Keypoint Intelligence – Buyers Lab (BLI) announced its Pick award recipients in the Printer/MFP and Copier/MFP categories, with the accolades going to stellar devices from Canon, HP, Lexmark, Ricoh, Kyocera and Xerox.
Awarded twice each year, Picks acknowledge the office equipment products that gave the best performances in Buyers Lab’s extensive suite of lab tests in the previous six months.
“Small workgroups looking for a colour printer or MFP need look no further than the flawlessly reliable Canon Colour imageCLASS LBP664Cdw and MF746Cdw,” said Marlene Orr, Director of Printer & MFP Analysis at Keypoint Intelligence – Buyers Lab. “For a low cost, businesses get high-quality output and minimal downtime, along with an array productivity-enhancing features. The devices include intuitive touch-screen interfaces that allow users to create one-touch buttons for commonly used functions via Canon’s Application Library. And broad mobile support means productivity can extend beyond just the workstation.”
“For roughly half the cost of ownership of competitive laser models, the inkjet HP OfficeJet Pro 9010 and 9020 series gives low-volume environments a user-friendly, high-performing device that can be counted on for vibrant colour prints,” said Orr. “The models are packed with productivity-boosting features, including an intuitive touch-screen interface and a standard DSPF on the 9020 series. And thanks to flexible options, users can print and scan from almost anywhere. All in all, the 9010 and 9020 series deliver high-quality output and all of the features and functionality you would expect from competitive laser models, but for much less.”
“Lexmark’s outstanding lineup was awarded with the most wins in the most categories this Summer 2019 award season,” said Orr. “Lexmark offer products that outshine the competition in the home office, small office, mid-size workgroup, and large workgroup areas. All of the winning models stood out for their impressive performances and user-friendliness, promising minimal downtime for busy workgroups. The CS720 series, CS622de and CX625 series can be counted on for high-quality, professional-looking output and come with advanced colour features, including PANTONE calibration and Lexmark’s Colour Replacement technology. This can help businesses save on costs by enabling them to produce marketing materials in-house rather than having to outsource. Flexible mobile support makes it easy for users to print and scan on the go, while the CS720 series, CS622de and CX625 series support Lexmark’s embedded Solutions Framework (eSF), which can help businesses save even more time and money. When you factor in these devices’ low costs with their impressive performances and feature sets, it’s easy to see why Lexmark took home so many Pick awards.”
“The feature-rich Ricoh IM 350F is the best choice for mid-size workgroups looking for a monochrome MFP they can count on to keep them productive,” said Tony Maceri, Senior Test Technician at Keypoint Intelligence – Buyers Lab. “In addition to being very easy to use and maintain, it delivered a flawless reliability performance and class-leading duplex scan speeds. It comes standard with Ricoh’s Smart Operation Panel, which features a large Android-style display, a web browser, and the ability to select from a wide range of Ricoh smart apps. The Ricoh IM 350F stands out in so many ways and was the clear winner in the mid-volume monochrome category.”
“High-volume environments can count on the Xerox VersaLink C9000DT and C8000DT for maximum uptime and high-quality output,” said Maceri. “These devices are well-equipped to keep up with the demands of busy offices, given their impressive performances and user-friendliness. From the highly intuitive touch-screen interface, users can download ConnectKey apps that can streamline workflows, increase productivity, and reduce costs. The VersaLink C9000DT offers professional color matching and management tools, including PANTONE calibration, custom spot color editor, and optional Xerox Precise Colour Management System software. These tools can allow businesses to print marketing materials in-house, saving them money on outsourcing. The devices’ integration with Xerox’s embedded software platform can help save businesses even more time and money.”
In the Copier MFP category Keypoint Intelligence – Buyers Lab recognised three vendors with Canon being awarded with six copier MFP Picks.
“For Canon, it starts with reliability,” said George Mikolay, Associate Director of Copiers/Production at Keypoint Intelligence – Buyers Lab. “Collectively, we ran more than 2 million impressions on these six machines and experienced just three misfeeds. Plus, usability has always been outstanding with Canon—case in point, Canon’s PaceSetter award for Ease of Use: Enterprise Devices, and these devices build on that tradition. The highly intuitive, customizable control panel now combines quick menu options with the main function buttons for easier access, and a new Timeline feature allows users to access their 10 most recent copy and scan jobs very easily and conveniently. Canon’s platform is also setting the industry standard for cloud-based MFPs, with Canon uniFLOW Online winning a 2019 Pick Award for Outstanding Cloud Output-Management Solution. And with very good image quality and outstanding security across speed ranges, the machines promise to get the job done accurately, consistently, and securely, regardless of environment.”
“Kyocera’s story begins with reliability,” said Mikolay. “In total we experienced just three misfeeds in nearly 600,000 impressions of testing. And when taking into consideration long-lasting consumables, downtime will rarely, if ever, be a concern. Kyocera’s award for Most Reliable Colour Copier MFP Brand puts a stamp on the company’s excellence in this area. The HyPAS-enabled devices also allow for seamless integration of customized workflow solutions to not only streamline complex tasks and reduce costs but to enhance security, too. Moreover, highly effective, consistent image quality for both general office and even more marketing-intensive environments, and very good usability across the platform complemented with outstanding price points allow Kyocera to set the standard for value in the copier MFP space.”
Commenting on the announcement, Kyocera said: “Being recognized as the ‘Most Reliable Colour Copier MFP Brand’ by Keypoint Intelligence – Buyers Lab, helped to solidify Kyocera as an industry leader in the Colour Copier MFP segment.”
“Ricoh continues to impress us with its new IM C series of machines, as the IM C2000 and IM C2500, along with the Winter 2019 Pick-winning IM C4500, shine a light on the company in the low-end to mid-range colour copier MFP spaces,” said Mikolay. “The user experience is top-notch, thanks to a large, highly intuitive, Android-based touchscreen that offers user-by-user customization. Image quality is very good, and these devices also continue to set the industry benchmark for scanning with Ricoh Intelligent Scanning, winner of a Winter 2019 Outstanding Achievement in Innovation. Users can scan documents very quickly with these devices, while auto-file split capability enables multiple-page documents to be automatically scanned and emailed in manageable sizes in conjunction with a company’s email file size policy limits. Support for smaller-size items such as bank checks, receipts, and ID cards is very useful for those working in the finance or hospitality sectors. As with Canon, Ricoh is a trendsetter in the industry shift into cloud-ready MFPs, earning the 2019–2020 BLI PaceSetter award in the MFP Cloud Ecosystem category.”
Tags: Summer Pick Awards, Keypoint Intelligence, BLI, Awards
