The sp 150 printer is lit red. A student, schoolchild or employee will be delighted! Full analysis of Ricoh SP150su. Let's take a look inside the Ricoh SP150
I would like to note right away that for such a price, this is simply an unrealistic unit that helps out in every situation in which papers appear to some extent. I want to share my review of the Ricoh SP 150su
We were all schoolchildren/students and not each of us had a printer and scanner at home, much less all at once.
Let’s say I had to spend money on printing work and the amounts were quite large: printing one sheet cost from 3 to 7 rubles, depending on the location of the printing point.
I studied at school, then at university. We won’t count school, but university is an average of 10 subjects per semester, for each of which you need to print something out 1-3 times (and sometimes more). Let's take the text size to be 10 pages. Can you already imagine how big these numbers are?
If I had released ricoh by the first year, it would have been a HUGE budget savings.
So here it is.
The printer is small in size: approximately 30x20x12 cm. It is lightweight, so with such dimensions it can be placed almost anywhere and your workspace will not be reduced too much.
Working with it will not be difficult for anyone: handling it is easy and simple. You don't need to be very smart to understand everything.
If the printer is turned on, the green button is lit. If there are any problems - red.
Green button
Read more about the "red button". The exact problem will be indicated on the computer program, whether it is a paper jam or no feed. Once you know the problem, you can easily fix the problem.
Inside you can see the working mechanism: everything here is beautiful, but not entirely clear. Haha. For information.
Internal mechanism
Well, here we come to the very program that will be your guide to the world of printing and scanning.
It's called Ricoh printer and is installed along with installing the printer on your computer. (the instructions will describe everything in more detail).
program
The functionality of the printer cannot but rejoice:
1. Print.
In the left corner you can monitor how full the toner is and can refill it at any time, so to speak.
Device Status indicates the status of the printer at this moment(the same “red button” may be indicated there.
Typing is insanely simple: open the program, open the file and print it (in word or excel)
The paint is applied smoothly and there are no gaps. The test will be clearly visible on paper.
2. Scanning.
Scanning also always goes well. I scanned the book and my documents (passport) without any problems. There was no need to remove the cover or press the item more tightly to the printer - the Ricoh SP 150su calmly coped with it without this.
Scanning
3. Copying.
I don’t think it’s worth telling here, everything can be seen clearly.
Copy
4. Parameters.
Settings
If you are an employee, the printer is yours personally and you would not want anyone to use it, then you can set your password in the settings.
Also, when printing, you can set an additional text arrangement, which allows you to print in any format.
The Ricoh SP 150su laser printer is truly one of the best and relatively budget printers today, which has such powerful and huge functionality.
The paint is not used up quickly, in my opinion, so you won’t have a huge need for monthly refills.
If you are a student or worker, be sure to purchase this cool model. Moreover, in many stores there are discounts on this model, so it can be purchased at an attractive price in the range from 2500 to 4000.
If you are the parent of a student, then I think that to save your family budget, a printer comes in handy if you often deal with papers.
I've been using it for almost a year now and haven't found any problems.)
Hello, dear readers of my blog!
In today’s review, you will get to know one of the representatives of very inexpensive laser printers, which is currently on sale for about 3,600 rubles.
This is a company printer Ricoh models SP 150. There are other models in this series - with Wi-Fi and even MFPs, but I will talk specifically about the SP 150. The model is quite affordable in price and should be ideal for home use or small offices.
Japanese company Ricoh is not a newcomer to the market of copying and printing equipment, but it is not yet very well known to the average household user, which is surprising, since the company Ricoh has been present in our country since the times of the USSR! Well, anyone who wants can find it on the Internet interesting information about Ricoh, and I’ll just add that the company now even owns the world-famous Pentax brand, which has released and continues to produce many famous models of cameras and lenses. By the way, all photographs in this review were taken with a Pentax camera.
