Who's Afraid of HP Edgeline CM8000 Series?

Well here goes, these are statements that were reported to me from members of the Print4Pay Hotel.

1. No Offset Stacking: I can't believe they made this big of a machine with offset!
2. No 3 Hole Punch: Again WOW!
3. Limited Card Stock: Only through the by-pass (I think this unit is rated for max 58lb only)
4. 11x17: The trays are very slow on 11x17 and the by-pass seems faster!
5. Misfeeds: While it doesn't misfeed much at all, if a user leaves a misfeed in over the weekend it will dry out the print heads (ouch!)
6. Weight (725lbs): Can not use a stairclimber because there are no stress points!
7. Black cpc: It's not the ink price that will get you but the cost of the maintenance kits!
8. Availability for the next six months: slim enough that we are looking to pick up another line!
9. CPP for color: Business .05 and Professional .06 cents per page!
10. Strangely enough, the letter paper only runs thru the machine in landscape orientation from the LCT (can't even load portrait/speed).
11. Standard 1,500 sheet paper supply only!
12. VERY slow FCOT (First Copy Out Time) 12 seconds.
13. Ink cartridges load from the bottom of the device (Oh my Back!)
14. To protect the print heads from electrostatic discharge, be sure to touch the
horizontal metal bar to ground yourself before clearing jams that are near the print heads. The print heads are above the print-drum area.
15. HP recommends that you do not use this device for printing on sequential paper, such as pre-numbered checks or invoices.


So, where does this lead us? First thoughts is that all of these issues will be corrected in a next generation model, whenever that comes about. Also their foray into the MFP marketplace with this system will leave a lot to be desired. The retail cost per page is impressive, however the system lacks the meat and potato features that High Volume MFP users are used to such as: Heavy Stock 110lb - 160lb, duplex of thick stock, Bookletmaker, Paper Punch Device, envelopes, transparencies and offset stacking!

Based on an average monthly volume of 50,000 pages the system will need print head replacement at 38 months (What is the cost for this?), plus I'll bet the ranch that the best print and copy quality is on "inkjet paper".

So when we get right down to it there are many deficiencies when compared to the standard laser MFP made by Ricoh, Xerox, Canon and Konica Minolta. Take a test drive you can download the manuals from HP, you can download the printer driver also.

One other note I found and I interpreted like this, when you are printing or copying pages with mized coverage, the system will slow down for high coverage areas, if this is the case, I believe this system is not much more than hype and will be easy to beat.