OK i get yoiur point re only fiirst set of carts i suppose i shouldve explained better i got the ricoh in november with a full set of carts (the larger capacity ones) at the same time i also recieved a brand new ciss system for the 1400 i bought the ricoh as a back up incase the 1400 broke down again . i also have a brand new 1500w complete with full ciss this was to replace the b1100 (thankyou sawgrass
) which went tits up so ver xmas i used mainly the 1400 and occasionally the ricoh the 1400 ran along nicly until yet agin the cyan stopped printing again as it was xmas and i didnt have time to mess about with support from sawgrass etc i just replaced the 1400 ink system with the one that came with the 1500 (excatly the same carts luckily) and so having replaced all but the black on the ricoh (odd how the original black is still hanging in there) once and refilled a ciss and then replaced a ciss with a new full one the cyan has yet again gone on the 1500 as it now (i decided to install the new printer incase it made a differance ... it didnt!) i had 180 thermal mugs to print for virgin media so i used the ricoh for this so i guess thats why the magenta is getting low on the ricoh but this is still quicker than i wouldve thought tbh.So although im not quite in the same leauge as yourself regarding the amount of orders i have (i understand you buy mugs by the pallet ....very jealous) i was however very busy over xmas it was just mainly on the epson rather than the ricoh .
as for the mother board issue i fell victim to this too with a 5050n i think it was its at this moment acting as a very big door stop although i didnt know it was a bad batch to be fair and i bow to your better knowladge on that the point i was making is that although far better in reliability terms and again i stress i am nit picking but ricohs arnt without problems however small or rare