Specifications
GENERAL INFORMATION
Model name:Ricoh SP 150
Warm-up time:25 seconds
First page out time:11 seconds
Print speed:22 pages per minute
Dimensions (W x D x H):351 x 266 x106 mm
Weight:6.5 kg
Power supply:220 - 240 V, 50/60 Hz
A PRINTER
Printer language:GDI
Print Resolution:Max. (1200 x 600 dpi)
Interface:USB 2.0
Supportoperating roomssystems:
OS Windows:Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 10
OS MacOS:Macintosh OS X v10.8 - v10.11
Virtual control panel:Windows, Mac
PAPER HANDLING
Paper size:standard paper tray A4, A5, A6, B5, B6
Maximum input tray capacity:50 sheets
Paper density:60 - 105 g/m²
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
Power consumption:Max: 880 W
Working power:350 W
Ready mode:50 W or less
Sleep mode:1.2 W
CONSUMABLES
Cartridge resource (standard):700 prints
Cartridge resource (increased):1500 prints
Starter cartridge resource:700 prints
Resource assessment method Supplies: ISO/IEC19752
Packaging and equipment
Laser printer Ricoh SP 150 was delivered to me for review by a transport company, so its packaging was heavily wrapped in yellow adhesive tape. It was not possible to get rid of it painlessly, so the box does not look very photogenic.
The packaging shows an image of the printer and briefly lists its main characteristics that are of greatest importance to the consumer - connection type, body height, paper tray volume. It also says here that when you activate the toner saving mode, you get a 50% saving, while the printed text and graphics become slightly less contrasting, but do not lose much in quality.
As is customary with normal manufacturers, the packaging of the printer is made of very high quality and has color printing. The cardboard is thick, inside the box the printer is fixed with foam inserts. The package consists of the printer itself, a set of documentation and a disk with drivers, a power cable and USB. I was especially pleased with the presence of a USB cable, because usually printer manufacturers, even the most famous ones, “forget” to complete the printer with this necessary accessory and then you have to buy it separately, since when you order a printer you don’t think about the little things at all.
The USB cable is 2 meters long, which is sufficient for most printer placements in a home or office environment.
The printer, like the fuses on a fighter's weapon, is covered with stickers made of adhesive tape; all of them must be removed before turning on the printer, and be sure to remove them from inside the printer as well.
Appearance
Printer RicohSP150 is a rather compact, and because of this, seemingly very heavy device, the side walls of which are made of almost white plastic, but its upper part is made of black.
On the front of the printer there is a power button, behind which a multifunctional LED is hidden, as well as a slot for the output of printed sheets of paper from the printer path. The LED lighting modes are quite varied, but are listed in detail in the Operation Manual, so I will not describe them.
On the back of the printer there is a power cord socket and a USB socket. There is also a plate with the name of the printer model and its electrical characteristics - supply voltage (220-240 V AC), maximum printer power consumption (880 W) and current (5 A).
On the right side of the case there is a hole with a grill, through which cool outside air enters, necessary for cooling the heated
during the printing process of printer parts. There are also slots on the bottom of the printer, also designed to provide additional air intake, so the printer must be installed so that all its rubber feet are on a flat surface.
Well, so that the hot air flow comes out, a small fan is installed on the left side of the printer.
The paper support cover is located on the top of the printer body. This cover must be lifted to insert paper into the tray.
To access the cartridge and also solve possible problems If there is a paper jam, you need to lift the entire black top part of the printer from the front edge.
The starter standard cartridge is installed in RicohSP150 already from the very beginning, there is no need to tear out any protective tapes from it. As you can see, on the right, closer to the front edge, there is a blue lever inside the printer; it is this that you need to pull up all the way if the paper suddenly gets stuck in the printer, then carefully pull the sheet out of the input tray or out of the output tray, depending on where you can see it from. jammed sheet of paper.
Even inside the printer in front of the cartridge, if you look closely, there is a drawing of what needs to be done in this case. This whole procedure is also described in detail in the instructions, so I won’t dwell on it.
