Many companies are cutting corners and trying to lower costs when purchasing the best all- in one copier printer scanner fax office equipment. However, they fail to realize the low cost units are not saving them money or they do not fit their copier printer machine needs.  Beyond HP mid-level printer scanner copiers other brands such as  Kyocera, Sharp, Ricoh, Brother and Copystar offer lower operating costs and longer life. The MX-B201 Sharp is a great alternative.

The big performance in a compact size unit, the Sharp MX-B201D copier printer scanner fax is a great choice.  The Sharp MX-B201D is designed for small offices and work groups delivers features needed for  small office environments who needs documents processed fast.  The 20 page-per-minute copying,  printing and integrated color scanning ensure that your office equipment work needs are met.  It comes standard with a 50-sheet document feeder and duplexing which provides 2-sided scanning for extra efficiency, as well as duplex printing and copying.

The cost-effective Sharp MX-B201, consumable system utilizes a three-component system that’s easy to replace and easy on your wallet.  The toner cartridges have an estimated life of 8,000 pages.  And since business never stands still, the MX-B201D offers flexible options to add Super G3 faxing, networking and web-based management…so you’ll be ready for anything. Plus, they are durable machines when compared to HP printer copier scanners of the same level.

Other brands to consider are the Kyocera FS-1135 which comes standard with copy, printer, scanner and fax which is much more durable than comparable HP copier printer scanner equipment.

The Kyocera FS-1135 new MFD come is a durable machine in the sub $1000 range. It comes with all the features may small business need including printer, copying, scanning, fax and low cost of usage. The

FS-1135mfd comes standard network printing, copy and color scanning functions. It’s a highly efficient desktop letter/legal multifunctional printer that’s compact and quiet. The standard document processor feeds reliably and improves your productivity. The Copystar FS1135MFP is designed with ultra reliable ECOSYS technology the 30 ppm FS-1135MFP is a MFP that small business copier scanner printer and work groups can rely on everyday. And with its long life drum, toner and easy to replace toner container you will enjoy a low total cost of ownership compared to typical all in one models.  All in all, the Copystar FS 1135 is a business machine at a bargain price.

Kyocera has always created low operating cost equipment well made and this one is no exception.  The FS-1135mfd provides per page cost of less than $0.01 (one cent)per page including toner and the 100,000page maintenance kit.  Upon testing the unit its compatible with all operation systems tested including Mac computers.  The Kyocera Copystar FS-1135 copier printer scanner quality prints and scans and best of all it comes standard with duplex (two sided printing, scanning).

What does factory certified mean when purchasing a refurbished used recondition copier printer scanner?  Certified Factory Pre-owned equipment consists of 100% certified equipment by factory authorized service technicians. The used copier printer scanners o through a rigorous testing, inspection, part and replacement process before they are approved for on-site warranty. Only the cream of the crop used copiers printers scanners are certified.

Why should I Look at the Duty Cycle – All printers copiers have a duty cycle assigned by the manufacturer. Duty cycle is a number of pages per month the printer was designed to print (maximum number of pages). In the real world black/white copier printers with a duty cycle of fewer than 60K per month or color printers less than 50K per month are considered home or very small office devices. Many people look at the pages per minute rate to determine if the device is durable. This is a BIG mistake. The speed of the printer copier scanner office equipment and the duty cycle are two very different specifications. There are many low end printers that print 25 to 35 pages per minute, however; they are very easy to break and designed for the home use. Plus, the low end printers are very expensive to maintain (high per page supply costs.)

Simply put: Certified Pre-owned used printer copier equipment gives you more for your money, lower operating costs and longer equipment life. It’s a great alternative to cost high end equipment or cheap easy to break low end machines.

Over the past few years HP printers scanners copiers have lost ground to various other manufacturers of MFD in the marker. Yes, HP is still the leader due to its large installed base and brand name.  However, the quality of product has greatly diminished specially in the sub 4100 market. Brands such as Samsung, Kyocera, Lexmark and other have slowly taken some market share away from the giant.  Kyocera who is know for phones has been int the copier printer business much longer than HP and offer great products.

One advantage of Kyocera brand or printers copiers or MFD is that the company focuses on equipment quality not on covering all markets.  Instead of offering 20 models of printers they put all their efforts in making a few, 5 to 7 models quality low cost to use models.

In the USA Kyocera is not well know for printers. However, in other parts of the world they are major players.  They do not offer ink based units such as HP deskjets and photosmarts.   Kyocera printers and MFD are all laser banded models designed for business.  Yes, they do offer a lower end sub $650 MFD unit for home business and its a durable unit . However, if you are looking to replace HP MFD for a more durable loner lasting  lower costs business class machine check Kyocera out.

