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.

In recent years scanners have played an increasing roll in business from sending documents to  storage of business papers to reduce papers storage and office clutter.  Scanners just like printer copiers require regular maintenance to produce the best images and prevent work stoppage.  Canon scanners, fuji scanners and other scanner brand maintenance consist of replacing a few parts that most people can do themselves.

The main maintenance repairs parts for scanners consist of the paper feeder rollers and pads.  Depending upon your model you may need to repair the scanners and install the maintenance kits every 40K to 200K pages.  The higher end scanners from fuji, Canon, Kodak and other brands are designed for maintenance around the 200K page mark. Yes, you may need to replace the scanner maintenance kit sooner depending upon the paper being scanned.

On lower end models (sub $2,000 scanners senders) expect more maintenance and shorter periods between breakdowns than in the higher end models.  The actual time between document digital scanner  breakdowns depends upon the volume of paper sent through your scanner.  Digital scanners repairs get expensive due to the limited number of repair facilities and manufacturer policies. Case in point: if you haev a fuji scanner get ready for expensive repairs. Fuji puts all their repairs through one company in the USA which means NON competition and higher scanner repair prices. You do not have much  of a choice.  Expect to pay $350 or more just for a fuji scanner technician to show up to do a cleaning of your scanner. if you select Canon or HP your repairs will be less expensive.  However, HP does has limited choices so go for the Canons instead. Canon has many great reliable document scanners and more service possibilities.

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.

This will be a brief straight to the point article concerning the best ink base printer for your needs.  first, from a repair stand point there is no question to which brand is most repairable and that is  Brother band. Why? Two reasons:  All the parts are available for the  Brother brand printers scanners copiers fax machines .  If you have a Epson , Canon,  or HP printer ink base machine you will find that there are not parts beyond the print heads and encoder stripe. When you call HP they will upgrade you for a fee if your HP printer copier scanner is out of warranty  or swap your printer while under warranty. second: Brother may times will extend your warranty FREE of charge is you call them and complain a it.

HP, Epson, canon and other brands will not.If you are a day over you are out of luck. However, with Brother is you have a image quality problem and you unit is a few months out of warranty they will 80% of the time repair the printer copier scanner mfc it for free! Now on the flip side of the issue may of the inkbased machines are very inexpensive so many people do not care once the warranty is over whether the manufacturer of the printer copier scanner will repair the unit or not.

the image quality of all the inkbased printers scanners copiers have greatly improved over the years. All brands offer good photo quality output.  I suggest that you tests several brands with your won image. Take a USB drive to the office store and have them test print your photo on 3 to 5 machines.  Try Brother, HP, Canon, Kodak and Epson brands and look at the ink costs too. Again remember all printers need repair eventually. If the unit is a low cost one then that may to be a problem. But if you are buying a higher end printer copier then repair maintenance is important. When comparing inks costs the yield is very important.  How many prints will it last? Estimate the per page cost and them make your selection.

With all the companies going out of busy its become a free for all in the user copier printer scanner fax markets.  We consistently get calls from companies who have purchased used copier printers machine from companies going out of business or at auctions that lasted a few days and then started to haev problems.  When purchasing a used or reconditioned copier printer scanner fax whether Canon, Ricoh, Sharp, Kyocera or other brand you need to thoroughly test the unit.   Better yet hire a certified service technician to check ti out first before parting with your hard earned money.

One of the more common problems we are starting to see lately is the system rest of the factory configured calibrations and even the serial numbers. on many brands of printer copier scanners fax MFD machines a service technician can reset the factory ONLY calibrations settings. These settings control the laser strength, density calibration and even house the serial numbers.  Once these are reset they can not be recovered or properly recalibrate because these calibration settings were done at the time of the manufacturer of the copier printer using specialized equipment not available in the field. can you tell if the settings haev been changed?  Yes and not

If you print the configuration or service log history you may notice an entry stating that the system was reset. Or if you print the used reconditioned copier printer configuration or service page and notice no serial number then you know somebody tampered with the counters, and factory only settings.  Purchasing a used copier printer fax is just like purchasing a used car. You want to know the true past history and usage. It’s better to have a service technician review the copier printer scanner used or refurbished equipment before you buy to prevent costly repair maintenance after a few days or weeks after purchase.