Cartridges for everything 150 series of printers and MFPs Ricoh the same. They are very compact in height, just like all other cartridges for laser printers, they have chips for remembering the toner level. Before putting the cartridge into operation, you need to swing it left and right 5-6 times to level the toner level. This is also written in the instructions, so read it first, and then start connecting the printer.
The paper size limiter allows you to set the desired size from A4. The edges of the limiter simultaneously move relative to the center. Printing occurs on the top side of the sheet, that is, facing the person looking at the printer.
The lateral non-printable margins of the printer are relatively narrow, only 4.2 mm.
Under the top lift-up cover of the printer RicohSP150 glossy plastic surface.
The printer in working condition looks modest, but very neat.
Software installation
The software can be used either from the supplied disk or downloaded from the company’s website Ricoh. In the case of self-download, you will have to download 229 MB of data, which is quite a bit in the age of mass distribution unlimited internet. Run the installation file SETUP.EXE, accept the license agreement and go ahead! You can choose two types of installation; personally, I chose the “Quick installation” option.
Be sure to start the installation according to generally accepted rules - first start installing software or drivers, and then, when the program asks you to connect the USB cable and turn on the device, do so.
Now the printer installation is complete, the printer appears in the list of installed devices.
Now, by right-clicking, you can go to the printer properties and see the printing settings options.
From here you can also test print a test page. It printed perfectly.
Scanned originals printed on a laser printer Ricoh SP 150 pages, available via Yandex disk at the link:
Pages scanned at 600 dpi, one file at 1200 dpi and compressed TIFF format, the total size of six files is 196 MB.
If you go to the print settings, you will see all the widest possibilities for customizing the printing options for yourself. I also recommend turning on the toner saving option; the print quality practically does not drop, but the savings can be 50%.
Settings for paper type, print quality, type of printed content, print quality, ability to print multiple pages on one, duplex printing option...
Additional options include scaling, printing headers, footers, watermarks, booklets...
All this needs to be approached thoughtfully, it is also time-consuming, so it is very helpful that you can create many of your own profiles, in which all the options will already be set for a specific printing task.
By the way, after installing the printer, a RICOH Printer shortcut appears on the desktop, by launching which you can see the control panel (MFPs have two more options added to it), but it is of dubious benefit for the printer.
Checking print quality and speed
Before printing, if you go to the printer settings, an image of the page is displayed on the screen, how it will look when printed, this is very clear and convenient.
During testing, we used test images that we could find on the Internet, as well as one full-size source photo of our own production. On the left there will be a small image of the original image from which the print was made, and on the right there will be a small image of the scanned printed sheet. Scanning was carried out on an HP ScanJet G4010 scanner. After scanning, the images turned out to be less contrasty than they actually are, but this is already the fault of the scanner settings. You can see that the test image did not print completely due to the printer margins, but this can be corrected in the settings so that the image is scaled to fit the page.
The Ricoh SP 150 conveys halftones quite well, although this is done through rasterization with dots of different diameters.
Well, a real photo with a resolution of 14 megapixels, printed at a resolution of 600x1200 pixels.
Finally, check the printer speed. The manufacturer stated a printing speed of 22 pages per minute, let's check if this is true. We will print a page with 5%
filling with toner, this is an average parameter for the bulk of tests and calculations. To more accurately measure the speed, we will use the formula for the number of printed copies: Y=1+(2*X), where X is the manufacturer’s declared printer performance in pages per minute. One is added because it is the starting one and we will not take it into account in the calculations later. From the above calculations, it turns out that 45 sheets need to be printed on the Ricoh SP 150. For objectivity, a video of the printing process was filmed.
And what happened? Here's what!
Warm-up time: 21 sec (stated 25 sec),
First page out time after warming up: 4 sec,
Print speed 44 sheets: 1 min. 56 seconds, that is real speed exactly matches 22 ppm.
