Konica Minolta C6500 or Xerox 5000

[SAINTAZ]

We are about to buy a new digital machine and want to know what people think of these 2 machines.
Konica Minolta C6500 and Xerox 5000

We will be running 12pt c2s double sided work and front to back registration is important.

[mattbeals]

I haven't used either of them myself. I was just with a customer who had a 6500 and they very much liked it. The device was able to correctly bill a 4/1(k) job as 1 color click and 1 black click. As much as I dislike the Fiery controllers in general they had quite good success with the VDP tools that Fiery provided. Mind you they are almost exclusively a Windows environment. The color from the 6500 was pleasing.

The Xerox 5000 I haven't seen before. I have a customer who has a 7000 and is constantly fighting mechanical problems with the mechanics of it and worse is having a problem with color shift hour to hour and day to day. He just can't get the same color at all outside of the same run. Even then he has problems in the same run. They've been working with Xerox for quite a while on the issue with limited success.

[leetaylor]

Originally Posted by SAINTAZ

We are about to buy a new digital machine and want to know what people think of these 2 machines.
Konica Minolta C6500 and Xerox 5000

We will be running 12pt c2s double sided work and front to back registration is important.

I use a Xerox 5000 on a daily basis (upgraded from 5252 at the start of the year). Overall the Zerox 5000 is a great machine for doing the jobs it was designed for, short run (possibly variable data) work.

The service and support we get from Xerox is second to none, as they have been in this market for years, the same cannot be said for Konika Minolta.

As matt has already said the Fiery RIP is NOT the best but a CREO (Scitex) option is available, albeit at a higher cost.

Hope this helps.

[baloo4]

I currently have a C6500. I have investigated the Xerox 5000 as well. You can get in a lot cheaper with the Minolta. As far as running 12pt through duplex, good luck. You will probably do better running through twice.

On a different note. Our C6500 was flawless for 6 months. Now I am currently fighting feeding problems non-stop. We did not have any of these problems in the first 6 months. Our dealer/service has been working non-stop on the issue but can not find a resolution. Konica-Minolta does not seem to want to send in there expertise to fix the problem. I have asked for them to come in and also to pull the machine and send in a new one. It has been like pulling teeth.

If you asked me 6 months ago, what to do, I would have said buy the Minolta. Now I do not know. You should not want to get in bed with Xerox, you will pay in more ways than one. But.

I do know that other users are not seeing these problems. But, we run the machine as it should be ran, non-stop with long runs etc.

As far as the EFI Fiery. I only wish there was another party to go to besides the two. EFI is not great and neither is Creo. I have had major issues with the EFI rip processing variable data, whether I send it as ppml, pdf, or ps. It will not print them. They sent in a fix and it worked for a while and now it doesn't and now it does.....Getting EFI to do anything is terrible. You can't even talk to them. You have to go through your dealer.

Good luck. If you want to talk, call me @ 800.998.9553

[jblom]

I purchased a Konica Minolta C6500 six months ago and currently we are running approximately 110,000 copies a month. The machine was flawless for the first four months and we could not have been happier.

For the last two months the machine has been a major pain. The print quality has dropped off significantly and we have had non-stop jamming issues. Our dealer has worked hard to resolve the issues, but they don't seem to be getting any support from Minolta.

We also have the EFI rip. EFI has always been weak in my opinion, but this new version has been a new low for them. We run a lot of variable and have to nurse the rip along constantly.

[leetaylor]

Originally Posted by jblom

For the last two months the machine has been a major pain. The print quality has dropped off significantly and we have had non-stop jamming issues.

Which is the reason we went with Xerox. Konika/Minolta have NO LONG TERM EXPERIENCE in the high end digital press market, where as Xerox have been involved since the year dot. We were tempted with the Canon press but did not go for it in the end for the same reasons as already stated.

Good Luck, and I hope things start to run smoother for you soon.

Lee.

[Hansonian]

we just recently replaced our xerox 6060 with a konica/minolta c6500. when we first got the 6060 it was flawless but after 6 months it started jamming constantly and having issues laying down color. we were calling for service every other day. the c6500 we've only had for a month or so and it seems to be pretty solid (although the rip is slower. we had a creo on the 6060 and we currently have a efi on the c6500). i wouldn't say xerox makes a inferior product, i just think the one we got was prone to breaking. i know another shop that runs a xerox 6060 and they've had no complaints at all. as for the c6500, so far so good. personally i believe a print job should be run on a press not a copier but that's just me.

[maxpower]

if you have paid for the service contract make sure they fix it, no ifs or buts. We have had konica for years, they have there good and bad points, but the c6500 is a really nice machine, since we deal straight with konica they can come and replace any part whenever they need to, buying from a dealer might not be the way to go, go direct.

[y2b]

I've been running the Minolta C6500 for over a year and it's been great. We could buy 3 of them for the price of one Xerox 5000.

I do like the latest Fiery RIP too.

Previously had the Xerox 2060 and a Xerox 3535...the Minolta C6500 smokes the 2060...I had major feed issues and mechanical issues and Xerox service really sucked.

I've been impressed with Minolta's service. I can order the supplies I need online, the tech keeps all the parts required for service in my plant so when he shows up, he has the part. Most of the time they come the same day I call.

Huge tip: Buy the 12"x18" paper precut in the box, Indigo certified and FSC certified stocks. We are a print shop so most of our paper was cut down from 19"x25 or 20"x26" and I think the paper dust contributed to most of the issues on the 2060.

I can duplex #100 cover all day long, coated or uncoated. The key is the paper grain. Grain long, it is just too stiff to bend around the rollers.

If you are having feeding problems, try cleaning the first roller in the feed tray with blanket wash or even wd40...if you have excessive paper powder throught the machine, clean as many rollers as you can reach.

I never used the 5000, but I sure heard the Xerox techs rave about it everytime they came to fix the 2060. Xerox claim their 240 is the C6500's competition, but we had one of those in the shop for about a month and I threw it out. You'd be lucky to duplex #65 cover on that POS

Another thing about the Xerox is the print seems a lot more glossy, and the toner is mixed with oil. The Minolta uses a different technology and the color seems more natural. Also, the biggest issue I had with the Xerox's is the print quality on uncoated stock. I just plain sucks and is an unsalable product. On the other hand, I use the same calibration on coated 7 uncoated on the Minolta and it looks great. The color is consistant throughout long runs as with the Xeroxs is not.

Highly recommend Minolta over Xerox for quality, price, and service...but then again, Xerox still tells me I like everything other people hate and I hate everything other people love. Sounds like sour grapes to me.

[kt89]

if you haven't decided, i recon for you to try out the canon imagepress.

this machine handles c2s smoothly, and in addition, quality turns out great compared to most digital machines.

one flaw I realise on digital press is front back registration, haven't seen one that is flawless, sad to say 2mm-4mm tolerance is expected.