Which to Laser to use instead of the HP2600N

[SimpleSi]

As is evident from the number of threads - the HP2600N, although cheap, has a lot of issues that take some overcoming and has wasted a fair amount of our time in doing so.

 

Would anyone care to suggest what the next cheapest colour laser that is as easy to maintain as the H2600N but works properly

 

e.g It can be setup as a shared printer on a server and just works (from any normal windows app but especially SIMS), has its own network port and USB/parallel as well.

 

Only answers from those with actual experience of the model recommended (particularly anyone who has dumped using HP2600Ns )

 

regards

 

Simon

[Michael]

I've used other models such as the 3600n. The 2600n is host based which is why it creates problems with some applications.

 

HP in general are pretty good overall, just don't use their HP TCP/IP port. It doesn't work and I'm yet to speak to anyone who uses it with no problems!

 

Don't touch Kyocera either, they are awful. Canon's are also good, but expensive. Canon drivers are good too.

[kmount]

I'd concur on the 3600N's. We've got probably 10 of these now in various places and find them second to none. - We also have a 2600N and 2605N both of which give more problems than the 3600's combined!

[contink]

Much as it pains me to admit it there's one school I support that has an HP 3600n and they've had very few problems with it.

[Geoff]

Also do not forget the 'rent a photocopier' option.

[SimpleSi]

According to the link in michael's post, the 3600 is also host based

HP JetReady 4.2 Page Description Language (host-based printing)

 

So how come it works properly when the 2600N doesn't

 

regards

 

Simon

[DMcCoy]

We have an oki 5450N which our macs use. Not real Adobe postscript but emulation is ok. PCL will be fine.

 

Not the cheapest to run, but no faults so far.

[kmount]

I just found the 2600 a cheap nasty mistake when compared to the 3500/3600's.

 

For £318 you can get a 3600N which although a fair chunk more than the 2600, it 'does' work.

[steve]

We have about 15 3800n and 6 of the newer CP3505n (both will run from the 3800 driver and use same toners)

 

Only had a couple of small niggles, but they run like a dream.

 

The 3505s were so cheap recently they were less than the value of toners in them, so I bought a few extra - now I have spare parts too!

[contink]

According to the link in michael's post, the 3600 is also host based

 

 

So how come it works properly when the 2600N doesn't

 

I may have confused the 3500 with the 3600 for my own contribution.. I'll check in a couple of weeks when school re-opens.

[Oops_my_bad]

Uh oh.. we have had a 2600n in for about a year now, seems to work OK What problems are associated with it??

[jcollings]

Got to say we have a few and they seem to work fine for us. We just have them set up on our 2k3 print server. Not sure what issues people have found but we didn't do anything special - TCP/IP port and HP driver.

[FN-GM]

We use HP LaserJet 2550's here, they do the job pretty well.

[steve]

The only problems I've had are:

 

2 of the Compact Flash ROMs failed with power cuts - replaced under warranty.

The internal usage counter doesn't retain information after a power off - unless you print via the USB port first - then it will retain the information.

The paper tray can be temperamental - pushing it closed at the top edge of the draw over comes this.

 

One drawback is you can't lock the printers LCD panel via the web interface.

[dgsmith]

Well, I have had input on the 2600n before, so it wont harm mentioning it again. Of our ~10 2600n printers (which is the most of the same model of printer we have), we generally find their operation is ok. We haven't had any grief from them and they work fine, but I certainly WOULDN'T recommend them, mainly due to the consumable cost - it's just too high to run them. The 2550n printers on the otherhand, although alot cheaper, are so, so slow and take ages to print even just 1 darn page of paper, no matter how many prior ones have been sent not long before. The kids have a tendency to push the green button (thinking it means "GET ON WITH IT", when in fact this just makes it chuck out a load of test pages, wasting time, toner and paper!

 

Our next try will probably still be on the HPs, likely the 3600n (network is desirable), which probably will work our cheaper in the long run, but time will tell. Failing that, a model in the 3xxx series without network, with an internal ethernet print server bought from ebay (which we did on some of old our inkjets).

[RobC]

If you want cheap, reliable and very good quality, get yourself a Kyocera FS-5015. Piece of cake to set up, built in USB/network and Kyocera have some of the lowest running costs on the market. Can't say for certain about the HP 3600N, but the last time I did a comparison with HP (a couple of months ago), the cost per page was far lower, mainly due to the cartridge yields - HP is around 2000 pages/cartridge where as kyocera are normally either 4000 or 7000 depending. Also, the machine and drum are both rated to 100,000 pages so no maintenance kits required. If you want, the rest of the range are 200,000 page rated and have a maintenance kit for after 100,000 pages.

[SimpleSi]

Not sure what issues people have found but we didn't do anything special - TCP/IP port and HP driver.

 

Well the main one seems to be that if you install the printer using the HP disc which creates an HP TCP/IP port on a server and then share it out and connect via the server you seem to end up with stuck jobs in the print queue.

 

Workaround is to install it as a standard TCP/IP port and disable bi-directional support and then share it out. (But you only find this out after the problems occur!) or install it using the CD on each workstation - that seems to work as well.