Well, thanks to Ricoh for an objective reflection of the printer’s characteristics.
Conclusion
Generally, laser printer Ricoh SP 150 showed itself to be very positive: it prints efficiently and quickly. Another big plus is that it works quite quietly. When my cat saw him at work, she did not run away, although she is a terrible coward by nature, but sat on her hind legs in a gopher pose and with eyes as round as saucers, looked at how the pages crawled out of the printer. At first glance, the resource of a starter (regular) cartridge of 700 pages seems small, but you can purchase a cartridge with double the capacity and believe me, it will last for a very long time for home use. In addition, this is the fate of all cheap printers - manufacturers try to make money not on the printer itself, but on the further sale of consumables for it. It is for this purpose that special chips are placed on cartridges, making it impossible to reuse the cartridge without tricks. All cheap printers have small-capacity cartridges, but those who have to print a lot usually choose from more expensive models designed for large loads per month.
Still, in my opinion, the printer really lacks a paper output tray. After all, if the printer is placed somewhere on the edge of the table, or on a shelf, then all the sheets will spill onto the floor, because usually there is very little free space left on the table.
Printer Ricoh SP 150 It can be recommended for use by students, schoolchildren, representatives of creative professions, private doctors and in general all people who periodically need to print several dozen pages. Time will tell how reliable it will be, but in any case, the printer is quite cheap and should quickly pay for itself.
All photos of the printer from the review are available in higher resolution in my album.
pros
>high-quality manufacturing and good “pedigree” of the Ricoh company,
>print is very good quality with good halftone reproduction,
>USB cable included,
>low price.
Minuses
>there is no paper output tray,
>paper input tray capacity is only 50 sheets.
Ricoh SP150 printers and MFPs are a completely new printing platform in which Ricoh engineers took into account the shortcomings of previous devices (SP100 / SP111). Together with new platform The device received new hardware and software. If the previous generation of service devices used hidden possibilities supplied with the Smart Organizing Monitor utility, a new utility called CE Tools was developed for the Ricoh SP150.
The CE Tools utility is not supplied with the device and is available only to authorized service centers. The utility weighs only 1.8mb and does not require installation. The functionality of the utility is quite broad and allows you not only to reset errors, but also to carry out full diagnostics of the device. The structure of the utility is very well thought out and after just a couple of minutes of communicating with the utility, you get the feeling that this is not the first time you have worked in it. The utility is connected exclusively via a USB cable; if it is impossible to connect to the device, the utility reports this.
I used this utility only once, when I received a device from a client with error SC542. The cause of the error was that a piece of Lace chip got into the stove, which led to the temperature sensor not recording the temperature rise within a given time interval and, as a result, error SC542.
Instructions for resetting error SC542/541
Resetting the error is quite simple, open the utility, go to the “Output Check” section, select “FusingSCReset” from the drop-down list and press the “On” button.
I’ll say right away that I won’t post a link to the utility. Resetting the error is the final operation, and you need to start with a full diagnosis of the fusing unit (stove). It is necessary to remove the stove from the device and make sure that there are no foreign objects, damage to the Teflon or pressure shaft, make sure that the temperature is taken correctly by the temperature sensor, ring the thermal fuse, and so on. And only after the stove has been diagnosed and, if necessary, repaired, can you begin to reset the error.
To sum it up.
First of all, I want to address the users and “ system administrators”, install a full set of drivers and utilities from the disk, not the stubs that winwdows installs in automatic mode. The devices do not have a display and all errors are displayed in the supplied utilities. All calls to the office begin with everyone saying - The red light is on and the printer does not print.
As for the reliability of the printing platform itself, this platform seemed to me much more reliable than the more advanced 200 series. I have not yet encountered a false alarm of a temperature sensor, and there are more than enough devices in service; I even resoldered torn out USBs. By the way, the glass in the scanner is not re-glued, but is held on by plastic supports, like in A3 copiers. In the Ricoh SP150, the case is not rigid enough, and if the user handles the device carelessly, the scanner glass flies off the stops and blocks the scanning line.
