Anyone had a good experience with the i series?

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  • adecanmin
    Trusted Tech

    Site Contributor
    250+ Posts
    • Oct 2010
    • 281

    Anyone had a good experience with the i series?

    Gentlemen

    I've read nothing but horror stories. Bad circuit boards. Magenta image unit problems. The list goes on. Any good comments? I'm going to have to sell these used eventually. Nobody will want to buy a 10 year old 8 series or an old c3851 (not the best small machine but adequate for low volume) Any larger i series with a lot of mileage on them with minimum issues?
  • wjurls
    Trusted Tech

    Site Contributor
    250+ Posts
    • Feb 2017
    • 470

    #2
    Re: Anyone had a good experience with the i series?

    I have nothing good to say about them. Consumables seem to last but flimsy construction seems to be plaguing this series with random issues.

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    • tsbservice
      Field tech

      Site Contributor
      5,000+ Posts
      • May 2007
      • 7731

      #3
      Re: Anyone had a good experience with the i series?

      One good point is if they survive to 4-5 years then maybe you can use them second hand as childish problems were cured(hopefully).
      A tree is known by its fruit, a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost, he who sows courtesy, reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.
      Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.

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      • copyman
        Owner / Technician

        Site Contributor
        2,500+ Posts
        • Sep 2005
        • 4337

        #4
        Re: Anyone had a good experience with the i series?

        I'm still selling off lease 8 series and have only just sold one new 450i. Will have to see how it goes. I can't offer personal feedback on them but I also heard nothing but bad things about them from my tech friends at a large K/M dealership. Hopefully I will be retired before I have to start selling the i series. Or maybe switch to Canon or Kyocera......

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        • JasonSBE
          Trusted Tech

          Site Contributor
          100+ Posts
          • Apr 2014
          • 180

          #5
          Re: Anyone had a good experience with the i series?

          The only i series machines I have dealt with thus far are the desktop models. They have been nothing but problems. Defective boards, cheap imaging units, software issues, strange noises, packaged poorly so likely to be damaged in transit... the list goes on and on.

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          • adecanmin
            Trusted Tech

            Site Contributor
            250+ Posts
            • Oct 2010
            • 281

            #6
            Re: Anyone had a good experience with the i series?

            What is scary is the i series is going to be replaced soon if not already because of age. I think they came in 2020. Will Konica Minoltas' next group of machines be better because of all the issues with the i series, about the same or worse? I may have to sell the 8 series for as long I can.

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            • tsbservice
              Field tech

              Site Contributor
              5,000+ Posts
              • May 2007
              • 7731

              #7
              Re: Anyone had a good experience with the i series?

              Originally posted by adecanmin
              What is scary is the i series is going to be replaced soon if not already because of age. I think they came in 2020. Will Konica Minoltas' next group of machines be better because of all the issues with the i series, about the same or worse? I may have to sell the 8 series for as long I can.
              Who can know what unseen model will be?
              Realistically you should stick with 8 series as long as you can
              Last edited by tsbservice; 02-11-2023, 07:33 PM.
              A tree is known by its fruit, a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost, he who sows courtesy, reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.
              Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.

              Comment

              • femaster
                Service Manager

                1,000+ Posts
                • May 2011
                • 1425

                #8
                Re: Anyone had a good experience with the i series?

                Originally posted by adecanmin
                What is scary is the i series is going to be replaced soon if not already because of age. I think they came in 2020. Will Konica Minoltas' next group of machines be better because of all the issues with the i series, about the same or worse? I may have to sell the 8 series for as long I can.
                Are we sure they will be? They still can't keep up with the orders for the i-models. We have machines still waiting to come in that were ordered nearly a year ago. Granted they have been flowing in much faster lately, they are still way behind.
                A Ricoh Service Tech for 7 year. A Konica Minolta Service Tech for 7 years. Now, KM service manager for 4 years.
                My Ricoh knowledge is slowly dwindling away at this point. Many things have been lost to time...

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                • adecanmin
                  Trusted Tech

                  Site Contributor
                  250+ Posts
                  • Oct 2010
                  • 281

                  #9
                  Re: Anyone had a good experience with the i series?

                  Originally posted by femaster
                  Are we sure they will be? They still can't keep up with the orders for the i-models. We have machines still waiting to come in that were ordered nearly a year ago. Granted they have been flowing in much faster lately, they are still way behind.
                  A longer production run will give them more time to fix the bugs.

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                  • tech51
                    Senior Tech

                    500+ Posts
                    • Jan 2009
                    • 846

                    #10

                    Comment

                    • tsbservice
                      Field tech

                      Site Contributor
                      5,000+ Posts
                      • May 2007
                      • 7731

                      #11
                      Re: Anyone had a good experience with the i series?

                      Sounds fair enough to me.
                      Thank you for sharing your experience much appreciated 👍
                      A tree is known by its fruit, a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost, he who sows courtesy, reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.
                      Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.

                      Comment

                      • adecanmin
                        Trusted Tech

                        Site Contributor
                        250+ Posts
                        • Oct 2010
                        • 281

                        #12
                        Re: Anyone had a good experience with the i series?

                        Good information. Maybe I can prosper selling these machines.

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                        • Gift
                          Service Manager

                          1,000+ Posts
                          • Mar 2011
                          • 2439

                          #13
                          Re: Anyone had a good experience with the i series?

                          I can sign that.

                          Most A3 i series perform very well and the recent FW fixed most issues. Unfortunately the quality control in production doesn't seem to be the best so you'll always have a few buggers with odd issues in a larger field of generelly good performing units.

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                          • Konicatech
                            Trusted Tech

                            100+ Posts
                            • Feb 2016
                            • 131

                            #14
                            Re: Anyone had a good experience with the i series?

                            This is my take on these machines..

                            A3 (C250i) - Poor consumable life on some of them (drums mainly not making life), had a fair amount going through transfer belts too due to the cleaning unit backing up with waste toner (despite being modified). Also a few software glitches which seem to have been cured with FW.

                            A4 (C3320i) - Usual issue with imaging units but able to recover them with some success (FW) and sometimes just need to replace them, oh and squealing exit assemblys due to no lubricant from factory!


                            Personally, I would prefer we didn't sell them as they seem to be sub-par machines in comparison to the previous ranges (4 series and 8). The 4 series was a great machine, and I firmly believe when KM made the jump to charge rollers that marked the end for them and they will eventually lose place in the market - Bad machines / Bad customer service / and then there was the whole toner supply issues that they handled terribly.

                            8 series was a good machine but not without issues, however not as many issues as the i Series.

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                            • mojorolla
                              The Wolf

                              2,500+ Posts
                              • Jan 2010
                              • 2554

                              #15
                              Re: Anyone had a good experience with the i series?

                              Is this a rhetorical question...?


                              Failing to plan is planning to fail!!!

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