better Xerox or Konica ?

[BigSi]

Hi, I'm looking at buying a Xerox 2060 or a Konica Minolta C500. Both are old machines and are very close to the same price. ( relativeley cheap) Which is the best machine? especially for registration. ( I think the C500 is very simular
to a 8050, just a little newer ) I'm a very small printer and this is a big purchase for me. I don't want to get it wrong. I am
sick of the Minolta and Xerox reps rubbishing each others machine. thanks Simon

 

[jlind]

Re: better Xerox or Konica ?

Simon:
I've spent a fair amount of time with the 2060, and when properly maintained, produces great results. This was one of the first "offset blanket" transfer concepts to make tonography look like offset. We color managed it to look like a Komori L628. Since it's a used machine, you want to look at large solids from each machine. Which one has the most fuser oil shininess? Try coated and uncoated paper, etc.
John Lind
Cranberry Township, PA
724-776-4718

 

[BigSi]

Re: better Xerox or Konica ?

thanks John, Yes I will get samples from both machines, I found from experience that it is only in real world production
situations that you find out what machines are really like. eg paper jams, stock registration ( especially backing up ), holding solids. etc... Any more throuhts about these two machines would be appreciated. thanks Simon.

 

[barjosh]

Re: better Xerox or Konica ?

Get used to Konica Minolta reps and Xerox reps rubishing each other. You'll never get the whole story from them. We purchased a BizHub 6500 (C500's newer bigger brother) earlier this year after a good deal of comparison to a Xerox DC 260. We picked the 6500 because of consumable cost but so far its been a shakey experience. Depending on the length of your runs it can be a good or a very bad printer. Our 6500 struggles with extended print runs and has a tendency to break down. I realize its not a production rated printer but Minolta sold it as capable of more than it was. I can't speak to the Xerox model your looking at. Just keep consumable + service costs in mind. The pricing can be very tricky to decifer.

 

[jlind]

Re: better Xerox or Konica ?

Simon:
Josh just gave you some good advice. Anyone that I know that's bought into digital whines about the click charges and service contract. As for the print samples versus a longer run, why not run your own blind test. Find someone who has one of these machines, doesn't matter where in the world, with digital printing and FedEx, and broker a job of a reasonable length, like 3000 or 5000. See if a) they complete it without breaking down, and b) whether you like the quality.
That's a real test drive.

John Lind
Cranberry Township PA
724-776-4718

 

[dj]

Re: better Xerox or Konica ?

We have a Konica Bizhub 350. We hate it because of [jamming and network connectivity problems. |http://www.prepresspilgrim.com/inde...izhub-and-fiery-rip-marriage-forged-in-hell/]

On the other hand, our operator hasn't been screaming at it for the last month or so, since we switched paper suppliers.

But all in all, I prefer Xerox.

 

[BigSi]

Re: better Xerox or Konica ?

Thanks guys,

This is all very useful stuff. It is looking like the Xerox is the better machine of the two. Coming from a offset printing background I make a big thing about registration. I know with my Xerox 1250 I get sick of having to throw a 1/3 of
the job out because the back up doesn't fit. Or almost as bad having to spend hours hand trimming a lay and grip so
it stays in register when I do the other trims in the Guillotine. You digital printers out there proberley don't know what I'm
talking about.

So in a nut shell how well does the Xerox DocuColour Register ? The Xerox rep told me it is better than the C500, but
he would would'nt he.

Thanks Simon

 

[Fiz]

Re: better Xerox or Konica ?

I'll try to get my 2 cents in here. We had the Docucolor 2045 which of course is the little brother to the 2060 and we now have the Konica C650, the big brother to the 500. I figure they should be close enough for comparison. Our Docucolor was pretty bulletproof. It didn't handle streaking and banding as well as the Konica does but it definitely seemed to be more bulletproof. The registration with our Konica vs the Docucolor was more in favor of the Konika.
If I had to choose between the two machines I'd lean more towards the Docucolor. We often mutter under our breaths here that we wished we had our docucolor back.

 

[barjosh]

Re: better Xerox or Konica ?

Here's another helpful tip. Before you sign anything get whichever vendor you choose to sign a service contract that guarantees a certain level of performance from the equiptment. Your ability to do this depends on your leverage with the vendor, however, we've found it very beneficial to include non payment for service and even monetary penalties after certain dates until the service department can get your machine running to predetermined standards.

 

[daisy]

Re: better Xerox or Konica ?

We bought the C6500 over the Xerox 260. Did all the research and demos, but the 6500 is a real dog. Big mistake.