KYOCERA MITA FS-C5100DN OEM TONER CARTRIDGES SET

Kyocera Mita FS-C5100DN Review

Overview:

If you’re going to invest in a color printer, why not buy one that has everything you’ll need? Network ready, the Kyocera FS-C5100DN uses single-pass color printing technology to reach print speeds up to 23 pages per minute.  Completing the package is a built-in network card and automatic 2-sided printing.

Pros:

Weighing in at 62 pounds, the Kyocera FS-C5100DN’s is a pretty good size printer. It has a 13.6” x 20.4” footprint, and stands 18” high. Adding the extra capacity paper feeders turn the Kyocera into a compact floor printer.

The FS-C5100DN comes with a 250-sheet cassette tray, capable of holding an entire ream of 28# letter or legal-size paper. The flip-door reveals a 150-sheet multi-purpose tray that can handle transparencies, labels, post cards, envelopes, 3” x 5” postcards up to 8½” x 14” legal paper, of bond weights up to 110-pound cardstock.  Two more 500-sheet cassettes can be easily attached to increase capacity to 1,400 sheets.
Color or B&W, there is no print speed difference with the FS-C5100DN. Single-pass color printing technology allows the Kyocera to print to its maximum speed of 23 single-sided pages per minute or 11 ppm in duplex mode.

The native optical resolution reaches 600 x 600 dots per inch, but internal firmware increases that to 9,600 x 600 dpi.  The enhanced resolution is great for photographs, but fine line art and small fonts may appear slightly blurred and print speeds are slower.

Understanding the printing needs of today’s businesses, Kyocera has installed a full set for print emulators that should satisfy the most diverse office. Emulators include PostScript3, HP PCL6, and Kyocera’s own KPDL3. Over 90 scalable fonts and barcodes are available on a separate CF flash memory card.

Kyocera has always been generous when it comes to memory. For the FS-C5100DN, 256MB of memory comes standard to easily handle any size print job. An additional DDR2 SDRAM slot is available. Drop in a 1GB DDR2 stick and expand the printer’s memory to a whopping 1,280MB.  Even without the additional memory, this printer will have no problem handling workloads across networked computers.
Speaking of networks, the FS-C5100DN has connections for USB 2.0, and Ethernet 10/100 Base TX. The printer can support network protocols from the old Novell IPX/SPX and AppleTalk, to the recent TCP/IPv6.

While many printer companies provide a CD with software extras only for Wintel machines, Kyocera’s application software fully supports Mac OS X, as well as the latest versions of Windows. Drivers are also available for UNIX, Linux, and 64-bit Windows operating systems.

For the environmentally-minded who want to leave a small carbon footprint behind, the FS-C5100DN is part of Kyocera’s ECOSYS line. In addition to being Energy Star compliant in decreasing power usage by 60%, the consumable items of the ECOSYS line are designed for longer life using fewer parts and materials. Unlike traditional toners, an ECOSYS toner cartridge is comprised of just five parts and only two materials.

Cons:

Patience must be practiced when it comes to seeing that first page printed on this Kyocera model. If just switched on, expect to wait almost a minute from before you start seeing your print job. However, if the printer is only in sleep mode it will take less than 40 seconds for the first print.

The printer produces 53dB of sound printing, idling at 30 dB. To give you an idea of what that means: 60 decibels is the level of typical conversations and 30 decibels is a quiet office. You probably don’t want to have this printer in a conference room chugging 100 pages when a meeting is in progress. But if placed in the copy room or in the middle of a busy office floor, the noise is barely discernable.

With all the horsepower and extras the FS-C5100DN has, Kyocera still only gives you a toner cartridge less than half-filled with toner.  Other manufactures tend to have “starter toner” with their entry-level laser printers as well, so it’s a good idea for a purchaser to buy a full set of toner so they won’t be short handed.