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BLI Comparative Lab Test ReportAugust 2007

BUYERS LAB

� This report has been reproduced with the written permission of Buyers Laboratory Inc. • ©2008 Buyers Laboratory Inc. • 050802B

Advantage: Canon iRC5185i HP CM8060

Reliability Multitasking Administrative Utilities Feedback to Workstations Ease of Network Setup Print Drivers

Applications Compatibility

Scan Functions Colour Print/Copy Quality Black Print/Copy Quality

Colour Print/Copy Productivity Black Print/Copy Productivity Ease of Use Feature Set Security Features Ink/Toner Yield Value

Test Objective

BLI International (UK) Ltd (BLI) was commissioned by Canon Europe Ltd. to conduct confi-dential document imaging device performance testing on the Canon iRC5185i and the HP CM8060 Color MFP and produce a report comparing the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two products. In addition to performing a 150,000-impression durability run on both de-vices, evaluations of multitasking, colour and black image quality, colour and black print and copy productivity/efficiency, ease of network setup, print driver functionality, administrative utilities, applications compatibility, ease of use, scan functionality, feedback to workstations, feature set, toner / ink yield, value and energy consumption were conducted. All testing was performed in BLI’s test facility in Wokingham, UK.

Comparison of the Canon iRC5185i and HP CM8060 MFP

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BUYERS LAB Lab Test Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary 2

Reliability 4

Multitasking 6

Administrative Utilities 7

Feedback to Workstations 9

Ease of Network Setup 11

Print Drivers 12

Applications Compatibility 16

Scan Functions 16

Print/Copy Quality 20

Print/Copy Productivity 25

Ease of Use 32

Feature Set 35

Security Features 37

Toner Yield 38

Value 39

Power Consumption 40

Executive Summary

Over the course of its testing, BLI carried out an exhaustive range of tests, which highlighted a wealth of strengths and weaknesses of both products.

While the HP CM8060 has a number of impressive advantages, including better over-all performance in IT-related performance areas (administrative utilities, feedback to workstations and ease of setup) and the ability to OCR documents while scanning them, the Canon iRC5185i proved to be superior overall, having an edge in more performance categories. Indeed, the iRC5185i outperformed the HP CM8060 in reli-ability, productivity, scan functionality, productivity, ease of use and feature set.

The two models offer comparable image quality in black mode, which was found to be very good, while the iRC 5185i has the edge in colour output quality on plain paper, thanks to higher density of output, superior overall colour space, better pho-tographic reproduction and glossier finish. The HP CM8060’s colour output, while having a flat, matte appearance, remained more consistent over the course of testing, however, and was comparable in quality to that of the Canon iRC5185i when output-ting on glossy HP coated paper (circa £70 per ream).

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August 2007


While the HP CM8060 demonstrated a few productivity advantages over the Canon model, such as faster first-print-out times and throughput speeds when printing A4 heavy card stock from the bypass tray, overall the iRC 5185i is clearly more produc-tive. It outperformed the HP model in most of the tests, including when printing BLI’s job stream, which simulates the type of traffic a typical device might experience in a real-world multi-user environment. Both models are very productive in colour mode when outputting onto A4 media, with the Canon model having the edge. With A3 output, however, the Canon model’s advantage is much greater, with the HP model’s weakness in this area further compounded when using heavy coverage documents and duplexing.

From a walk-up ease of use perspective both devices have their merits. For the nov-ice or occasional user the HP’s extremely large, full-colour touch screen with user-friendly menu layout allows for intuitive job programming. In addition, the innovative video demonstration of jam removal procedures offered by the HP is groundbreaking and provides excellent assistance. However, Canon’s choice of two excellent colour control panel screens not only offers novice users a highly intuitive main copy screen that is consistent throughout nearly all of Canon’s line, but also offers more advanced users its Express Copy screen, which can be set as the default screen and provides nearly all commonly used copy selections, and even some advanced selections, on a single screen for fast programming with fewer keystrokes.

The HP model is notable for its ability to OCR documents while they are being scanned, with a diverse range of OCR conversion options eliminating the need for OCR software, but the Canon model’s smaller file size and superior scanning speed, as well as ease of use advantages, give it the edge for scanning.

From a value and running cost perspective, the HP CM8060 has the baseline price ad-vantage (based on suggested retail price of the units comparably configured). However, the Canon unit’s superior productivity, ability to produce very high output quality on low-cost plain paper and better feature set contribute to comparable overall value.

The footprint and weight of the HP CM8060 are also issues to be considered, since they may prohibit its placement in certain environments. The weight of the HP CM8060 is 330Kg, in contrast to the Canon iRC5185i’s 147.5Kg. In addition, the HP CM8060 has a significantly larger footprint than the Canon iRC5185i, with the minimum width/depth dimension (required for getting through doors) being 840mm, whereas the Canon iRC5185i’s is 620mm.


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Reliability

Both units were subjected to a durability test during which the units produced ap-proximately 170,000 impressions (50,000 impressions, plus additional impressions that were logged during the course of toner/ink yield testing). During the durability test conducted in BLI’s UK lab, the Canon iRC5185 provided a better reliability per-formance, requiring just one service call, which was to replace a worn fuser unit. The HP CM8060 required a total of five service visits, three of which were to replace failed printheads, components HP promotes as lasting the lifetime of the product. The HP finisher also required a service call due to a cable becoming disconnected, and a recurring error code that required turning the machine off and then back on was cor-rected with a circuit board replacement. Spittoon replacement was performed during one of the service calls.

Note: At each printhead replacement occasion in the test, the service engineer checked the serial numbers of the new printheads against HP current service updates to ensure that only printheads with the most current manufacturing status were being installed.

Advantage: Canon

In addition to the higher level of service call frequency, the HP CM8060 also suffered from a higher number of misfeeds, with a misfeed rate of one per 15,411 impressions versus the one per 85,062 impressions experienced by the Canon iRC5185i.

Advantage: Canon

HP CM8060 with printhead leakage, ink contamination on the spittoon and printed output pages

PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW

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HP CM8060

PMs/Malfunctions Service Required Meter Count (Impressions)

Impressions Between Service

Meter Count (beginning of test) 0

Excessive streaking Replaced printheads 13,423

Error code D1.0102 appeared every morn-ing after first few prints, requiring that the unit be turned off and then back on

Replaced A2 circuit board 18,440 5,017

Error code C4.0204 due for maintenance message appeared, followed shortly by C4.0202 device failure

Replaced web wipe; observing streak-ing during the call, service technician also replaced magenta and cyan printheads

53,341 34,901

Ink smearing along right side of paperReplaced multiple printheads due to leakage and performed preventive maintenance (replaced spittoon)

86,879 33,538

Error code A3.0141; wiring harness to SN262 sensor in the finisher had broken off due to movement of the output tray assembly

Replaced sensor harness with a longer cable to allow for greater movement

138,830

Meter Count (end of test) 169,519

Total Misfeeds/Misfeed Rates 11 / 1 per 15,411 impressions

Service Calls 5

PMs *

Total Service Calls (incl. PMs) 5

* HP does not have scheduled preventive maintenance visits for the device.

Canon iRC5185i

PMs/Malfunctions Service Required Meter Count (Impressions)

Impressions Between Service

Meter Count (beginning of test) 0

Error code E000007-0001 – call for engineer (ref 20179900)

Replaced worn fuser unit 76,869

Meter Count (end of test) 170,123

Total Misfeeds/Misfeed Rates 2 / 1 per 85,062 impressions

Service Calls 1

PMs *

Total Service Calls (incl. PMs) 1

* Canon does not have scheduled preventive maintenance visits for this device.

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Multitasking

Each unit has strengths and weaknesses regarding multitasking, but overall the iRC5185i has the edge in this category.

The number of copy jobs that can be programmed ahead on the HP CM8060 is limited only by memory. The Canon iRC5185i is limited to accepting up to nine copy jobs behind a copy job already in progress making the device less user friendly in copy-intensive environments.

Advantage: HP

The Canon iRC5185i allows administrators to assign a priority level of 1, 2 or 3 to copy and print jobs. If two functions, such as copy and print, are set to the same pri-ority, jobs will be handled on a first-in, first-out basis. If copy is set to 1 and print is set to 2 or 3, copy jobs will be completed first, even if print jobs were in the queue before the copy jobs were sent. If copy jobs have a higher priority than print jobs and a print job is in progress, the print job is not paused to output the copy job, but the copy job is placed ahead of any print jobs in the queue. By default, on the HP CM8060, copy-ing takes precedence over all functions. A particular function cannot be established as having priority over the others.

