What to prefer: Bizhub C250 or C350?

[Hansoon]

What to prefer: Bizhub C250 or C350?

Long time BW customer "is pushing me" me to get a color machine. My last extensive experience with color was the Minolta CF-9001 series.

Now I'll have to pick up color again and like to know with what type of used machine I should start for this customer.
Without knowing the C250 versus C350 in detail I noticed that both are completely different machines. Speed is not critical, most of our customers would be satisfied with the C250 for this.

Question A: Which one would you prefer in general if speed is not an issue?
Question B: Any do's or don't s or any other critical things to look for when choosing one of these models from a wholesaler?

Lots of thanks

Hans

[DadO]

[ck1]

but for more funtion is c250 more better like fax, scan, printing more fastter,suitable for office user . c350 can use for designer or office but need add fiery only got fast printing and PS driver .

[Darren King]

If I was choosing between the two, I would take the C350 every time. Had one in an office that went well over 700K.

[copytechman]

Thats a tough choice! Does the c350 have a fiery on it? If not the c250 will likely process pdfs faster.... pq to me between the two are similar.. both have pretty simple to replace consumables etc.. Its a toughie, like a prior poster said though the c250 has more connectivity features including scan to folder since it has a hdd on board and that was an option for the c350. I'd have a real good look at both and choose based on clicks and who'll support it effectively.

A!

[JSC]

Both are good machines, and the previous posters make valid points. But at the end of the day i would go for the C350 for one reason MONEY.....you will make more profit on a C350, you can chip the iu's and they willl last another life, the fuser unit and transfer can be reset at lest 3 times. You can do this with a C250 but the iu's rarely last another full life or the copy just drops off, also the fuser does not last as long as the C350.
I also think the C350 is built better less 'bits' tend to fall off or break.

[Albonline]

the c350 needs a firey to do ps printing, it will not fax, however it is built MUCH better based on the 8031. if running on internal controler only pcl compatible

[serginho_vl]

C250 vs C350

C350 better in terms of IU's reliability (you get at least 2 lifes out of them but a bit more expensive new ones), cheaper toner; must have a Fiery for printing faster and for scanning; the text printed is crisp.
C250 much weaker IU's (you get at most 1.5 life out - but cheaper new ones), color text is blurry, but the images look better (glossy, better rasterization); newer/faster print controller (Emperon), faster prints, warms up faster.
In terms of speed are pretty close:
C250(25 b-w, 25 color prints/minute) C350(35 b-w, 22 color prints/minute)

The C450 gets the best out of the two: same IU's and toner as the C350 and same controller (Emperon) as the C250

[Stirton.M]

EEEGAAADS.

There are people here that favour the C350 POS???? I was never a fan of the older series, but the C350 had to be the biggest POS we ever put out in the post merger period. Complete garbage. I cannot diss this crap machine enough.

Compared to a C351 or 450 which came out a short time later, THOSE machines had shown me all I needed to know.

The C250 also came after the C350 and is a much better machine, though I am not crazy about the speed of it, or the bypass tray. But it was much much better at pretty much everything. User interface, both web and control panel, much more functions like SMB and Box, easier for the user to program one touches, has fax option, better user settings, better controls for administrator....I could go on and on at the superiority of the C250 over the C350.

[serginho_vl]

C250 vs C350

Yeah, but what about the C250 IU's? I've had IU's loosing developer at 3000 copies or white lines at 5000 copies...
As you said, the machine is much easier to use because of the Emperon controller so the C351/C450 are a good choice because they have C350 like IU's and C250 like print controller.

[Stirton.M]

Yeah, but what about the C250 IU's? I've had IU's loosing developer at 3000 copies or white lines at 5000 copies...
As you said, the machine is much easier to use because of the Emperon controller so the C351/C450 are a good choice because they have C350 like IU's and C250 like print controller.

I've lost count the number of 350 (or 351/450) IUs that died a premature death. Most of the time, that is because the dev bias (HV board side or even IU) wasn't 100% making a full on contact or there is a problem with bias setting or the HV board is failing. This I learned from the guys in the Training Center here in Calgary. It happens in almost all the machines, 352, 353 right on up to 650s. I have found 3 machines with lousy hv contact. We use star type washers soldered to the underside of the board and this solved the problem in those machines.

But aside from that, I value the machine for user friendliness and ease of use. The C350 simply doesn't make the grade when dealing with the more advanced functionality it is capable of. Cannot create one touches from the control panel is my biggest peeve. Followed sharply by limits to user controls relative to the C351/450. Even our sales reps are starting to recognize this.