BLI BESTOWS “PICK” AWARDS FOR MONOCHROME PRINTERS AND MFPS

July 18, 2013 – Hackensack (NJ) – The Summer 2013 “Pick” awards for monochrome printers and MFPs were announced today by Buyers Laboratory LLC (BLI), the world’s leading independent tester of document imaging products. Although many are tested, only the very best are chosen to receive these prestigious awards. To see if a product has what it takes, BLI conducts a rigorous evaluation that looks at such key factors as reliability, image quality, productivity, ease of use, value and more, and selects only those at the top of their class. The winners of the coveted “Pick” awards for monochrome printers and MFPs are:

Canon: Simplicity and Single Flexible Platform          

Outstanding reliability, superlative print quality and a single versatile platform to meet the needs of even the most challenging document workflows have earned the Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE 500iF the “Pick” award for “Outstanding A4 Monochrome MFP for Large Workgroups.” “Flawless reliability and top-notch productivity are just a few of this device’s many assets,” said Ian Latham, BLI senior analyst. “Offering a full-color, tiltable touchscreen that can be easily customized to each user’s specific needs, this device is a snap to use.” In addition, Canon’s MEAP Web platform allows the 500iF to integrate with a range of Canon and third-party software solutions to provide powerful output management and document capture workflows.

“The imageRUNNER ADVANCE 500iF delivers operational consistency with the entire imageRUNNER ADVANCE platform, making it an ideal solution for any business that requires full-scale workflow support in either the local office or across a geographically-dispersed fleet,” said Sam Yoshida, vice president and general manager of marketing for Canon U.S.A.’s Business Imaging Solutions Group, Canon U.S.A. “Customers don’t have to trade off advanced workflow and solutions capabilities for a compact, A4 MFP.”         

Dell Claims Three Awards          

The Dell B3465dnf and B5465dnf earned “Picks” in the mid-size workgroup and departmental categories, respectively, while the Dell B5460dn Laser Printer earned a “Pick” in the large workgroup printer category. All of the units share a number of strengths that have made them award winners. “For example, they all provide support for printing from Android devices via a free app, which is critical in today’s mobile business world,” noted BLI Associate Editor Carl Schell. “And they are highly productive devices that produced noteworthy print and copy quality.” These devices also provide easy-to-use interfaces and strong scanning capabilities that include support for a variety of file formats, a legal-size platen and auto-compression of scanned JPEG and PDF files.

“Dell is once again proud to receive BLI ‘Pick’ awards, which are a testament to Dell’s commitment to designing feature-rich, reliable products that empower businesses to gain efficiency and maximize productivity,” said Lee Hui Li, general manager of Dell Global Imaging, and executive director of Dell Software & Peripherals. “The B5460dn printer and the B3465dnf and B5465dnf MFPs combine enterprise-class performance with outstanding value, helping businesses to do more, as well as save on overall printing costs.”

HP Wins for A3 Printer and MFP          

HP has scored a double win in the mid-size workgroup category with the LaserJet Enterprise MFP M725 Series and the LaserJet Enterprise 700 M712 Series.

Perfect reliability, very good productivity and above average feature sets have scored the LaserJet Enterprise 700 M712 and its MFP sibling model, the LaserJet Enterprise MFP M725, “Pick” awards in their respective categories. “Flawless reliability throughout BLI’s 50,000-impression durability test, combined with excellent ease of use and a Universal Print Driver that gives users the luxury of printing to nearly any HP device on the network with a single driver, make these devices an excellent choice for mid-size workgroups that need A3 output,” said Lynn Nannariello, BLI’s assistant managing editor. Other strong suits of this model include Web Jetadmin, which allows for management of a mixed fleet of devices, and ePrint functionality, which enables printing from smartphones and tablet PCs—a must-have in today’s mobile business world. “Rounding out the package is HP’s high level of ease of use, as well as a host of ‘green’ features such as standard automatic duplexing and toner-save mode, which can help lower TCO.”