Advantage: Canon

The HP CM8060 will only download one print job to the device at a time, while the other print jobs remain on the network queue. The Canon iRC5185i allows jobs to flow off the network and reside on the device hard drive, feeding them into the ac-tive queue as required. This enables end users to view and prioritize print jobs at the device.

Advantage: Canon

The HP CM8060 allows users to continue using the touch-screen control panel while a copy or scan job is being processed by the document feeder and does not require users to press a key in order to reserve another copy job while one is in progress. The Canon iRC5185i freezes the control panel until the last page of the document has been scanned and the user has selected ‘Done’ from the job status window.

Advantage: HP

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Administrative Utilities

From a network administrator perspective, the HP CM8060, managed by the popular Web Jetadmin utility, is going to be a favoured solution for many network adminis-trators. While not bundled with the unit, Web Jetadmin can be downloaded for no charge from HP's Web site.

A very flexible and powerful network management utility, which integrates with HP's OpenView, IBM's Tivoli and Computer Associates' Unicenter, Web Jetadmin is one of the most powerful network device management utilities for workgroup printers tested by BLI to date, providing network administrators with a comprehensive set of tools for managing output devices on the network. Canon offers a plug-in for Web Jetad-min that allows Canon devices to be managed by this utility.

In addition to the unit’s embedded Web server and Web Jetadmin, another utility available for use with the HP CM8060 and other HP devices is HP Easy Printer Care. This user-friendly utility enables administrators or users manage up to 15 HP devices on the network. The user can view consolidated printer and supplies status or set up printer alerts for all of the managed devices. Usage information can be tracked by user, application type and date/time to monitor printing. Easy Printer Care integrates with HP Instant Support to provide online troubleshooting and diagnostics informa-tion and with HP SureSupply to compile orders for supplies based on what is needed for the group of managed printers; the user can then edit the supplies list and shop online or print the order sheet.

Administrative utilities for the Canon iRC5185i include the unit’s Remote User In-terface (its embedded Web page) and iW Management Console (iWMC) suite. The iWMC is HTML-based and, in addition to enabling discovery of Canon, as well as non-Canon, devices on the network, enables setting up of alerts for all devices or groups of devices that meet specified criteria.

Canon iWMC is not as richly featured as HP Web Jetadmin, with a lower level of device management, no ability to view devices connected locally via USB, no ability to view status of specific groups and no ability (at time of test) to manage account management and security feature sets.

Advantage: HP

Both devices offer centralised driver installation and distribution capabilities, although for the Canon model, this requires a plug-in. The printer driver plug-in for Canon iWMC allows administrators to carry out remote installation, de-installation and up-dating of printer drivers for Canon products. PCs can be grouped together making this task quick and effortless. The included customisation wizard on the HP CM8060 installation CDs allows the administrator to preselect driver settings and install the drivers onto workstations remotely.

Advantage: Comparably matched

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Canon iWMC offers more advanced address book management, with full import /ex-port capabilities, while the HP is limited to 500 addresses at a time.

Advantage: Canon

HP WebJetadmin providing a graphical colour coded overview of all devices or groups of devices instantly for administrators

HP CM8060 and Canon iRC5185i web servers

The embedded Web server of both systems, as well as HP’s Managed Printing Admin-istration software, enables administrators to limit or restrict access to colour output

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by user. The HP model’s utilities also enable restricting colour output when certain applications are used. For example, an administrator could allow printing in colour from some applications, such as PowerPoint, but prevent it from others such as Inter-net Explorer, to reduce unnecessary colour printing of documents from the Web.

Advantage: HP

HP’s Web Jetadmin and Canon’s iWMC can both be configured to send e-mail alerts to the administrator or selected users when errors occur or when supplies need to be replaced or reordered.


Feedback to Workstations

From a feedback to workstations perspective, the HP CM8060 is the clear winner, with a much wider range of feedback options, including pop-up messages, e-mail alerts and a direct hyperlink to the Web server, allowing users to instantly see infor-mation on current device, paper and consumables status. In contrast, the Canon model requires users to browse to the internal Web server using an Internet browser before device status is revealed.

The Canon iRC5185i appears to display the amount of paper remaining in the device via the driver; however, the paper size and quantity are not automatically updated. In order for accurate information to be displayed, users must access the Get Device Status key under the Device Settings tab in the Properties menu of the device in the Printers folder in Windows. When users then “point and click” on the graphical dis-play of the unit in the print driver, a pop-up window appears with the correct paper size and quantity. Because this process requires numerous clicks, it’s not practical.

Advantage: HP

Even without installing any software, users of the HP CM8060 get pop-up messages that are not only among the most unobtrusive seen by BLI (status information is dis-played in one window on the bottom of the user’s desktop), but also dynamic, chang-ing as errors are cleared.

HP Easy Printer Care software is a user-friendly utility that enables users to manage up to 15 HP printers. It also enables setting up of pop-up messages, icon alerts and e-mail messages. These can be configured to appear whenever a print job is sent or whenever an error occurs; users can choose to be notified of all errors or only critical errors.

Advantage: HP

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While both devices offer an e-mail alert upon print job completion feature, the Canon iRC5185i offers e-mail notification for scan and copy jobs, which is useful for large scan jobs and when copy jobs are stacked in a queue behind other print or copy items. Users can manually enter the e-mail address, choose it from the device ad-dress book or select an entry from the corporate LDAP-linked address book.

Advantage: Canon

Email alerts being set using Canon’s iWMC

Email alerts being set up by HP’s WebJetadmin

Paper supply information is provided on the HP CM8060’s embedded Web page, but is limited to displaying either “OK” or “Empty,” with users having to go to the WebJetAdmin utility to see approximate percentages of paper supply left. In contrast to paper supply, the amount of ink remaining on the HP CM8060 is indicated on the embedded Web page by gauges representing the approximate percentages of each supply remaining.

With the Canon model, consumables status information, such as the approximate amount of remaining paper and toner, is displayed in finer increments (in 25% incre-ments). Staples supply (full/empty) is also indicated on the Canon Web page.

Advantage: Canon

August 2007


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Ease of Network Setup

The HP CM8060 is delivered to the customer in a reusable crate—there is no card-board or foam to be disposed of—and the technicians take the crate with them when they leave. The crate is made of plywood and metal, with built-in shock absorbers and unloading ramp, and is used to pack and ship another device. The document feeder, large-capacity tray and finisher are packed in cardboard and padded with foam; how-ever, the setup technicians take those materials with them when they leave. HP has made much of the setup and service a paperless process—technicians do not have to carry any paper manuals to the customer site when setting up the device or servic-ing a machine. All technical documentation is embedded in the machine; technicians simply plug their laptops into the device to access technical documentation.

The Canon iRC5185i hardware arrives via a courier in a large number of individual cardboard boxes with extensive packaging. Each software upgrade also comes in a separate cardboard box, which amounted to a considerable amount of additional packaging when considering that each box only contained one sheet of paper with the code needed to activate the firmware for the additional feature. The device is installed by a separate team of hardware installation engineers.

Advantage: HP

The HP CM8060 has a removable configuration chip within the device that stores all of the device settings and information, allowing service technicians to restore ma-chine settings if required.

The Canon model includes a utility whereby administrators can export and then re-import device settings and address books, which allows for a device replacement to be quickly deployed.


The drivers and documentation CDs on the HP CM8060 auto-launch upon insertion in the drive, and the process of setting up drivers and utilities is very easy. Users are given three choices for installation: typical install (the default installation, which installs the PCL 6 driver), typical install with fax (installs PCL 6 and fax software) and custom install (allows users to select any or all of the drivers to be installed in a single opera-tion). It takes 12 clicks to install the PCL 6 and PostScript 3 drivers using the custom installation routine (the included PCL 5c driver can be installed with one additional click of the mouse). Although there is an icon to auto-configure the drivers, the drivers automatically detect installed accessories. The port is automatically created following installation of the drivers. The included customisation wizard allows the administrator to preselect driver settings and install the drivers onto workstations remotely.

