Product Reviews

In the world of printers, low running costs are becoming a bigger priority. The push to go green has meant that units and consumables don't only deliver better quality, but also better value, with the responsibility firmly on the manufacturers to deliver this without causing undue harm to the environment. Kyocera has long been a champion of this approach with its ECOSYS printers offering performance and value across the range.

The FS-1000 is Kyocera's new budget mono laser printer, aimed squarely at the SoHo user. For a budget printer the specification is quite impressive, with a claimed 10ppm print speed at 600dpi, and enhancement up to 1,200dpi using Kyocera Image Refinement 2. There are also four print emulations including PCL6, although PostScript Level 2 support is an optional extra for £99.

Powering the FS-1000 is an impressive PowerPC 401 75MHz processor, which is a marginal improvement on the similarly specified Lexmark Optra E312 (reviewed issue 71, p168) with its 67MHz Toshiba processor. A standard 4Mb of RAM is built into the FS-1000, which is expandable to an impressive 132Mb using a single DIMM. However, the lack of USB support - although not a major problem - is quite disappointing.

This is the first printer from Kyocera to support its Remote Operation Panel (ROP). This useful software utility communicates with the printer and allows you to check and configure it from the desktop. Another feature of the ROP is a 3D display of the printer, which is supposedly a diagnostic tool that highlights errors, and graphically displays any open panels.

Unfortunately, this had a few problems, often failing to detect proper settings, and instead continuing with the wrong status displayed on its screen. Interestingly, this utility also failed to notice that I'd removed the toner cartridge, attempting to print oblivious to any problems.

Performance testing kicked off with a 50-page standard text document, which was completed in four minutes, 44 seconds, giving an impressive 10.6ppm. This is better than Kyocera's performance claims of 10ppm and puts it about 1.5ppm faster than the speeds recorded with the Lexmark Optra E312. The text quality was impressively clear and sharp, although comparatively the Samsung ML6060 (reviewed p177) produced crisper results at a more impressive 11.85ppm.

The spreadsheet test turned out an equally impressive performance, returning 11 pages in one minute and three seconds for a respectable

Then came the rigorous 24-page DTP test, but unfortunately the Kyocera's 4Mb of installed memory simply wasn't up to the job, dropping dramatically in performance to a poor 3.5ppm. That said, the print quality was good with text, although the greyscale stepping again tarnished the graphics image quality. This is an area where the Lexmark Optra E312 performs better, with superior overall image quality and a quicker printing speed of 8.2ppm.

Where the FS-1000 comes into its own though, is in its running costs. The toner cartridge will last for 6,000 A4 pages at five per cent coverage, which leads to an impressive 0.9p per page. As with all the ECOSYS range, only the toner cartridge needs to be replaced, which at £54 is also reasonable.

A toner/drum combination for the Lexmark Optra E312 costs £87.17 and running costs weigh in at 1.5p per page, making the FS-1000 a more economical choice. The main difference in costs between the two is that you don't replace the drum in the Kyocera, as it's guaranteed for up to three years or 100,000 pages, so unless you're planning to use it as an office workhorse you shouldn't be disappointed. In fact, Kyocera is even bundling a three-year, return-to-base warranty with the FS-1000.

Although the FS-1000 is mainly intended for personal use, Kyocera also offers the option to add an internal 10/100BaseTX Ethernet interface for £229. Whether used as a standalone device or networked as a shared resource, the 4Mb of memory will serve most purposes. If larger jobs are to be spooled, upgrading to an 8Mb non-industry standard DIMM from Kyocera will set you back £69, although Kyocera states that less costly standard DIMMs will work.

Overall, the Kyocera FS-1000 is an average printer that, while economical, doesn't offer fantastic value for money except in its running costs. The print quality is good, but not up to the standard set by the Lexmark Optra E312. Print speed is also impressive, but the minimal 4Mb of installed memory slows it down when printing large files. As it stands, the Kyocera FS-1000 will function well in a SoHo setup, but the print quality is below the competition and the basic features are limited. If plain text printing occupies the majority of your workload, the FS-1000 is a fast and excellent choice, but for more general use or graphics-intensive printing, the new Samsung ML6060 is a better buy.