Kyocera Wins for Ease of Use, Very Good Value          

Easy to use, with exceptional reliability and a low cost per page, the Kyocera ECOSYS FS-4100DN and FS-4200DN are winners in the mid-size workgroup category. Administrators will find these devices easy to manage using Kyocera Net Viewer, which can assign specific alerts to different recipients, while Kyocera Command Center RX provides users with detailed information about consumables and device status. “Also noteworthy,” said Marlene Orr, BLI’s senior analyst for printers and A4 MFPs, “is that Kyocera has greatly improved the user interface of the integrated KX 6.0 driver, which offers simplified job programming and now allows users to easily switch between emulations.” The list of attributes doesn’t end there: Kyocera’s RAM Disk feature allows a portion of the devices’ RAM to be treated like a hard disk to facilitate secure job storage without incurring the extra expense of a hard drive, while Kyocera’s PRESCRIBE PDL offers custom print programming features for specialized printing.    

“We are truly honored to receive BLI Summer 2013 ‘Pick’ awards and Highly Recommended ratings for our ECOSYS black-and-white printers,” said Danielle Wolowitz, director of product marketing at KYOCERA Document Solutions America. “KYOCERA aims to offer its customers best-in-class products with the durability, print quality, and low total cost of ownership that today’s businesses require. BLI’s independent validation and recognition reaffirms that we are delivering the highest value total document imaging solutions to the market.”

Lexmark Saves Time and Money          

The Lexmark MX812 Series has earned a BLI Summer 2013 “Pick” award for “Outstanding A4 Departmental Monochrome MFP.”  

“This model will easily meet the demands of departmental users,” said BLI Senior Test Technician Tony Maceri. “The unit registered fast first-print times, and its running speed when printing our job stream suite was most impressive. First-copy times and scan speeds in most tested modes were also fast.” The customizable Lexmark e-Task interface has an intuitive flash-enhanced menu system that makes programming jobs at the control panel simple, especially for scanning.  Another noteworthy feature is the Lexmark embedded Solutions Framework that not only allows time- and money-saving software to run on the interface, but also lets businesses expand capabilities and extend lifespan. Support for printing from smartphones and tablets is also available.

“We appreciate this recognition BLI has bestowed upon Lexmark for the MX812 monochrome laser MFP family,” said Marty Canning, Lexmark executive vice president and president of Imaging Solutions and Services. “As the pinnacle product of Lexmark’s A4 departmental portfolio, the MX812 provides full-scale, enterprise-level capabilities, including complex workflow automation, making it an ideal alternative in distributed environments compared to larger A3 copier-like devices.”         

Samsung Sweeps Three Categories          

Taking home “Pick” awards for its outstanding monochrome devices in the personal printer, personal MFP and small workgroup printer categories, Samsung delivers reliable, affordable and eco-friendly output for a variety of users. “The ProXpress M4020ND is a great choice for small workgroup environments, offering a combination of speed, very good output quality and a low cost of ownership,” said BLI’s Orr. “For individuals in need of an affordable personal device, the compact Xpress M2825DW and Xpress M2875 Series help users save money and the environment, thanks to such ‘green’ features as standard duplexing and Samsung’s Easy Eco Driver.”         

“We are very pleased that Samsung’s Xpress Print and MFP devices were honored with the BLI Summer 2013 ‘Pick’ awards,” said Tod Pike, senior vice president of Samsung’s Enterprise Business Division. “Small to medium-sized businesses and home-based professionals are increasingly seeking lower operating costs for maximum profitability without sacrificing high performance. These awards reaffirm our commitment to introducing products that provide a high level of efficiency to dealers and customers looking to lower power consumption.”         

About Buyers Laboratory LLC              

Buyers Laboratory LLC (BLI) is the world's leading independent provider of analytical information and services to the digital imaging and document management industry. For over 50 years, buyers have relied on BLI to help them differentiate products’ strengths and weaknesses and make the best purchasing decisions, while industry sales, marketing and product professionals have turned to BLI for insightful competitive intelligence and valued guidance on product development, competitive positioning and sales channel and marketing support. Using BLI’s web-based bliQ and Solutions Center services, 40,000 professionals worldwide create extensive side-by-side comparisons of hardware and software solutions for over 15,000 products globally, including comprehensive specifications and the performance results and ratings from BLI’s unparalleled Lab, Solutions and Environmental Test Reports, the result of months of hands-on evaluation in its US and UK labs. The services, also available via mobile devices, include a comprehensive library of BLI’s test reports, an image gallery, hard to find manufacturers’ literature and valuable tools for configuring products, calculating total cost of ownership (TCO) and annual power usage. BLI also offers consulting and private, for-hire testing services that help manufacturers develop and market better products and consumables.    

For more information on Buyers Laboratory LLC, please call (201) 488-0404, visit www.buyerslab.com, or e-mail info@buyerslab.com