Xerox Versant 80 v Ricoh C7100X which is the better machine?

[dabob]

Ok this is coming down the the wire! We need advice. We have made a decision to upgrade our Xerox 770 to either a Versant 80 or a Ricoh C7100X. They are both quoting the same price for the same options, ie booklet maker, de curler, feed drawers. They are matching each other's click charges. The Ricoh has the white/clear option, Xerox doesn't offer that.

So considering the two machines side by side which one is the better machine, Sheet to Sheet registration, running envelopes, heavy stock, the finishing options . . .

Which one would you go for . . . we love our Xerox but have heard good things about Ricoh . . . .HELP!!!!!

 

[kineticnrg]

I'm in the same boat as yourself dabob. Here are somethings that I like about the Ricoh; it outputs at the same speed regardless of paper weight and they have recently added neon yellow to the mix. Plus, they maybe adding some new 5th colours; http://www.ricohspecialcolor.info

Though, I was give an interesting offer on the Versant; they will only charge 2 clicks for the first 5,000 over sized page and after that they will only charge one click.

I'm still trying to figure all this out …

 

[dabob]

Well . . . we bit the bullet and got the Rico . . it was a hard decision but they made us an offer we couldn't refuse . . . let you all know what we think . . . next year sometime . . .

 

[Suemac]

... in the same boat, and considering the Xerox Versant 80 - but Ricoh phoned today - cold calling and are coming in this week am assuming will talk about the C7100 hows it going so far? Yes, a lot comes down to the money if they are very similar machines ... are there any others that would be worth looking at we have a too smaller Xerox machine at present. Could be that we look at a second hand machine but depends on what clicks cost....

 

[grafix]

A little more than one year ago I purchased the Xerox Versant 2100. In roughly 21 years in the industry it is The Best when comparing to KM and Canon.

 

[mangcang]

Well . . . we bit the bullet and got the Rico . . it was a hard decision but they made us an offer we couldn't refuse . . . let you all know what we think . . . next year sometime . . .

where are you located? Thanks

 

[dabob]

Mangcang . . . We are in the San Francisco East Bay area . . .

 

[mangcang]

Mangcang . . . We are in the San Francisco East Bay area . . .

I am in Vancouver and searching for digital press now What you got finally? Ricoh? Thanks

 

[dabob]

Well . . . like I said . . . we ordered it . . supposed to be installed tomorrow . . . will post results later

 

[Shawnd]

Had our Ricoh's for a year now and they are still going strong and service has been spot on. I think you will be happy. Our only install hiccup was power, had to upgrade the power when we upgraded from the 700's.

 

[gregbatch]

We went with the Ricoh. NONE of the Xerox models could run textured paper beyond linen. The Ricoh did Classic Columns and Sundance Felt with no issues. Since we are replacing offset this was a critical issue.

 

[ekselsior]

I use Xerox Versant 80 for my digital printing office, Ekselensi (http://www.ekselensi.co.id/). In my opinion, print results more optimal

 

[InvisSoul]

We've had a the Ricoh 7110x for almost a year now and it has been a very good machine. The quality of prints are very good and the speed is great. Sometimes we have trouble with heavily textured stocks but some paper adjustments usually do the trick to fix that. Registration is by far my favorite part, it's so much better than the Konica C8000 that we used to have. The service on the machine has been very good as well. I also like the customer replaceable parts definitely saves downtime when you can swap those out and not need to wait for a tech.

If you have any questions feel free to give me a shout.

 

[DLeftakis]

We installed our C7100x June 2016 which replace our hp indigo 5600 and are generally satisfied with print quality and performance with 5th color unit and for added bonuses has extra long print options. We also evaluated xerox, Konica, canon and even Kodak and still went with ricoh. For your info Heidelberg has the equivalent to ricoh C7100x called versafire and if you have an offset press with Heidelberg it may be an option.
Now here is my major concern and would be curious to get your feedback. We have notice important page count jumps on 4 occasions and on average of 75,000 clicks which do not match our real production. We have brought this to ricohs attention and they tell us they have never seen this and are looking into why it is happening. My personal evaluation seems to be a software glitch but I would like to know if anyone else has had the same issue.

 

[nick.dring]

we have had a KM C1070 for 3 years and in the most part its been a good buy. This year we will change it for a either a KM C71HC, Ricoh C7100 or Canon C750. My take is the Canon prints the best image it also beats the KM at printing on difficult papers and it also prints on most envelopes where as the KM needs a separate fuser to do envelopes well. The canon can print a 3up a4 banner double sided automatically the KM can not you have to put it through twice. In europe they are the same price. The ricoh is nice: it can neon colours, white a spot varnish but unless this is essential for your business its not worth the extra €30k. Also if you look at the spot varnish closely its not the same quality as a traditional offset spot varnish. I didn't consider the Xerox, I spent a week at Drupa and quite a while at the Xerox Disco but the Versa 80 didn't impress. I've since spent a day with KM, Ricoh and Canon running test prints. In the end I think we'll plump for the Canon.

 

[DiVision]

How about envelopes on the Ricoh? Do they print as well as on the Versant 80?

 

[dabob]

Well . . . I promised you an update . . .

Ricoh C7100 even though it was about 20% more. The fifth color looks interesting (still haven't had a chance to use that) but the registration is amazing and the quality it just fine we can pretty much match what the Xerox did and most times it looks better to us. The vacuum feed is also very impressive and overall the machine appears to be much more robust.

Haven't had a chance to run envelopes yet . . . but I can say without reservation that we are pleased that we chose this machine . . .

 

[wonderings]

Well . . . I promised you an update . . .

Ricoh C7100 even though it was about 20% more. The fifth color looks interesting (still haven't had a chance to use that) but the registration is amazing and the quality it just fine we can pretty much match what the Xerox did and most times it looks better to us. The vacuum feed is also very impressive and overall the machine appears to be much more robust.

Haven't had a chance to run envelopes yet . . . but I can say without reservation that we are pleased that we chose this machine . . .

Does there have to be a fifth colour in place or can you run with the fifth colour empty?

 

[dabob]

Well . . . another update - we are still very impressed with this machine. We had some issues getting the 5th color to work - tech showed up, turned out that they forgot to include a special board for the fiery - once they put that in, presto 5th color works (still haven't had a lot of time to play with it or make marketing items for sales to go and show off.

As to envelopes - they run fine but on our Xerox 770 there was a place that was like a manual feed tray on a laser printer and you could keep adding envelopes to it during the run which made it more efficient. On the Ricoh you need to load them into a feed tray . . . short stacks so frequent stopping and loading - but it runs them just fine.

Another thing is the speed increase over the 770 - this thing is quick.

Wonderings . . . I believe that you probably need a toner cartridge in place . .. but it comes with one so why would that make a difference?

So I can't honestly say anything bad about this machine so far . . . just some little bitches that don't amount to much.