Looking for RICOH C720S Impressions

[wanderson75]

Hey everyone,

My boss is considering picking up a RICOH C720S (with Fiery box) printer for our company here. We're upgrading from the Aficionado MP C6000 because of the volume of printing we do on a regular basis.

I have 70+ users in the environment, and we're planning on sharing out the printer to the rest of the population for printing (as opposed to having a dedicated printing group handle the printing). I was wondering the following:

- Is anyone here sharing the printer through a Windows File and Print server? And if so, were there any issues encountered?

- Our intention is to use both PostScript and PCL drivers (different apps have different needs), have you encountered any problems with either of them?

- We manage to put through about two million impressions per year. Do you have similar volumes? And if so, how often do you require maintenance above and beyond toner, fusers and paper replacement?

- How often would you say the printer jams up? And if it does, how time-consuming is it to clear a jam?

- Do you use GBC, Spiral or 3 ring punching? And if so, how well does it work?

Thanks in advance!

 

[msaeger]

Is there going to be a dedicated operator ? Have you looked at the machine in person ?

 

[wanderson75]

No. Everyone will be responsible for their own print jobs. And not yet. This is the printer that our RICOH sales is recommending to us.

 

[Happyprinter]

Our test runs on the 720S went very well. The one main draw back for us was the use of toner oil. You can definitely see the difference in quality when you compare it to the 901, or the xerox 700. Therefore, we decided not to consider it as you could definitely see lines in the solids on every machine we tested that used toner oil.

 

[Zwicker Press]

I think it's crazy to train 70 users on a machine. Having one or two dedicated operators would dramatically increase output and quality as they will have a more intimate knowledge of the machine and it's functions.
Although, if you want to limit users options, you can streamline things with Hot Folders. If different stock weights/sizes/finishes are going to be run regularly, get dedicated operators.
We're a small shop and we don't come close to 2 million clicks a year. I'm surprised they recommended the 720 for that volume. We don't see a lot a jams or down time. When it does jam, it's easier to clear than our other machines. I've used the hole punch and it flys. Once you've learned all the ins and outs of the machine and thoroughly know what you're doing, the "oil streaking" that others report is never an issue. Our service has been excellent, with weekly check ins - they just call or show up to make sure everything's going well. Plus the @remote will call them if something actually goes wrong. We have a Konica, a Xerox, and a Ricoh. Ricoh has been the best install/training/service of the three.

We couldn't be happier with our 720, but we bought it before the 901 was available, I would take a long look at that too.