Kyocera FS-1000 review

If laser printers have one thing going for them, it's that they're cheap to run.

If they're allowed two things, the second is that they're still quicker than the quickest inkjets. Together these factors are convincing if you don't need colour output - and they're magnified if you often produce lots of copies of the same documents.

These days, budget laser printers offer resolutions of between 600 and 1200dpi, and speeds between eight and ten pages per minute. This Kyocera is in the same class but a bit more expensive than its rivals (which typically carry street prices of around £200), so needs to offer something more.

The layout of the machine is sensible, resembling the FS-680 from the same stable by being square in the shoulder. What controls there are are sensibly placed to the top right of the boxy shape.

Paper is fed from a standard lower paper bin that can handle 150 or more sheets of A4. Alternatively, you can use a somewhat plasticky general-purpose feeder that folds down at the front. Output is either to the normal top-of-the-box paper catcher, or to a hinged, back-mounted face-up output bin.

The FS-1000 is entirely unremarkable in use - and that's meant in a nice way. It just sits there and churns out 600dpi text at very close to its rated speed of 10ppm without causing any problems or concerns. The only real niggle I have is that the driver insists on talking to you. 'Printing Started' intoned in a mid-Atlantic drawl gets right up your nose quickly, and so we headed straight to the driver to turn it off!

The printer's time to first page in text mode is commendable, at around five or six seconds. Multiple copies are spat out at a satisfying rate, not markedly different from that time. It's really only when it comes to our somewhat tortuous graphical printer tests that things went a little awry. Speed wasn't the problem: our Report test fairly hurtles out in under 28 seconds. The Newsletter test, with its testing photographic images and trick headline, was produced in just 40 seconds.

It's just that quality isn't as good as it perhaps could be. The FS-1000 is not at its best with detailed photographic images. A few diagrams, yes - it copes well with line-art as opposed to greyscales - but with photos, it's clear that this is no 1440dpi colour inkjet.

In summary, the FS-1000 produces prints of fair quality and is quicker than the LaserJet 1100 - though not quite as quick as the Epson EPL-5800. It's not a bad workaday printer but ultimately its rather hefty price holds the printer back from winning any awards.

Author: David Dorn