Photocopier Dealers in Delhi

Best Photocopier buying guide - Office copiers / Printer machine

Despite of the high trends of digital media and digital communications, photocopiers are still an indispensable piece of equipment in most offices. Choosing the right photocopier for your company's present and future requirements is essential for your administrative success.

Photocopiers do a lot more than just copying documents. Some photocopiers are also capable of printing, scanning and faxing. These are known as multifunction Xerox machines. If you need a photocopier but are overwhelmed with the choices available in the market, here is a simple guide to help you choose the best one for your business.

Budget

Saving money is every company’s priority so it is essential that you choose the right model which will boost your bottom line. A wise owner will consider the total cost of ownership before choosing a photocopier. For this, one should find out the cost of the photocopier and how much it will take to run the device over the course of time including the servicing and parts replacements.

Top Photocopier brands

Canon

The Canon series offers a range of efficient photocopiers for desktop to high-end printing hubs. Perhaps they are the most comprehensive range of solutions, with best maintenance support.

Hewlett Packard

Generally it caters for the lower end of the market particularly for the desktop machines. At the higher end, it offers office multifunction machines with up to 30 CPM copy speed.

Konica Minolta

The Konica Minolta is one of the most popular and renowned models of photocopier in the market. They produce a wide range of office machines, but specialize in high-end photocopiers for professional print rooms.

Kyocera

Kyocera copiers mainly fall in the middle market. They make office copiers and multifunction machines that range between 15 to 60 CPM that are compact than most major brands. They are also one of the most environmentally friendly brands.

Panasonic

Panasonic deals mostly in home office as well as small office machines. The largest photocopier machine in their range is capable of around 60 CPM. They provide reliable photocopier services and have good maintenance track records.

Ricoh

The Ricoh “Aficio” range has photocopiers and multi-function machines to cater all types of needs, including professional printing at the utmost level.

Samsung

Samsung produces multi-function devices for lower end of the market. They make mainly desktop machines that are reasonably priced.

Toshiba

It is mid-market brand that mainly offers medium sized office multifunction devices.

Know your copier volume

Copier volume means the total number of pages your photocopier will copy in any month. You can get an estimate of the monthly output by simply looking at the bills from the print shop. If you already have an existing photocopier then check the meter. Some companies also use apps and programs which can tell you all about the number of copies taken from your device. 

Black and white or coloured copies

Coloured copies are usually more preferred, especially if they contain any images, graphs, etc. because they look more attractive and easier to understand. The price of colour photocopiers has gone down in the last years so even the small businesses can purchase them. Most photocopier models also have an ink saving feature that help the owners to control the costs. If you want to purchase a colour photo copier, you should first determine your colour output requirements for the past years. Then, find out if this number increases in next few years. If the number is too low, it might be a great idea to keep a printer and buy a monochrome photocopier. This will keep the expenditure in control as black ink is much cheaper than coloured.

Simple copier or a multi-functional unit

Different departments in a business organization may need specific function from the photocopier. For example, the marketing department may need coloured copier or printer for their marketing materials. The accounting department may require a simple black and white copier. The sales department may prefer a colour scanner. Your choice of photocopier will impact all these departments and greatly impact your team’s productivity. If you want more than just copying then go for a multifunction device.

Different types of Photocopiers

Portable photocopier: Small and portable desktop photocopiers are available at very reasonable rates. But, due to their slow speed, low print quality and limited tray capacity, they are more preferred at home than in office environments. If you need more than 500-100 copies in a month, then this option is not for you.

Desktop photocopiers: These are quite smaller than their floor standing counterparts. For a small to a medium sized workplace, they are the best option. Although their tray capacity, printing speed and sorting options are limited than the floor-standing photocopiers, they boast just as many image editing functions as their larger counterparts.

Floor standing photocopiers: Most medium as well as large offices have high demand for print services and a floor-standing photocopier is best suited to their requirements. As the name suggests, these are quite larger, stand-alone machines due to their size, generally have larger tray capacities and are capable of printing on larger paper formats. They are generally used by professional printing companies rather than in offices where the printing and copying is not the first task of the day. Most of the photocopiers also feature an ADF (Automatic Document Feeder) which means that the machine can create multiple copies of multiple originals, so you actually don’t need to stand next to the copier and replace the document being scanned.  The floor-standing copiers are also often called MFDs or multifunction devices. This is so because they are also incorporated with scanners, fax machines or printers (or all the above).

Traditional Photocopier Features

Automatic Document Feeders

An automatic document feeder (ADF) permits you to copy multi-page documents quickly without having to lift the cover for every sheet. Instead, the stack of originals are easily placed into the feeder and by pressing start button, the ADF will automatically pull each page through.

A reverse document feeder (RADF) can be used for duplex or double-sided copying in which the pages are automatically flipped inside the feeder to scan the other side.

