New Printer vs Second Hand Printer

[mr203]

Hello,

My business is a photographic printing lab and for years we been outsourcing press printing products. We recently moved into a larger store and now advertise services as copy and print center. I purchase an older Xerox 242 after finding out the image printing quality was up to par I am now about to lease or buy a newer model. I been looking at Canon C650 printer and a Konica C3070L. I have seen the quality come off the Canon C650 with various paper stock which look impressive and have a demo with Konica to see image quality from the C3070L this week.

I also know someone that has a Konica Bizhub 1060L that only has about 250,000 used on the machine. He wants about $6500 for the machine. Konica stated they would put the Konica on service and click plan.

I would like to know if you would think I would like the quality of the older Konica Bizhub 1060L compare to newer printers. Please note, we not looking to print photos but products we would be offering copies, posters, flyers, brochures and various folding greeting cards and possible small books and stickers. I rather just purchase this printer outright and purchase the Duplo 616 Pro then paying for two monthly payments. Any advice anyone could give me would greatly be appreciated.

 

[Puch]

I would go with the C1060L. 250 thousand clicks is just a 'warm-up', that machine must be in very good condition. On the other hand, the C3070 offers the same quality, but the price would be much higher, since this is the current model. I had the opportunity to use both models in a production environment, and the only definitive advantage of the newer version of the engine is the better handling of structured papers.

 

[Digital Anthony]

Hi mr203, the xerox 242, was never going to cut it. Did you decide on that machine ? Or was it recommended ? If you want a second hand machine thats fine. But still have a service contract. It all depends on your volume of prints per month, the type of work your doing, but i would still try xerox. the Versant 180 or Versant 3100 are good machines. Also if your use to cleaning photo lab equipment, HP indigo, any level can also give you close to photographic results, but needs more cleaning per week. Both these brands are the benchmark for constant colour at this level. The other brands not so much, they have more options on them, but i never seemed to use them. Good luck

 

[gazfocus]

We went with a Konica C3070 over the Xerox when we were looking, and the main reason was the Konica has air fed paper trays (in the confit we chose).

I’ve not seen the quality from the cabin but I was blown away with th quality of the Konica. My only gripe really is that the toner on the Konica tends to sit on the page so on a page of text you can feel the text which didn’t happen with our old xerox C560.

 

[davarino]

$6500 for a machine that has at least 90% of its life left is a bargain.

Just don't underprice your output. Machine purchase costs are a small part of your overall costs with a machine like that. And you WILL want to get a newer model as time goes on.

Konica Bizhub machines do have slightly higher click charges and have slightly glossy toner but are good workhorses for non-overly-fussy printshops.

 

[Steve0]

The C1060L and the Duplo 616 Pro is a dynamite combination. The weak link in this combination is the FS-612 AIO finisher-stapler (if that's what you got) on the C1060L. Understand the specs in detail, so you know what it can do, and what it cannot. IMO it's an office-class finisher.

 

[cDirect]

I have a C1060L and there is good and bad. What you have to consider is whether you are getting an embedded Fiery or a standalone...That adds cost. Also if Konica is willing to add it to a service plan it will not come free unless it is currently on a service plan with them. If not they have to dump a bunch of parts to get it up to par and they might ask you to pay for it.
Pros
Rich colors
Small footprint

Cons
STATIC!
Service can be dicey but that also depends on the region you are in.
Papers are not dynamic and the rollers cannot handle too much heavy weight