Yeeeem now i'm the first one to report on an actual C651EX demo.
For our local distributer this is something new, so they have a lack of knowledge how even to adjust the paper - for instance, so i was not testing duplex registration. But overall i was very impressed with the machine. Every paper that i could think of or i was already using was going thorough without any jam. I haven't done any stress testing yet, but that's for another day
I currently own and service following machines: dc250, dc5000ap, dc8000ap, 4110, etc, so as you can see the list is pretty big, and because I have very little time to maintain these machines, I'm searching for an upgrade to those machines and don't have to worry about servicing, but can still keep the service flexibility - if i want with CRU units.
The machine that I've demoed with their files and mostly mine, was not top notch, there was a slight change in color from one edge of the paper to other one, and when we printed "rich black" files there was a problem with banding that was noticeable. They didn't know how to fix the edge to edge color, but the banding is happening because of the new VCSEL laser beam, apparently there's a problem with the laser head in those specific cases where you have a LOT of color especially lot's of black toner. They said that they are aware of the problem and that they are already testing a potential solution for this specific problem. The tech also claimed that the 900 and 901 which used older laser method haven't had this problem. I've also had a chance to meet one of their Japanese engineers but it took a lot of time to explain something to him, so i just let it go
I was really impressed with paper handling, everything I threw at it was OK. I was impressed with the paper library, and that you can CHANGE and influence almost EVERYTHING, for instance for a text book we've reduced the gloss effect to a minimum, so that it looked like offset and without any loss of color and it was still fused correctly. The registration unit looks impressive - but as said before i didn't had the time to test it properely, the DECURLING unit is FANTASTIC - even most awful stocks came out straight, for instance only our dc8000 with heavy modifications was capable of that but not most of the time, here any paper that i threw in came out FLAT. Also machine is surprisingly quiet, and the LED light which signals you if everything is OK, or if something is not is very cool. You can easy adjust paper trays and most important you can fix the paper by a screw, so that the paper doesn't shift around - very useful. There's almost no cons, besides the quality of the print - but that's because our local folks don't know squad about it. What it really bothers me is that there's only FIERY rip and no CREO - this a huge disadvantage, because creo in my opinion is superior for advance users as my self. And you can't print a registration sheet straight from paper library, you have to do that as a part Fiery tray alignment procedure, or if you print a file manually - which is a waste of a time in my opinion.
Photos: The skin/flesh tones were absolutely fantastic, also the sky and the sea was mind blowing in my opinion.
TEXT AND GRADIENTS: Very excelent especially when you used 175 dot line + 120 dpi text raster - this is their emulation of an offset dot - really good.
But overall the machine is a technical miracle in my opinion, you can push the machine to the limit, and when they remove the VCSEL issue with banding this is a really state of the art work horse. I'll will be doing some more testing on this piece of kit in the near future.
I hope i've given you some insights otherwise ask and share you're experience with this machine.
