Reliability / Service Life

[tracerbow]

Greetings,

Nice forum you all have here.

I am an end user not a tech. I have an opportunity to pick up an ARM-350 machine with the fn6 finisher, for about $700. Machine has approx 400k copy/prints but reportedly has been well maintained under service contract with current owner.

Can anyone tell me what is the reputation for reliability and useful life on these machines? My intended use for the machine would be considered light duty, I believe, probably less than 5,000 scans/copy/prints monthly. Appreciate any input, thanks much.

-TR

[ZOOTECH]

Well, you could do worse, but you should be able to get between 750k and 1000k if machine is taken care of properly; not sure about the $700 unless you get some kind of warranty.

[tracerbow]

Thanks for the information. I was thinking the price might be on the high side with 400k on the meter. I have been looking at other brands as well, but have I like the single pass duplex scanner concept, and have not heard great things about many of the other brands.

[oldrn]

The single pass duplex document feeder is nice compared to the two pass doc feeders, especially when your originals are not in the best condition. If you are using the term "scanner" in hopes of using this machine as a document scanner, let us know as you need more information. If you are just going to use it as a copier, it is my opinion that it is a good move to use a machine of this size for lower volume. As far as price, I think there had been someone on E-bay selling the AR-M350 as a rebuilt machine for around the $700 range.

[tracerbow]

Thanks for the info. Yes, would certainly want to use the machine to scan to network and/or email, if I purchase it.

[oldrn]

You would need to make sure they have the Network Scanner Expansion feature enabled with the product key and not just in demo mode.

I would wonder if the service agreement they had was current. The AR-M350 is old enough that most servicers would have dropped the service agreement by now. I thought we were the only company to keep agreements on them that long!

[ZOOTECH]

You would need to make sure they have the Network Scanner Expansion feature enabled with the product key and not just in demo mode.

I would wonder if the service agreement they had was current. The AR-M350 is old enough that most servicers would have dropped the service agreement by now. I thought we were the only company to keep agreements on them that long!

If that were only the case; we still service under contract SF- and SD- models.

[Toner Boy]

I would be concerned with OS support, as there is no Win7 driver listed on the service site. We have been able to get them to find the driver through Windows update, but this machine's support is going to dissappear. You may be able to get it to print, but support for paper desk and finisher options may be tough. The machine itself is fairly solid if properly serviced.