The Canon iRC5185i print driver CD also auto-launches upon insertion in the drive and the UFR II and PCL 5e/c or PCL 6 drivers can be installed in a single session. However, after the UFR II driver is installed, the installation process (locating the de-vice, creating the port) is repeated with the PCL driver, requiring double the clicks, even though both drivers are installed at once. Installing both drivers requires 25 mouse clicks. The port is automatically created during the installation of the drivers. The drivers automatically detect configured accessories, eliminating the need for an

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administrator to manually specify configured accessories. Installing the PostScript driver requires the administrator to browse to the location of the driver on the CD and use the Install New Printer function in Windows.

Both devices allow administrators to change network and other device settings both from the device and remotely using the embedded Web server utilities.

Advantage: HP

Print Drivers

The HP CM8060 ships with a 1.6-GHz controller with 1 GB of shared RAM and an 80-GB hard drive and PCL 5c, PCL 6 and PostScript 3 drivers that are compatible with Windows XP, Vista and Server 2003, as well as Linux, UNIX and Mac OS 9.x and later and Mac OS X environments. The Canon iRC5185i comes with Canon’s UFR (Ultra Fast Rendering) II print controller, which features dedicated dual custom processors, 1 GB of standard shared memory, a shared 80-GB hard drive and UFR II and PCL print drivers (PostScript 3 emulation is available as an option) that are compatible with Windows XP, Vista and Server 2003, as well as Linux, UNIX and Mac OS 9.x and later and Mac OS X. When the UFR II driver is used, the processing load is shared between the user’s PC and the device.

Canon iRC5185i PCL driver features

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HP CM8060 PCL driver features

Although the HP drivers offer a number of useful image quality options not provided by the Canon drivers, including red-eye removal for digital photo printing and the op-tion to specify that all greys be reproduced using black only, overall the Canon drivers offer more extensive colour adjustment selections that are easier to use.

Advantage: Canon

Booklet imposition mode was found to be very intuitive on the Canon drivers irrespec-tive of the type of document that was being printed. Users choose the output media size on the opening tab and booklet layout on the finishing tab (plus saddle-stitch and fold) if the finisher option is installed. Though it does not offer a saddle-stitch finisher, the HP CM8060 offers a booklet imposition layout option, allowing users to print doc-uments in the booklet layout format for offline finishing if desired or for the creation of folded single-sheet flyers, property sheets, menus, etc. The process for printing in booklet layout mode on the HP model is confusing and requires different layout op-tions to be selected depending upon the file type of the document being used.

Advantage: Canon

The HP drivers have a link to the consumables status screen of the embedded Web utility; the Canon drivers display inaccurate paper supply status unless the informa-tion is updated in an impractical, multi-step process.

Advantage: HP

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The HP CM8060 supports direct XPS file submission support for printing in Windows Vista as standard. The Canon iRC5185i does not currently support native XPS file submission.

Advantage: HP

Both devices include multiple drivers. The layout of the various drivers for both ven-dors is identical, making use easier for those environments that routinely switch be-tween PDLs.


Both devices support RIP once print many, with no increase to spool file size when multiple sets of the same document are sent to print.


The Canon model supports simultaneous RIP and print; the HP model does not.

Advantage: Canon

The Canon drivers include a point-and-click interface for selecting paper source and output destination. This useful time-saving feature is not available in the HP CM8060’s drivers.

Advantage: Canon

The HP CM8060’s colour adjustment options are limited to a sliding balance for CMYK. In contrast, colour management capabilities offered with the Canon iRC5185i are more diverse and include a sample print mode, which prints a page as a series of images with the image in the centre showing how the output will look using default settings and the surrounding images depicting the output that would be attained by moving the colour hue one step in any direction positioned around the perimeter. This allows users to choose the setting that best fits their needs rather than using a trial-and-error method of adjusting CMYK balance.

Advantage: Canon

CMYK adjustment options on the Canon iRC5185i PCL driver

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CMYK adjustment options on the HP CM8060 PCL driver

The HP drivers include an option to specify that neutral greys are created using only black ink when printing in colour mode. The Canon model does not offer this fea-ture.

Advantage: HP

The HP drivers include a red-eye reduction utility, which is useful and worked well in testing. This feature is not available on the Canon iRC5185i.

Advantage: HP

HP PCL driver red eye removal option

The HP driver offers only basic text-based watermarking capabilities. In contrast, the Canon iRC5185i offers overlay capability (allowing an entire image to be printed such as a letterhead image or form template background). The Canon iRC5185i also includes advanced watermarking capabilities allowing for inclusion of date:time, user and page number stamping in multiple locations on each page.

Advantage: Canon

Advanced page watermarking features on Canon’s PCL driver

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HP CM8060 Canon iRC5185i

Windows XP PCL 6 PostScript 3 PCL 6 PostScript 3

Auto Feature/Device Detection Yes Yes Yes Yes

Booklet Printing Yes Yes Yes Yes

Collate Sets Yes Yes Yes Yes

Consumables Gauge Yes Yes No No

Delayed Print No No No No

Max Paper Sources per Job 6 6 6 6

N-up Printing 2 to 16 2 to 16 2 to 16 2 to 16

Overlay No No Yes Yes

Paper Gauge No* No* No** No**

Print and Hold Yes Yes Yes Yes

Proof Print Yes Yes Yes Yes

Quantity Selection Up to 9,999 Up to 9,999 Up to 9,999 Up to 9,999

Reduction/Enlargement 25% to 400% 25% to 400% 25% to 400% 25% to 400%

Resolution Modes (dpi) General Professional General Professional 600 dpi 600 dpi

Save Settings Yes Yes Yes Yes

Secure Printing Yes Yes Yes Yes

Watermarks/Custom Watermarks Yes / Yes Yes / Yes Yes / Yes Yes / Yes

* Although there is a link in the print driver to the Web utility, which indicates paper supply, paper supply is indicated as only empty or full.** Although it appears as though paper supply is indicated, the indication does not reflect current status until the user first updates status information in an

impractical, multi-step procedure.

Applications Compatibility

Neither unit experienced any problems with any of the test files used in the applica-tions compatibility tests. Units are tested for compatibility on Windows XP platforms with Microsoft Word 2003, PowerPoint 2003 and Excel 2003, as well as Adobe Page-Maker 7.0, Photoshop 7.0 and Acrobat 8.0, using 25 application test files that con-tain text, graphics, halftone images, tables, etc., enabling BLI technicians to evaluate memory usage, file processing, font rendering and grayscale capability.


Scan Function

Scanning, referred to as Digital Sending for the HP model and Colour Universal Send for the Canon model, is standard for both models. HP’s Digital Sending includes scan to e-mail, scan to file (via SMB and FTP), scan to embedded OCR (which allows us-ers to convert a scanned document to an editable text document), Internet faxing and LAN faxing. Canon’s Colour Universal Send and includes scan to e-mail, scan to SMB, scan to FTP, scan to Internet fax, and scan to internal mailbox.

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Walk-up fax capability is offered as an option for both models and network fax is standard on the HP model and optional for the Canon model. Also offered as options for the Canon model are a PDF security upgrade option, a digital signature kit and an advanced PDF enhancement kit, which adds the ability to create searchable PDFs and a high-compression PDF creation feature.

The HP model allows users to scan at 75, 150, 200 or 300 dpi, in PDF, TIFF JPEG and MTIFF formats. Users can also scan to a number of OCR formats, including text, RTF, HTML, CSV, XML and searchable PDF. This flexibility gives it a significant advantage over the Canon in environments where hard copy conversion into electronic editable format is required.

Advantage: HP

The Canon iRC5185i allows users to scan at 100, 200, 300, 400 and 600 dpi in PDF, JPG, and TIFF formats. TIFF is limited to black and white only. With the optional PDF enhancement kit (or the iW360 bundled package), users can also scan to searchable PDF, compact PDF and trace and smooth PDF mode (which makes output suitable for further manipulation in vector applications such as Adobe Illustrator).

