Looking to upgrade from Ricoh 901, could use some help choosing.

We've had 2 Ricohs for a little under 2 years and it's time to upgrade. They are handling the workload for the most part, but the quality is very poor at times. The amount of maintenance and downtime is too much. We have some clients that are color and quality critical and require fast turn arounds. We also run a lot of variable data/mailing jobs. I've been doing research on a lot of different digital presses and can't make a decision.

The presses we've been looking at are:

MGI Meteor DP8700 XL
Konica Minolta C8000
HP Indigo 10000
Xerox iGen 150
Fugi J Press 720
Kodak NexPress (not sure which model)

What are the pros and cons to dry toner vs ink? Of the dry toner presses, which has the highest quality? A lot of them claim to have a superior toner technology, what's the difference?

The ideal press for us would be:
Quick set up time and changeover from job to job
High quality and consistent color from sheet to sheet, job to job and day to day.
Minimal required maintenance and down time.
Fairly fast, no slower than the Ricoh 901 (which I believe is rated at 90ppm).
Handle 100# cover duplex, 130#/14pt simplex
Handle preprinted materials or have high enough quality and consistency that I would no longer need to print litho.
Variable data capable.

Do any digital presses meet this criteria or close to it?

Any feedback is welcome and appreciated.

Thank you.

 

You are looking at quite a wide range of prices and performance with your list. Things to consider - like the J press, waiting for the front to dry before you can print the back but wow the color is awesome.
The Indigo is great, but you really need to have a constant stream of work to keep it printing at its best.
The Nexpress is a good toner based solution, but the future of the company would be enough for me to move them away on the list.
The 8000 is still in the glorified copier market - like your 901 - and delivers good results but way different price point than the others.
Might also want to include the iGen 150 in your review also.
Not really up on the Meteor just because serice is still not where it nees to be around me.

 

We're looking at a wide spectrum because we're growing in our digital department rapidly. Not enough to justify the jump all the way up to the 10000, but I'm not sure how much work could go there rather than our full size presses and how much work we could attract simply because of the machine. We would need a 100% increase in digital work in order to buy it. It's the quality we want, but the volume is a out of reach at the moment.

I'm not a fan of the Konica Minoltas, Kodaks, Canons, Oces and alike. I'd rather just have the Ricoh's refurbished than get something so similar in concept. The iGen is the leading option currently, but I'm still concerned that the quality isn't much superior to the Ricoh. On the iGen4, it wasn't any better than what sold us on the Ricoh.