Here in the East Coast offices of ENX Magazine, our typical tools of the trade—despite being a magazine that serves the office technology dealership universe—tend to lean toward the remedial side. Not that there’s anything wrong with your garden variety Canon or HP printers, purchased from a Best Buy or Staples for the princely sum of $30-$50. Given the modest print volumes required, these models were an appropriate application.
Thus, when the opportunity to review the RICOH C125 MF class was extended—courtesy of PFU America, the U.S. subsidiary of PFU Limited (and a member of the Ricoh Group since 2022)—it provided a rare yet exciting chance to see a quality workgroup printer in action. After putting the device through the paces for the past six weeks, the C125 MF provided us with a strong sampling of its capabilities.
A bit of a backgrounder: The new line was announced in mid-October by PFU America, consisting of the RICOH C125 P, RICOH C125 MF, RICOH 132 P and RICOH 132 MF. The target user is the SMB space, particularly legal, accounting, health care, real estate, and retail industries, as well as local government agencies. We chose the C125 MF to get a feel for the four-in-one (print, copy, fax, scan) functionality.
A quick rundown: The line boasts USB, Ethernet and Wi-Fi print connectivity and supports AirPrint and Morpria. It features a 4.3-inch color touchscreen for print management, a fool-proof setup wizard and lightning-fast copy speeds. You can learn more about it in the data sheet.
At first blush: The stated weight of the device is 66 pounds, but it checked in at 83 pounds in the box, which was more than a little unwieldy. Of course, secure packaging is the most important aspect. Most impressive is the modest footprint and sleek design, which makes it friendly to any office space environment, especially those cramped space home offices. It’s small enough to occupy modest nooks and crannies, which allows your cornerstone office space to prominently feature task-oriented hardware. The plug-and-play setup makes it simple to use right out of the box. It’s ideal for those who don’t want to spend 20 minutes perusing a user’s guide and prefer to test it as they go.
Connectivity: What a gem, especially for those who prefer the wireless route. It plays nicely with mobile devices; in fact, we sent jobs from five different devices, including an older phone that has traditionally struggled in interfacing with other sources. All jobs went through without a hitch.
Print performance: As buttery smooth a performance as I’ve ever encountered. I’ve dealt with some aged, networked dogs through the years that were five times as large and expensive as the C125, but boasted the maneuverability of an ocean liner. It has a stated first page out speed of 20 seconds or less, but to be honest, I was able to enjoy razor-sharp, double-sided printing almost instantaneously, which makes it more than equipped to handle even the most brisk SMB environments. Business color prints easily meet most office standards, and businesses on a shoestring can generate marketing collateral.
Scanning/faxing: The fact of the matter is, admins, nurses, assistants, etc., who work in the target verticals are experts in areas other than output devices. They require speed and simplicity. Their available training time is best suited for occupational software programs/workflows, not workgroup printer tutorials. The C125 MF manages to stay out of its own way through simplicity, and it is not problematic for any user with even remedial experience in fax/scan duties.
Bottom line: With an MSRP of $498, the C125 MF is a fantastic value buy, as the four-in-one capability enables users to enjoy an enterprise-level user experience at a fraction of the cost of a higher-yield unit. The performance is nothing less than one would expect from a Ricoh device.