As for the stove itself, its design is very reliable, but the Teflon shaft unfortunately sits on bushings, and not on rolling bearings like in the Ricoh SP325.
On the Internet, we very often notice requests when users write their questions about various problems regarding Ricoh printers. Today we will try to tell you why such errors can occur, how you can avoid them, and we will also consider options for eliminating many problems that are associated with failures of this office equipment.
As for the most common errors: sometimes we either notice that the printer has stopped working, or the red light on the Ricoh sp 150su printer is on, or the information panel displays error messages.
First of all, if this is an MFP, let’s look at what kind of text is written on the panel.
Usually this is “Toner Low”, “Replace Cartridge”, “Change Toner”. All these errors indicate that you need to buy a new cartridge or refill the cartridge.
Multifunctional device - printer, copier, scanner - Ricoh SP 150SU is equipped with only two Start/Power buttons. The key buttons are backlit in different colors and are capable of indicating the status of the MFP by a combination of flashes with different frequencies and colors. This page will tell you why the Ricoh SP 150SU MFP printer is blinking green, red or blue, and what to do in this case. When writing the text on this page, materials from the Ricoh SP 150SU MFP operating manual were used. The Ricoh trademark is a registered trademark owned by... Designation and name of the control keys of the Ricoh SP 150SU MFP printer. The top button with a square is called the Ricoh SP 150SU Start button. The light on the Ricoh SP 150SU button, the Start button, can be turned off, blink green, and stay lit with a green light. The bottom button with a circle is called Power On. The behavior of the lower power button is more varied. In various situations, the light on the Ricoh SP 150SU button may glow red, blue, orange and green, blink at different frequencies, or not light up at all.
How to print a Ricoh SP-150SU printer settings test page: Make sure the printer is plugged in and the top cover is closed. Turn on the printer and wait until the printer enters Ready mode. Quickly press the Power button three times within one and a half seconds. The LED will blink green and the printer will print a configuration page. The configuration page shows the printer name, network name and IP, how many pages have been printed, the remaining life of the SP150 toner cartridge, the waste box level, and other information. Printing the configuration page lets you know the number of pages printed.
The Ricoh SP 150SU MFP that arrived at our laboratory combines the functions of three devices: a monochrome printer and copier, as well as a color scanner. This model Designed for use at home or in small offices.
In addition to the model under consideration, the SP 150 series includes the SP 150 and SP 150w printers, as well as the SP 150SUw MFP (devices with the w index in the name are equipped with a built-in Wi-Fi adapter, which allows you to install wireless connection with mobile devices).
All SP 150 series devices use laser electrographic printing technology with a resolution of 600 dpi. The maximum print speed stated in the specification is 22 A4 pages per minute.
The SP 150SU MFP is equipped with a flatbed scanning module based on CIS technology, which is located in the upper part of the body and allows you to work with originals up to A4 format inclusive. The maximum hardware scanning resolution is 600 ppi.
Construction and design
The minimalist design of the SP 150SU (as well as other devices in this series) is made in the spirit of modern trends. The body has the shape of a parallelepiped with rounded vertical ribs. The outer panels are made of light-colored plastic, while the top cover and feed tray are made of black plastic. The combination of parts in two contrasting colors gives the compact MFP a stylish look that will fit perfectly into both a strict office interior and a cozy home environment.
It is worth paying attention to one of the features of the SP 150 series - namely, the ability to order batches of devices with a unique design top panel. For this segment, such an offer is so far the only one on the market.
Paper feeding is carried out from a vertically oriented folding tray, which is located in the rear of the case and can hold up to 50 sheets. In the closed position, it does not protrude beyond the dimensions of the case and prevents dust and foreign particles from entering the MFP. To bring the tray into working position, you need to tilt it back a little, and then pull up the telescopic panel and fold its upper part. Inside the tray there are moving width limiters that prevent sheets from skewing as they are fed into the path of the printing mechanism.
