Okay Oki
Written: Oct 14 '05 (Updated Oct 17 '05)
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Pros: Inexpensive up-front cost, TCP/IP network-capable, glossy color prints, speed.
Cons: Expensive consumables and 17,000 page useful life.
The Bottom Line: This printer is great for low volume use, but I'd look elsewhere for a high volume printer.
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| plilikoi's Full Review: Oki Electric Industry C5200ne Led Printer |
Background
My old monochrome HP LaserJet III had broken and it wasn’t worth repairing, but I missed having a laser printer at home.
Finally, I couldn’t stand not having access to a laser printer at home and I began to research inexpensive color laser printers. I found that Staples was offering a $200 rebate on the $600 Oki C5200ne color laser printer. We had purchased on Okidata c5150n at work, approximately six months ago, and I was impressed by its speed, glossy color prints and the fact that it was a networked (TCP/IP) printer out of the box. This printer has printed 10,000 pages with only the odd problem. As far as I can tell, the only difference between the two models is that the C5200ne is slightly faster.
I particularly wanted a color laser printer, rather than a monochrome laser printer or an ink jet color printer, because I do a lot of hiking/backpacking and I print maps from National Geographic’s Topo! topographic mapping software. It’s really horrible to try to interpret monochrome topographic maps. On the other hand, the ink on maps printed on ink jet printers smears when the paper gets wet. When I printed on the Oki C5150n laser printer at work it created water-proof maps.
Included accessories
The C5200ne printer comes with a power cord and printer driver software. It does not, however, come with an ethernet or a USB cable, one of which is required to connect it to a network, or a computer (Windows or Mac), respectively. A small manual, along with quick setup instructions, is also provided, as is software for Windows and Mac (including OSX). Linux, or other Unix, support is essentially non-existent. A more comprehensive manual comes on one of the included CD-ROMs.
Setup
Setup was moderately easy. First you have to remove all the packing tape, including one difficult-to-remove orange-colored widget and then install the toner cartridges. The machine weighs 57 pounds and has a 17x22” footprint so this isn’t as easy as it sounds. You really do have to be careful not to spill toner when you insert the cartridges. I wanted to set the printer up with a static IP address for use on my home, local area network. In order to do this I had to go into the printer’s setup menu, through the front panel controls, and give it an IP address, etc. This would not be trivial if you’re not used to TCP/IP networks, although I found it easy enough.
Printer
The print capability is excellent, although not as good as less expensive, contemporary ink jet printers. It features color resolution up to 1200x600 dots per inch (dpi). The speed is also excellent, up to 24 pages per minute (ppm) black and 16 ppm color. This is actually an LED (not a laser) printer that prints all colors in a single pass. This allows it not only to be very fast, but also to print banners as large as 8.5" x 47.25".
The basic print capabilities are accessible from any networked computer, which is really great. You could make this printer available so that it could be printed to from anywhere in the World, which might be handy for sharing documents. On the other hand I didn’t notice any security and I don’t want just anybody printing to my printer. This isn’t an issue for me since I placed the printer on an internal network that’s isolated from the Internet by a firewall. The duty cycle is 50,000 pages per month, a hundred times more than I’m likely to use.
Consumables
Replacement Okidata toner cartridges are expensive, as you might expect, at $416 with a one time 15% discount for a set of 5,000 page count black, cyan, yellow and magenta cartridges, http://www.okidata.com/rainbowpack. Yup, that’s more than I paid for the printer with toner cartridges (albeit with lower capacity toner). Alternatively, I found a cheaper supplier at http://www.suppliesguys.com/page/01/CTGY/Oki, $267 for the comparable set of 5,000 page count (based on 5% page coverage per color, but 5% is a very low estimate for photographs) toner cartridges.
After approximately 17,000 pages printed, not only the toner, but also the four “image drums” need to be changed, at an additional cost of almost $400. Since this is a single pass printer, even if you only print black, all four image drums will have to be replaced at the same time. At this time I’ll be in the market for a new printer. Thus, the cost of putting color ink on paper (i.e., excluding the cost of the paper itself) is up to 7 cents per page. Black toner is cheaper than color toner so this represents the highest likely cost. It’s not cheap, but it’s not bad either.
$400 printer cost
$800 for 3 sets of 5,000 page count toner cartridges (non OEM)
= $1200
/17,000 pages
= 7 cents/page
Conclusion
The warranty period for parts and labor extends for one year. For the up-front cost, this printer is an excellent buy. Color printing is expensive, however. Color toner is fairly expensive and the printer itself has a useful printing life of only 17,000 pages (since the cost of replacing the image drums is the same as the cost of the printer). It’s great for home (or for home office) use, but I’d look elsewhere for an office printer. It's too bad that no one made this analysis before buying the Oki C5150ne printer for our office.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 400
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
plilikoi
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 - Top 1000 |
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Location: San Diego, CA, USA
Reviews written: 76
Trusted by: 6 members
About Me:
Raised in Scotland, living in San Diego. Getting older and wiser daily, older for sure!
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