Ricoh IM C6500 Opinions

[TJPrinter]

I plan to retire for the most part, keeping some select customers and working with several other local printers and then the normal gang run guys. I would like the ability to take care of some smaller jobs, and my volume would be fairly low, 5k-10k 12x18’s. Speed isn’t a huge issue, but image quality would be. Up to 300gsm would be fine and the Ricoh IM C6500 seems to fit my needs, at least on paper.

I’d be buying used and self-maintaining. I’m most familiar with Xerox and I know that the Primelink C9070 will also do what I want but I’m not crazy about short drum life and the 2nd BTR life when running coated stock.

Any opinions would be appreciated or if a Canon or KM would be better, and if so why.

 

[kslight]

I bought a refurb imc3000 as a general office printer with a service contract direct from Ricoh very cheap. It works well for that but I think it’s pretty limited as far as production expectations go. I do appreciate having the scanner (since our 7210 does not have one and is expensive to add one) and it can print on #9 envelopes which are too small on the 7210.

Some of this range of machines don’t support the full paper weight range out of all trays or for duplexing, and there is no calibration functionality for color or registration…something to look closely at on specs. The imc6500 is basically a faster version of what I have as far as I can tell, but based on the duty cycle it is still very much not designed for significant production runs.

It’s hard to recommend this range for production if quality is a priority, but I guess it really depends on the coverage and media you’ll be using, and the expectations of the customers. I think most would recommend at least stepping up to something like the 5200.

 

[TJPrinter]

It looks like the IM C6500 has higher resolution along with going up to 13x19. I'll have to get my hands on some output to see if it would be acceptable for what I want it to do. I could just keep my Versant 280 but it's overkill for the low volume I'd be putting on it.

 

[bcr]

I bought a refurb imc3000 as a general office printer with a service contract direct from Ricoh very cheap. It works well for that but I think it’s pretty limited as far as production expectations go. I do appreciate having the scanner (since our 7210 does not have one and is expensive to add one) and it can print on #9 envelopes which are too small on the 7210.

Some of this range of machines don’t support the full paper weight range out of all trays or for duplexing, and there is no calibration functionality for color or registration…something to look closely at on specs. The imc6500 is basically a faster version of what I have as far as I can tell, but based on the duty cycle it is still very much not designed for significant production runs.

It’s hard to recommend this range for production if quality is a priority, but I guess it really depends on the coverage and media you’ll be using, and the expectations of the customers. I think most would recommend at least stepping up to something like the 5200.

i thought the IMC6500 was the office version of the C5300?