One other comment. I am not a Tech nor am I knowledgeable with the process of updating firmware. But do other brands have as many problems updating firmware as the Kyocera units?
We do not seem to have these issues with NEC or Samsung. It is the end of a tough year and I am blowing off steam.

I am not familiar with the NEC model I do have lots of experience with the Samsung line. I do like the Kyocera line better than the Samsungs.
Kyocera's now use a thumbdrive to update the firmware I find these very easy to update. I am not sure if you were out at the product show in Vegas last month for Samsung. I met lots of dealers that deal multiple lines of copiers. The ones that sold the Sharp Copiers were very happy with their cost per copy. The ones that ran the Toshibas and Sharp line said the Sharp would run circles around the Toshiba. All of my Kyocera colors are in low volume accounts and I only have one in a print shop. As I stated earlier I have not seen any problems as of yet and my customers are very satisfied with their product.

Well my Honeymoon with KM Color lasted all of 2 weeks, got a call late Friday for blurry copies, and they want me there first thing Monday. A foot and a half of snow may delay that service call.

That is my biggest call on these is the blurry copies, I just do drum refresh, color calibration then recalibrate then the copies look great again.

Techboy, That was the fix, thanks.

The color cal does go out a good bit the first 6months, then the machine breaks in and the settings hold very well. We have 30 TASKalfa color units out now, and the only problem we are fighting are that some units are using too much black toner, but the latest flash should fix that

Techboy - and anyone else, How often does Blurry copies occur?? Why does Blurry copies occur? Too much humidity, or condensation in the machine?

And it is great that doing a Drum Refresh & color Calibration solves the problem, but it still is a service call, and a cost to respond with time & labor, etc.. Along with client dissatisfaction with the amount of service, etc...

Not very often I just happened to have it twice in one week and have not noticed a pattern. Like any color you should always check the calibration when you do a service call.

My rep told me they are coming out with a
500ci 1.5 version, with various mods

Its a long shot but maybe this one will work

you need people who know how to SELL ! Duley noted. happy new year !!

You really notice the calibration being off on these when the customer prints text inside a shaded box. It will look like it was printed on an inkjet with a bad cartridge.
The color registration should be done first,( may have to do it multiple times to "walk" the hash lines closer together), then do the auto grayscale adjust. Sometimes you have to do the BIG registration a few times first. Not that bad, a minor pain at worst.