News - Sharp enters 2010 with two BERTL’s BEST awards
20 January 2010
Sharp has started the New Year as it means to go on, with six of its black and white MFPs hailed as the industry’s best offerings of 2009 by BERTL®, Inc - an authoritative source for objective, independent evaluations of digital imaging devices. The research firm honoured Sharp with two awards: ‘Best Value for Price for Small Office Mono Series’ and ‘Best Digital Imaging A3 Mono MFP Range’.
Best Value for Price for Small Office Mono Series
The ‘Best Value for Price for Small Office Mono Series’ award went to the Sharp MX-M310 and MX-M260 MFPs. Following rigorous testing and comparative analyses of multifunction systems from all major brands throughout 2009, BERTL’s research team made the award in recognition of several high-value features that are normally found only on more expensive machines.
Specifically, the team cited the machines’ large 8.1” LCD touchscreen display, standard 2x500-sheet paper supply, and industry-leading security functions. The researchers were also impressed by Sharp’s modular, expandable design which allows easy upgrades such as the addition of a space-saving 500-sheet inner finisher. Other options include faxing, network scanning, network printing and extra paper trays.
Best Digital Imaging A3 Mono MFP Range
The BERTL’s Best 2009 award for ‘Best Digital Imaging A3 Mono MFP Range,’ - also awarded after extensive testing and comparisons against all major brands - went to Sharp’s MX-M503, MX-M453, MX- M363, MX-M283 products, which between them offer a choice of output speeds ranging from 28- to 50-pages per minute.
The researchers found that ‘the image quality produced was exceptional when compared to competitive devices in this class’ and also applauded energy-saving features such as a fast warm-up time, fast first-copy-out time, the machines’ duplex and combine modes, and their low power consumption.
Other standout features that impressed the judges included an integrated retractable QWERTY keyboard for easy data entry, a high-resolution colour touchscreen display with graphical navigation for easy job programming, and the ability to scan up to 70 images per minute directly to as many as seven different destinations.
Real world evaluation
BERTL publishes detailed evaluation reviews on several hundred printers and multifunction devices every year but only a small number of these qualify for a BERTL Best Award.
“This is a great way to start the year,” said Marc Brion, MFP product marketing manager, Sharp Electronics (UK) Ltd. “Sharp won many awards in 2009 but we’re always delighted to be recognised by BERTL because its analysts look beyond features and specifications to focus on how well a product meets the users’ daily needs in a real-world business environment. And that’s the most important measure of all.”
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