Should i stay clear of the MPC305 series?

[fshead]

Re: Should i stay clear of the MPC305 series?

great,
i will google the info on size and confirm it is shorter than 22 inches.

[Bucky]

Re: Should i stay clear of the MPC305 series?

We've got dozens of these 305's out & I personally have not had any major issues (no toner pumps failed for me)

The only issue I have is creasing or jamming if using poor quality paper.

I am new to this forum, and am still scanning all of the issues on the different models. I have to agree here. I have about 25 MPc305 machines in the field. All of them at the same location in the middle of the Mojave Desert in an open pit mine situation. Granted, they are not high volume. However, I have yet to have a bad one. I hope I'm not jinxing myself here. They have been in the field for about 2 1/2 years now. The only problems I have had were very minor. One problem was a broken tray lift plastic piece. A 5 minute fix. The other problem I've had was a Yellow toner misalignment that required a laser adjustment. A bulletin covers that, and only required about 15 minutes to adjust. Very easy to do. Those are the only two problem types I've had in 2 1/2 years. We are an authorized Ricoh dealer. We use only OEM parts and supplies. We never install used parts. That helps! We only worked on the Ricoh line up until about three years ago. Then the owners that be decided to add Oki Data, and Lexmark. I'm not too impressed with them, but I can make them work.

[catgoldfish]

Re: Should i stay clear of the MPC305 series?

I would. Lots of work for a small little machine. Works ok if you use it for average home use not in a busy office like most of my customers do. 10,000 to 20,000 copies per month. Crazy !

[Polarbear]

Re: Should i stay clear of the MPC305 series?

On top of all the issues, the copy quality is not great at all.

To be honest (and this is my personal opinion) I would sell an HP colour laser in that segment. Just make sure you sell it with a care pack and you have nothing to worry about. Their machines may look flimsy but they are workhorses, and copy quality is lightyears ahead of whatever Ricoh have on offer (in that segment). Just make sure that you sell the right model for the monthly duty cycle, so your drums/devs don't take a pounding and die before they make yield and your copy charges are right so that you can cover the toners (if you sell toner inclusive). Not doing that can bite as consumables can be expensive seeing that they are "all in one" units (toner/dev/drum).

Also features like wifi and airprint are "in the box" and not OPTIONS like with Ricoh...

It is still your choice, but for my money, it is a clear cut case.

[fshead]

Re: Should i stay clear of the MPC305 series?

thnx.......
i was a HP guy from inception hp 1,2,3, and stopped after the hp4300 series..too many laser issues and boards going bad with low counts..
i started selling used kyoceras..
i got a bad taste in my mouth so it will be hard to go back to hp..plus i hated the danm hidden tabs to
get to the inner works...

[sturmtrooper]

Re: Should i stay clear of the MPC305 series?

Just make sure that you sell the right model for the monthly duty cycle

This is the thing here. BW machines seem to do ok when over worked but the small color machines really will not stand for it.

If your sales guys are stupid and sell things where they don't belong to just make a sale it ends up making service look like a bunch of dumb monkeys when the machine doesn't work right.

[TonerMunkeh]

Re: Should i stay clear of the MPC305 series?

I must admit having a lot more exposure to this model and it's successors my opinion is starting to sway. The Cheetah panel is clever, if a bit slow, the fusers seem to last a bit longer and I've not changed a toner pump in a while. They're alright if they aren't put into a customer that will hammer them. The NFC and wi-fi direct functions are a godsend too.