrestrict yourself from expensive digital papers and buy a Konica. The control panel actually says Coated Gloss Offset or Coated Matt Offset.

[dmart]

Again thanks for the information. Problem with registration on X250 I was having was the paper skewing when being fed through tray 5. Xerox machines have served me faithfully as I purchased a DC12 many moons ago and it was revolutionary to me then!!

Both suppliers are willing to put their machines into the shop here for a week for me to try them out. I have told both that I am undecided between both machines and am very grateful for all the info that I can get here regarding both machines.

Saying that I still prefer the print quality from the Konica samples I received but I am unaware of anyone locally using a konica here in south east Ireland compared to a lot of X700 users.

Kind regards to all