Ricoh C125 MF

The Ricoh C125 MF ($498) is a midrange all-in-one (AIO) printer designed for small to medium offices. This affordable color laser provides excellent print quality and expandable paper capacity, as well as ample connectivity options including NFC. It's also solidly built and thoughtfully designed. On the downside, its print speeds are on the slow side, especially for graphics, and its toner costs are unusually high (without the usual option for high-yield replacement cartridges). That makes the C125 MF a good fit for workgroups on tight budgets that need top-quality output—but not a high volume of it.

Design: Hefty for Its Size

At 18.6 by 16.5 by 19.4 inches (HWD), the Ricoh C125 MF is slightly larger than competitive color laser all-in-ones. The Canon Color imageClass MF753Cdw, for example, is a fraction wider but otherwise more compact at 17.0 by 16.8 by 18.2 inches, as is the Brother MFC-L3780CDW at 15.8 by 18.2 by 16.1 inches. The HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301fdw is in the same ballpark at 15.1 by 16.6 by 17.1 inches. It makes sense that there isn't a lot of variation among these printers, as they have similar paper capacities including a 50-sheet, single-pass, auto-duplexing automatic document feeder (ADF).

However, the Ricoh is substantially heavier than the three other models, bucking the trend of newer printers losing weight at 66.1 pounds. By contrast, the older Canon MF746Cdw tipped the scales at 64 pounds but the MF753Cdw is just 48.5 pounds. The Brother MFC-L3780CDW (47.8 pounds) and HP 4301fdw (45 pounds) are similarly lighter than their predecessors.

(Credit: David English)

That extra weight could be good or bad news depending on your viewpoint. If you're the one who has to lift the printer out of the box and onto a desk, you might prefer a trimmer design. But a lightweight printer's plastic parts could wear out faster than metal ones, and a sturdy metal-reinforced cabinet can better withstand bumps or jolts.

Paper Handling: Thick Is OK

The Ricoh's paper-handling capacities are fairly typical for the category. Like the HP, Brother, and Canon, the C125 MF has a 250-sheet input tray, a 50-sheet ADF, and a 150-sheet output bin. Its single-sheet override tray suffers by comparison, as the Brother has a 30-sheet multipurpose tray and the Canon and HP have 50-sheet multipurpose trays.

A multipurpose tray can be handy since most lasers' standard paper trays aren't able to handle thicker media such as envelopes. Happily, the C125 MF's standard tray can handle a wide range of papers including envelopes, labels, and card stock rated as high as 43 pounds. That makes the single-sheet override tray less necessary and less limiting than it might be on many other printers, though Ricoh cautions that thick media like envelopes and labels will print at approximately half the speed of standard paper.

Ricoh rates the C125 MF's maximum monthly duty cycle at 30,000 pages, trailing the 50,000 pages of the Brother and HP models mentioned. (Canon no longer lists maximum monthly duty cycles for its printers.) Similarly, the Ricoh's recommended monthly duty cycle is a modest 1,500 pages, much less than the 4,000 of its three rivals (and one reason for its having the lowest purchase price).

If you do plan to push the Ricoh's workload close to its monthly maximum, you'll likely find the 250-sheet input tray too restrictive (i.e., 120 tray refills a month). Like its competitors, Ricoh offers a remedy in the form of a 500-sheet tray extension ($174) that attaches to the bottom of the unit. The same accessory is also compatible with Ricoh's C125 P single-function color laser printer.

Setup: Deal in the Cards

The setup process for this AIO was straightforward with no hiccups. Even though the toner cartridges are already loaded, you must briefly uninstall them to remove some tape that secures them during shipping. You may also be puzzled when first trying to locate the USB and Ethernet connectors—rather than have them exposed at the back of the unit, Ricoh hides them behind a protective door with an open slot for routing cables. It's a good idea but not immediately obvious, unless you're looking for it.

(Credit: David English)

As you'd expect from its hefty weight, the printer's chassis feels solid and well-constructed, with plenty of metal instead of plastic. As you close its panels, the C125 MF provides a satisfying car-door thunk that we associate with vintage printers. There's certainly little danger that it might be accidentally knocked off its stand or desk.

(Credit: David English)

The front panel features a bright, colorful 4.3-inch touch screen. The control panel interface keeps things simple by not overcrowding the home screen or relying on hard-to-decipher icons; its icons have equally prominent text labels. The overall structure is formal, restrained, and businesslike. You'll find a generous selection of print, copy, scan, fax, paper, network, and system settings, as well as an address book with separate quick and speed dial lists. Less typical, card settings are elevated to a prime position on the home screen, reflecting the paper tray's compatibility with a range of card paper stocks.

To the right of the LCD is a numeric keypad labeled with alphabetic designations. Even though the LCD is touch-capable, simply keying in a password or phone number can sometimes be easier, so I applaud Ricoh's resisting the trend of considering keypads redundant when accompanied by a touch screen. A small door to the left of the LCD hides a USB port for connecting a thumb drive, so you can use the C125 MF's walk-up Scan to USB function to have it operate as a standalone scanner or copier. Unfortunately, you can't use a thumb drive for standalone printing as you can with the other three models discussed here.

