Ricoh takes aim at inkjets with gel technology

 

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Posted on 25 Apr 2007 at 12:27

Ricoh has demonstrated a new printing technology that could provide a new middle ground between consumer inkjet printers and workgroup lasers.

Ricoh's GelSprinter technology uses pigment-based gel instead of more viscous ink, but while the new printers look and sound like inkjets, Ricoh claims that its printers will deliver a laser-like 29ppm in both mono and colour modes.

The most basic model, the GX3000, will cost £128 (£150 inc VAT), which is cheap indeed for a colour printer capable of 29ppm at default quality settings. Page costs are also down, with Ricoh claiming costs as low as 1.36p per mono page and 7.85p per colour document from its high-yield cartridges. The cartridge design is similar to those found on inkjet printers.

However, The GelSprinter technology aims to avoid some of ink's foibles - the gel tanks will be "virtually empty" by the time they need refilling, claims Kristiane Bottom, Ricoh's marketing manager. She also claims the output from gel printers will be much less susceptible to moisture than an inkjet's, which means presentations should survive being passed around a table better.

But the GelSprinters are "not for home users", warns Bottom: they'll work with glossy photo paper, which is more than can be said for laser printers, but the printouts we saw were substantially poorer quality than the best output from inkjets. Although PC Pro hasn't run any of its own tests, overall print quality from Ricoh's demonstrations was less than optimum.

Even the basic GX3000 comes with duplexing built in, but for extra features like PCL compatibility and networking you'll need to look at the higher end models, the most expensive of which costs £249 (£293 inc VAT).

Find out how the Ricoh Aficio GX3000 fares in PC Pro's technical tests in the next issue, on sale 17th May.

Author: Dave Stevenson