New to Panasonic - info required please

[Oztech]

Hi guys,
Ive just been offered a position with Panasonic and was after some general info about what they're like to work on.
I've got previous experience with Lexmark, Minolta, Konica and a little bit of Sharp and Canon but have never looked at a Panasonic, so any info would be appreciated.
Thanks, Oztech

[mjunkaged]

IMO, Panafax UF-series are all awesome machines, just a few tricks to them. Very reliable. UF-9000 has weak electronics sometimes.
Color Pan. Copiers, great.
All their black machines leave a bit to be desired on reliablity and design, but you'll live- it'll keep you employed, that's for sure. The larger ones are better, i.e. DP-8060, the smaller ones are not my fave.
I liked working on Panaboards, fun and easy to fix usually.
Panasonic's tech. support was great, and their tech. manuals are clear and easy to use.

Hope this helps!

[pacman]

Panasonic color machines - Fantastic. One of the best color boxes I've seen in a long while. Solid. We've had VERY FEW service calls on these.

Black and white - We primarily handle the 35/45/60 10/20/30 and the 8060's. Fairly decent machines, but for some reason we've been having a ton of developer issues lately. Fairly reliable, but not the best. I agree with mjunkaged on the B/W copiers. Lots of little tricks you'll find out.

Panafax UF series (older ones) - Exceptional machines. Very reliable, few issues. Replace toner cartridge and go until a board dies (which is usually in about 15 years or so). We still have UF-885's in the field that work like champs. Again, mjunkaged is right on with the UF-9000. We had about 4 in one place and one of the boards blew in 2 years. Usually, a reset works but the electronics can get kinda screwy at times.

Overall, we've been dealing with Panasonic for 10 years. Love them at times, hate them at times. Their networking aspect and ease of use is pretty good.

[Oztech]

Thanks for the help guys, thats exactly the sort of info I was after