- Color laser printer brings high-volume color technology right to your desktop
- Prints 16 pages each minute in both full-color and black and white; first page prints in only 14 seconds
- Mac and PC compatible; convenient all-in-one cartridge and top-loading design
- Vibrant color at resolutions up to 2400 x 600 dpi
- Measures 16.0 x 18.0 x 12.8 (W x D x H); 1-year warranty
DO NOT BUY EVER!
-for a Macintosh Computer
RICOH AFICIO SP C222DN LASER PRINTER
I purchased this printer early 2008 for nearly $700. $1300 if you add in ink!
It didn''t work well during even the first 14 days and it was totally dead by summer 2010.
Within days of getting it new from Staples the ability to see STATUS information online quit. I figured no big deal, mainly that was only a cute way to see paper and ink levels.
In another week the ability to see that same status even on the mac desktop was no more.
Within the first month its USB capability concluded and I was left with connectivity via Ethernet/Apple Talk TCPiP.
Start up took about two full minutes.
First page according to Ricoh specs was to be no more than 15 seconds. The true time was more like 45 seconds with NORMAL print settings. If you print heavily inked documents then each subsequent page took just as long as the first. That length of time progressed all the way to FOUR HOURS, que errors, can''t communicate errors. Every print job took dozens of on/off cycles {literally turning it on and off over and over} to get out each and every page. Then it died.
For LASER, it was ridiculously slow, and thats an overstatement. Black and White is not jump-from-the-page crisp like good old office IBM printers. Color is not eye popping. There are no edge to edge print features. It prints all colors several shades darker than it should so every graphic you wish to print first has to be lightened by at least 25% or your red will be maroon and a wood grain won''t be seen. The printer deposits too much black toner and no setting allows the user to correct that.
Here''s an example of what I mean. In order to print this bed and have it look like it does on the left, you''d have to adjust the graphic file to be the image on the right then print. Yes I do mean that much lighter. So much so that on screen you''d swear you''ve removed all the detail in the whiter areas of the image such as in the window. That means you work your tail off adjusting the images in every web page you print as well as in every text document containing graphics to make them appear washed out/over exposed in other words.
You need to keep then two sets of graphics. One that''s accurate (so that you can email it, print it on other devices or just display it right) and another one just for printing on this Ricoh! If you don''t you have to keep fixing and unfixing every graphic depending upon the task at hand. If you don''t do this you not only will have images that are too dark all the time but you''ll waste a ton of ink. Considering the price of laser toner, no one wants that.
For the queue/communications errors, I thought perhaps it was a hardware Ethernet or Apple Talk communication issue so I changed the router and cables. That didn''t help, when the printer itself no longer responded to even having its door opened, I knew it was the printer that just was one big lemon.
Before I purchased it I contacted Ricoh for presales support. Oh what a jolly fellow who promised to see me through everything, I reached. First call with him not bad. Took him a while to find a print driver file that would work and even he was shocked that the file name didn''t match any documentation he had! I should have known I was in trouble right there.
Once I called back and emailed that the online status feature then the USB connectivity had failed, I never heard from him or any other Ricoh technician again.
INKone of the reasons I picked that laser printer was that its web specs indicated a far less expensive High Capacity cartridge was soon to be released. A week after I purchased the machine the device was longer to be seen on the Ricoh web site (not even listed as DISCONTINUED). The meek parts listing was updated to show no mention of any HC ink cartridge. The machine became a ghost and for good reason. All 4 toner cases [red yellow blue black] will run you nearly $500 in total (whether or not you have to pay tax and shipping)! I called the cartridges "cases", because they are sized like mini pieces of luggage.
How long will they last? You''d think being so big they would last and last and last. They will print about one fourth as many pages as Ricoh states! For me ink ran $1000 per year. A company would have to spend thousands annually on ink for this model.
LASER QUALITYNo where near as good as a decent HP inkjet, no matter the setting or the paper type.
PAPER JAM That''s where it excelled. It has a straight bottom to top, up the front paper path and rarely will you have to deal with a jam. When there is one, it is easy to rid. Typically it will occur with envelopes handled through the front single feeder and when DUPLEX printing.
DUPLEX PRINTING The machine succeeds at that task about 40% of time and under two conditions only. NOT WITH GRAPHICS on the back of the page and on the SLICKEST paper you can find. HP Presentation paper for instance which feels like a smooth magazine cover produced the best chance of successful dulex printing. I couldn''t get it to do two sided printing on any other texture of paper. The 60% of the time it refuses to do side two, it will just sit forever silently with that page in the paper path until you remove it. You could come back in hours expecting to see a large file all done and you''d see absolutely nothing in the output tray!
PHYSICAL PLACEMENT, this printer yanks as it prints so you can''t put it on a flimsy folding table. Well anchored Strong counter/table only.
Its Mac drivers work for OS 10.4-10.5 but NOT SNOW LEOPARD Ricoh produces no driver to operate this machine on Snow Leopard and neither does Apple. NOT FOR OS10.6+
BOTTOM LINEDon''t buy this printer not even for $ZERO unless you need a very heavy -80lb, door stop or a prop for a theatrical performance. I only wish there had been even one review to warn me!
Amount Paid (US$):
700
Cons
SLOW, LOW PRINT QUALITY, HIGH INK COST, LOUSY TECH SUPPORT
PROs
RARE PAPER JAMS, NOT EXCESSIVELY NOISEY
Buy Ricoh Aficio SP C220N Color Laser Printer Now
I bought this printers 2 years ago. It was never working well from beginning. I use it very rarely and now it is dead.Coast of motherboard replacement and 4 toners (even though each toner still has over 50% dry ink available, but Ricoh technician told I have to replace it, because it is already too dry) more than to buy new printer.
