Anyone who has ever worked in an office knows the reputation copiers and printers have for frequently breaking, jamming and doing just about anything other than copying and printing. The brand you pick for your next device will determine how well your equipment will work, how often you will need service and what type of warranty it will have.
Long story short, choosing the right brand of copier or printer is an important decision.
So, before you commit to a Sharp device, let’s do an in-depth review of the Sharp brand, their devices and what the experts think.
Sharp Inc. Reviewed
Sharp is a large Japanese conglomerate headquartered in Sakai, Japan. They’ve been designing and manufacturing a wide range of consumer and business electronics for over a century. Their primary focus has been to produce products and business solutions to enhance people’s lives at home, work, and everywhere in between.
Today, Sharp produces a wide range of scanners, multifunction devices, digital printing and publishing systems.
Providing Solutions Since 1912
Founded in 1912 in Tokyo, the company took its name from one of its founder’s first inventions, the Ever-Sharp mechanical pencil, invented in 1915 by Tokuji Hayakawa.
After the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923 destroyed the business, the company relocated to Osaka and began designing the first generation of Japanese radio sets. In 1942, the company changed its name to the “Hayakawa Electric Industry Company.”
After WWII, Hayakawa Electric began producing the first Japanese made televisions and continued to grow. It wasn’t until 1964 that the company developed the world’s first transistor calculator the Sharp CS-10A which was priced at $1,400.
Throughout the 1960s Sharp continued creating cutting edge technology including the first pocketable calculator. In 1970 the company’s name was officially changed to the Sharp Corporation.
Today, the Sharp Corporation employs over 50,000 people and manufactures a wide variety of consumer and business electronics products. They produce projectors, monitors, and a range of photocopiers, multifunction devices and laser printers.
A Review of Sharp Business Products
Sharp manufactures a range of business printers and MFPs, from small-footprint desktop devices to large, high-output networkable units. All offer high-quality printing, on-board document storage, enhanced security, a Smart touchscreen and flexible paper handling.
Sharp MX3070V, MX3570V and MX4070V Advanced Series Colour Workgroup Document Systems
These devices offer colour output and are easy to use. The colour Advanced Series focuses on the user and draws its inspiration from the latest networking and imaging technologies available.
With features like a walk-up motion sensor that wakes the machine when you approach, to a built-in retractable keyboard to simplify emailing and repetitive scanning tasks, this family of MFPs offers ease of use, functionality and enhanced security.
Sharp MX5070V and MX6070V
The MX5070V and MX6070V Colour Advanced Series offer users multitasking features, allowing them to execute the workflow tasks needed in today’s busy office environment. Sharps’ Colour Consistency System features next-generation image process control to deliver a high-quality colour output and maintains optimum balance and toner density on every page.
These networkable devices also provide access to the most popular cloud applications like Microsoft OneDrive, SharePoint Online and Google Drive. The standard duplexing document feeder scans both sides of a document in a single pass at speeds up to 200 images per minute.
Sharp MX7580N
With consistent colour quality and advanced workflow capabilities, the MX7580N helps customers navigate document workflow with precision and efficiency. The user-friendly interface is complemented by robust paper handling and productive output capabilities.
The MX7580N is built for high-volume office environments, copy rooms, and reprographics departments to provide output capabilities once reserved for commercial print facilities.
What Users and the Experts are Saying
Joanna Furlong at Business News Daily says, “The Sharp MX4070V is a great colour copier for large SMBs that want enterprise features, a smaller enterprise, or a firm that requires strict client confidentiality and security.”
She also noted that “the price is an obvious drawback with the MX4070V, but leasing options can minimize the upfront expense.”
User Cynthia Salem rated Sharp MFPs 3 out of 5 stars. “We have a total of 4 Sharp MFPs on our network, and they consist of an MX3100N, (2) MXM363N and an MX3140N. Functionally the printers/copiers are nice and have many capabilities that are far beyond our daily needs.”
However, on the flip side, she notes “The only problem we have consistently is that we have glitchy printing from our MAC computers, especially when user control is in use. We are a small special needs school with no on-site IT support, so it keeps us busy trying to figure out why we can’t print.”
The experts at Betterbuys.com gave the Sharp MX-5070V high marks for its intuitive user interface, walk-up motion sensor and 200 ppm document feeder scanning speed.
The only negative they mentioned is the low standard paper capacity (paper input starts with a 550-sheet tray and a 100-sheet bypass for 650 sheets). But they noted companies could add additional paper options for a maximum capacity of 6,300 sheets.
Wondering What a Copier Costs?
Are you considering a new copier or MFD for your office? With so many choices available, choosing the right device for your office can be a daunting task. Price can differ significantly based on the size and configuration of the copier/MFD.
Check out our page on “What Office Equipment Costs” to learn about the different price categories available and the type of copier/MFD you can expect for that price.
Cory Porteous
Director of Marketing & Inbound Business Development
Office Interiors
