The Ricoh printer has a red light on and does not print. A student, schoolchild or employee will be delighted! Full analysis of Ricoh SP150su

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 has a small size: approximately 30x20x12 cm. It is lightweight, so with such dimensions it can be placed almost anywhere and your workplace will not decrease 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 at the 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 additional location text, 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, to save money 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.)

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. Stated in the specification maximum speed Printing speed 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. Maximum hardware resolution scan speed 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. Combination of parts of two contrasting colors gives the compact MFP a stylish look that will fit perfectly into both a simple 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 it back top 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 inside the lid has a foam pressure pad with a rigid pad white.

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 standard toner cartridges are available. increased capacity, 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 free space to the left and right of the walls of its body, 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 mains using a standard power cable, which is connected 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 size, 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 the 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, the screen displays additional window with brightness and contrast adjustments.

In the section 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 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.

It was installed on the PC along with the drivers. proprietary utility(in the manufacturer's terminology, a virtual control panel) Ricoh Printer, 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 being used 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 click Clicking 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 us to fully satisfy the needs 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.

Differences between test prints made with different settings resolution 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 on fine curves and slanted lines.

We then printed another sample test image with the toner save mode enabled 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 minimal settings, allows you to produce prints with a quality that is more than sufficient for everyday home and office needs. When outputting text and documents from a large number graphics, you can confidently select 600×600 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 low level This MFP will not cause any noise to 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 performed and taking into account subjective impressions obtained during testing, it can be stated that the Ricoh SP 150SU MFP in the best possible way suitable for periodic printing of not very voluminous 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 the design features and the 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, the specific activities of which are not related to the need continuous scanning and copying as well as printing large quantity documents.

Recently, Ricoh released a new series of monochrome printers and MFPs. Visually, the devices look very modern and are inexpensive.

It so happened that the next purchase from the supplier coincided with the arrival of the new Ricoh SP150 series into the warehouse, and I decided to take it for myself to try. The printer turned out to be so successful that it stayed on my desk for only a few hours, after which the client who refilled our Lexmark E120 bought it. However, I managed to take a number of photos and look at the design of the printer in more detail.

About design.

Comparing the dimensions of Samsung ML 1615 and Ricoh SP150 - front view

Comparing the dimensions of Samsung ML 1615 and Ricoh SP150 - rear view

The first impression when I took the printer out of the box was that IT IS SMALL. Just some kind of “nano printer”. The design is made in style latest generation iPhone smartphones, i.e. white glossy plastic, smooth shapes. Next to such a printer, even super expensive ones mobile gadgets will look harmonious. In order to make the size of the printer more clear, I photographed it next to the Samsung ML-1615 printers. As you can see, the printer is half as tall, and also slightly smaller in width and depth.

Let's take a look inside the Ricoh SP150

To be honest, I was afraid that these were yet another miscarriages like the Ricoh S100/SP111 that had design problems with paper feeding. But my fears turned out to be in vain, this is a completely different printer, despite the fact that the paper is still inserted from above, the paper feed mechanism itself has been brought to mind. As you can see in the photo, the pickup roller is now mounted on a metal rod, and not a plastic rod as in the SP100. The paper pickup roller is controlled using a clutch, rather than obsolete solenoids. The capture roller itself has a classic design for devices Ricoh design and size, we can safely say that this roller will not lose its properties throughout the entire life of the printer. The location of the sensors has also changed and now there should be no false jams.

About the cartridge and chip.

The cartridge in the Ricoh SP 150, despite its similarity with the SP100 cartridge, is slightly smaller in size. This was done primarily to reduce the size of the device itself, and of course to prevent cartridge cloning. The cartridge has on board a standard chip from Ricoh SP111/SP200 with its own firmware. The device supports two types of cartridge - 700 pages () and 1500 pages (SP150HE). As usual, the only difference is in the firmware of the cartridge chip and the amount of toner loaded. Despite the fact that the cartridge has a small volume and is not positioned as refillable, Ricoh engineers did not reduce the diameter of the photo roller. Considering the wear resistance of Ricoh photo rolls, we can safely say that the cartridge will withstand at least five refills without serious loss of print quality.
The toner can be used the same as for Ricoh SP100/SP200. This is either original toner or Samsung universal toner. The cartridge does not have external caps for filling toner and emptying waste. However, the classic hidden plug for refilling the cartridge is present under the lid. Interestingly, the cartridge is structurally similar to the SP100/SP200, but the springs in it are clearly from the Ricoh SP3500/SP311. There is a plastic “identifier key” on the front of the cartridge, I think this is a foundation for the future. How they will carry out a small marketing change to the device in person and “the key identifier will be shifted.”

To sum it up.

In my opinion, the printer turned out to be very successful and, at first glance, very reliable. I really hope that it will seriously push the unsuccessful Samsung printers on the 101/111 cartridge, as well as its clones from Xerox, out of the market. The printer does not have full-fledged electronic components on board, i.e. it is a GDI printer. But with such affordable price You can close your eyes to this shortcoming.

PS. While I was writing this note (a month has passed), this client came to refill a Ricoh SP150 cartridge. The client was satisfied with the printer, and put his Lexmark in the closet as a backup printer.

PS. A colleague from GoldPrint posted a video on the official channel YouTube about the device Ricoh SP150, which will be useful for people refilling cartridges.

General information

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 is intended 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 that allows you to establish a 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.

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, and 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 top panel design. 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.

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 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 350×275×137 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 mains using a standard power cable, which is connected 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 USB Type B socket, which is located on the right side of the rear panel of the case.

Copy without PC

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 obtain 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 of 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, all tabs display 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 size, 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.

The General Settings section includes 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.

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.

At the bottom of the tab there are options to skip blank pages, print text 100 percent black, and display an inverted (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.

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 in the form of images in JPEG, PNG, BMP or TIFF formats.

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.

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.

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. The MFP took 35 seconds to output a 10-page text document.

The maximum print speed measured during testing was 22.6 A4 pages per minute, which fully corresponds to the value stated in the specification.

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.

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

The Ricoh SP 150SU coped with text printing without any problems. On the resulting prints, samples of inscriptions typed in two different types of fonts (with and without serifs) in font size from 3 to 12 points are readable without the slightest difficulty.

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 on fine curves and slanted lines.

Based on the analysis of the received prints, it can be stated that this MFP, even with minimal settings, allows you to produce prints with a 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.

Among the shortcomings that were identified during testing, we note the ability to use additional copy settings 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 various types of originals - including individual pages , brochures, booklets, certificates, etc.

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.

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 connection occurs exclusively via 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 is 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 thermal sensor, and there are more than enough devices in service; I have 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 format 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.