What can go wrong when the settings are reset? Plenty – first image quality when you replace the developer or drum unit. Second – lose of functionality of the unit that requires activation codes to use the fax, scanner or printer features.  Inability to get a maintenance agreement because the serial number and history is wiped out.  Used refurbished printer copier scanner office equipment will greatly reduce your overall cost but selecting one that was reset can be a costly mistake.

As more and more companies reduce costs on area that greatly reduces waste is document storage.  Due to tax laws and company requirements document storage using digital senders or document scanners has growth greatly in the past few years.  If you need low volume scanner(less than 100 pages per day) then there are plenty of great HP and Canon scanners.  Stay away from Fujitsu (Fuji) low end scanners due to they are very expensive to maintain and Fuji  keeps a lock hold on servicing the units.Their high end scanners are very durably just like the Canon’s and HP high end digital senders.  What’s the best scanner document image for you?

First, determine the sizes of paper you plan to scan and the average daily usage.  If you do not plan to scan more than 250 pages images per day that are either legal or standard size letters then go with a new one from HP. They have many great ones in the price range of $500 to $800 that will work for several years (stay away from the low end ones). The HP Scanjet 5000 or the HP Scanjet 827 are great models for lower end use.  Do not get the lower end ones because the new ones come with a 1 year warranty.  The good thing about HP is that the repair parts are easily obtainable and there are several service options beyond HP themselves. If you plan to continually scan 300 or more pages per day then you will need a more durable machine.

Just like trucks, there are light duty durable trucks and heavy duty tanks. Which one fits you needs depends upon several factors.  This is the are where is good to have somebody who you came ask questions and I do not mean you office supply store clerks. I mean a company who specializes in scanners repairs and maintenance.  first, thing to know is that the Fuji brand is very well know for their quality of scanners. However, they are also the most expensive to maintain because Fuji keeps a strangle hold on the service.  Very few  companies are authorized beyond Fuji can service their machines and the min service call at this time is $450.  So unless you have deep pockets stay away from Fuji digital document scanners.

What digital document scanners senders are recommend the most and best for your needs?  Canon, HP and Kodak digital scanners document imagers senders brands.  In the used refurbished scanners we recommend the Canon brand or the HP digital senders again based upon your speed, paper size and volume needs.  The most repairable digital document scanners units are the HP and Canon brands due to the number of dealers who have access to parts and training.  That does not mean they break down all the time. They do not – they are very durable.  But due to more competition the repair and maintenance of the HP digital scanner senders and Canon scanners are less than the Fuji, Kodak and other brands brands.  Plus, used HP and Canon scanners are available at a reasonable price when compared to Fuji and Kodak brands.

There is always a debate whether to obtain a new full size copier printer scanner fax instead of a refurbished one. When you look in the lower end of the marked (Sub $1000 machines) it usually best to obtain a new copier printer or one that has less than 1 month duty cycle of pages. The duty cycle is defined as the maximum number of pages that the manufacturer the user should stay below each month.  Many new HP printers that are in the $1000 and above range have duty cycles of 200,000 pages or more.  The general rule of thumb is not to buy a used recondition HP printer copier scanner fax or any other brand that has more than 1.5 months of duty cycle so it will still have 5..7 years of very useful life.

If a used recondition HP 5035MFP, which is HP’s highest end black/white current model copier printer scanner, has over 340,000 pages then find another one. The HP 5035mfp is useful life designed for 4,000,000 (4 million pages) or more so we are talking about less than 10% of usage. Currently, the new HP 5035mfpxs cost $5,999.99 web pricing. However, you can obtain a quality use on for as little as $1995. That’s a giant savings!  The HP 5035MFPxs comes with the works: copier, printer, scanner, fax, stapler, 4+ drawers and rolling cabinet. Its designed for a small company of 5 to 12 people or a department level machine for large corporations.