Read Best Reviews of Ricoh Aficio SP C220N Color Laser Printer Here
Pros:easy setup & easy to use!
GREAT picture quality!
large cartridges will print lots of pages
Cons:
expensive ink
takes about 2-3 minutes for a page to print, even if it''s only in black/white
rather large/heavy
I saw other reviewers say that it printed dull photos, but I use this printer only to print my pictures the quality is GREAT.
Want Ricoh Aficio SP C220N Color Laser Printer Discount?
I found this online at a very low price. It seems like I paid about 250.00 for it. I discovered after I bought it that the model has been discontinued by Ricoh and it seems that toner cartridges are hard to come by. You can still purchase them, but they are expensive. Expect to pay about 375.00 to replace all four cartridges. But ink and toner for all printers is expensive, so that is nothing really new (unfortunate yes, new well... no. All the manufacturers stick it to you with the toner and ink).The printer comes "complete" with the toner cartridges to get you started. They don''t tell you these are "starter" cartridges and will only print a small quantity of pages before you have to lay out some cash and buy the full cartridges (that print about 2000 pages at like 5% coverage).
OK, so you get past the sticker shock with the toner issues and install your printer. For me, everything was really easy. The printer itself works well, mechanically and with the PC, but the prints it makes leave a little to be desired. The color is there, but is somewhat dull and lifeless. Blacks are not true black, they are sort of "charcoal" black and photos aren''t "stunning" like they advertise. The toner by Ricoh isn''t very glossy, it''s rather flat and dull, making the final print out look dull. I was kind of disappointed, especially compared to some other brands out there, such as HP, which prints in much richer colors.
Another thing about these toner cartridges... they have a "smart chip" technology that most manufacturers are using these days. They claim the smart chip tells the machine when the cartridge is out of toner. While this is a great tool to keep your machine from printing faded prints, it also stops the machine dead in it''s tracks and won''t allow you to print a thing until the cartridge is replaced. Even if your machine runs out of yellow toner, you can''t just print a plain black and white page UNTIL you replace the yellow cartridge! Imagine this, it''s late, you are working on something important for tomorrow morning and your printer runs out of toner. You just need it to print one more sheet, but the "smart chip" says "no way". Remember the old days when you could take the cartridge out, shake it a little and put it back in and get a few more pages out of it? Those days are over my friends! The manufacturers want you to buy their toner. That is where the big money is. So you''d better have an extra on hand if you have important things to print!
The next issue is that the printer needs to "heat up" in order to print, making a very light "buzz, buzz, buzz" sound while it heats up to the proper temperature. While it does this, there is an extra drain on the electricity and my household lights dim while the printer is turned on! My house has been updated, but I guess the circuit this printer is on can''t handle the drain. So, if you plan to use this printer at home and you have old wiring, I guess you''ll be putting up with disco lights while you print! I keep mine off most of the time anyway, but this is just annoying. My Epson and former HP never did this.
Last but not least, the manual paper feed doesn''t always feed the paper into the printer straight. It''s sucks it in slightly cockeyed, presenting you with a print that''s slightly off. It''s better to use the paper tray instead of the manual feed.
After everything is said and done, I wouldn''t recommend this printer when there are so many other possibilities out there at this same price point. I made my purchase decision based on the price and the Ricoh name, but sadly it wasn''t worth it in the end. When you buy any printer, you sell your soul to the devil because it''s not the price of the printer that will kill you, it''s the price of the toner and ink. That''s one thing when you get good quality results from the printouts, but Ricoh falls short of this. Personally, I would recommend the HP line, which also gouges you for toner, but the quality of the prints can''t be beat.
Good luck!
1. At the time of this review, the Ricoh Aficio SPC220N does not work with OS-X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). The manufacturer has not released any information stating when or if it ever will. If you are a Mac user, I suggest looking elsewhere.
2. This unit has a design fault that will cause it to stop operating if it sees a power brown-out condition. The printer firmware interprets the inability to heat up the fusor as a fusor failure, and sets an error bit that cannot readily be cleared by the user, requiring a service call. This is an absurd design decision.
Other than that, it''s perfect.
ADDENDUM, 10-13-2009
If you follow the discussion here:You will find a fix for the driver issues.
Essentially, the permissions on the driver are set incorrectly, and the fix is a one-line Terminal paste-and-run that sets the permissions correctly.
For the knowledgeable or courageous, the short form is:
Open the Terminal (/Applications/Utiltites). Copy and paste the following command into a Terminal window:
sudo chmod -R 775 /Library/Printers/Ricoh/
Then hit the Return or Enter key. Enter your password when prompted and then hit the Return or Enter key again.
You may need to delete and re-add the printer queue again, because it appears that the OS caches the fact that the permissions are mis-set.
I just ran through Printer Setup (without deleting the queue) again and hit the OK button and the "installed incorrectly" error went away.
YMMV, but this fixed my printing problems with this printer.
Doesn''t change the fact that a brown-out can effectively kill the printer, even though it doesn''t actually damage anything.
So if you don''t already own one, don''t buy one unless you have a big enough UPS (or CVT) to plug it into.
If you do own one, (and have brown-outs some times) turn it off when you aren''t using it.
OTHERWISE, buy a service contract, or plan on just tossing the out-of-warranty printer and getting a new one.
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