The Kyocera FS-C5350DN is a modular device to which extra paper trays and network interfaces, such as Gigabit or Wi-Fi, can be added.
Kyocera makes much of its ECOSYS technology, which it claims makes its printers some of the most cost-effective on the market. Although it's not the newest product on the market, the Kyocera FS-C5350DN's functional, FA Porsche styling makes it look as though it means business, with correspondingly robust build quality. Toner is installed by lifting the top cover of the printer and dropping the cartridges into their respective slots; an arrangement that makes it difficult to site the unit under a shelf.
When we turned on the unit we were faced with an unusually long calibration time of around 4 minutes, although Kyocera makes great claims for the colour calibration technology in the Kyocera FS-C5350DN, so maybe we were just being churlish.
Setting up the Kyocera FS-C5350DN on an Apple Mac was made a little more complex than it need have been due to the fact that Bonjour was disabled by default. Still, at least it had that particular feature as standard (unlike the Dell), so we delved into the printer’s settings via the LCD and were up and running in no time thanks to Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
Before we started the time trials, we decided to put the Kyocera FS-C5350DN’s dedicated USB flash slot to the test. Bizarrely, it’s located low down on the left side towards the rear of the unit. Short of having the port on the back of the printer we couldn’t conceive of a more inconvenient location for this feature. It limits where the printer can be placed, and requires sufficient clearance for a flash drive and hand.
When it came to timed tests, the Kyocera FS-C5350DN was rapid on a single-page Word document, though in the middle of the pack for all our other tests. A one-page Word document printed in just 10 seconds, the 10-page Word document took 31 seconds, and the 14-page duplex PDF took 1 minute 15 seconds. The JPEG (at photo quality) printed out in 56 seconds.
Photo output was marred by a lack of range, with the subtler shades at the lighter and darker end of the spectrum missing, though text remained sharp down to 4 point.
See also: Group test: what's the best budget printer?
NEXT: our expert verdict >>
Comments
Poidahl said: Weve had an FS-C5300 in our office workgroup for 3 or 4 years Its been great The delays Diego mentioned can happen but printing lots of pages with lots of toner its fair enough to need time getting itself ready Read this trying to learn the difference between C5300 and C5350 - the 5300 has the USB so Im none the wiser
Diego said: We have this printer in the office and it is horrible When you have to print documents with diagrams or photos about 30 of page coverage it will always be busy either filling the toner or cleaning itself Right now I have to print 60 pages for an impending meeting and am still in the process after more than 20 mins Its intolerable NOT ADVISED