What Is a Printer Duty Cycle and Why Is It Important?

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What is a printer duty cycle? Simply put, it's the maximum number of pages a printer can produce in a month. However, as with many simple ideas, the complexity is in the details. It's true that a printer's duty cycle can give you a general idea of the device's efficiency and durability. But a printer's duty cycle isn't a recommendation or a goal; it's a boundary. Go beyond it at your peril.

While printer duty cycles may sound daunting, they can be a tremendously useful metric. Comparing duty cycles among multiple printers is a good way to choose between similar models. Understanding the relationship between a duty cycle and a recommended monthly print volume can also make your selection process easier. In short, a duty cycle can tell you a lot about a printer — provided you know how to interpret the data.

Learn more about the fundamentals of these essential office companions in our guide, How Do Printers Work: Everything You Need to Know.

What is a printer duty cycle?

During your research, you may have found yourself asking, "what is a duty cycle on a printer?" Tech review site PCMag defines a duty cycle as "a machine's rated capacity to continuously perform work under normal conditions." In the case of a printer, this means how many pages it can print in a month before you could reasonably expect a problem.

For example, the printer has a duty cycle of 35,000 pages, which is about the industry average for small business laser printers. That means that, after a series of stress tests, Ricoh determined that 35,000 is the maximum number of pages the device can safely print each month. If you print 36,000 pages in a month, you run a greater risk of malfunction.

To give this number some context, assume that your office operates 21 days per month, eight hours per day. A duty cycle of 35,000 sheets means that you could print, at most, 208 pages per hour, or 1,667 pages per day. Depending on just how much you need to print, that might be more than you'd ever need, or not nearly enough.

This is where things can get complicated, though. First, each printer company measures its own duty cycles, using different types of ink, sizes of paper, and testing environments. Comparing one printer's duty cycle to another should give you a ballpark estimate, but it's not necessarily apples to apples.

Furthermore, a duty cycle isn't a hard limit — but you should treat it like one. If you print 35,001 pages in one month on the RICOH 132 MF, it won't suddenly shut down in protest. But it may wear down over time, at a faster rate than normal. Just as you wouldn't run an air conditioner on full blast for an entire summer, you shouldn't aim to match a printer's duty cycle every month.

All other things being equal, higher duty cycles are better than lower ones. Choosing a printer with a low duty cycle could lead to higher maintenance and replacement costs down the road, particularly if you need to print hundreds of documents each week.

Printer duty cycle vs. recommended monthly print volume

Now that we've addressed "what is a printer monthly duty cycle," it's time to talk about another useful term: recommended monthly print volume. This phrase is a bit more nebulous, but it's also much more useful for day-to-day tasks.

In addition to "what is a printer duty cycle?", some manufacturers will also answer "what is a recommended monthly print volume?" You can generally find this in the "specifications" section of a printer's manual or website listing. A recommended monthly print volume is exactly what it sounds like: the largest number of pages you should aim to print each month. Think of a duty cycle as a car's maximum speed, and your recommended monthly volume as the speed limit.

The trouble is that not every manufacturer lists a recommended monthly print volume. And, like duty cycles, recommended volumes are highly dependent on ink, printer paper, and even the humidity in your home or office.

As such, you may not be able to find an exact number for a recommended monthly volume. However, going by reviews on PC Magazine, it's possible to come up with a rough calculation. Generally speaking, a printer's recommended monthly print volume is somewhere between five and 10% of its duty cycle. Using the RICOH 132 MF as an example again, that would mean you could safely print between 1,750 and 3,500 pages per month. That equals between 83 and 167 pages per workday.

With this information, you can essentially reverse-engineer what kind of duty cycle you should look for in a printer. Simply calculate how many documents you print in an average week, multiply that by four, and then multiply that number by five or 10. For example, if you print 500 documents each week, you'll want a printer with a duty cycle of at least 10,000, or 20,000 on the safe side.

Our recommendation: RICOH 132 MF

Once you feel you can comfortably answer "what is a printer duty cycle," you should be ready to start hunting for a model that fits your home or office. Our recommendation is the RICOH 132 MF. This black-and-white laser printer has a duty cycle of 35,000, meaning it can safely handle up to 3,500 printed pages per month. The device can produce up to 34 pages per minute. It also offers scanning, copying, and faxing capabilities, making it an ideal addition to both home offices and small businesses.

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