There is no output tray in this MFP: printed sheets exit through a hole in the lower part of the front panel and fall directly onto the desktop surface. This solution made it possible to simplify the design of the device and make it more compact, as well as make the most efficient use of space in the workplace.
The scanning module plate cover is attached to the far long side of the body at two points. The design of the mounts allows you to lift it above the surface of the tablet if necessary, which is convenient when scanning magazines, brochures and other thick originals. On the inside of the lid there is a foam pressure pad with a white hard pad.
The cover can be locked in a vertical position without obstructing sheet feeding from the tray. This can be useful when scanning and copying books and thick magazines that you have to hold on top of with your hand.
On the right side of the front panel of the MFP, two small round buttons are installed one below the other. The bottom one is used to turn the power on and off, the top one is to start copying. Each of the buttons has a built-in indicator light: the top one is green, and the bottom one is two-color (which can light up red or green). Based on their readings, you can determine the current state of the device and diagnose emerging malfunctions (instructions with decoding of light signals are included in the delivery package).
The rear panel contains connectors for connecting power and interface cables.
There are small ventilation grilles on the left and right sides of the body. A fan is installed under the grille on the left panel to evacuate heated air from the device body.
The dimensions of the MFP with a closed tray are 350x275x137 mm. The device weighs 7.5 kg.
Consumables
For Ricoh SP 150 series devices, integrated standard and high-yield toner cartridges are available, the declared resource of which is 700 and 1500 pages, respectively. The package includes a standard capacity toner cartridge.
The design of the print media supply path allows you to load paper with a density of 60 to 105 g/m2 into the MFP. Acceptable sheet sizes are from 76.2×116 to 216×355.6 mm.
Installation and connection
According to the recommendations given in the user manual, when installing the MFP at the workplace, you must leave 10 cm of free space on the left and right of the walls of its case, as well as 20 cm behind. In addition, you will need at least 40 cm of free space above the top cover in order to easily open the input tray and scanning module cover, as well as replace the toner cartridge.
The MFP is connected to the electrical network using a standard power cable, which connects to a three-pin IEC C14 connector located on the rear panel of the case in a small niche.
After the device is provided with power, you need to connect it to the PC. The interface cable is connected to the socket USB Type B, which is located on the right side of the rear panel of the case.
According to the recommendations in the user manual, before connecting the interface cable from the MFP to the PC, you must install drivers and software from the included CD or from a file downloaded from the official Ricoh website.
Copy without PC
The device allows you to copy with default settings without connecting to a PC. To do this, just place the original on the tablet and press the copy start button on the front panel of the MFP case. As a result, one copy of the original placed on the tablet will be printed at a scale of 1:1.
When the MFP is in Ready mode, it takes 15 seconds to copy one page. When running this operation in sleep mode, it will take 30 seconds to complete.
It is also possible to receive five copies in a row - to do this, you need to press and hold the copy start button on the front panel of the MFP for 3 s.
Drivers and software
Before connecting the MFP, we installed a complete set of drivers and proprietary software on the PC from the supplied CD. After connecting the interface cable, the MFP was recognized and displayed in the hierarchy system devices. A small drawback is the need to restart the OS after installing the software.
Now let's get acquainted with the print driver interface and the settings available in it. The driver window has three tabs: “General”, “Advanced” and “Print Profiles”. On the left side in all tabs is displayed brief information about the current settings and an icon with the selected layout scheme.
In the “General” section, you can select the paper type and format, page orientation, adjust print quality, set the required number of copies and a number of additional parameters.
The list of available paper sizes includes several standard sizes, as well as an option to set values manually. When you select the latter, a dialog box appears on the screen with fields for entering the length and width of the sheet in the selected units.
