Ricoh Aficio AP3800C Workgroup Laser Printer

Most relevant reviews

• 2 out of 5 stars

  by 9195.maxou101 Jun, 2011

  Poors quality product.

  I am not happy with printers I bought from crasy prin...ter. This is the second time that I purchased goods from this company and on both occasion I had issues with printers they sold to me.

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• 5 out of 5 stars

  by michelizant07 Feb, 2012

  A great machine which is available at a bargain price - few reservations

  The...se printers are widely available on Ebay. They are quite old these days, but some have seen very little life and represent a real bargain. Most often they are available in the printer version (AP3800C), but the photocopier version (AP3800CMF) also crops up quite regularly. I bought a photocopier version which was not working, but working ones crop up quite frequently, too. Often, problems which prevent machines from working are pretty small, and if you have a little expertise they are easy to resolve. One of the strengths of this machine is its 1200x1200 dpi print resolution; many other contemporary machines are 1200x600 or even 2400x600. The 3800C is capable of very pleasing photo output indeed, even on ordinary paper. Precise colour alignment is necessary to get the best out of the printer, and the automatic setting doesn't always get it fully spot on, but if you're really picky (like me!) then you can make manual adjustments to fine tune the output. I really like the vibrancy of the colours this printer produces. Other really impressive features are its print speed, and the very short warm up time - much faster than my Minolta CF3102. The true Adobe Postscript 3 language is also a great asset, making printing of complex documents wholly reliable. I have two Xerox 7300s, which cope better with very heavy stock (350gsm), although the toner tends to produce softer colours than the Ricoh. I must admit the Xerox does feel more like a Rolls compared to the Ricoh's Ford, but in the final event it's the quality of the output and the reliability that really matter, and in these respects the Ricoh has so far more than held its own. I've also found the photocopier expansion very effective - there's a whole host of functions and settings which can be used to adjust the copy quality and colour balance, but it does a very creditable job all on its own. Obviously, copies are never as good as original prints. I've had very few paper feed problems and once my machine settled down after its move, it's been really reliable. So far, it's not had a long-run job to do, however. Consumables are not over priced, and if you keep your eye on Ebay, you can often pick some up at a bargain price. Various compatibles and part-used items are also available, and it's possible to reset the drums etc. if you do a little research on the net to find out how. Given the price for which this machine can now be picked up, I think it's a really good buy, especially if you're OK with technical things and you don't mind doing a little learning/maintenance yourself so that the running costs are very low. It gets my vote.

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• 2 out of 5 stars

  by smarter_solutions09 Apr, 2011

  Not great

  Not what I expected colour print quality is very poor, mono is pas...sable. consumables are expensive and it's going to cost an additional £200 - £250 to get a decent colour print by changing the colour units.

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