PDA

View Full Version : Help! Advice on new printer - X 560, KM C6000 or used C650?


Custom Search


steveclv
05-19-2014, 05:05 PM
Some advice please…

We are a new business located in Malta in the Mediterranean and we want to branch out into a digital print shop providing design and print services for small businesses, hotels etc. Primarily we will be doing leaflets, flyers, brochures, business cards in full colour. As a photographer, I will also be wanting to produce photographic art on the digital as an alternative to the wide format inkjets that we currently use.

At the moment, due to limited availability, I have shortlisted a Xerox 560 with the finisher (stapler, folder, square folder and trifold) or a Konica Minolta C6000 with the finisher.

Both currently hit our monthly price point although the Xerox seems to be more expensive on consumables.

As an alternative, I am looking at a used Minolta Bizhub C650 with booklet finisher which I can get for the equivalent of 2 months lease on the others and own it – albeit it’s an older, used machine that may require more frequent servicing.

The question is whether I should even be considering the C650 or jump straight into either of the other machines – could the C650 be considered a stop gap that would allow us to build the business and then consider an upgrade into a new machine down the road or would we be restricting ourselves with a limited capability machine? Financially it makes sense but not at the risk of getting something that would not be suitable for what we wanted our core business to be – good quality brochures, flyers etc etc.

Any thoughts or advice would be welcomed.

rrrohan
06-09-2014, 02:33 PM
Some advice please…

We are a new business located in Malta in the Mediterranean and we want to branch out into a digital print shop providing design and print services for small businesses, hotels etc. Primarily we will be doing leaflets, flyers, brochures, business cards in full colour. As a photographer, I will also be wanting to produce photographic art on the digital as an alternative to the wide format inkjets that we currently use.

At the moment, due to limited availability, I have shortlisted a Xerox 560 with the finisher (stapler, folder, square folder and trifold) or a Konica Minolta C6000 with the finisher.

Both currently hit our monthly price point although the Xerox seems to be more expensive on consumables.

As an alternative, I am looking at a used Minolta Bizhub C650 with booklet finisher which I can get forrelativalent of 2 months lease on the others and own it – albeit it’s an older, used machine that may require more frequent servicing.

The question is whether I should even be considering the C650 or jump straight into either of the other machines – could the C650 be considered a stop gap that would allow us to build the business and then consider an upgrade into a new machine down the road or would we be restricting ourselves with a limited capability machine? Financially it makes sense but not at the risk of getting something that would not be suitable for what we wanted our core business to be – good quality brochures, flyers etc etc.

Any thoughts or advice would be welcomed.

What the meter count on the C650?

Do you know the consumables life remaining?

Obviously the higher end machine like the 6000 will give better quality. Will the 6000 include a RIP?

steveclv
06-09-2014, 04:05 PM
I actually ended up purchasing a used Xerox DC242 (<500k clicks) with Fiery and Light Production Finisher. It came with 70% drum life and brand new toners and I got a brand new set of drums/toners and corotron from the same dealer at a discount.

Compared to leasing, the whole package worked out at the equivalent of 3.5 months of leasing a new Xerox 560 and 4 months of a new C6000 with a similar configuration.

Time will tell if it was a good choice but the 242/252 seems to have been a good seller and has a good reputation and there is plenty of anecdotal information on the forums and spares on eBay etc

eliza925994
06-11-2014, 10:36 AM
In my opinion running 25-60k A4 (or Letter) clicks on a c6000 would be serious underuse. I've heard from engineers and users of Xerox and KM kit that underuse causes some quality degradation due to developer and toner settling. Plus the x560/c6000 is an incredibly expensive piece of kit for printing letters. The c5501 which we recently purchased likes to run 40-60k SRA3 (80-120k A4/Letter) per month to run smoothly, and this is one below the c6000/x560.
Personally, for your purpose, I would stick to an office box like the Xerox docucolor, much cheaper and the quality gain with a larger c6000 or X560 wouldn't justify the cost.
Not sure about your application colour requirements but have you considered buying in letterheads and running something like an OKI es9130 black and white machine? Would work out significantly cheaper than any of the above colour printers.
I'd avoid OKI colour machines like the plague but the B&W's have a good rep for being reliable.

steveclv
06-11-2014, 06:42 PM
I've not heard about the degradation before and as long as the machine has daily use I cannot imagine it having issues - my inkjets need at least a weekly A4 print to keep the ink flowing but as I said, never heard that on lasers.

The office machines that you describe don't offer booklet finishing (saddle stitching) nor can they handle the 300gsm coated stock that we use for business cards and I expect their registration is pretty poor for duplex work too.

The 6000 configured for our spec was €600 a month, the 560 was €750 a month and the used 242 was €2800 - I have heard of 242/252 with 2m+ clicks so at <500k ours should have plenty of life left.

In addition, I have seen that the 560 and the 6000 don't really have much of a gloss on the toner even on glossy coated stock and I know that the 242 has an 'extra glossy' mode which will suit my photographic work better.

Custom Search