Advantage: Canon

The iRC5185i can scan in full colour, monochrome, grey and auto-colour modes, whereas the HP model is limited to full-colour and black-and-white modes. The HP CM8060 does not include an auto-colour scan mode, which means that users with documents comprising any colour-critical content must specify to scan the entire doc-ument in full-colour mode. This results in large file sizes, slower data transfer and the potential for more issues with bandwidth exceeding e-mail server reception thresholds. The Canon iR5185i includes an auto-colour mode, in which the device automatically detects whether or not there is colour content on each page and scans each page ac-cordingly in either colour or black. This greatly reduces file size in comparison to the HP model. In BLI’s testing, the same 10-page document with four colour pages and six monochrome pages was converted into a 300-dpi Compact PDF file of 630 KB on the Canon iRC5185i, while the HP CM8060 created a 300-dpi file seven times larger at 4.57 MB using its highest compression mode. Even at 200 dpi using its highest compression mode, the HP CM8060 created a scan file that, at 2.25 MB, was 3.65 times larger than the Canon’s 300-dpi file at 630KB.

Advantage: Canon

Scan file type options on Canon iRC5185i

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OCR file save options on HP’s CM8060

The Canon iRC5185i includes a scan preview option, which allows users to see an onscreen image of each page as it is scanned. This can prevent errors going unno-ticed until scanned output is checked back at the desktop. The HP CM8060 does not offer this valuable feature.

Advantage: Canon

Canon scan preview function

The Canon iRC5185i uses a single-pass duplexing document feeder, which means that double-sided documents are fed through the document feeder once with a pair of scanners capturing the image data on both sides of the page at the same time. The HP CM8060 makes use of a traditional reversing document feeder, which requires double-sided documents to be flipped over and re-fed over the single scanner for both sides to be captured. This, in addition to being less productive than the Canon’s single-pass scanner, also offers more opportunity for paper jamming and the added risk of more document wear and tear on the HP CM8060. In BLI’s testing, the Canon delivered a productivity advantage in both simplex and duplex scanning over the HP CM8060 (62.6 ipm vs. 43.1 ipm and 67.6 ipm vs. 27.4 ipm) respectively.

Advantage: Canon

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The Canon iRC5185i allows users to scan to multiple different destination types (e.g., e-mail, FTP, fax, internet fax and desktop) in a single operation. With the HP CM8060, scanning a document to these different types of destinations would require a sepa-rate operation for each destination type.

Advantage: Canon

The Canon iRC5185i includes an advanced favourites and one-touch menu option, which allows users to create custom destination lists and convert complex scan-job-build tasks into a one-touch operation. The HP CM8060 does not offer this capability, with only a group option being available within the address book for combining same-destination-type entries. Users are also forced to enter all scan settings upon each scan operation with no opportunity to store frequently used tasks.

Advantage: Canon

Canon scan one-touch favourite programming

The Canon iRC5185i offers a user-friendly ad-hoc scan to desktop utility (scan to SMB), allowing users to browse the network in the same way as a user would and point a scan directly into a specific folder on their desktop PC. The HP CM8060 does not have such a capability, forcing users to set up each scan-to-desktop opera-tion from the Web server using a more complex network path programming method, which is less intuitive and may be beyond the capabilities of many general office us-ers. There is a check mode that allows HP users to see if the network path they have programmed can be successfully utilised before they close down the utility.

Advantage: Canon

Both devices offer extensive integration with LDAP address books and provide excel-lent search capabilities. Neither device allows users to save entries from the LDAP address book to the local device address book.


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BLI technicians found the larger touch screen on the HP CM8060 allowed for easier programming of ad-hoc e-mail addresses, subject or message data and file names than with the Canon iRC5185i.

Advantage: HP

Colour Print/Copy Quality

Note: print quality comparisons were made using high-grade 80gsm plain paper supplied by UPM using the PostScript driver at default settings, with the HP CM8060 set to output in Professional quality mode unless otherwise stated. Image quality was assessed using BLI proprietary test files and the Altona (European Colour Initiative) test suite.

When printing on plain 80gsm paper, colour density and overall vibrancy was signifi-cantly higher for the output of the Canon iRC5185i compared with the output of the HP CM8060 in Professional quality mode (output of the HP model was less vibrant in Office quality mode). Results for copy mode mirrored those of print mode in terms of vibrancy.

Advantage: Canon

The higher intensity of colours rendered small white text on coloured backgrounds produced by the Canon iRC5185i easier to read than that produced by the HP CM8060.

Advantage: Canon

Fine red, blue and green lines on a plain white background were reproduced well by both devices down to 0.25 point.


Due to the richer colour density, 4-point and 3-point text in red and blue output by the Canon iRC5185i was more legible than that output by the HP CM8060.

Advantage: Canon

The glossier appearance, larger colour gamut, better photographic reproduction ca-pabilities and richer colour density of the Canon iRC5185i output, compared with the lower density and matte finish of the output produced by the HP CM8060 resulted in images produced by the Canon model having a more realistic, three-dimensional ap-pearance compared to the more flat appearance of the output of the HP CM8060.

Advantage: Canon

August 2007



Throughout testing BLI assessed colour drift of five intense colours and five pastel colours over a 1,000-print run. The HP CM8060 proved to offer more consistent co-lour output, with only an average delta E drift of 0.95 for the intense colours and an even lower average drift of 0.84 for the pastel colours, with peak drifts of 1.8 and 1.4 respectively. In contrast, the output of the Canon iRC5185i drifted an average of 2.47 for intense colours and 1.24 for pastel colours, with peak drift at 6.2 and 2.6 respec-tively. (Delta E is a colorimetric measurement assessing the distance apart of two colours, with delta E of 4 being commonly regarded as the point at which a visible difference in output can typically be seen.)

Advantage: HP

HP Edgeline CM8060

INTENSE COLOUR PATCHES COLOUR DRIFT TEST

Page 2 Page 250 Page 500 Page 750 Page 1,000

Coca Cola Red (Pantone 485EC) 0.7 0.7 1 1.7 1.8

MacDonalds Orange (Pantone 123EC) 1.6 0.5 0.8 0.9 0.9

IKEA Yellow (Pantone 109EC) 0.3 0.3 1.2 0.9 1.1

Fedex Green (Pantone 361EC) 0.4 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.3

Microsoft Blue (Pantone 279EC) 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.7 0.5

Colour drift is a measure of the degree to which a colour shifts during the course of a print run. In this test a 1,000-print run of a single test sheet containing a selection of colour patches. The first page out is used as the benchmark colour reference point. Colour drift is assessed by measuring the amount of shift away from the colour on the first printed page of the colour on the second, 250th, 500th, 750th and 1,000th pages using an EFI ES1000 colour spectrophotometer.

AVERAGE DRIFT ACROSS FIVE INTENSE COLOURS 0.95

PEAK DRIFT ACROSS FIVE INTENSE COLOURS 1.8

PASTEL PANTONE COLOUR DRIFT TEST

Page 2 Page 250 Page 500 Page 750 Page 1000

Pantone 100EC (Light Yellow) 1 0.7 1.4 0.9 0.9

Pantone 256EC (Light Purple) 0.4 0.5 0.8 0.8 0.8

Pantone 304EC (Light Blue) 0.8 0.5 0.8 0.9 1.3

Pantone 372EC (Light Green) 1.3 0.2 0.7 0.9 0.6

Pantone 468EC (Light Brown) 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.7 0.5

Colour drift is a measure of the degree to which a colour shifts during the course of a print run. In this test a 1,000-print run of a single test sheet containing a selection of pastel colour patches is produced. As above, the first page out is used as the benchmark colour reference point. Colour drift is assessed by measuring the amount of shift away from the colour on the first printed page of the colour on the second, 250th, 500th, 750th and 1,000th pages in the run using an EFI ES1000 colour spectrophotometer.

AVERAGE DRIFT ACROSS FIVE PASTEL COLOURS 0.84

PEAK DRIFT ACROSS FIVE PASTEL COLOURS 1.4

August 2007



Canon iRC5185i

INTENSE COLOUR PATCHES COLOUR DRIFT TEST


Coca Cola Red (Pantone 485EC) 1.4 6.2 2.8 3 2

MacDonalds Orange (Pantone 123EC) 0.5 2.3 1.8 1.4 1

IKEA Yellow (Pantone 109EC) 0.4 3 1.4 1.3 1.3

Fedex Green (Pantone 361EC) 2.1 3.5 5.2 5.4 4.8

Microsoft Blue (Pantone 279EC) 0.3 2.6 2.8 3.1 2.7

Colour drift is a measure of the degree to which a colour shifts during the course of a print run. In this test a 1,000-print run of a single test sheet containing a selection of colour patches is produced. The first page out is used as the benchmark colour reference point. Colour drift is assessed by measuring the amount of shift away from the colour on the first printed page of the colour on the second, 250th, 500th, 750th and 1,000th pages using an EFI ES1000 colour spectrophotometer.

