Xerox Phaser 6280 DN review

[Benjamin Scott]

  This is in response to some recent discussion around printer
brands/models.  I can tell you about a recent purchase here at
$DAYJOB.  We're basically a Windows shop, so most of the below is
written from that perspective.  But what I'm missing in applicability
I make up in length.  ;-)

  We recently purchased two Xerox Phaser 6280 DN units.  They are way
overkill for our expected print volume, but they were the cheapest,
smallest thing I could find that didn't obviously suck.

  The 6280 is also available in an MFD variant, of which I know
nothing beyond its existence, but from the web site picture, appears
to be the same printer with a scan deck bolted on top (like most MFD
lasers these days).

  These are single-pass color laser printers.  600 DPI.  Duplex.  USB,
Ethernet.  PCL5, PCL6 (AKA PCL-XL), PostScript 3.    Drivers (or
equivalent) are offered for Windows, as well as Mac OS X, Linux
(CUPS), and AS/400 (!?).  1-year on-site warranty.

  Network protocols included in the marketing brochure (possibly also
the product) are:

Print: LPR; raw TCP ("Port 9100"); SMB; FTP; IPP
Transport: IP; IPX; NetBEUI
Management: SNMP; HTTP; SMTP; Telent
Discovery: mDNS; WSD

  Stock paper supplies are the 250 sheet main drawer and a fold-down
150 sheet bypass tray ("Multi-Purpose Tray", or "MPT").  An optional
550 sheet stack-on drawer is advertised.

  Stock RAM is 256 MB.  Max RAM advertised as 1.25 GB.  A hard disk
drive kit is advertised.

  The main consumables are four print cartridges (CMYK), each
combining toner supply and photo-drum.  Available in two sizes (page
count capacities).  The high-cap black is rated at 7000 pages; the
high-cap color, 5900 pages.  Using CDW's prices, I worked it out to
$0.14/page, which seems typical for machines of this type.  Long-life
consumables would be the fuser and transfer unit (belt); both rated at
100K pages.

  Tech information available to me is excellent by contemporary
standards.  The manual covers the basics for installation, usage,
maintenance, and diagnostics.  Coverage of more advanced topics for
drivers and the embedded network controller/server/thingy is minimal
in the manual, but the online help for both is mostly complete.  The
website knowledge base details a lot of diagnostic/repair procedures.
Illustrations/pictures are clear.  *Well-written English*, which
counts for a lot (Konica, I'm looking at you).

  There are still a few "mystery settings" if you dig deep enough.
(Do I want "Account Mode" to be "User" or "Administrator"?  (I
eventually decided "Manage Account" should be unchecked, and "Account
Mode" should be "User".  Seems to work for us.  My best guess is that
the other settings are used if you want stricter print accounting
(such as password printing or control panel lockout).))

  Speed is very good.  In my testing: Around 25 pages/minute (color,
single-sided).  FPO (first page out) is <13 seconds from warm standby,
<38 seconds from a cold start, <1:27 for first-power-on after
out-of-box, with all new cartridges.  Opening the cover and/or
re-seating print cartridges triggers a "calibration" cycle, but it's
typically < 6 seconds.

  Network thingy takes 45 seconds to become ready after reboot or cold
start.  That might be due to our use of DHCP; did not test with static
IP address.  But it means print engine is usually ready to print well
before controller can accept jobs.  OTOH, since we usually never power
off our printers, this is rarely an issue for us.

  Windows drivers are available in model-specific or "GPD" (Global
Print Driver) variants.  Each of those are available in PCL5, PCL6, or
PostScript variants.  The models-specific stuff is small (1 to 4 MB);
the GPD is 33 MB.  I went with the model-specific driver.

  The PCL drivers generated much smaller print jobs, which printed
much faster, vs PostScript.  I have found to be typical with
contemporary printers.  I see PostScript as a desirable compatibility
feature, but not the ideal PDL.  (For our needs.  YMMV.)

  I tried printing a 4 page, color-heavy, bitmap-heavy, non-optimal,
PDF from our marketing department.  (In other words, typical.)  With
the PCL driver, it created a 16 MB job, which took about 3 minutes to
print (from clicking "OK" in the UI to last-page-out).  With the
PostScript driver, page 2 came out slightly after six minutes, at
which point I got tired of waiting and killed the job.

  The PCL driver printed the Gernot Hoffmann 220 LPI test page in < 50
seconds, when rasterized on the printer.  If rasterized in Adobe
Reader, <30 seconds.  This is with the model-specific PCL6 driver for
Windows.  Did not test PostScript driver on this.

  The front panel is fairly good.  Display: Relatively large,
easy-to-read, backlit.  Buttons: Four-way arrow, OK, Menu, Cancel,
Wake.  The Wake button lights when it goes into sleep (power save);
the display and other buttons are non-functional in sleep.  Press the
Wake button, or send a print job, and it will quickly become ready.
You can configure a variety of things from the front panel.

  You can have it beep for everything, or just errors, or nothing, or
several other options.  You can have the front panel prompt for paper
size and type whenever the MPT is loaded, which is a nice touch for
those who don't understand driver settings.

  The web UI is reasonable.  It needs JavaScript.  No Java or cookies.
 You can configure an admin username/password, at which point you need
to HTTP auth before you can change things.  The print driver as a
"Printer Status" button which will open the web UI from the printer
properties, which is handy.  It only wants a reboot on a couple things
(change in IP, enable/disable protocols, IIRC).

  The web UI provides a job history which includes date, time,
interface, username, hostname, job name, pages, and result.  The
username is the user who submitted the job, and the hostname is their
workstation, despite the fact that we route all print jobs through a
Windows server, so it must get that info from PJL/PCL or something.
Interface is always "Port 9100" for us.  This information is readable
to anyone who can get to the web UI, even if a password is set.  I do
not know if it this is exposed via SNMP or otherwise.

  Physically, all access to innards (except RAM/HDD) is through the
front panel.  Press a button on the side to release; door swings out
and down.  All four print cartridges are easily accessible directly
ahead.  The transfer belt assembly is on the door panel; the duplexer
assembly is under that.  The fuser assembly is at the top.  All parts
are *very* easy to remove/replace.  No tools.  For any given assembly,
release one or two catches, and it will pull/swing out.  Fits back in
easily, and alignment is obvious and keyed.  Electrical connections
plug in/out automatically.  Not only does this make repair easier, it
should make clearing bad paper jams a breeze.  It's a a beautiful
thing, and a far cry from some of HP's abominations as of late.  (To
clear many jams from the LaserJet P2015's bypass feed, you have to
disassemble the printer down to the base frame.  To clear jams from
the LaserJet 3380 AIO's fuser, you have to remove the scan deck (16
screws, 3 cables).  Both procedures take an hour plus.)

  Physically, the 6280 is somewhat large.  19 high, 16 wide, 18 deep
(inches).  Not including clearances for ventilation or opening
doors/drawers.

  We paid around $450/each, which is actually quite good for what you
get, but again, something smaller would have been preferred.

  We've had the Phaser's about a month, so too early to speak about
reliability, but so far, no problems.  The marketing girl hasn't even
managed to jam labels in it yet.

-- Ben