Kyocera FS-1010 review

Kyocera has been banging the ecological drum since Sting was knee-high to a South American grasshopper.

But if you buy a Kyocera printer, you don't just get a warm feeling inside, you also buy low running costs for the duration of its life. In the FS-1010's case, this is partially because when the toner cartridge runs out, you don't just throw it away or recycle it; you refill it with toner instead.

This means that instead of paying £56 for a cartridge that will last 6,000 pages, you only have to pay £21. Although you risk getting your hands grubby in the process, it's worth it. Another environmental bonus is the 5W sleep mode, reducing both your electricity bill and energy wastage.

The problem with the sleep mode is that it takes that much longer for the printer to leap into action when prompted. In general, the first page will hit the output tray after around 10 seconds, but this stretches to 17 seconds from Sleep mode - a slight nuisance, perhaps, but hardly a big problem.

It helps that this is a quick printer anyway. It didn't matter how complex the pages we sent to it, the FS-1010 knocked them out at a rock steady 13.8ppm (pages per minute), just a fraction below its stated 14ppm speed. This is where the 200MHz processor and 16Mb of RAM come into their own: lesser-specified printers, such as the Lexmark E320 with its 4Mb of memory, cope easily with plain text, but complex layouts can cause delays and failures.

Photos aren't the Kyocera's ace suit. Although it managed to produce respectable results, you can't hide from this printer's true resolution of 600x600dpi - even if the driver calls it High Quality 1200 instead. The FS-1010 is much more at home printing everyday text-based documents, with a few graphs and spreadsheets thrown in. Kyocera has got the driver right, too - where some mono lasers can't tell the difference between yellow and dark grey, leaving highlighted cells in Excel spreadsheets unreadable, the FS-1010 was faultless.

There's more hidden attractions for business buyers as well. If you decide to network the FS-1010, there's a version available with a 10/ 100BaseTX card already fitted (the cunningly named FS-1010N) for £385 excluding tax, or you can buy a card separately. And if you tread this path, you can buy a second 250-sheet paper tray to accompany the 250-sheet tray already in place. You can also place up to 50 sheets into the multi-purpose tray, although this paper will then be left open to the elements.

With the ability to print up to 10,000 pages per month, the FS-1010 is probably overkill for personal use - you can buy cheaper laser printers like the Lexmark E320 for £212, and even the Kyocera's phenomenally low running costs are unlikely to pay for the difference. The three-year warranty also has a business tone to it, even though it's return-to-base rather than on-site.

But in a small office, this printer comes up trumps in all the key areas. It's fast, economical to run and can grow with your business. And if Sting would approve, all the better.

Author: Tim Danton