wmwilker,
How's it going with the new install?
I apologize for not coming back sooner with our experience.
The install has not gone as smooth as we would like.
We had our Xerox 7000 removed on June 14th with expectations of having the Canon C7010VP delivered on the 15th and up and running by the end of the week June 17th.
Of course things rarely go as planned.
The Canon was delivered on the 15th but with the marking unit (fuser unit) damaged. Of course the blame game gets thrown around.
The Canon rep gets one ordered but it takes over a week to get the unit here and installed. We get the machine running on June 28th. Our department does have a Xerox 700 which is used during that time. Thankfully this has been a slow time for us so it didn't hurt to not have the available production.
On to other matters.
When we spoke to our sales person we told them what we wanted and needed. We made the assumption that they paid attention. Well, that is not the case. We received the "Customer Expectation" document and looked it over and everything looked fine. One of our needs it to have a minimum of 4 paper drawers. We thought we had that with the 2 main drawers and with the POD Deck which has 3 drawers. For whatever reason the sales person ordered the Paper Deck which is 1 large drawer. In the Customer Expectation document it listed the Paper Deck with 3 drawers in parentheses. Well I thought it meant that the deck had 3 drawers but it meant 3 drawers total. After much discussion and a week and a half delivery time we got the POD Deck with 3 drawers. I really dislike when sales people don't listen and make assumptions.
BTW: if you get a C7010 DO NOT get the Paper Deck-AC1. The design is horrible and I continually had jams during the time I used it.
Another issue I have is the training. I've used the Creo Spire for years and had a pretty good idea of how the Canon/Creo A7000 would work. There have been a lot of changes but for the most part I could find my way with the software.
The biggest issue was with the printer interface. I had no clue how to operate many of the features on the printer.
It took 2 weeks for a trainer to show us what we needed to know. That is unacceptable.
Another fact that needs to be know is that we purchased the machine from an Oce/Canon factory dealer not a service company.
Okay now for some positive things.
The print quality is very good. I've compared prints from the same file with a Xerox 800 and they are comparable with the Xerox having better shadow detail. That could be from some of the settings but the quality is good.
The paper catalog on the Creo is a big help but I think it's on the KM and Xerox also.
The Canon has an added feature in the paper catalog that allows you to change the curl and also change a setting called the Secondary Transfer Voltage. It allows you to change the voltage for textured stock (laid/linen) so that the dry ink is pulled into the textured area. It works really well on linen or laid stock.
Back to some other issues.
We print lots of training manuals and our technical writers love to use PowerPoint.
The printer is having issues with some of the larger files and it will jam because it can't keep up the data flow to the machine. At least that's what our service rep is telling me. They are working on a fix for this and I hope it's soon as it jams every 100 to 200 sheets on these type jobs.
Overall the printer is pretty good and if we can get all the bugs out I think it will serve us well. (I hope)
I am still learning the machine and I know I will find more tweaks and work-arounds as I become more familiar with the printer. I will post more as I learn more.
Sorry for the long post but I'll be glad to answer any questions that I can.