(Credit: David English)

The automatic document feeder has a sturdy extendable hinge that allows it to be raised for scanning books or magazines. It rises enough to accommodate even a thick tome, though you'll be limited by the 8.5-by-11.7-inch size of the glass platen. For smaller books, you'll be able to scan two facing pages at once; with oversized books, you may have to settle for a page at a time.

As for connectivity, the Ricoh C125 MF supports Ethernet, USB, and Wi-Fi, as well as Wi-Fi Direct for ad hoc wireless hookups and Apple AirPrint and Mopria for mobile printing. The HP, Canon, and Brother printers compared here have the same options, but the Ricoh adds an NFC tag that lets you tap the front of the printer to connect supported Android devices. Only the Brother MFC-L3780CDW matches that feature.

Testing the Ricoh 125 MF: What’s the Hurry?

Ricoh rates the C125 MF's print speed at 26 pages per minute (ppm), which is a bit leisurely these days for an entry-level color laser AIO. Its Brother rival is rated at 31ppm, and the HP and Canon are rated at 35ppm each. I benchmarked the printer over an Ethernet connection with our standard Intel Core i5 desktop testbed running Windows 10 Pro.

The C125MF comes out of the box configured to print two-sided (duplex) pages. For such printers, we clock both two-sided and one-sided (simplex) performance. When printing our 12-page Microsoft Word text document (excluding the first page), I clocked the Ricoh at 26.1ppm in simplex mode and 11.6 images per minute (ipm, where each image is one side of a two-sided page) in duplex mode.

As you might expect given their higher speed ratings, the Canon MF753Cdw and HP 4301fdw were able to easily surpass the C125 MF, managing 35ppm and 36ppm, respectively. The contest with the Brother MFC-L3780CDW was a little more competitive, but still nowhere close (32ppm). The Ricoh lagged far behind its rivals on the first page, though it closed a little of the gap by the end of the 12-page document.

With our business applications suite—six files that represent a cross-section of typical business documents—the Ricoh languished in last place again, taking a tepid 170 seconds to print the lot. Its closest rival, the Brother, was a full minute faster (110 seconds), while the Canon finished the job in a brisk 95 seconds and the HP took just 87.

While no laser-class printer can match a dedicated inkjet for quality photo prints, I did try the C125 MF with PCMag's two standard 4-by-6-inch test snapshots. It averaged about 16 seconds per image, which is fairly slow for a color laser.

On a more positive note, the printer's output quality was a close match to that of Ricoh's single-function C125 P. Like almost any laser-class printer, it produced near-typesetter-quality text more than suitable for most business documents. I was able to read typical business fonts down to a tiny 4 points. Text was sharp and distinct, and documents looked clean and professional, with no stray marks or extraneous lines. Charts and graphs had a pleasing amount of saturation and contrast. Colors were lively without being overdone.

Though slow, printed photos looked especially good in both color and black and white. Skin tones in photos can be particularly tricky, often looking natural but a bit overstated with color laser printers. Ricoh appears to have found the narrow sweet spot for both saturation and contrast, with some of the better color prints that I've seen from an AIO laser.

As with any laser printer, you won't be able to print borderless photos or pages as you can with an inkjet printer. However, the C125 MF's photo print quality should be more than adequate for casual business documents such as newsletters, brochures, or real estate flyers.

Consumables: No High-Yield Toner Choice

Even more than its speed, the biggest drawback of the C125 MP is likely its above-average toner costs. The reason is no mystery: Unlike its competitors, Ricoh gives you no option to purchase a high-yield instead of standard set of toner cartridges. For black-and-white pages, buying a black cartridge at its $100 list price will set you back around 4.3 cents per page, falling to 3.8 cents if you buy the cartridge for $87.53 on Amazon. That's still quite high, as is the cost per color page (about 21 cents list or 18.2 cents discounted).

(Credit: David English)

For comparison, the Canon MF753Cdw will cost you about 14.7 cents for a color and 2.4 cents for a monochrome page. The HP 4301fdw is close (14.1 cents color, 2.3 cents monochrome), while the Brother MFC-L3780CDW is the most economical at 12.3 cents for color and 2.3 cents for monochrome. These operating costs reflect some extra cash invested in high-yield cartridges, but they're well worth it.

There's one bright spot in the Ricoh's cost of ownership: With most laser printers, you need to replace the built-in drum unit after printing a designated (high) number of pages. The C125 MF is one of a small number of lasers that integrate a drum mechanism into each toner cartridge. Drum units aren't usually included in cost-per-page calculations because they tend to have long lives (indeed, they never need replacement in some light-duty environments), but Ricoh's design could help mitigate its high toner costs over time.

Verdict: Cloudy With Potential Clear Skies

The Ricoh C125 MF color laser all-in-one has a lot going for it. Though priced well below its competitors, it provides first-class print quality for both text and graphics. It has a full range of connection options, including the hard-to-find NFC; it's sturdy and well-constructed; and it can handle heavy card stock and expand onboard paper capacity to a substantial 751 sheets.

The trade-offs for the C125 MF's low price are slower print speed and steeper toner costs. The former may not be an issue if your office tends to do only short print runs, but the latter will only work for you if you print only a low volume of pages instead of frequent lengthy documents. The best-case scenario would be for Ricoh to release a set of high-yield toner cartridges for the device. If that were to happen, the printer's pros would far outweigh the cons, and the C125 MF could become a true bargain for a broad range of users.