Kyocera printer line up starts at $299 and goes up. In contrast HP has printers laser printers for as low as $125. the difference is in the quality of product and the lower cost of usage. Kyocera beats HP hands  down in both areas.   Kyocera’s lowest end MFD (copier printer , scanner) the FS-1028  (FS-128 model with fax) start at $599. Its maintenance kit last 200,000 pages and the toner costs keeps your per page costs below 1.5 cents!

Over the past three years the refurbished used printer copier scanner office equipment has exploded. Companies haev realized that  business class equipment, full size floor  printer copiers,  than costs thousands of dollars new are designed for many years of use and millions of copies.  companies learned that quality refurbished printer copier scanners 3..4 years old have many years of life left in them and they cost 50% less than new ones with the same features.  However, the trick is knowing which brands and models to select.  It may surprise you that the biggest names are the less desirable ones to obtain used or refurbished.

First, what is a refurbished machine? There are two types: dealer select and standard refurbished. Dealer select refurbished copier printer scanners are LOW page count machines (less than 300,000 pages on them), completely refurbished with all fresh maintenance items and 2 to 5 years old. Dealer select recondition printer copiers  models are int he $1900 to $3500 range in cost depending upon features and speed.

Standard used refurbished machines are older models, usually higher page counts and most of the time less reliable units. These models are int he $500 to $1200 range in cost.  These are the models dealers just want to get rid of at just about any price.  These are not off lease recent model office equipment.   You will see many of these when companies have going out of business sales. They have a very limited life span due to parts being discontinued  and higher copier printer maintenance costs.

Most reputable now one man shows (companies with only one or two employees ) dealers do not deal in the older used models that are not dealer select. However, its still a buyer be ware on used re conditional copier printers.  One way to make sure you are getting a recent model machine is to check on line. Or better yet haev the seller show you the serial number with manufacture date of the office equipment.  Beware of any piece of equipment that has no serial number sticker with date! If you are not sure ask here or send and email to Advanced Business Computers Inc.  for a quick response to your questions about a particular model.

More and more offices are reducing printing and organizing there office paper filing needs using scanners. However, unless you only 50 pages or less a day the low end sub $1000 scanners just are not durable or fast enough to realize staff and office space savings. However, new the heavy duty models that scanner 50 pages more per minutes are excessively expensive. If you are scanning from 100 to 500 pages a day you may consider recent model refurbished Canon scanners.

One great choice is the Canon DR-3080C II is a high-speed document scanner that provides grayscale black/white and 24-bit color scanning. It will scan documents from small business cards, checks and documents as large as 11″ x 17″. It costs several thousands of dollars new, however, refurbished ones are in-between $950 and $1250 depending upon its previous page counts.  It super fast up to 43 page-per-minute scanning speed. 64MB of standard on-board memory can be upgraded to 128MB. Plus it delivers on-the-fly image compression in the most popular file formats including TIFF, JPEG and JBIG.

The Canon DR-3080C comes standard with a 100-sheet capacity scanner document feeder and extremely user-friendly, system setup. Plus, this model can be connected using USB so it does not require a scsi or other type of computer connection.  The big advantage to a used one it that you gives you a very heavy duty scanner for a fraction of the cost of a new one.  Contact Advanced Business Computers for more details on this and other refurbished, used and new document scanners for your office.

With all the models of copier printer scanners on the market is may be a bit confusing of which models or brands to consider.  This entry is based on the fasting moving brands of printer copiers from off lease machines with the export market taken out of the equation.  Major leasing companies send most of their off lease equipment to 2 to 3 major wholesale distributors of copier printer scanner equipment in the USA. Dealers then receive daily lists to bid on the used machines to refurbished for their clients.

The fastest moving brands of used reconditions copier printers scanners from these warehouses are Kyocera, Ricoh and Sharp.  Yes, Canon , Toshiba and other models do sell but not as quick as the top three.  Between the used Kyocera Ricoh and Sharp copier printer scanners equipment the Kyocera KM_3035 / 4035 / 5035 with under 300K pages and complete systems (copier, duplex,  printer scanner and fax) move within a couple hours. Sharp AR-M455 and AR-M355 are the next copiers printers.

The ones that move the slowest of the major brands are Xerox, Konica-Minolta, Canon and Toshiba brands of copier printer MFD.  When talking about Ricoh that includes all Ricoh brands: Lanier, Gestetner and Savin. Kyocera include used refurbished Copystar copiers printers.  All brands that do not have the fax and scanner feature are slow movers. The majority of the people who are in the market for copier printers new, used or refurbished what all the features included in the copier printer MFD. The up an coming models due to low availability of the most popular Kyocera and Sharp are the Kyocera of Copystar 3050, 4050 and the 5050.  when dealers select used machines to refurbish they look at the durability of the copier printer, cost to refurbished and  market feature demands.

