It's been over a year since I've seen Riso's ComCOLOR devices. At first I was skeptical of the quality and thought with that type of quality and the MSRP there’s no way this system can make a dent in the office equipment industry.In late November of 2009 I was shown samples of the output from the ComCOLOR; basically it was Riso’s test sample file kit. The images were awesome and I was blown away. With the quality I saw and the MSRP I figured there was a place for this system.
Thus out with my sample packs I went, I picked up a few accounts that were highly interested and two actually came in for a demo. I sold a ComCOLOR in December of 2009, however it never got delivered (that’s another story to tell), and I’m kind of glad it didn’t. I had secured another demo prior to the Print On Demand Show in Phili of 2010. My client loved the speed and the output was acceptable for the end product he needed to produce except for one tiny thing…….. bleed thru of the image on two sided documents were not acceptable. Well, back to the drawing board, off to the Print On-Demand Show to look for the Holy Grail, I was sure I’d find the right paper at one of the largest shows on the East Coast. As I went from paper vendor to paper vendor, all had nothing to offer, ohhhh bother…….., this was not good. I then went to the small booth where Riso was showing the ComCOLOR and they sighed and exclaimed as of right now there was no paper that would limit the bleed through, however we have this awesome inkjet paper (11x17) but….it’s a little high with a cost per sheet of .12 cents (this is from memory now and at my age it’s a little tougher and tougher every day), ooohhh bother, .12 cents won’t cut it either.
So as the hours turned to days, the show was over and the days turned to weeks and the weeks went to months there was no Holy Grail for the paper. What I did realize after the show is that all of the print samples that I was showing was done on that .12 cents per sheet ink jet paper, don’t ya think there should have been a label or something, maybe a disclaimer??? Ooohhh bother, I should have been more diligent in asking about the media.
We’re now almost a year later and I have to tell you, I haven’t sold a ComCOLOR and haven’t seen one in the field, your guess is as good as mine to where they are hiding. I’m still trying to pitch the quality and speed however the MSRP price of these units are way over priced and probably the reason why you don’t seem em in every CRD or Print Shop. Now with Memjet heads finally coming to market in various systems like the Astro1, I think we can count the days of the demise of the ComCOLOR and possibly RISO.
Since August 9th there have been seven blogs on their www.risoprinter.com site, last year at this time before Murphy left they had a few blogs posting every week, plus they were tweeting the heck out of the product. It seems the ComCOLOR is grasping at straws; one blog based on MPS, another for single pass promo and secure MICR. In their latest blog they tout that Imaging Channel (not sure who they are, will research) has a “fresh look” at Riso’s Youtube video, if you ask me maybe Imaging Channel should have tried one of these and then asked themselves if they would for out 40K-70K for so so color and a machine that jams a little more than usual.
Riso, I’d love to sell your product, however maybe it’s not ready for me or I’m not ready for it, or maybe we’ll never understand each other.
special thanx to Jason for pointing out some typo's thanx for this!!!