Used recondition HP printer copier scanners of this durability will give you years of useful life. You may want to considered a printer maintenance program that includes everything except paper.  Printsolv and other PMS (print management systems) frees up your time by taking care of all supplies, repairs, parts and if you choose your vendor well it doe sit automatically so you do not need to chase for repairs or the supplies. If your are located in Florida  call Advanced Business Computers Inc. in Miami Florida for complete details and how to get the equipment at no cost when you select the Printsolv program. Currently they haev used reconditioned HP 5035mfp and other bands for quick delivery.

Along with the recent release of the Kyocera color FS-C2626MFD and the FS-c2526MFP, Kyocera release a new high end heavy duty lost cost to operate desktop model. The FS-3640MFP and the FS-3540 bridges the gap between the full size floor models Taskalfa series and the desktop printer copier scanners. Its designed to customers that do not need 11 x 17 size pages but require a heavy duty desktop with a floor model option with all the features of the larger machines.

Kyocera has always been the low cost to operate leader in the industry.  Their long life maintenance kits combined with toner cartridges that last 15,000 pages  gives them an edge over HP, Okidata, Lexmark and other brands.  Standard features of the Kyocera printer copier scanner fax include duplex (two sided copy, scan  and printing), true gigabit network connected, 50 page radf , 4.3″ user friendly touch screen control panel, print speed of 42 pages per minute, USB connection, scan to computer, scan to email, scan to network,  network print and much more.

The Kyocera copier printer scanner fax FS-3640 and FS-3540 only difference is the fax abilities. If you need a fax then choose the FS-3540 model.  It’s designed for people who have scan and distribute mission critical information to process and it is HyPAS ready for a company wide solution which use to be only available on the larger more expensive machines.

Security is a big issues when due to government regulations and client legal concerns. The Kyocera printer copier scanner fax comes with network used authentication integrated with a user-authentication adding more layers of functionality to improve security and accountability needs.  Ad than with the green approach of longer life maintenance kits and less intrusive toner supplies makes Kyocera the world leader in Eco friendly equipment.

Kyocera keeps winning awards topping just about all other manufacturers for their line of MFD (multi function devices). There newest models printer copier scanner fax  color units has edged into the high machine slots with one exception 11 x17 pages. If you are looking for a medium duty color printer copier scanner fax and you print up to legal size then this is a major contender.

Kyocera has long been recognized for the best medium to heavy duty desktop printer copier fax scanners due to their low cost to operate and maintain while producing great quality documents.  No other company in the industry even comes close to their warranty on there regular maintenance item. they are the only company in the industry that warranties tier maintenance kits for 300 to 5000 pages depending upon the model. HP, Lexmark, Okidata, Canon, Sharp, and other manufactures either offer a 30 day warranty or NO warranty on their printer copier fax scanner repair maintenance kits. Why is this important? Because beyond the toner the cost then next biggest expense and cause of copier printer scanner failures are the maintenance kit items: fuser, drum, and developer parts.  traditional copier manufacturer companies such as Ricoh, Sharp, Canon, Toshiba, Minolta and other do not warranty their maintenance items beyond the initial installation. They expect you to have a maintenance program with your repair service provider otherwise you are out of luck if the maintenance items fails once placed in your copier printer scanner fax.

The difference between the  Kyocera FS-C2526 and FS-c2526 is that the FS-C2626 comes standard withe a fax option.  All are designed with a touch screen control panel for ease of use, long life low costs supplies, duplex (two sided) printing, 50 sheet RADF for two sided copying/faxing, gigabyte network speed connection, and HyPas plus many options when you need to expand. Plus, most important an optional security package gives you what you need for sensitive document protection.

Many companies feel you need a floor model unit fro the copier printer fax scanner to last many years.  Or they look at the page speed to determine the durability of the unit. These are both big mis-conceptions.  Speed has no bearing on durability if it did then a sports car would win a collision withe a utility truck! Get the right fit for your business by getting the best printer copier scanner based on your needs. Bypass the hype and get a true solution that takes into account the equipment costs, maintenance and daily usage.