Duplex Copying

Duplex, or double-sided copying is a useful feature which enables printing on both sides of each sheet. The benefits of this feature include less paper usage, lower cost, reduced filing and less time involved if you were to produce the double-sided copies manually.

Sorting and finishing

The latest copiers and printers by Canon and Toshiba can sort the copied sets electronically without the use of sorter bins. Instead of using separate bins, the copies are placed in a single tray offset from each other, allowing you to identify easily where one set ends and the other begins.

You may require a finisher if you want your photocopier to copy many sets of multi-page documents. The most common type of finisher is automatic stapler, which can save a great amount of time. More advanced versions are also available like three-hole punches, folding, saddle stitch binding, and many more. Finishers are optional on the photocopiers, and may vary in price according to their functions.

Paper supply

Each paper tray, pedestal, cassette or paper feed unit is a separate paper source. The number of sources in a photocopier is important if you want to copy onto different paper stocks, like A4, A3, letterheads, coloured paper, transparencies and for reduction as well as enlargement purposes, without reloading the copier. Paper sources can typically hold a minimum of up to 50 to 100 sheets, and the largest-capacity units can hold around 3,000 sheets.

Digital photocopier features

Photocopier Printing

A printer module and network card can be added to a digital copier which functions as an office laser printer, working at the same pace as it takes to make copies. These copiers can allow the employees to produce many stapled copies of a five-page, two-sided proposal without even leaving their desks. Most offices can avail the benefits by using a copier as a printer as the per-page costs will be as little as 20% of the laser printer printing costs.

Most of the copiers run standard networking protocols, but you must make sure that the model you choose is compatible with your network.

Photocopier Faxing

With addition of fax module to copier, you can send and receive the faxes through your copier. You can effortlessly send multi-page faxes using document feeder, or you may use the copier glass to fax single pages, catalogues or book pages. Incoming faxes are printed as soon as they are received, sometimes in a separate output tray. With a network interface, multiple users can send faxes from their computers.

Image editing

Digital copiers are capable of editing your documents. This includes automatic page numbering, adding watermarks like "confidential" or "copy", or adding any stamps. They can also rotate the scanned images to match the precise orientation of the available paper supply, thus, saving on wasted time as well as paper from unanticipated errors. They can even combine the images in creative ways.

Stackless duplexing

Digital copiers support stackless duplexing by saving each side of the original page in the memory, then printing both sides. This means that the number of two-sided copies created are no longer limited to the capacity of the duplex tray. You will be able to get your duplexed copies much faster.

Automatic re-sizing

Digital copiers offer a unique automatic sizing function that enables it to note the dimensions of your original documents and adjust itself by using its pre-set reduction/enlargement settings, even if the copying paper has a different size than the original.

Automatic shut-off

Almost all digital photocopiers now have an automatic shut-off option that saves energy and decreases any wear and tear.

Security

Many digital photocopiers allow the users to enter a code before they can generate copies. This gives a level of security, preventing any type of unauthorized usage. Some machines can also hold the faxes or important network documents in memory until a specific code is entered, then print them. This keeps the confidentiality of the documents.

Choosing the right photocopier model

You can follow these things to determine the right photocopier model for your company:

Look at the lab test reports – It helps you to know how the machine performs, especially under tough conditions.

Test drive – Most photocopier suppliers will install a test unit in your office for a set time duration. It is the perfect time to know the productivity, quality, ease of use and reliability of the photocopier.

Test your dealer – Ask the dealer if they can arrange training for your employees. Ask what will happen if the machine breaks down. How fast will they fix it? Will they send any replacement if they need to take it out from your office? Will they give you a software that can be used with other existing programs?

Look at one model higher and lower – If you have a choice, it’s good to check the next photocopier model up and the next one down before finalizing your deal. You may find that the cheaper one will also work for you or the higher version might be more useful for you when your business will grow.

Photocopier maintenance

In most of the offices, a malfunctioning photocopier can cause very serious logistical issues along with a lot of frustration. However, due to the complexity of modern machines, the repairing cost of these photocopiers can be very costly. Because of these points, it is a common practice to have a service or maintenance contract; so that in a monthly fee, an expert third party will take on the responsibility of ensuring that the copier is kept in good service. Regardless of this, the following will give you a better idea of the sorts of conditions and level of services to expect from the photocopier service provider. Consider these points while assessing the contracts:

Will you need to pay a fixed monthly fee or a fee based on volume of your usage or both?

How long will it take them to send a technician in case the photocopier breaks down?

Will the maintenance contract cover the cost of photocopier parts and labour if the photocopier needs any repair?

At what cost will you get the photocopier consumables like ink and toner?

In some cases, it is possible to extend the warranty for the photocopier. However, this will usually apply to cheaper machines, where it is not very economically prudent to take a service contract. These extended warranties will cover much less than a service contract and it is highly unlikely that the technicians would be sent to your office. So, relying solely on the warranty will usually mean very long delays while your photocopier is sent away for repairing.