Thermal label printers by Data Max, Zebra,  Sato and Intermec have been industry work horses. they are very reliable thermal label printers and if repaired maintained regularly will last many years.  However, when one finally if beyond its years due to repair costs an alternative to buying an thermal printer that costs over $2,000 is to obtain a quali9ty refreshed used thermal label printer. But how do you know which one to get?

First determine your requirements on a used thermal printer by Zebra, Data max, Intermec or Sato. what software are you using. Are you planning to upgrade your label software which may not run the older thermal label printer models? Do you need a faster or more durable model now?  When obtain a used refurbished thermal label printer you do not want to obtain a low end unit that originally cost under $1000 unless its only a couple years old unless you can get it for less than 25% of the original costs with warranty.

Used or refurbished Zebra, Data Max ,Sato and Intermec used printers are readily available from many sources.  When you contact the dealer make sure they warranty the machine for at least 30 days.  Many units we see sold through Ebay and other areas on the net have 7 day warranties or none at all.  Be careful because print heads are tricky and costly to replace. A Person easily adjust a bad print head to print ok for a few days and then fail. When you obtain  a used thermal label printer you need a good 15 to 30 days to completely test the units print head and label feed section.

What about the age of the unit?  Thermal printers are designed to last many many years. We have clients ask for older models due to software limitations and once refurbished Data Maz, Zebra, Sato and Intermec printers  will last foe several more years without problems.  Plus, Zebra, Sato, Intermac and Data Max thermal printer refurbished by Advanced Business Computers  thermal label printer cost less tham60% of new ones and comes with at least a 60 day warranty.  The main expensive components replaced are the print heads, platens and internal gears.

Determine whether to buy a new verses refurbished send copier depends upon your demands. Digital copiers are the most economical way to copier documents at high speeds. Plus, you get the advantage of a wide variety of standard options not available on standard printers.  Multifunction copiers consist of copy, printer, scanner and network. Most have digital copiers printers have options including faxing, stapling, large capacity drawers, stackers and collation.

Before you make you purchase of a multifunction copier printer scanner know you your estimated monthly usage.  Big price stickers on new digital copier’s printers make many buyers to consider refurbished use machine. With the number of business failing today the used market is hotter than used digital copier printers could be a smart idea for companies of all sizes or people looking to reduce costs while getting a true multi-function copier printer scanner equipment.

When selecting a used machine ask about warranties and age of the machine. As a general rule do not get a machine older than 5 years or one with over two months duty cycle. Make sure the copier printer scanner was recently serviced and obtain a copy of the service error log from the machine.  Do not assume that a used machine is a great deal because of its name or price. Many of he best name copier printer scanners, such as Canon, Xerox and Toshiba have very very low resale value. If you need assistance contact Advanced Business Computers Inc for more information or post a question on this blog.

Today economic environment is a driving force in the used refurbished printer copier scanner market. Companies are seeking ways to greatly reduce monthly expenses and they have realized replacing a used copier printer with a new one every 3 to 5 years is not sound business practice. Ricoh, a well know name in the copier business, is one of  the more popular brand due to the ease of repair and the number of Ricoh repair facilities in just about every city.

Ricoh, also know as Savin, Lanier,and  Gestetner (all same machines but different names) are reliable and low cost to operate copier printers.  Obtaining a recent model Ricoh or Lanier copier printer over buying a new one from Canon, Toshiba or other brand will greatly reduce you monthly costs.  First of all, recent model (3..4 years old) refurbished used copier printers scanners usually save you 50% to 67%  of the cot of a new one which equates to 50% to 67% off your monthly payments.

Secondly, Ricoh is one of the better manufacturers that keeps producing parts fro many many years after the equipment is discontinued.  Getting parts for Ricoh, Lanier, Saving copier printers that are 10 to 14 years old is not a problem.  Plus, many compatible copier printer parts are available in the market to keep you costs down.  As in all business class (floor units) copier printer we highly recommend service agreements if you produce over 4,000 pages per month.  Used Ricoh, Lanier, Gestetner and Savin copier printers are just like cars, they need regular maintenance to give you years of quality service.  If you plant o buy a used machine not refurbished form a copier printer service center then get a technician to check the used copier printer scanner before you buy it.  The technician can give you a detailed history on the machine including when it needs maintenance which could cost you hundreds of dollars depending upon your used refurbished Ricoh model.