Ricoh Aficio C232SF review
Ricoh’s Aficio C232SF feels surprisingly flimsy for such an expensive printer. It’s also noisy and it rattles when running. Its paper tray is awkward to fill too; if the poorly marked paper size slider isn’t positioned correctly it's all too easy for a wad of paper to become jammed against the rollers. This means you have to apply some serious brute force to free the tray because the Aficio C232SF doesn’t have a conveniently located flap or door to help you clear paper jams.
It’s also been around for a while, which means it doesn’t come with appropriate drivers for the latest operating systems. This means that if you're running Windows 7 you'll have to download drivers from Ricoh's website. The PCL6, PCL5x, PostScript3, network scanning and fax drivers were all easy to find, but they were ambiguously named and most didn't come with an installer, which meant we had to use Windows' options for adding printers to find the printer on our network and then manually point to the directory in which we'd unzipped the drivers.
Thankfully, the printer’s mono LCD screen and integrated control buttons are easy to use. The Copy buttons don’t work if you’re in the settings menu, but that’s a very minor niggle. Some settings aren’t immediately obvious, though. To fix the too-dark default copy quality, for example, we had to change the “density” setting; this is typically known as brightness on most MFPs. A HTML interface replicates all the features of the onboard menus and makes it easy to monitor the MFP’s status remotely. You can also use it to restrict access to some features, such as copying, faxing and scanning, to users that have an appropriate ID.
The Aficio C232SF’s scanner interface looks rather old-fashioned because of its dull, Windows XP-style buttons, but it works well enough, even though its default paper size is the US letter standard. There are few options available, but you can set the colour mode, resolution and the size of the scan area, and the interface helpfully retains your preview scans. The Aficio C232SF’s scans were accurately coloured, but slightly lacking in sharpness, particularly at lower resolutions.
We were particularly surprised to find that print quality is a weak point on this laser. 12-point mono text is as sharp and clear as you’d expect, but smaller font sizes are remarkably jagged, displaying broken lettering. Colour images also presented an odd shadow or halo effect around the edges, and that’s something that would come as a disappointment from a cheap inkjet, let alone an expensive laser. We noticed a similar issue with our photocopies. The C232SF is below par when it comes to colour print speeds, too. Mono prints emerge at a swift 16ppm, but colour is a sluggish 5.7ppm.
The Aficio C232SF is, to some extent, redeemed by its remarkably low running costs. A mono page costs 1.8p and a colour page is 9.3p thanks to cost effective high-yield toner cartridges. This also means that that its total cost of ownership is among the lowest we’ve seen from a laser MFP, particularly for medium to heavy users. However, none of this makes up for the poor print quality, flimsy paper tray and mediocre scans. If you’re spending this kind of money on a workgroup MFP, the Samsung CLX-6220FX is a much better buy.
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Basic Specifications |
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Rating |
** |
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Maximum native print resolution |
600x600dpi |
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Max optical resolution |
1,200x1,200dpi |
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Output bit depth |
24-bit |
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Quoted Speeds |
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Quoted speed, mono A4 |
20ppm |
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Quoted speed, colour A4 |
20ppm |
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Tested Print Speeds |
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Time for two 10x8in photos 1.0 |
1m 22s |
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Time for six 6x4in photos 1.0 |
1m 52s |
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Physical and Environmental |
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Standard printer interfaces |
USB, 10/100 Ethernet |
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Optional printer interfaces |
£160 |
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Size |
476x420x493mm |
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Weight |
30.0kg |
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Paper Handling |
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Maximum paper size |
up to A4 |
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Maximum paper weight |
160gsm |
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Standard paper inputs |
2 |
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Standard paper input capacity |
251 |
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Maximum paper inputs |
3 |
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Maximum paper input capacity |
751 |
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Duplex (code, cost if option) |
No |
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General |
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Printer technology |
single-pass colour laser |
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Language(s) |
PCL 5c, PCL 6, PostScript 3 emulation |
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Supported operating systems |
Windows XP/Vista/7, Mac OS X 10.2.8+, UNIX |
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Maximum printer memory |
512MB |
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Other laser features and options |
£148 each |
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Buying Information |
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Price |
£421 |
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Price per colour A4 page |
7.5p |
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Price of 2nd paper cassette |
216 |
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Warranty |
one year onsite |
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Supplier |
http://www.printerland.co.uk |
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Details |
www.ricoh.co.uk |
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Tested Scan Speeds |
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Full scan area preview |
15s |
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A4 document at 150dpi |
30s |
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A4 document at 300dpi |
1m 23s |
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6x4in photo at 600dpi |
1m 17s |
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6x4in photo at 1200dpi |
1m 45s |
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Single 35mm negative at 2400dpi |
N/A |
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Tested Copy Speeds |
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Time for single A4 mono copy 1.0 |
26s |
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Time for single A4 colour copy 1.0 |
31s |
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Time for 10 A4 copies using feeder 2.0 |
1m 10s |
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Copy Features |
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Maximum number of copies |
99 |
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Copier zoom range |
25-400% |
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Max mono copy resolution |
600x600dpi |
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Max colour copy resolution |
600x600dpi |
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Fax Features |
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Fax modem speed |
33.6Kbit/s |
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Max mono fax resolution |
200x200dpi |
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Fax memory (maximum mono pages) |
100 |
Basic Specifications
Quoted Speeds
Tested Print Speeds
Physical and Environmental
Paper Handling
General
Buying Information
Tested Scan Speeds
Tested Copy Speeds
Copy Features
Fax Features