Can anyone share their experiences with the DocuColor 240 / 250?

I've seen it discussed in several threads, but never a hearty discussion about this particulary machine, so I figured I would start one. I have been searching for a machine to handle < 150,000 impressions per month. Our main work is extremely high coverage photo graphs from ~8x8 up to 12x18. The 240 came recommended from another printer, so I have begun to look into it much more seriously.

• I see list is $40,000K - presumably for the 240.
• The lack of fuser oil - does that make for easier lamination?
• What are people seeing for click charges? I am trying to figure out cost since our coverage is consistently very high. A four pack of Toner is ~$350, but unlike Xerox's nice number for the Phaser machines, I cannot find any numbers on duty cycle / coverage.
• I am trying to figure out the RIP options. Does it come with a "free" EFI Fiery Network Color Server built in, that does not require external hardware? The printer who recommended it mentioned that it did.
• Reliability... how hard are people running this machines. Any issues? How frequent are jams, etc.?

Any other thoughts?

Regarding the RIP: please don't be confused by "free" or "built in, not requiring external hardware". There is no "free", and the machine *can* be bought without a RIP at all, as a copier only--and any RIP option is, you guessed it, additional external hardware.

No RIP option is physically built inside the thing.

Let's go back to what a laser printer is. Consider your desktop laser printer. What you see is a box with a connection for a power plug and a connection for a network or USB cable. You think of it as one box, everything included. Well, inside that one box is actually two components:

* the marking engine, which in and of itself is dumb and is manufactured and designed completely separate from the controller, and

* a controller for the marking engine, that takes in information from the outside world and tells the marking engine what to mark and not mark. The controller is what the network or USB cable plugs into.

There is no reason for the controller to be INSIDE the box with the marking engine, other than convenience.

The DC240/250 is just a standalone marking engine (sure, it has an internal copier functionality on it, but that has nothing whatsoever to do with printing). To print, you need to add a print controller.

To maximize flexibility, Xerox has created the controller connection as an OUTSIDE connector. All print controllers plug into the machine on the OUTSIDE.

This flexibility gives you several choices for print controller. A couple of them are small and headless and bolt onto the back of the machine--but are still external. Others are larger and have monitor/mouse/keyboard, and sit on a stand next to the machine. All of them do the exact same thing: they take information in from the outside and format it for the DC250 marking engine, and send the marking information to the marker engine.

Beyond that, the various controllers offer various powerful functions in terms of networking, color management, document formatting, scan retrieval from the copier piece, and so on.

The basic Fiery and Creo options bolt onto the back of the machine and make it look like a desktop printer--that is, it looks like you plug a network cable "into the DC250". You don't, you plug it into the external headless controller.

I like the Creo controller because it's just Windows XP. Headless, you can manage it completely via Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection--either from Windows or Macintosh. The Fiery basic controller runs Linux and is very locked down, and requires EFI's own Command Workstation to control it.

With the Creo controller, you can start with the basic unit and add functionality to it as you desire: you can add a monitor/mouse/keyboard/stand kit to it for local control, and you can add the graphic arts premium package to it for higher end work. It's all based off of one single piece of hardware that you can upgrade as your needs require.

In addition, Creo understands production. They've got a great RIP with great features.

If you like Fiery, to move beyond what the basic Fiery controller offers means ditching the basic Fiery hardware and buying a whole new Fiery controller. Or, you can keep the basic Fiery controller and buy yourself an EFI Splash kit; it runs on any Macintosh, and is a very high end RIP for the DC250. It's an interesting product in that it's just Macintosh software; when it RIPs a file, it sends that not into the marking engine of the DC250 itself but rather to the basic Fiery controller bolted to the back (through a network link), which then sends the RIP image to the marking engine. If you want a software RIP you can have one--but its connection to the engine is via that basic hardware controller bolted to the back of the engine.

Digest this, and I'm sure you'll have more questions.

Elmo,

Thanks for all the ins and outs.

I just demo'ed this thing and they tell me it won't support duplex on coated stock?!?!

I have also heard from under everyone's breath who has told me this that it is a marketing decision so people move over to the 5000

I'd have to look, but you may be correct. Regarding the marketing decision idea, there may be an element to that--but not much, if any.

The paper handling of the 240/250 isn't intended to be for production use, and never was. The 5000, though, is another beast completely. The fact that they both print at 50ppm is almost where the similarities stop. The 5000 has the 240/250 xerographics, but they're bolted onto a DC8000 paper handling system which was meant to handle the heavier and coated stocks.

Hi there

My name is Filip

My company is mostly orientated to wide format printing We have half a dozen production machines (Solvent, Uv curable, Eco Sol)
We also print some sheet feed colour on a DC3535 but the machine has made 500000 and it is very unstabile in color and stop very often.

I'm thinking of buying a new one and the options are DC250 DC5000 or an Indigo 1050
The volume that I have doesn't justify the DC5000 or the Indigo but I'm hoping to expand client list with the indigo and I'm trying to get as much service as possible.

Q:
- Quality DC5000 vs. DC250
- Which machine requires the least service
- What is the life time of the three printers
- Can the DC5000 print on self adhesive paper or vinyl

Thanks
Filip