Drop-down lists of print quality settings allow you to select one of two resolution values (600×600 or 1200×600 dpi), as well as the type of output document - text, image, or user-configurable. When you select the last item, an additional window appears on the screen with brightness and contrast adjustments.
In chapter general settings Features include manual duplex printing and layout functions. The latter allows you to place two, four, nine or 16 pages on one side of a sheet, as well as print large format images on four, nine or 16 sheets for subsequent gluing.
When outputting several copies of a document, it is possible to print as a selection. There is also a toner saving mode.
In the “Advanced” section, you can activate the function of automatically placing the printed document on the media of the selected format or set the scale manually in the range from 25 to 400% of the original size.
It also provides functions for printing booklets, embedding a “watermark” (this can be arbitrary text or a raster image), as well as adding headers and footers with various information about the document.
It is also possible to manually change the print density.
There are skip options at the bottom of the tab blank pages, printing text in 100 percent black, and also outputting an inverse (negative) image.
The Print Profiles section provides a list of previously saved profiles. Below it there is a button to delete the selected profile.
Along with the drivers, a proprietary utility (in the manufacturer's terminology, a virtual control panel) Ricoh Printer was installed on the PC, which allows you to monitor the current state of the device, change its settings and perform various operations.
On the left side of the Ricoh Printer panel, an indicator of the current status of the device and a toner level scale are displayed (the readings of the latter are very approximate and change in 10% increments). Above them is a drop-down list for selecting a device - which can be useful if you have several devices connected to one PC.
At the top of the virtual control panel there are four round icons for selecting the main sections: “Print”, “Copy”, “Scan” and “Options”.
In the “Print” section, the functions of printing to a file are available, as well as saving images of pages of printed documents as images JPEG formats, PNG, BMP or TIFF.
In the “Copying” section, you can set the number of copies (from 1 to 99) and choose one of five density gradations. In the additional settings window, which opens by clicking on the corresponding button, it is possible to select the document type (text or photo), copy scale (from 25 to 400% of the original size), resolution (300 or 600 ppi), original size, type and paper size used. If the size of the original and the paper you are using are different, it is automatically scaled to fit the media size. There is also a function for placing two, four or nine pages of the original document on one sheet.
The ID copy mode allows you to sequentially scan two sides of a plastic card (or two spreads of a passport) and print them on one page.
In the “Scanning” section, you can select the document type (text, photo or text and photo), color (color, black and white or single-bit), change brightness and contrast, select resolution from several fixed values (100, 200, 300, 600 or 1200 ppi) and set the size of the scanned area.
To start scanning, just click on the “Scan” button. Once the image is entered, its icon appears in the scanned documents window; The “Print” and “Save” buttons become available. Double-clicking on the icon opens a pop-up window for viewing the image.
In the “Settings” section, you can set the waiting time before automatically entering sleep mode (from 1 to 30 minutes), change the device access password, and set other settings.
Performance
During testing, we conducted a series of tests to evaluate the performance of the MFP.
According to the data obtained, the warm-up procedure during a “cold” start takes about 50 seconds.
If there are no tasks, the MFP automatically goes into sleep mode after the time set in the settings. In this case, the indicator installed in the power button begins to blink slowly (in ready mode it is constantly on). If the MFP is in sleep mode when the print job starts, it takes 16-17 seconds to warm up.
Printing a one-page A4 document with a normal quality setting takes 9.5 seconds, and with a good quality setting it takes 10.5-11 seconds. To output a 10-page text document The MFP took 35 s.
The maximum print speed measured during testing was 22.6 A4 pages per minute, which fully corresponds to the value stated in the specification.
When copying documents using the Ricoh Printer virtual control panel, obtaining one copy of an A4 original at a scale of 1:1 takes 16 and 24 seconds when selecting a resolution of 300 and 600 dpi, respectively.
