I'll commend KIP, someone over there was thinking when they made the decision to offer color scanning with their monochrome wide format systems. Kudos to KIP! Ricoh, Xerox and Oce are now under the gun in the low volume wide format market.
KIP recently introduced the 3100 a 6 page per minute wide format device, with the sexy color screen, the 3100 seems to be the 3000 with a few more bells and whistles and a chip that speeds the system to 6 pages per minute over the 4 page per minute 3000.
The KIP 3100 (6ppm) MSRP with a single roll feeder is $13,995, compared to the Ricoh W2400 (4ppm) with an MSRP of $13,418. I would say 90% of the time these systems are leased rather than purchased. The KIP 3100 60 month lease cost is $272.90, while the Ricoh W2400 is $261.65. Which would you lease? It's a no brainer for $11.00 more per month you get 50% more speed from the KIP3100. However it doesn't stop there, Ricoh also has a 6ppm device the Ricoh W3600, the MSRP is $16,120, since the release of the KIP3100 the Ricoh W3600 is $2,125 higher than the KIP 3100!
KIP has positioned the 3100 to beat the Ricoh W3600 in every combination, dual roll feeder, printing and scanning. At the high end with dual roll feeder, print and scan the KIP 3100 is still almost $1,100 less on MSRP.
Probably the best move for KIP was to offer the 3100 with color scanning capabilities, thus allowing companies to scan legacy color documents, renderings and plots for a mere $29 a month more for the lease! When was the last time you priced a wide format color scanner (even a cheapy), typically they are $7,000 or more. For the customer who does not have a need for high volume color scanning, the KIP3100 fits the bill!
I sell the Ricoh systems and I must admit its going to be hard to compete against this beast. The only drawback I see if the lower exit for the prints or copies. I have not seen one company in the field that was happy with it. Kudos to KIP! I wish Ricoh would have introduced color scanning!