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Kyocera Mita FS-C5150DN review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £287
inc VAT

Its colour prints are slow and lack a glossy sheen, but the FS-C5150DN is great value

Specifications

single-pass colour laser, 21ppm print speed, USB, 10/100 Ethernet, PictBridge USB, 370x390x523mm

http://www.printerbase.co.uk

Kyocera’s FS-C5150DN is a heavy duty printer that’s designed to handle the high page yields required by small-to-medium businesses. Unlike many of its rivals, Kyocera doesn’t quote one-time maximum monthly duty cycle figures, and instead recommends a maximum monthly average of no more than 9,000 pages if you want to keep your printer running smoothly for as long as possible. It’s worth noting that the printer has a 100,000 page OPC drum that isn’t designed to be replaced, which means it’ll probably be more cost-effective to replace the printer when the drum runs out.

Because of the savings made by the fixed drum, the FS-C5150DN‘s print costs and total cost of ownership are remarkably low. It’s good value for money if your printing requirements are slight, costing just £333 over three years, but it is users undertaking medium to heavy-duty printing that’ll benefit the most. If you print 500 mono and 250 colour pages every month for three years you’ll spend just £1,180. That’s far less than you’d spend with most of Kyocera’s rivals.

Kyocera Mita FS-C5150DN
It’s not particularly attractive, but the FS-C5150DN is massively upgradeable.

The FS-C5150DN is big, heavy and not particularly attractive. It’s a bit more complicated to assemble than more compact colour lasers, having a waste toner bottle to fit in addition to four toner cartridges, but its clear operating instructions meant we had no major problems physically setting it up, despite its slightly fiddly cartridge locking system. The FS-C5150DN’s massively upgradeable too, taking up to four additional paper trays for a maximum paper capacity of 1,250 pages. Out of the box, it starts with an input and output capacity of 250 pages.

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Basic Specifications

Rating ****
Maximum native print resolution 600x600dpi
Maximum enhanced print resolution 9,600x600dpi

Quoted Speeds

Quoted speed, mono A4 21ppm
Quoted speed, colour A4 21ppm

Tested Speeds

Mono page from sleep time 1.0 24s
Colour page from sleep time 1.0 24s
Time for two 10x8in photos 1.0 32s
Time for six 6x4in photos 1.0 45s

Physical and Environmental

Standard printer interfaces USB, 10/100 Ethernet, PictBridge USB
Optional printer interfaces none
Size 370x390x523mm
Weight 29.0kg
Noise (in normal use) 50dB(A)
Duty cycle 9,000 maximum monthly average

Paper Handling

Maximum paper size up to A4
Maximum paper weight 220gsm
Standard paper inputs 2
Standard paper input capacity 300
Maximum paper inputs 4
Maximum paper input capacity 1,300
Duplex (code, cost if option) Yes

General

Printer technology single-pass colour laser
Language(s) PCL 5c, PCL 6, KPDL 3 (PostScript 3 compatible), PDF Direct print, XPS Direct print
Supported operating systems Windows XP/Vista/7, Mac OS X 10.2+. Linux, UNIX
Standard printer memory 256MB
Maximum printer memory 1.25GB
Other laser features and options £150

Buying Information

Price £287
Price of 2nd paper cassette £152
Capacity of supplied black toner 1,200 pages
Capacity of supplied colour toners 1,200 pages
Capacity of supplied drum(s) 100,000
Estimated colour TCO – three years medium £1180
Estimated colour TCO – three years heavy £4126
Warranty two year collect and return
Supplier http://www.printerbase.co.uk
Details www.kyoceramita.co.uk
Consumable parts and prices £74 each

Tested Print Speeds

Time for two 10x8in photos 1.0 32s
Time for six 6x4in photos 1.0 45s