Sharp vs. Ricoh

[morgansterne]

hello everyone.
I work for a Ricoh dealer and have been a tech for them for one year. Before that I did delivery/demo/networking for a gestener dealer for seven years so I've gotten pretty comfortable with the basics of things. Then in the usual Fubar that is my life, my company has decided to pick up Sharp products also. Anyone familiar with both? Is is difficult to switch from one to another? Obviously it's all dry electrostatic transfer, heat and pressure fusing method, etc. Have any thoughts??
thanks a bundle
morgansterne

[banginbishop]

Hi,

Cross over between manufacturers is fine as long as you’re a competent engineer. Main difference is just service manuals with service codes being different but you get used to them and how they word them. Regarding products, well on a personal basis Ricoh are the better manufacturer than sharp as they have a pretty poor reputation among engineers with some digital copiers i.e. ar 5132, cougar range, AR 651 & sadly they stay in your mind longer than the good ones and I’ve been doing sharp since 1992 when the good analogue range was in place e.g. SF8800,SF8300 etc. I hope that sharp has improved their reliability but I don't have to see a lot of their equipment now as my company don't sell a lot of sharp because of their reputation and they focus mainly on Ricoh. Don't get me wrong i started on Sharp and at the time they were brilliant machines but today i'm prefere not to have to work on these anymore.

[blackcat4866]

As reliability goes I have to lean to Ricoh. Canon & Ricoh got the most consistent copy quality, minimal jamming, and most copies between calls. Also the highest cost for parts & PM's. Sharp is typically less expensive to purchase, less copies between calls, less parts cost. Sharp hasn't been in too big a hurry to solve some serious problems, particularly in the Dragon series of machines. The biggest mistake our guys made on Ricoh (or any manufacturer copier) is to put in (1) part here, 1/2 a PM kit there, and overall just a lot more visits. The best results for me was to do the whole kit when it was due (and very little in between).

The best thing I can recommend for Sharp is to learn color calibration ins & outs, and don't put it off when the colors get funky They'll just call you back.

[OMD-227]

Being a color tech at Sharp, I have seen the good, bad and the BLOODY FANTASTIC when it comes to its machines. I cannot speak highly enough of the MX range. Sharp has totally redesigned this range from the ground up. It is NOT a re-badge. We have hundreds of them in the field now, ranging from the 2300N to the 7000N. Recently one client logged the first service call at 650K on a MX700N (The K schedule is 300K!!). "They didnt realise"............ oh yeah... sure.
Every model in the MX range has won almost every Bertl award. The results speak for themselves. They are very easy to run-up from box, easy to service in the field & firmware upgrades done by USB drive. Sorry about blowing my trumpet about these machines, but in my 12 year service experience, they are the best Sharp has. Can't really speak about the Ricoh's, but I do respect them highly.
I totally agree with blackcat4866 on the color calibration issues. Do it right first time and you'll be fine.

I rarely touch the B/W machines, but all our guys have no real issues.

Keep up with all firmware updates and service bulletins and you will do fine.:D:D:D

[Mezagog]

I've worked on both, as it pertains to getting into the guts of the machine, the Ricoh is cake to work on. As it pertains to Adjustment modes I prefer Sharp. My dealer is does both, so I understand, although if my dealer doesn't step up to the plate on the $$$ front, I'm going to go independent. You will enjoy working on the newer Sharps

[Sam Tofu]

We have found the newer Sharps to be pretty solid.
Have not worked on the MX series as of yet. The Sharps we have serviced are the M series. We have really liked the 237 and the 550's as they have easily gone way beyond normal PM's
The 550's do have a dumb fuser set up that causes pain and have had one where the main rear gear drive pack had grease dry up and cause a little hard to find noise. Otherwise we have had great results with boxes being into the 750K range.

I agree that it is more of orientation re manuals, control panels etc. The overall service concepts are the same.

Obviously as a tech is familiar with a particular model, he/she gets to know the oddities etc. but other than that you shouldn't have problems.

All manufacturers have good and bad boxes.

Good luck on your new area.