We just got our first look at these new machines. One of our customers ordered the 406ci with the 300 sheet internal finisher. It's sleek and tiny in comparison to the majority of MFP's that we our accustomed to seeing. However, it seems that it may have some underlining issues that we are concerned with. What are your thoughts on the new machine? Have you guys seen it in person yet? 
We have not yet installed the machine... it's scheduled for this coming Monday. But after seeing the machine in person, we have decided as a company to install the machine and closely monitor it's progress over the next three months before allowing any other sales. Reason for this is some of the concerns that we noticed when inspecting the machine.
It's all plastic.
The machine weighs in total 206lbs. That's including the DP, DF, and two PFs. In comparison, the CS4551ci weighs in at 256lbs, with no DP, DF, or PF. This could just be my personal thoughts, but heavy spells reliability in most cases. When anything on this machine can be broken by a user slamming or just bumping into it - I worry about replacing unnecessary parts and dealing with upset customers when trying to explain that abuse is not covered by maintenance.
The paper feed path is weak. With little rubber on these machines, I worry that constant PMs will be in our future.
There is no ledger capability. This isn't a service issue except that you have to trust your salesman to forward this information. I can definitely see installing one of these machines to find out that they are wanting to do ledger. "Uh... you can't."
The waste toner is part of the front housing. In order to switch the waste toner, you just have to pull out the entire front housing. That's right, just pull on it... no screws and nothing to stop the end user from wanting to touch the shiny drums and developers. "No... no touchy."
The DP is weak. We are already having trouble with these DPs in certain areas pulling multiple pages at once. This is most likely a humidity/static issue; however, the DPs on the larger copystars (DP-770, 772, etc) do not have these issues even though they are in the same building. Again, this may be a personal issue because I just have a bad taste in my mouth for these smaller DPs.
If you've read the TB, then you know that the toner for the 406 is adequate. However the other two are not. The 306 has color toner that gets about 7k pages at 5% coverage. And we all know that most people don't use 5% or less. The reason this scares me is because it has been marketed (as I took it) as a machine that can take the spot of a larger machine such as the 3551ci. Nope. Definitely nope.
There is no power switch. Just a button like some of the desktops. Me no likey.
And as if Kyocera knows all of this, these machines are cheap. REALLY cheap. Sales could get one in every single building in your area because it costs nothing to get one in comparison to other machines. But does the saying not go, "You get what you pay for?"
On the other hand, the speed is great. It prints and pulls pages like a beast, especially since everything is landscape (Portrait does not fit this machine.) The image quality is better than most desktops like a Ecosys M6535cidn, but still cannot hold a candle to something like a 4551ci. And like I said in the beginning, it's sleek. It looks great!
So there's my long, maybe too overly detailed review of what I've seen so far. I hope that the machine proves me wrong once it's up and running in the field. In the meantime, I would like to hear your opinion and thoughts on the machine if you have come across one, or even if you have not and would still like to share your thoughts.
We have not yet installed the machine... it's scheduled for this coming Monday. But after seeing the machine in person, we have decided as a company to install the machine and closely monitor it's progress over the next three months before allowing any other sales. Reason for this is some of the concerns that we noticed when inspecting the machine.
It's all plastic.
The machine weighs in total 206lbs. That's including the DP, DF, and two PFs. In comparison, the CS4551ci weighs in at 256lbs, with no DP, DF, or PF. This could just be my personal thoughts, but heavy spells reliability in most cases. When anything on this machine can be broken by a user slamming or just bumping into it - I worry about replacing unnecessary parts and dealing with upset customers when trying to explain that abuse is not covered by maintenance.The paper feed path is weak. With little rubber on these machines, I worry that constant PMs will be in our future.
There is no ledger capability. This isn't a service issue except that you have to trust your salesman to forward this information. I can definitely see installing one of these machines to find out that they are wanting to do ledger. "Uh... you can't."
The waste toner is part of the front housing. In order to switch the waste toner, you just have to pull out the entire front housing. That's right, just pull on it... no screws and nothing to stop the end user from wanting to touch the shiny drums and developers. "No... no touchy."
The DP is weak. We are already having trouble with these DPs in certain areas pulling multiple pages at once. This is most likely a humidity/static issue; however, the DPs on the larger copystars (DP-770, 772, etc) do not have these issues even though they are in the same building. Again, this may be a personal issue because I just have a bad taste in my mouth for these smaller DPs.
If you've read the TB, then you know that the toner for the 406 is adequate. However the other two are not. The 306 has color toner that gets about 7k pages at 5% coverage. And we all know that most people don't use 5% or less. The reason this scares me is because it has been marketed (as I took it) as a machine that can take the spot of a larger machine such as the 3551ci. Nope. Definitely nope.
There is no power switch. Just a button like some of the desktops. Me no likey.
And as if Kyocera knows all of this, these machines are cheap. REALLY cheap. Sales could get one in every single building in your area because it costs nothing to get one in comparison to other machines. But does the saying not go, "You get what you pay for?"
On the other hand, the speed is great. It prints and pulls pages like a beast, especially since everything is landscape (Portrait does not fit this machine.) The image quality is better than most desktops like a Ecosys M6535cidn, but still cannot hold a candle to something like a 4551ci. And like I said in the beginning, it's sleek. It looks great!
So there's my long, maybe too overly detailed review of what I've seen so far. I hope that the machine proves me wrong once it's up and running in the field. In the meantime, I would like to hear your opinion and thoughts on the machine if you have come across one, or even if you have not and would still like to share your thoughts.
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