AVERAGE DRIFT ACROSS FIVE INTENSE COLOURS 2.5

PEAK DRIFT ACROSS FIVE INTENSE COLOURS 6.2

PASTEL PANTONE COLOUR DRIFT TEST


Pantone 100EC (Light Yellow) 0.8 1.1 1.1 0.8 0.6

Pantone 256EC (Light Purple) 0.5 2.1 2.6 2.1 2.6

Pantone 304EC (Light Blue) 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 1.2

Pantone 372EC (Light Green) 0.7 1.7 0.6 0.5 1

Pantone 468EC (Light Brown) 1.4 3.1 1.3 2.1 0.7

Colour drift is a measure of the degree to which a colour shifts during the course of a print run. In this test a 1,000-print run of a single test sheet containing a selection of pastel colour patches is produced. As above, the first page out is used as the benchmark colour reference point. Colour drift is assessed by measuring the amount of shift away from the colour on the first printed page of the colour on the second, 250th, 500th, 750th and 1,000th pages using an EFI ES1000 colour spectrophotometer.

AVERAGE DRIFT ACROSS FIVE PASTEL COLOURS 1.2

PEAK DRIFT ACROSS FIVE PASTEL COLOURS 2.6

Using a 1,400-colour-patch ICC profile, EFI ES1000 spectrophotometer and Chromix ColorMatch Pro v3.0 analysis software, BLI measured the overall size of the colour gamut on the HP CM8060 as being only slightly more than half the size of that of the Canon iRC5185i when printing onto UPM Yes 80gsm plain paper.

Advantage: Canon

Conversely, when using the high-priced HP-branded glossy coated media that HP provides as a sample with the device upon delivery, the overall size of the colour gamut of the iRC 5185i is only slightly more than half that of the HP CM8060.

Advantage: HP

August 2007



HP CM8060 colour gamut printed in professional mode using the PostScript driver (red) plotted against the Canon iRC5185i colour gamut printed using the PostScript driver (spectral colours) on plain paper

HP CM8060 colour gamut printed in professional mode in using the PostScript driver on plain paper (red) plotted against the same settings on the HP model printed using HP glossy media (spectral colours)

HP CM8060 colour gamut printed in professional mode in using the PostScript driver on HP glossy media (red) plotted against the Canon iRC5185i colour gamut printed using the PostScript driver (spectral colours) on coated paper

Photographic output and skin tones on the HP CM8060 were grainy. In contrast, the Canon iRC5185i output exhibited smooth, lifelike skin tones.

A sepia-style portrait (aged look using grey with orange/brown spot colour rather than full colour) was output with a higher degree of clarity on the Canon iRC5185i, while the same output produced by the HP CM8060 suffered from a loss of detail and a grainy appearance.

Advantage: Canon

August 2007



Black Print/Copy Quality

Print output from both devices was of very high quality, with much less differentiation than BLI observed in colour output.

Halftone range was very good for both units, with smooth progression between gray-scale levels.

The black halftone output of the HP device had greater depth in comparison to its colour output, with high-quality skin tones and metallic reproduction and excellent pastel colour conversion. This was matched by the Canon iRC5185i.


The lighter black output on the HP CM8060 resulted in a slightly less distinct separa-tion in dark contrast images than produced by the Canon model.

Advantage: Canon

Due to toner overspray on the Canon iRC5185i, 3- and 4-point reverse white text on black background output produced by the HP CM8060 was more legible than that produced by the Canon iRC5185i.

Advantage: HP

Black Times New Roman and Arial text produced by both devices in both default and italic modes was legible down to 3 point.


High quality scan of printed sepia image created on the Canon iRC5185i.

High quality scan of printed sepia image created on the HP CM8060.

August 2007



There was very little difference in black copy output between the two units, with both devices showing a high level of legibility of text, good fine line reproduction and good halftone differentiation over a wide range.


Print/Copy Productivity

The HP CM8060 delivered faster first-page-out times in both PCL and PostScript modes compared to the Canon iRC5185i, with an average first-print-out time across five BLI test files of 27.49 seconds when printing using PCL, and 28.22 seconds using PostScript. In contrast, the Canon iRC5185i averaged 31.20 seconds, 37.23 seconds and 29.01 seconds for the PCL, PostScript and UFR II drivers, respectively.

Advantage: HP

The Canon iRC5185i outperformed the HP CM8060 in BLI’s job stream test by 20.69% in black mode and 15.33% in auto-colour mode.

BLI’s job stream includes Word documents, Outlook e-mail messages, Excel spread-sheets, PowerPoint, HTML and Acrobat PDF files, totalling 19 pages. This test simu-lates the type of traffic a typical device might experience in a real-world, multi-user environment. All of the files are sent to the printer as a group, at which time the stop-watch begins; timing ends when the last page of the last file exits the device.

Advantage: Canon

When producing double-stapled output, the Canon unit’s saddle-stitch finisher proved to be much more efficient than the HP’s multifunction staple finisher. Throughput speed for a 20-set run of a five-page document with double stapling was timed at 39.06 ppm for the Canon model, more than twice as fast as the HP CM8060’s 18.55-ppm speed when outputting the same job. When single-stapling the same document, the Canon delivered 42.79 ppm, with the HP CM8060 trailing at 18.95 ppm.

Advantage: Canon

The Canon showed no productivity difference irrespective of the tray chosen for the output. In contrast, the HP CM8060 delivered the 20-set document at a speed of 35.89 ppm to a mailbin tray, but at only 21.38 ppm to the default output area.

Advantage: Canon

August 2007



The HP CM8060 delivered faster output than Canon’s iRC5185i with the 20-set five-page document only when the job was uncollated, in which case the HP CM8060 delivered speeds of 46.54 ppm versus the Canon iRC5185i’s 43.37 ppm.

Advantage: HP

A4 throughput speed (with no first-set processing impact) when printing from the first paper tray proved to be 6.88% faster with the Canon iRC5185i compared with the HP CM8060.

Advantage: Canon

A4 throughput speed printing from the bypass on 80gsm paper proved to be 18.3% faster for the HP device than for the Canon device.

Advantage: HP

The HP CM8060 proved to be considerably faster when printing on A4 heavy card stock through the bypass tray, with throughput speed measured at 25.40 ppm, with the Canon iRC5185i delivering a throughout speed of only 15.39 ppm.

Advantage: HP

Throughput speed when outputting heavy coverage A3 documents proved to be a major weakness of the HP CM8060 versus the Canon iRC5185i, with the HP CM8060 delivering a throughput speed of only 7.27 ppm versus the Canon iRC5185i’s 24.63 ppm.

Advantage: Canon

The HP CM8060 also suffered a considerably larger drop in throughput productivity when the heavy coverage A3 workflow was produced in duplex mode, with the Can-on model dropping 12.63% to 21.52 ppm, while the HP CM8060 dropped 35.35% to 4.70 ppm.

Advantage: Canon

Although better with A3 light coverage workflow than with heavy coverage A3 work-flow, the HP model, delivering a throughput speed (with no processing) of 13.62 ppm, is still 45.43% slower than the Canon model, which on the same test document de-livered a throughput speed of 24.96 ppm.

Advantage: Canon

August 2007



The HP CM8060 also suffered a considerably larger drop in throughput productivity than the Canon model when the light coverage A3 workflow was output in duplex mode, with the Canon unit dropping in speed 16.83% to 20.76 ppm, while the HP CM8060 dropped 37.15% in speed to 8.56 ppm.

Advantage: Canon

The Canon iRC5185i proved to be faster than the HP CM8060 at delivering the first copy out in colour mode from both the platen and document feeder.

Advantage: Canon

The HP CM8060 delivered higher mixed colour / black copy productivity results in both simplex (1:1) and simplex to duplex (1:2) workflow, with the Canon, aided by its single-pass document feeder, having the advantage in duplex to duplex (2:2) work-flow.

Advantage: HP

The HP CM8060 delivered higher black copy productivity results in simplex (1:1) workflow, with simplex to duplex (1:2) workflow and duplex to duplex (2:2) workflow being comparably matched.

