Advice for BW Digital Printer -- Better quality than Canon ImageRunner 105

[jpfulton248]

We are considering purchasing a new BW digital printer to replace our Canon ImageRunner 105. Our annual BW Clicks is about 350k 8.5x11. We duplex every job we do. About 95% of those clicks are on 20lb Bond while the other 5% are on 80lb cover.

When we first got the ir105 we were decently happy with it but our quality needs have really increased and the quality just isn't good enough... we are looking for a machine to give us high quality black.

We would only be looking in the used market and would like to stay under $10k if possible.

Any ideas?

 

[OkiTech]

Hi, Konica-Minolta Bizhub Pro 1050 or 1200. We have 1050 and it is workhorse, quality and registration is good. As general rule - you want a machine that actually utilizes a Developer, I mean all of them do but I am talking about Developer as a Carrier. Canons don't have it but those machines that do tent to lay juicier color. At some point I thought" "Oh canon is great, 2 mil+ drum is awesome, we newer have to change it!" but not, I'd rather change $300 drum every 500K than not change a $1,600 one.
I am a printshop owner and business equipment dealer, if/when you weight your options and pinpoint machine or few that you like - let me know, I have access to 5,000-8,000 units daily. We do not stock machines this large.. As a minus - it might take me some time to get a nice machine as not all of them are, as a plus - I will try find what you need rather than push what I have already even if it may not be the best choice for you.
Let me know - UnlimitedBT at Yahoo dot com
Roman.

 

[jjumboxerox]

Go For OCE They r The Workhorse In Printing

 

[jotterpinky]

For the volume I would look at a xerox d95. They lay down a nice halftone at 150 lpi and still have good dark solids. I believe all of ricoh's lineup uses a developer and they also have smooth halftones but solids aren't as good

 

[[email protected]]

For the volume I would look at a xerox d95. They lay down a nice halftone at 150 lpi and still have good dark solids. I believe all of ricoh's lineup uses a developer and they also have smooth halftones but solids aren't as good

-- disclaimer I am a Ricoh employee --
If you're referring to the Ricoh 1356/1357 line of B&W mfp's I would agree with you.
*Begin shameless plug* However the new 8100-series kicks butt in many ways including image quality and due it's implementation of VCSEL technology does very nicely on linens and such.
*End shameless plug*

 

[OkiTech]

Yes, Ricoh seem OK and we had one just before KM, they are good machines but KM is much better at least by my experience. I have no complains as far as print quality of Ricoh but duplexed 11x17 would never match, image would be 2 mm scewed on each side and if you look at the page images would be layed like an "X". I can't say anything good or bad as far as xerox but for sure their limited greed will come to hunt you down at some point. Anything you might need for the machine will come at 2X the price for similar part for pretty much any other machine out here and only source would be uncle X where parts for other machines you can shop at many sources local and internet ( I mean parts as real parts - gears, clutches, etc. not user maintenance components / consumables)

 

[Graeme NZ]

We have an Oce 6250 - might be geared for a higher volume than what you're after though.

We can pump through 50-100,000 sheets in a week with no issues with quality, registration etc. Absolutely rock-solid work horse - love it. Not a high end graphic machine, best with bulk text etc.

 

[jpfulton248]

We have an Oce 6250 - might be geared for a higher volume than what you're after though.

We can pump through 50-100,000 sheets in a week with no issues with quality, registration etc. Absolutely rock-solid work horse - love it. Not a high end graphic machine, best with bulk text etc.

Thanks for the input... unfortunately this is the niche we already have filled with our perfecting offset press -- long run mostly-text jobs -- we are actually looking for something that can do high(ish) quality work... even if that means if can only handle our short run jobs.

 

[jpfulton248]

Yes, Ricoh seem OK and we had one just before KM, they are good machines but KM is much better at least by my experience. I have no complains as far as print quality of Ricoh but duplexed 11x17 would never match, image would be 2 mm scewed on each side and if you look at the page images would be layed like an "X". I can't say anything good or bad as far as xerox but for sure their limited greed will come to hunt you down at some point. Anything you might need for the machine will come at 2X the price for similar part for pretty much any other machine out here and only source would be uncle X where parts for other machines you can shop at many sources local and internet ( I mean parts as real parts - gears, clutches, etc. not user maintenance components / consumables)

On the subject of KM and Xerox greed... my boss told me (before I read your comment) that KM is just as bad as Xerox in terms of figuring out a way to screw you on maintenance or click-charge or lease, etc. Is that your experience with KM? We'd actually be in the used market so a lease direct with them might not be an issue and if possible we'd try to get a 3rd party service contract rather than service from the manufacturer so again might not be an issue. Curious what your input is on this though.

 

[nelsonba]

-- disclaimer I am a Ricoh employee --
If you're referring to the Ricoh 1356/1357 line of B&W mfp's I would agree with you.
*Begin shameless plug* However the new 8100-series kicks butt in many ways including image quality and due it's implementation of VCSEL technology does very nicely on linens and such.
*End shameless plug*

We are currently leasing a Ricoh Pro 8110s. When it works it's great but we've had lots of issues. It does a great job on halftones but solid chunks of black are blotchy. We've had lots of paper feeding issues especially with cardstock. It's a new model and evidently they are working through the kinks but it's not an easy process when there are deadlines and problem solving can take more time than we have available to finish a job. We've had to put some low quantity jobs on our offset just to get them done in time and that's not a money saver. It was a tough sell on this copier but was the only one we could afford. We were looking at Konica and Oce.

 

[msaeger]

If you are still having a problem with the cardstock when it jams look for the JXXX number at the top of the jam location screen and post what jam it is getting.