Printer copier advise

[IATM]

Hi All,

Currently print approx 200-300 pages a day - 7 days a week.
I had a smallish Laser printer a Brother HL5450DN which was great for a while but it was just costing too much in consumables and was getting extremely got when printing 500 pages plus over the weekend.

I then purchased a used photocopier a sharp MX2300 which in all honesty is excellent. Even if I need to print of 1000+ pages its fine and doesn't even get warm but bloody hell its a pain in the ass!!!

Even a small issue becomes a big one. Once the transfer belt ripped so I purchased a replacement which was not cheap I now again have an issue today which I beleive is to do with the alignment of the transfer belt. Clearly this photocopier might be a little overkill so I would like something in between.

Any advise would be grateful!!!

Thanks

[bitchstewie]

The general rule of thumb with printers is that the more you spend on the device up front, the lower the printing cost over time.

Another option would be to talk to a printer/copier firm who can give you something on a "click count" agreement - basically you pay per page and it covers all consumables and maintenance.

[IATM]

I am happy to pay up front to get a better quality long lasting product thats cheaper to run in the long term.

There are so many out there it would be great to get some recommendations.

Just deciding on if the one I have is worth repairing or is it just going to be a money pit now.

[bitchstewie]

If it's old and out of maintenance then it's not necessarily a money pit, just a bunch of pissing about when it does break vs. something on a click agreement where generally you phone up and 4 hours later it's fixed.

Of course you may do the maths and find it's cheaper just to buy a second printer as a spare.

Personally we use Lexmark and I rate them highly but we use MFPs rather than pure printers so we had other stuff to consider.

Kyocera would be worth a look too in my opinion.

http://www.printerbase.co.uk/acatalog/kyocera-mono...

[jjlynn27]

Have good experience with MFP OKis.

[Digga]

+1 for OKIs.

We run two in the office (one fax/print/scan/copy and another print/scan/copy) and they really cut down our cartridge consumption and costs.

[Stev8s]

Hi I am in the industry happy to give you advice just email me be careful of some of the service contracts they can be riddled with hidden clauses they may look good up front but 6 months down the line they will come back to haunt you

[MrReg]

I posted on her about a month ago with the same sort of query.
Looked at hiring through Ricoh I think it was, but the cost didn't add up for us. They even looked at refurb printers for us, but even then I couldn't see that much of a benefit.
We ended up with a Xerox 3615 which has been great. Initial toner lasted for 4600 pages, and just paid £190 for one for 22,500 prints. Quality is good, and it is a lot quicker than the previous printers that we've had. There's even £100 cashback on it at the moment too.
Bought from Printerland (I've no link to them myself) and the service was great.

[IATM]

MrReg said:

I posted on her about a month ago with the same sort of query.
Looked at hiring through Ricoh I think it was, but the cost didn't add up for us. They even looked at refurb printers for us, but even then I couldn't see that much of a benefit.
We ended up with a Xerox 3615 which has been great. Initial toner lasted for 4600 pages, and just paid £190 for one for 22,500 prints. Quality is good, and it is a lot quicker than the previous printers that we've had. There's even £100 cashback on it at the moment too.
Bought from Printerland (I've no link to them myself) and the service was great.

Hi Mr Reg,

Thank you so much for your reply - this is exactly what I was looking for. I had a look at the printer you mentioned and it is a great happy medium for what I am looking for.

The high capacity toner is impressive with a 22,500 print. I looked at the drum prices and capacity and again it is reasonable.
It was the main problem I had with my brother printer - the drum needed replaced after 3 months of use and at 100 quid a pop was a pain.

I tried all sorts of "compatible" alternatives but as far as I am concerned they are all rubbish, cause all sorts of ghosting, smearing and in general makes a very poor quality print. I only use genuine comsumables now.

Thank you again!

[Stev8s]

You have to be careful as all those figures are based on 5% page coverage what ever cartridges you buy which is basically a few words on a page which nobody does !! even at 10% that goes down to 11000 pages for £190 is expensive if you work back the cost per page this is ok if doing low volume you have to weigh up the cost of machine against volume as rule of thumb is always the more you outlay on the equipment the lower the running cost most printers are ok for home use for businesses you really need to go the next step but it difficult to explain the difference between spending £400 on a printer and around £2000 for a proper machine where no matter your page coverage most decent copier companies will change around half a penny for black including all consumables which over time you will see the benefit and saving in toner costs I personally have cut a couple of large companies toner cartridge bill by £25000/year whilst making a profit for me on the cost/copy.