Due to the fact that this model has a scanning module based on CIS technology, it takes very little time to warm up when switching from sleep mode: according to the results of the tests, only 4 s.
As our measurements have shown, scanning A4 originals with a resolution of up to 300 ppi inclusive in color requires 14-15 s, and in monochrome mode - 12-13 s. When choosing the maximum resolution (600 ppi), the execution time of tasks increases noticeably. So, to digitize an A4 page in monochrome mode in this case it will take 18 seconds.
Scanning a color photo card of 10x15 cm format with a resolution of up to 300 ppi inclusive takes 7-8 s, and black and white - 6-7 s. It took 24 and 10 seconds to digitize the same original with a resolution of 600 ppi in color and monochrome modes, respectively.
Thus, it can be stated that the performance of the Ricoh SP 150SU model corresponds to the characteristics stated in the specification and allows it to fully satisfy the needs of the target audience - small offices and home users.
Print quality
To assess the quality of the prints, we used a test image containing text samples, as well as a set of scales and graphic elements. Printing was done with different quality settings (with a resolution of 600×600 and 1200×600 dpi) in the “image” mode.
The Ricoh SP 150SU coped with text printing without any problems. On the resulting prints there are samples of inscriptions typed in fonts of two different types(with and without serifs) in font size from 3 to 12 points, readable without the slightest difficulty.
Shaded areas, a round rosette with alternating sectors of black and white in 1° increments, as well as thin concentric circles of black on a white background and white on a black background were also reproduced without noticeable defects.
In the light part of the gray wedge there is a slight gradation - most likely this is due to the use of a raster with a regular structure to reproduce halftones.
The differences between test prints made with different resolution settings turned out to be so insignificant that an inexperienced person is unlikely to be able to notice the difference with the naked eye. The only advantage of a print output at 1200x600 dpi is that there is slightly less noticeable aliasing in fine curves and slanted lines.
Then we printed another sample test image by activating the toner saving mode in the driver settings. As it turned out when comparing with two previously output prints, turning on the toner save mode has the most noticeable effect on the reproduction of images and halftone solids. In this case, the photographs on the prints look less contrasty and less saturated, and some uneven filling is observed in uniformly shaded areas. As for the text, all samples are still readable without problems.
Based on the analysis of the received prints, it can be stated that this MFP, even with minimum settings allows you to produce prints with quality that is more than sufficient for everyday home and office needs. When outputting text and documents with a small amount of graphics, you can confidently select 600x600 dpi resolution and toner saving mode in the settings. Setting the resolution to 1200×600 dpi may only be necessary for printing documents with a large number of halftone images, as well as diagrams and graphs with thin lines.
Conclusion
It's time to take stock. As we were able to verify during testing, the Ricoh SP 150SU model is extremely simple and easy to use and maintain. The compact case can be placed directly on the desktop, and its two-tone design will harmoniously complement both office and home environments. Thanks to its low noise level, this MFP will not disturb nearby users.
Despite its modest dimensions, the Ricoh SP 150SU model has good performance and allows you to receive the first page of a document in less than 10 seconds after sending a print job. We also pay attention to the convenient virtual control panel of Ricoh Printer with a simple and intuitive interface, which comes with the MFP and allows you to manage print settings, as well as copy and scan.
Among the shortcomings that were identified during the testing process, we note the possibility of using additional settings copying only when connected to a PC.
Based on the results of the tests and taking into account the subjective impressions obtained during the tests, it can be stated that the Ricoh SP 150SU MFP is best suited for periodic printing of not very large documents, as well as for occasional scanning and copying of originals various types- including individual pages, brochures, booklets, certificates, etc.
It should be noted that due to design features and a small resource of toner cartridges, the use of this MFP for continuous input, copying and printing of documents will not be economically feasible.
Thus, we can recommend the Ricoh SP 150SU model for use at home and in small offices whose specific activities are not related to the need for continuous scanning and copying, as well as printing a large number of documents.