Advantage: HP

The Canon iRC5185i outperformed the HP model in BLI’s booklet test by a factor of three to one, with the Canon creating fully saddle-stitched and folded booklets at three times the pace of the HP CM8060 creating unfolded unstapled A3 documents in booklet layout.

Advantage: Canon

The HP CM8060 outperformed the Canon iRC5185i in BLI’s duplex 10-page five-set Word print test in both black only and auto-colour mode by 13.12% and 20.45% respectively.

Advantage: HP

Results in simplex mode with the 10-page, five-set Word document were compa-rable, with less than 3% separating the two units.


August 2007



First-Page-Out Test Using Standard BLI Test Documents (expressed in seconds)

Word .DOC

Photoshop .TIFF

Acrobat .PDF

Photoshop .JPG

PowerPoint .PPT

Average Time

HP CM8060 PCL 26.81 27.94 28.03 26.75 27.93 27.49HP CM8060 PS 27 33.62 26.72 26.84 26.91 28.22Canon PCL 28.84 37.25 30.53 29.94 29.44 31.20Canon PS 30.06 55.69 35.68 30.06 34.66 37.23Canon UFR-II 28.78 30.47 27.75 29.22 28.81 29.01

Finisher Productivity Testing (using the ISO 24712 5-page full-colour test document timed over 20 sets)

Canon iRC5185i HP CM8060

ModeNo. of Sets

Time (expressed in seconds)

Speed (expressed as ppm)

Time (expressed in seconds)

Speed (expressed as ppm)

3 staples 20 no 3-staple mode 355.62 16.87

2 staples 20 153.62 39.06 323.41 18.55

1 staple 20 140.22 42.79 316.62 18.95

Collated, unstapled output stacked in default output tray 20 139.22 43.10 280.62 21.38

Collated, unstapled output stacked in mailbin tray 2 20 139.22 43.10 167.18 35.89

Uncollated 20 138.34 43.37 128.91 46.54

A3 Heavy Coverage Test (using a single heavy-coverage full-colour A3 page from the document feeder)


Mode SizePaper Weight

(gsm)Tray

No. of Sets

Time (seconds)

Speed (PPM)Time

(seconds)Speed (PPM)

1:1 A3 80 First drawer 1 14.76 4.07 40.03 1.50

1:1 A3 80 First drawer 5 23.76 12.63 73.32 4.09

1:1 A3 80 First drawer 10 35.94 16.69 114.59 5.24

THROUGHPUT SPEED 24.63 7.27

2:2 A3 80 First drawer 1 39.16 3.06 43.91 2.73

2:2 A3 80 First drawer 5 62.53 9.60 143.06 4.19

2:2 A3 80 First drawer 10 90.41 13.27 270.81 4.43


Throughput speed is the speed without processing time.

August 2007



A3 Light Coverage Test (using a single light-coverage full-colour A3 page from the document feeder)



(gsm)Tray

No. of Sets

Time (seconds)

Speed (PPM)Time

(seconds)Speed (PPM)

1:1 A3 80 First drawer 1 14.35 4.18 18.56 3.23

1:1 A3 80 First drawer 5 23.79 12.61 36.56 8.21

1:1 A3 80 First drawer 10 35.81 16.76 58.59 10.24


2:2 A3 80 First drawer 1 27.66 4.34 31.28 3.84

2:2 A3 80 First drawer 5 50.79 11.81 84.63 7.09

2:2 A3 80 First drawer 10 79.69 15.06 154.69 7.76



A4 Media Throughput Test (using a single light-coverage full-colour A4 page from the document feeder)



(gsm)Tray

No. of Sets

Time (seconds) Speed (PPM) Time (seconds) Speed (PPM)

1:1 A4 80 First drawer 1 12.28 4.89 14.79 4.06

1:1 A4 80 First drawer 5 17 17.65 19.32 15.53

1:1 A4 80 First drawer 10 23.25 25.81 26 23.08


1:1 A4 80 Bypass 1 12.5 4.80 16.09 3.73

1:1 A4 80 Bypass 5 20.19 14.86 22.81 13.15

1:1 A4 80 Bypass 10 30.28 19.82 31.34 19.14


1:1 A4 200 Bypass 1 38.35 1.56 18.5 3.24

1:1 A4 200 Bypass 5 53.66 5.59 25.63 11.71

1:1 A4 200 Bypass 10 73.15 8.20 37.44 16.03


2:2 A4 80 Bypass 1 24.85 4.83 22.28 5.39

2:2 A4 80 Bypass 5 39.03 15.37 34.22 17.53

2:2 A4 80 Bypass 10 55.53 21.61 52.81 22.72


2:2 A4 200 Bypass 1 41.82 2.87 28.63 4.19

2:2 A4 200 Bypass 5 70.16 8.55 45.63 13.15

2:2 A4 200 Bypass 10 102.53 11.70 74.53 16.10



August 2007



Mixed Colour and Black Copy Productivity Test


Size No of originals No. of Sets Time (seconds) Speed (PPM) Time (seconds) Speed (PPM)

1:1

A4 10 1 25.17 23.83 25.32 23.70

A4 10 5 74.63 40.20 70.18 42.74

A4 10 10 132.15 45.40 126.88 47.29

1:2

A4 10 1 53.59 11.20 29.35 20.44

A4 10 5 110.88 27.06 88.66 33.83

A4 10 10 176.28 34.04 160.38 37.41

2:2

A4 10 1 54.35 22.08 62.00 19.36

A4 10 5 166.22 36.10 174.22 34.04

A4 10 10 302.28 39.70 320.00 37.50

Black-Only Copy Productivity Test



1:1

A4 10 1 25.47 23.56 24.10 24.90

A4 10 5 60.41 49.66 68.08 44.07

A4 10 10 131.00 45.80 124.44 48.22

1:2

A4 10 1 33.47 17.93 30.53 19.65

A4 10 5 89.44 33.54 91.25 32.88

A4 10 10 159.47 37.62 161.00 37.27

2:2

A4 10 1 64.69 18.55 61.10 19.64

A4 10 5 182.03 32.96 174.00 34.48

A4 10 10 318.91 37.62 319.18 37.60

August 2007



Black-Only PCL 6 Print Productivity Test



1:1

A4 10 1 22.53 26.63 24.28 24.71

A4 10 5 69.22 43.34 68.69 43.67

1:2

A4 10 1 33.01 18.18 27.28 21.99

A4 10 5 90.24 33.24 79.78 37.60

Booklet (booklet layout mode for HP model, which lacks a saddle-stitch finisher)

A3 16 10 304.86 31.49 904.18 10.62

BLI Job Stream

A4 19 9 documents 30.35 37.56 36.63 31.12

Colour PCL 6 Print Productivity Test



1:1

A4 10 1 25.42 23.60 25.32 23.70

A4 10 5 72.24 41.53 69.38 43.24

1:2

A4 10 1 33.8 17.75 26.35 22.77

A4 10 5 89.02 33.70 73.91 40.59

Booklet (booklet layout mode for HP model, which lacks a saddle-stitch finisher)

A3 16 10 316.88 30.30 955.88 10.04

BLI Job Stream

A4 19 9 documents 33.9 33.63 39.09 29.16

August 2007



Ease of Use

The HP CM8060’s control panel features an extremely large (10-inch) full-colour touch-screen display that is graphical and allows users to easily program functions and view help messages.

The highly intuitive touch-screen menu system offers users a name and description of each function, accompanied by an easy-to-recognise icon. Each function and its corresponding submenus are colour coded, so users will always be aware of which function they are accessing. Although the unit allows for intuitive job programming, it requires more keystrokes to program.

The Canon iRC5185i’s control panel, though it has a smaller 6-1/4" x 4-5/8" colour LCD touch-screen control panel than the HP’s is the same as that other Canon MFP devices and is a favourite of BLI test technicians. For walk-up copy functions, Canon offers users a choice between its highly intuitive main copy screen and a second, al-ternative copy screen, called Express Copy. The Express Copy screen enables users to program most of the features required for typical and even more advanced copy jobs without having to access additional menus. BLI believes that because it elimi-nates the extra keystrokes involved in accessing submenus, this method of program-ming is superior. Whereas Express Copy will enable experienced users to program jobs more quickly, Canon’s traditional screen, which is cleaner and has fewer selec-tions, may be desirable in environments where many occasional walk-up users will benefit from its extremely simple and intuitive user interface.