 

The most recent complaint is about printing to it from SIMs - not exactly sure what the problem actually is but a few people have experienced it (I haven't but I just used the CD on each workstation and they print direct to the printer and not via a server)

 

I've had 3 of them go walkabout e.g lost their TCP/IP address settings - I now set them manually AND make a reservation in a DHCP server to stop this (had to use a freeware static DHCP program on my non-server admin setup)

 

Now as far as running costs go - the reason I switched to using these from Business Inkjets was the number of people who had told me that it was very economical and very low maintenance!

 

Thats the reason for the post - I think the host-based aspect of this printer is causing most of these problems but now it seems that other people are happy with other host based printers so that can't be the sole issue.

 

And others such as yourself never seem to get problems so maybe some versions of printer firmware/drivers cause the problems???

 

regards

 

Simon

[TheScarfedOne]

Ive got a load of these printers - and once i got past the intitial problems, they have been great. The cost to run has been ok for us - depends where you get your toner from. We use Xerox compats - at £145 a full kit.

 

Things to watch out for:

 

1. Latest drivers from HP. DO NOT USE THEIR INSTALLER! Add printer manually, create the TCP Port (standard port not HP Port), install drivers from location (thus using the INFs and not the installer).

 

2. Untick the Bi-Directional support - this is what locks up the queue

[SimpleSi]

get yourself a Kyocera FS-5015.

 

Looks OK - how is it for setting up - does it simply install OK from CD - does it simply install once setup on a server - how many have you had and for how long

 

What sort of small animal do you have to sacrifice to make it actually print when and from where you want it to

 

 

Does it work with SIMS ?

 

regards

 

Simon

[RobC]

Simon,

 

They are very simple to set up. I've worked with a few now and they really do just install like they are supposed to and are usually up & running in a couple of minutes from taking them out of the box. And if you do have any problems (which you most likely wont...), I'm a Kyocera engineer so I can help you out.

 

Regards,

 

Rob.

[Michael]

My personal experience with Kyocera was an awful one, with two KM C830 machines (which are colour photocopiers). Drivers weren't fantastic, but more to the point the quality was poor, the speed was awful and periodically the machines needed switching off and back on again because they'd stop responding!!

 

The problems became so bad with downtime that the leasing company requested a Kyocera representative to visit the school. He did, but although apologetic, the problems were not resolved.

 

In the end the leasing company terminated using Kyocera photocopiers altogether and only deal with Canon printers/photocopiers. Although more expensive, they're very reliable, superb quality and very little downtime. The school are happy and they can now concentrate on teaching and not phoning for an engineer every few days.

 

That's not to say that this is the case with every Kyocera printer/photocopier, but I wouldn't like to be given the responsibility of managing such devices again, due to the two years of trying to deliver an acceptable, reliable print/photocopier service to teachers and pupils.

[RobC]

Hi Michael.

 

I can sympathise with your experiences of the old KM-C830s. Those machines, and in fact all of Kyocera's older colour equipment, were absolute dogs. However, with the newer machines Kyocera have basically scrapped everything about the older designs and rebuilt pretty much from scratch. Both the current range of printers and the new Voyager range of colour copiers are fantastic machines which are a world away from the likes of the C830. As a testiment to this, the company I contract to has roughly 100 Kyoceras of varying models in the field, as well as five in their own office, and I am called out to roughly one problem every three months over the whole fleet.

 

Obviously me putting this on the forum isn't necessarily going to win you back to Kyocera after your previous experiences - once bitten, twice shy as they say - however I would urge you to at least take a look again. Try & get in touch with some companies, etc locally who use Kyocera if you get a chance and just see how they feel about them now. Hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

Rob.

[Ex-MGSTech]

yes the 3600n's are Host based and we have the same issue.

 

How about the HP 2605 which is a propper PCL based printer?

 

Steve

[paulwiddy]

Just on the look out for new colour printers as I am about to throw all our colour laser out(throught the nearest window) , it is nice to read that so many people rate the HP 3600 printers as being a printer you can reply and trust not to mess up.

[Michael]

I can sympathise with your experiences of the old KM-C830s. Those machines, and in fact all of Kyocera's older colour equipment, were absolute dogs. However, with the newer machines Kyocera have basically scrapped everything about the older designs and rebuilt pretty much from scratch. Both the current range of printers and the new Voyager range of colour copiers are fantastic machines which are a world away from the likes of the C830. As a testiment to this, the company I contract to has roughly 100 Kyoceras of varying models in the field, as well as five in their own office, and I am called out to roughly one problem every three months over the whole fleet.

 

Obviously me putting this on the forum isn't necessarily going to win you back to Kyocera after your previous experiences - once bitten, twice shy as they say - however I would urge you to at least take a look again. Try & get in touch with some companies, etc locally who use Kyocera if you get a chance and just see how they feel about them now. Hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

That's good to know that Kyocera have learnt from their mistakes and I respect engineers like yourself coming forward and explaining what advances Kyocera have made to improve their product line up. Kyocera products are more cost effective, and if they've completely redesigned their new products, they would be worth considering for other future projects that land on my desk.