Ricoh Aficio G7500 Laser Printer (405507)

List Price: $749.00

Features:

• First print in less than 9 seconds
• Ultra-reliable duplex printing, laser-quality prints and a wide printable-area are all possible with the sophisticated Ricoh GelSprinter Belt Transfer Paper-Feeding System
• Surprising 20 ppm (LT) print speeds and quality are maximized by multi-dot technology and the extra-wide print head
• Print crisp, clear color images at up to 1,200 x 1,200 dpi on ordinary business quality copy paper with quick-drying GelSprinter “viscous ink” technology.
• Supports 11" x 17" paper (12" x 18" via bypass)

Customer Reviews:

Ricoh Aficio G7500 Laser Printer [Posted on 2007-09-17]
The Ricoh Aficio G7500 Laser Printer is not a laser printer. It is an ink jet printer. However due to Ricoh technology the speed and print quality is much, much better than all other ink jet printers and approaches that for laser printers (it is so good it can be mistaken for laser printing). It is intended for individuals and small organizations that need/want to make 11x17 color documents or drawings at a very reasonable price. It is smaller, cheaper and much lighter weight than available 11x17 color laser printers.

Ricoh Aficio G7500 [Posted on 2007-10-08]
Prompt delivery. Meets needs for a jobsite construction trailer using tabloid without huge investment. We went through alot of ink up front but then adjusted to draft - A little too light on draft but it will do. The only place we have been able to find ink refills is on the internet.

Mostly happy [Posted on 2007-11-18]
Print quality is good even on plain paper: no visible banding, though to print deep colors requires quite a lot of ink. I suspect the saturation looks better on photo paper but I haven't tried it yet. It prints surprisingly fast; no disappointment there. I also like how the ink cartridges don't seem to expire like HP, Epson, Lexmark, etc. before the ink is gone. The other manufacturers put some kind of chip in their ink/toner cartridges so that you have to buy a new cartridge after a fixed period of time, even if you haven't used up all the ink/toner. This was a primary reason I purchased this Ricoh printer. Also, I discovered the ink doesn't smear after it has dried: I accidentally left a printout outside in the rain, but the ink didn't bleed or smear at all. It's as good as a laser print.

I encountered a serious problem, but managed to fix it myself. When I turned my printer on after several weeks of non-use, it would make a few grinding noises for about 3 seconds, then flash all the lights on the control panel continuously. It won't print when this happens. The manual said the printer needs servicing. Ugh. The one-year warranty had just run out the week before.

So I checked my service options here in the Phoenix, Arizona area. The Ricoh website showed three locations for servicing. One place wouldn't let me bring the printer in to be serviced: they have no service department. Instead they wanted to charge me $189 minimum charge (1 hour) to send someone to my site to diagnose the problem. Then they'd have to order parts, then come back for another $189 to replace the parts. The phone number for the second place was disconnected. At first, my third choice claimed I could bring the printer in for servicing, for about $65 minimum. When I asked if they had replacement parts in stock for my specific printer they put me on hold for a minute, then returned and said, sorry, we don't actually have a Ricoh service person yet but will get one in a couple of months. Remember, I got these service companies from Ricoh's website.

Time to take things in my own hands.

Underneath the moving printhead block are little white rubber receptacles that keep the printheads from drying out. (Note: you can easily move the printhead block with your hand, but if it seems stuck, turn the printer on and move the printhead after the printer unlocks it, then unplug the printer before the block moves all the way back to the right). So anyway, there is an open-topped rectangular structure just to the left of the white rubber receptacles. Let's call this structure the "lever box". This lever box is black plastic on the left side and thin sheet metal on the right side. I couldn't tell at first, but it has two plastic levers inside that are loosely bound together with a small wire, sort of a narrow, stretched-out "S" shape. I suspect the points of the two levers wipe the printheads to help clean ink off of the nozzles. Just a guess. Anyhow, a significant amount of ink goes into this lever box. If the ink dries out the levers can be kinda glued in place.
This is bad.
In my case, one end of the wire "S" had popped out of the small hole on one lever. As a result, when I turned on the printer (after jamming something to close the switch inside the little cross-shaped hole that a prong on the cover fits in), white plastic gears attempt to do something, but grind for a couple of seconds, then stop and then the printer flashes the lights. I happened to notice the lever box wobbled a bit while the gears were grinding. It turned out you can pull the lever box up and it snaps right out. I also realized below the lever box is a little cam on a shaft. Take some care here when removing the lever box though, the cam has a couple of important bumps on the side. Either the bumps or the two levers might break if you let a gorilla pull the lever box out. Get a bright light to see what you are doing. I washed the entire lever box in warm water (ink gets everywhere, you'll probably want rubber gloves and bucket that you don't mind getting stained). That's when I realized the lever box contains the two plastic levers and the metal "S" inside. I reconnected the "S" wire. This is tricky. You can pop the levers out of the lever box at the bottom if this makes it easier to put the wire where it should go. The cam was trying to move the two plastic levers, but couldn't because they were stuck. After some initial replacement attempts, I discovered I had to keep the lever box out of the printer, turn it on until the gears do their thing for a few moments until the gears stop turning, then unplug the printer before it starts squirting ink out of the printhead down into where it thinks the lever box is. Turning the printer on like this resets the camshaft where it should be. Now the lever box can be reinserted without a hassle with those bumps on the side of the cam. When I turned the power back on printer was back in action again! Thus saving myself half the price of the printer in service fees to replace the stupid lever box that probably costs no more than a couple of bucks.

So I rate the printer 4 stars, because (a) The print quality is good enough, it doesn't smear, and I can print double sided and on 11"x17" paper (!), but (b) I'm not at all thrilled with my Ricoh service options. I'm not going to complain about the stupid lever box because a decent service place should be able to replace it without much hassle and a huge fee.

Also, I had left my printer turned on for the entire time I had it, even if I wasn't going to use it for days or weeks. When looking up the flashing lights in the troubleshooting section, I discovered the manual says don't leave the power on all the time. Oopsie. Maybe this had something to do with why the lever box had a problem.

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