Advantage: Canon

Other convenient features of the Canon model for walk-up users that surpass those offered by the HP, include 1) a favourites button for one-touch scan workflow selec-tion, 2) the ability to scan to multiple destination types in a single operation, reducing clicks for multi-destination scan workflows and 3) optional iW FunctionFlow – deliv-ering personalized one-touch buttons based on login profiles.

Advantage: Canon

Control panel home page on the Canon iRC5185i Control panel home page on the HP CM8060

August 2007



When a misfeed occurs on the HP CM8060, the device’s “AutoNav” feature at the control panel helps users resolve device issues. Live-action videos on the control panel change as users perform each step in the process. In addition, a series of LEDs, which HP refers to as “digital breadcrumbs,” are located throughout the de-vice at misfeed locations and light up in sequence to guide users quickly and easily to the source of the problem. On several occasions, BLI technicians experienced a message informing them that the device should be switched off and on again. After this rather lengthy procedure was carried out the device would then go into a jam removal ‘Auto-Nav’ mode, the paper jam would be removed and the device ready to use again. The Canon iRC5185i, while not having live-action video instruction, was found to offer good advice on jam removal.

Advantage: HP

Jam removal on the HP CM8060

Five large cartridges (CMYK and bonding agent) and three staple cartridges in the finisher are the only end-user consumable items for the HP model and all were found to be easy to replace. User-replaceable consumables for the Canon model are four toner cartridges, four imaging drums, two staple cartridges and a waste toner con-tainer. Replacing consumable supplies was a simple, mess-free process for both models, with the HP CM8060 having the edge because there are fewer consumables to replace.

Note: HP promotes the printheads as being able to survive the life of the product. During BLI’s test, the device experienced several issues with printhead failures and leakage resulting in multiple printhead replacements.

Advantage: HP

Consumables easily accessible on the Canon iRC5185i

Consumables easily accessible on the HP CM8060

August 2007



Paper loading on both devices was found to be straightforward. The HP CM8060 generates a pop-up message upon paper drawer closing, asking if media has been changed which, while avoiding issues, can be an inconvenience.

The HP CM8060’s large-capacity tray is top-loaded, which requires the bypass tray to be emptied and folded away before the tray door can be opened. The large-capac-ity tray lowers by one ream at a time, allowing for easy error-free loading of paper. The Canon unit’s large-capacity tray is front loaded, with a base that lowers by a ream at a time as paper is loaded.

Advantage: Canon

The Canon iRC5185i does not include auto-paper detection and requires users to make a change to a dial on the side of the device if a new paper size is loaded. Al-though the HP model detects paper size, it nevertheless prompts the user to indicate if a new paper size of type has been loaded upon every paper refill.

Advantage: HP

Output stacking of unfinished collated documents is poor on the HP CM8060, with stacks not neatly aligned, as was found on the Canon. This means that manual shuffling of unfinished documents is required prior to any offline finishing/bindery. The Canon iRC5185i delivered neat, well-stacked unfinished collated sets, which could be loaded into offline bindery equipment with minimal, if any, shuffling of documents required.

Stacking on the Canon iRC5185i Stacking on the HP CM8060

Advantage: Canon

The default screen of the HP CM8060 contains selections for Copy, E-Mail and Job Storage (scan to file) mode, but users must access submenus of each function to program settings. The Canon iRC5185i defaults to the copy screen, although the screen for another function can be set as the default.


August 2007



The ease of use on the Canon iRC5185i can be greatly enhanced through the ad-ditional purchase of the iW360 software suite. This software suite, which costs in the region of 1500 Euros for a five-user licence, provides a wealth of user-friendly utilities, including iW Document Manager for easy electronic filing, iW Publishing Manager for quick creation of complex documents and iW Function Flow, which enables users to create personal one-touch icons on the MFP touchscreen when they log-in, plus searchable PDF and compact PDF capabilities.

The iW Function Flow is unique to Canon and, through a user-friendly management interface, allows desktop users to greatly increase MFP productivity and ease of use. BLI has not seen the same personalisation capabilities offered for the HP CM8060.

Advantage: Canon

The HP CM8060 includes a direct printing feature via the embedded Web page that allows users to print files without the use of an application or print driver. Supported file formats include TXT, PS, PDF, PCL, XPS, CHT and PRN. This direct printing capa-bility extends well beyond the capabilities of the Canon iRC5185i, which are limited to PDF, PS, EPS, TIFF and JPG.

Advantage: HP

Feature Set

The HP CM8060 comes with 1 GB of RAM and an 80-GB hard drive. The Canon iRC5185i comes with 1.5 GB of RAM and an 80-GB hard drive.

Advantage: Canon

The HP CM8060 comes with four standard paper trays and a bypass unit, for a stan-dard capacity of 1,580 sheets, which is higher than the three-tray, 1,200-sheet ca-pacity offered by the Canon iRC5185i.

Advantage: HP

The HP CM8060’s standard 1,580-sheet paper capacity can be expanded to include a side-mounted 4,000-sheet large-capacity tray, taking maximum paper sources to six and maximum capacity to 5,580 sheets. The Canon iRC5185i’s standard 1,200-sheet paper capacity can be expanded with two 550-sheet drawers and a 2,700-sheet side-mounted large-capacity tray, bringing maximum paper sources to six and maximum paper capacity to 5,000 sheets.

Advantage: HP

August 2007



Running at an advertised maximum engine speed and configured with the maximum paper supply, the Canon iRC5185i could run for 98 minutes in colour or monochrome mode, while the HP could run for 111.6 minutes in colour mode and 93 minutes in monochrome mode.


The main paper drawers of the Canon model can accommodate media weights be-tween 64gsm and 209gsm, whereas the HP CM8060 can handle lighter media down to 60gsm but maxes out at 180gsm.

Advantage: Canon

The 100-sheet bypass tray of the Canon iRC5185i, in addition to offering 20% higher capacity than the 80-sheet HP bypass tray (tray 1), further extends the range of media that the Canon iRC5185i can handle to include transparencies, envelopes and media up to 253gsm. The HP bypass tray (tray 1) extends media weight support to 220gsm but does not support transparency or envelope feeding.

Advantage: Canon

The HP CM8060 and Canon IRC5185i both offer 100-sheet document feeders; how-ever, the Canon unit’s feeder is a single-pass duplexing feeder whereas the HP unit’s feeder is a more traditional reversing document feeder, meaning that double-sided originals must be passed twice through the HP document feeder while the Canon unit’s dual-scan-head design requires only a single pass, reducing user time waiting for documents to scan, increasing reliability and limiting risk of damage to delicate or worn originals.

Advantage: Canon

The finishing options available for the HP CM8060 are limited to stapling. The op-tional stapler-stacker unit allows for up to three staples to be included in a document. The finisher includes four mailbins (2 x 400 sheets, 2 x 200 sheets), which can accept collated and offset documents but not stapled output. There is no hole-punch or saddle-stitch option available.

The finishing options for the Canon iRC5185i include stapling, hole punch and sad-dle-stitch booklet creation, making the range of documents that can be created on the Canon beyond the scope of what the HP CM8060 can produce.

Advantage: Canon

The footprint and weight of the HP CM8060 are two issues should also be consid-ered. The weight of the HP CM8060 is 330Kg compared with the Canon iRC5185i’s 147.5Kg. The HP CM8060 has a significantly larger footprint than the Canon iRC5185i, with the minimum width / depth dimension (required for getting through doors) being 840mm, compared with 620mm of the Canon iRC5185i.

