Ricoh 408235 SP C261SFNw Color Laser Multifunction Printer

I had another color laser printer that was warning me that drums were nearing end of life and toner was low too. Replacing the drums was a minimum of $125 and toner was about $55-60 each (I needed 3). So I decided to see how much a color laser printer would cost, preferable with AirPrint support. There were printers for $150-170, but then I saw this one. It's a multifunction machine and only $184. No brainer. Features were great, automatic duplex scanning and printing. The last time I looked at laser multifunction/all-in-one machines were WAY EXPENSIVE, but not this one (and I think this is the only one I saw that is under $200). Black toner is cheaper than my previous printer, but colors are more expensive, but the yield per cartridge is better. Print speed is good, print time from sleep is also good, best of all print quality is excellent. Much better than my previous color laser printer, and I was happy with that. It is big and heavy, so make sure you have room for it and a piece of furniture that can support it. Unpacking was easy, as was the setup. I didn't need to refer to a manual for the initial setup and connection to my wi-fi. You will need some tech/networking smarts to set up scanning destinations (e.g. to common network storage, individual computers in your house or office, or to email). I'll confess I still haven't gotten scan and send to an email address to work, but I don't really need that so I haven't spent much time troubleshooting that to figure it out. If you don't have the tech skills you may want to opt for the Expert Installation option. I haven't had a need to use the FAX yet, but I know it works (it picked up voice calls when I didn't answer in time). Test scans and copies all look good too. Great machine and great price. I highly recommend this machine.

Whenever it prints, the quality is good. The key word is whenever, I am always having problems with it connecting to my network, this has been the most trouble-some printer that I've had and is unreliable. You can never reach anybody for customer service or tech support, I would not recommend this to anyone who wants a reliable printer

I don't print a lot and I got tired of ink cartridges drying up before they were half empty. Finally the ink gummed up my whole inkjet printer and no amount of cleaning removed the error code so I scrapped it. I saw this all in one color laser printer that uses four toner cartridges and it was about the same price as a good inkjet printer, so I decided to give it a try. I am very pleased. It can connect via Ethernet, USB, or wireless. It has the option to print front and back, it scans single or multiple sheets in color or b&w. It can function as a copy machine. It also has fax send/receive capability but I have not used that function. Print quality is excellent and if you get some glossy laser printer paper (do NOT use inkjet photographic paper!) it makes fairly decent color photographs but they are not as good as a good inkjet photographic printer. From several feet away, they look fine but on close inspection they just don't compete. Compared to a good inkjet print they look sort of flat and lack brilliant color. They look more like pictures you would see in a magazine.When turned on it warms up within a minute or two so I usually turn it off if I am not printing. If left on it has a strange habit of randomly going through its warm up cycle maybe once or twice a day ... any time during the 24 hours.My only negative comment is not really negative. If you are accustomed to compact little inkjet printers, this is a monster. It is the size of a small office copy machine and it weighs a lot, like two persons to handle lot! It is clearly built to withstand heavy use. If you want to get away from ink cartridges that dry up on you and into a powder-based (toner) color printer I think this printer is an excellent place to start.

This printer is large and heavy, however, if you have the space and can lift or get help lifting the device it could be the solution you're looking for!I was tired of ink jet printers drying up due to lack of use and did some research on other options. For a small home office my needs are simple. I wanted color, duplexing and Wi-Fi printing and scanning.This laser printer using toner which doesn't dry up was the answer for me. It comes with enough toner included to last a year or more with my limited print needs.It is heavy and larger than home ink jet printers so make sure to check the dimensions and have someone available to help if you have trouble lifting.The set up was a bit confusing but I think I may have caused some of the issue by installing an app that is no longer supported. MAKE SURE TO USE THE RICOH CONNECT APP INSTEAD OF THE RICOH SMART DEVICE APP!!!I installed apps on 2 smartphones, 2 tablets and 1 laptop. I ran into issues until I removed the unsupported app and installed the new one.Once the app is installed you can print directly to the printer once you locate and link it through Wi-Fi. (You only need to do this once.) If you do not want to do this there is an NFIC option but you have to be at the printer to share the print job this way.Once you have your printer linked to the app you can adjust the specs for the job right from the app before sending it. You need can adjust the paper size, color vs b/w, etc. You need to change these each time you send something to print as the defaults are A4 paper using color.It is possible to change the default settings on a laptop or desktop using the IP address of the printer and changing them as admin. I would not suggest this unless you have had experience with this before but it is possible.I am very happy with the printer after several months of using it. I turn it off after I am finished since my print projects are few. The noise is what I expected from a printer but I have not had it in sleep mode for very long. I cannot speak to the time it takes to wake up but am pleased with the speed it prints and the quality of the prints. The color photos are great when printing from my cell phone to plain paper. I haven't printed to photo paper yet but am hopeful the pictures will be nice. I don't have any high expectations as I do not plan to use this for photos that need to be perfect. I'll use a photo service if I need those.Overall my experience has been wonderful and the hiccups have come due to user error.