TallyGenicom T8024

TallyGenicom's T8024 has the most features of all the printers this month: Ethernet, a duplex unit and full toner cartridges all helped it to scoop a Recommended award.

Our speed tests revealed a fast engine. Even though there was a long calibration pause in both of our 50-page tests, we still saw a decent 18ppm. The shorter Excel test printed at 25ppm - faster than the quoted 24ppm. Our 23-page Word document and four-page PDF printed at 25ppm and 24ppm respectively.

Quality was better than the Epson AcuLaser C3000, which is built using the same chassis and print engine, but it fell noticeably short of the Kyocera FS-C5016N's standard. Dithering was below par for a machine of this price, and once black text on a grey background dropped below 12pts in size, it became tricky to read. White text on a red background wasn't as crisp as it should have been either.

The mono quality test showed another slight weakness. The T8024 detected the mono document and printed with only black toner - a clever trick, but nonetheless one that resulted in a poorly finished image that would have benefited from composite black. At the default settings we were pleased enough with the quality of the photo montage, although there are printers that will do better.

All the printers costing more than £700 have formidable workgroup credentials, and the T8024 is one of the best of the bunch. You can add to the existing 500-sheet tray with a second for £299, while those who get through reams of paper will appreciate the dual 500-sheet feeder, which costs £499. This latter unit has wheels, freeing the T8024 from the desk. As you'd expect, it's compatible with both PCL6 and PostScript 3.

A bonus is that TallyGenicom is currently offering up to one free black cartridge per month for the first two years. This reduces mono pages to 1.2p, while colour will cost 5.9p. Otherwise, they'd be 1.6p and 6.3p per page respectively. TallyGenicom also offers the longest after-sales support, with two years of on-site coverage. Plus, high-capacity toner cartridges are included, capable of 9,000 mono pages and 6,000 in colour. The company is even offering the T8024 rent-free to users who purchase a £599 starter pack and then commit to buy a four-pack colour toner bundle each year.

While we still have some reservations about quality, the T8024 is a great printer, and came within a whisker of winning this month's Labs. However, the slower Kyocera is much cheaper to run - and offers better quality - so should be first choice if you print high volumes every month.