Advantage: Canon

August 2007



Security


Administrator password length (characters) 7 16 alphanumeric

Authentication

Network user authentication Yes Yes

Windows Yes Yes

Novell NetWare NDPS Yes Yes

LDAP authentication Yes Yes

802.1x wireless authentication INA Yes

Kerberos protocol support Optional, via Authorised Send Yes

Authentication via department or user ID codes that are registered on the machine Yes Yes

Number of codes 1,000 1,000

Restrict usage of colour Yes Yes

Restrict usage of other features INA Yes

Authenticated printing Yes Optional

Common Criteria Certification HDD Data Encryption Kit Pending

Control panel lock/disablement No Yes

Digital user signature Yes (Optional) No

Encrypted PDF mode/encrypted scanning Yes (Optional) No

Encrypted secure print Yes (Optional) Optional

Hard drive encryption Yes (Optional) No

Hard drive lock No No

Hard drive overwrite Yes Standard

Max number of overwrites after every job 3 3

Overwrite method Random Data

Secure Fast Erase (single pass) and Secure Sanitise Erase (three pass) uses a fixed character, then its complement, then a random char-acter); complies with DoD 5220.22-M data cleaning requirements

IP address filtering Yes Yes

IPsec No Yes

Job logs (e.g., activity monitoring, compliance auditing) Yes Yes

MAC address filtering Yes No

Password-protected mailboxes Yes Yes (via secure PIN printing)

Password-protected Web page Yes Yes

Port disablement Yes Yes

Removable hard drive INA No

Secure fax

Encrypted TX/RX No No

Fax forwarding Yes Yes (to another fax number)

Fax line access prevention Yes Yes

Fax memory lock Yes Yes

Confidential mailbox Yes No

Secure print Yes Yes

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Yes Yes

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SNMPv3 support Yes Yes

Third-party security featuresUniflow, Secure distribution through e-Copy, Secure PDF

Authentication and secure printing via Capella SecureJet and Secure-DIMM/CF: SafeCom Go

Transport layer security Yes Yes

Unauthorized copy prevention (secure watermark) Yes (Optional) No

USB block Yes (Optional) Standard

Advantage: Canon

Ink/Toner Yield

The cyan, magenta and yellow colour consumables for the HP CM8060 outlasted the Canon iRC5185i equivalents by a considerable margin. The black ink yield of the HP CM8060 and black toner yield of the Canon iRC5185i were comparable.

Advantage: HP

The bonding agent that is required by the HP CM8060 to deliver the ‘instant dry’ output required replenishing on average every 23,136 pages in BLI’s test, which is a higher frequency than would be required for any of the four toners for the Canon iRC5185i.

Advantage: Canon

In addition to toner, the Canon iRC5185i also uses photoreceptor drums, which have an advertised life of 78,000 impressions each. The HP CM8060 is advertised as hav-ing printheads that should last the life of the device and hence should provide a lower intervention rate than the Canon. In BLI’s test multiple printhead replacements were required due to excessive streaking or printhead leakage.

Advantage: HP

Over a period of 100,000 impressions using the ISO 24712 original, the Canon iRC5185i would require 12 toner cartridge replacements and four imaging drum re-placements while the HP CM8060 would require 10 ink and bonding agent cartridge replacements.

Advantage: HP

Over a period of 150,000 impressions using the ISO 24712 original the Canon iRC5185i would require 19 toner replacements and four imaging drum replacements,

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while the HP CM8060 would require 15 ink and bonding agent cartridge replace-ments.

Advantage: HP

HP CM8060’s Tested Ink Yield

Colour (5%) Net Weight (Grams)

Ink Yield (Impressions)

Black 799.0 24,918

Cyan 797.7 81,657

Magenta 806.7 89,803

Yellow 805.1 101,545

Bonding Agent 827.6 23,136

Canon iRC5185’s Tested Toner Yield

Colour (5%) Net Weight (Grams)

Toner Yield (Impressions)

Black 467.0 25,033

Cyan 412.0 27,865

Magenta 437.9 30,740

Yellow 444.85 25883

Value

The retail price for a fully configured HP CM8060 (with document feeder, LCT and multifunction finisher), which has a faster advertised black running speed than the Canon iRC5185i, is around 30% lower than that of a comparatively configured Can-on iRC5185i.

Advantage: HP

HP also promotes its multi-tiered click charge system, under which users will pay one charge for colour pages printed in the default Professional Colour mode; a second, lower click charge for colour pages printed in General Colour mode (which reduces colour saturation while maintaining full black optical density); and a third, lower click charge for monochrome pages. For output with very small amounts of colour output (equivalent to about 125 characters of underlined 10-point Times Roman text or ap-proximately 100 characters of underlined 10-point Arial text), HP’s pricing includes the Colour Accent Feature, whereby these pages will automatically be billed at the monochrome click charge. HP claims this multi-tiered click charge system can save customers up to 30 percent on their colour cost per page compared to competitive departmental colour MFPs.

Advantage: HP

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To achieve the highest quality output on the HP CM8060, HP recommends the use of its professional inkjet paper which, in BLI tests enabled the device to deliver far superior output compared with using standard office grade paper. This profes-sional inkjet paper comes at an equivalent price of £70.50 per ream when ordered from HP’s Web site. This can very quickly raise the cost per page for the device when high-quality output is required, compared to that of the Canon model, which delivers better-quality output on plain office-grade colour laser paper than the HP model does.

Advantage: Canon

The relative value offered by the two products differs depending upon a customer’s typical workflow. As BLI’s tests revealed, when outputting onto A4 media, the HP CM8060 proved to offer productivity on a par with the Canon in many areas and be-cause of its lower retail price would consequently be a better value for users with pri-marily A4 workflow. However, the Canon iRC5185i proved to be considerably faster than the HP CM8060 when outputting onto A3 media, and so would represent a bet-ter overall value for users with a substantial aount of A3 output requirements.


Power Consumption Testing

The two units use comparable levels of energy in sleep mode.


The HP CM8060 consumed on average less energy than the Canon iRC5185i when idle (waiting in a ready state for jobs to arrive).

Advantage: HP

The HP CM8060 consumed less energy when carrying out a scan job compared with the Canon iRC5185i.

Advantage: HP

In a 10-minute uninterrupted print test, the two devices used virtually identical amounts of energy (38W for the HP CM8060, 39 W for the Canon iRC5185i.


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BLI carried out two hour-long workflow assessments on the device. The assessments involved initiating identical jobs spanning copy, print and scan) to both devices at the same time and measuring the overall energy use over the hour. In a low-work-load workgroup workflow test, the HP CM8060 consumed 79 WH, compared with the Canon model’s 85. In a heavier volume departmental workflow test the Canon iRC5185i proved to be more energy efficient, using 121WH, compared with the HP model’s 143KW.


Power Consumption Test Results


MODE POWER USED POWER USED

Idle power range 50-90W 48W

Sleep power range 12-13W 11-13W

Scan only power range 80-112W 62W

Printing power range 130-280W 170-300W

60-minute low-workload test 85WH 79WH

60-minute high-workload test 121WH 143WH

10 minutes constant printing 39WH 38WH

August 2007



SUPPORTING TEST DATA

Test Environment

The product has been tested in BLI’s European test lab, in an atmospherically controlled environment monitored by a 24/7 Dickson Temperature/RH chart recorder, ensuring that typical office conditions are being maintained. All paper used in testing was allowed to acclimatise inside the atmospherically controlled test facility for a minimum of 12 hours before being used.

Test Equipment

BLI’s dedicated test network in Europe, consisting of Windows 2003 servers, Windows XP workstations, 10/100/1000BaseTX network switches and CAT5 cabling.

Test Duration

Both products were tested for three months, a portion of which consisted of a 150,000-impression durability test. BLI’s daily test usage is designed to replicate real-world use over an eight-hour workday, and as such includes a mix of various-size documents, simplex and duplex modes, and a mix of short, moderate and long run lengths, and on/off cycles, throughout the day. The durability evaluation also includes testing of the document feeder/scanner for an additional 10 percent of the monthly maximum volume, evenly divided over the course of the test.

Test Procedures

The test methods and procedures employed by BLI in its lab testing include BLI’s proprietary procedures and industry-standard test procedures. In addition to a number of proprietary test documents, BLI uses an industry-standard Katun test original for evaluating black image quality and test suites from Quality Logic to evaluate applications compatibility. In addition to a visual observation, colour print quality and gamut size is evaluated using a 1,400-patch profile software tool from Colour Confidence, read using an EFI ES-1000 colour spectrophotometer and analyzed using Chromix ColorThink Pro 3.0 software. Colour drift is assessed using a multi-Pantone patch BLI test document, with results assessed using Gretag MacBeth EyeOne Share software. In addition, density of black and colour output is measured using an X-Rite 508 Densitometer. All testing is conducted using UPM Yes 80gsm multifunction paper. Additional image quality testing was conducted using HP-brand glossy media.