Ricoh C7100's vs C7200's

[cshark]

Hello,
I am trying to decide between the Ricoh C7100's vs C7200's. I would love the 5th color, but the price difference is significant. When reading the new releases with the 7200's, it mentions more accurate registration. Any idea how significant this is, or is it more a marketing statement? I appreciate any insight you have. Thanks!

 

[YourCastle]

i haven't used the 7100 in a couple years, but it has 5th color. Does the 7200 have 5th color? I'm not sure if it's the 7200 or 9000 series, but at some point, they moved the 5th color to first in line, instead of last. The 7100 I used required me to run white toner first, then run it again for cmyk. It was annoying and never registered very well. If the white can print first, then cymk on top of that, you can do it in one pass.

all that said, the expense of 5th color was absolutely not worth it for the shop i was in. Before you commit to it, make sure you have a customer base that will make it worthwhile. I wasn't impressed with clear toner, tho that was the most popular 5th option our clients used, and no one ever wanted to try the neon. We had one client who was particular about their branding colors, I think PMS 021 orange and I figured out how to mix the pink toner with cmyk to get our digital prints to much closer match offset... client was picky, but didn't actual care enough to spend the money to get their orange closer on digital.

And swapping 5th colors for each other takes 20+ minutes while wasting toner that is not part of the service contract

EDIT: maybe the 7100 does not? We had that plus 7110, so maybe it was the 7110 that is 5th?

 

[cshark]

I think you are right. It does have the 5th color. I appreciate the info about the 5th one going last. That makes more sense about the registration.
I had also considered the 5300 series. I know that one only has 4. But to me it sounds like it has similar printing resolution, etc.
Thanks again for you information!!

 

[YourCastle]

had also considered the 5300 series

i was fine using the 5000 series, but that was a decade ago and I don't remember clearly.

my only advice on that or any printer is make sure you know WHEN they'll become "obsolete". The only reason we bought the xerox v280 (and I'm very happy we did) was because our v80 reached "end of life" and they weren't going to support it anymore. Now I have to decide what to do with our v180 because I hear it's obsolete in three years.

 

[jdodoubleg]

The 7200 has more than just white, also you have the ability to switch it from last in line to first so that you can do all kinds of things

 

[Shawnd]

I have both the 7110sx (5th color) and the 7200e, when I replaced one of my 7110's I opted to NOT get 5th color on the 7200, but with the e you get the option of adding it if you need it down the road. The 7200 is WAY better than the 7100 series, the built in camera is a game changer and the automatic registration helps a ton.

From what I hear a 7300 is in the works so you might be able to get a deal on the 7200 so I would go that route, the 7100 is pretty old now.

 

[cshark]

Thank you! I would love to get a 7200, but there aren't a lot available.

 

[kslight]

The 7100 is pretty old, I wouldn’t.

 

[cshark]

Thank you!

 

[gregbatch]

I wouldn't go 7100 unless you can get a GreenLine machine. 7200 is much better internally. I think if I had a C7200x with 5th color, I would put in silver and leave it. You can do a rainbow of metallic colors by putting silver down and overprinting CMY, including multiple golds. I see more value in that than other 5th color options.

 

[cshark]

I wouldn't go 7100 unless you can get a GreenLine machine. 7200 is much better internally. I think if I had a C7200x with 5th color, I would put in silver and leave it. You can do a rainbow of metallic colors by putting silver down and overprinting CMY, including multiple golds. I see more value in that than other 5th color options.

Thank you for your response. I like the idea of just putting in the silver. Thanks again.

 

[Mike the Print Man]

We had a c7110 for 5 years. It was a good machine, but we never truly utilized the 5th color station to its full potential. It also didn't work well if you had to lay down the white first and then do a 2nd pass for the CMYK, the registration never held. But the c7200 solved that by allowing you to switch the position of the 5th color station to 1st or last. The registration is also a hell of a lot better. I know they just came out with the new c9500 (big brother of the c7000 series), so I assume a c7300 or c7500 series, whatever they will call it, is not too far off.