Konica Minolta C220 - should I buy it?

Hi everybody,

I am very new to this topic and really hope to get some input from this forum.

I need a machine that can print on cardstock. My requirement is 250-300GSM - ideal material size would be 11" x 17". I will be printing black vector lines and numbers. So this is for building cardstock models. Not a professional printing service. The volume I will print is small. I guess it will be 2000-3000 pages/month at max but more likely a few hundred pages.

After a long search I found out that copier machines might be right for this task. I found a sales guy who offered me his showroom Konica Minolta C220. According to him the machine handles this kind of thickness but it is a bit too expensive for me.

I am super happy I found a machine that will work but also have a weird feeling to buy the first thing that is offered to me. So lack of knowledge brings me here and the hope to learn about more options. It would be no problem for me to have an older machine for a smaller price. Ideally in the 700$ department that can handle this as well as this is not a professional printing service I am going to run.

My Questions to the forum:
- Do you think this is the right machine for this task? Is this a great machine?
- Are there other copier machines that would work (handling thick paper)? Still cheap and older models.
- Do you think I need a service contract for this? Printing volumes are small but paper thickness could damage the machine? Are this machines workhorses or do they get damaged often?

Any information would be great. There is so much stuff out there that I would love to hear from you guys and have at least a small filter to begin with.

Cheers
M