The OKI B2520 MFP is a low-cost multifunction that ultimately fails for a variety of reasons, from its poorly implemented control panel to slow, low-quality output. There are better laser multifunctions that won't leave you scratching your head in confusion and frustration.

And although this sub-£200 (ex. VAT) printer boasts some interesting features for small offices such as mailboxes and a QWERTY keyboard, it's not network-ready, which means that unless you're an office of one, you'll need to look elsewhere (or upgrade to the B2540 MFP). Of the comparably priced mono laser multifunctions, we recommend going with the Lexmark X340n. It's a bit more expensive, but you get faster prints, better quality and it comes network-ready.

Design
The OKI B2520 MFP is diminutive for a multifunction laser printer. It measures 44.7cm wide by 38.6cm deep by 41.2cm high, and weighs 12kg. The scanner lid is topped by a 50-page automatic document feeder (ADF) that allows you to copy and scan legal-sized documents (the flatbed scanner can only accommodate pages up to A4 in size). A single USB port adorns the front panel of the printer for connecting USB thumbdrives.

The paper cassette holds up to 250 sheets of paper and can be configured to hold a variety of paper sizes up to legal. Above the cassette is a single-sheet manual feed slot with adjustable paper guides. The output well includes a fold-out paper stop that catches long sheets. This printer lacks a rear-output slot for straight pass-through printing.

A printer's control panel should be dead simple to use; the OKI's is not. Many of the control panel's buttons are cryptically labelled, and the two-line text LCD screen is not backlit, making it difficult to read in low light. Beneath the LCD are the standard start, stop and menu navigation keys, but there's no obvious menu call-up button. The user guide points out that pressing the down arrow calls up the menu, which is decidedly unintuitive. To the left of the LCD are four buttons, three of which have icons and the last of which is labelled ECO. Again, consulting the user guide, we learn that the three keys change contrast, 'colour analysis mode selection', and 'analysis resolution setup', and that ECO refers to a mode that conserves toner (and reduces print quality). It took us a while to figure out that 'analysis' basically means 'scan' (the user guide wasn't particularly helpful on this count) so those buttons change the scan resolution and allow you to scan colour documents. Why OKI couldn't just call it "scan" is beyond us.

To the right of the display are a numerical keypad and a full QWERTY keyboard. Below the numeric keypad are three buttons: the one with the three figures we correctly surmised was a broadcast fax button; the one that looked like an open book calls up the address book; and the one with the universal icon for volume control is actually a manual connection for faxing — again, not intuitive. Finally, the last few buttons let you switch between fax, copy and scan modes, or stop a print job. There's also a button labeled 'SMS'.

Having looked at a lot of printers, we're baffled as to why OKI's control panel is so confusing and requires such an extensive legend in the user manual. If you get fed up trying to find tasks and options in the menu, the OKI B2520 MFP is set up for task shortcuts using numerical codes. The codes are displayed in the menus on the LCD, but they're pointless if you're having trouble finding what you need in the printer's menus to begin with. But you can print a function and task list that outlines the various (and extensive) codes. Either way, OKI needs to work on simplifying the control panel and making it more transparent to users. You shouldn't have to hold a training seminar for the new office printer.

OKI offers a 4,000-page toner cartridge for the B2520 MFP for around £78 (ex. VAT). The estimated per-page print cost is nearly 2 pence, which is a bit high for a mono laser multifunction printer. As mentioned above, though, you can use the ECO mode to conserve toner if you're making prints for internal or personal use. The monthly recommended print volume is 4,000 pages, so this is best suited for a small office with light printing needs.

Features
The OKI B2520 MFP comes with a 100MHz processor and 32MB of RAM (not upgradable). It's not network-ready, but you can add networking as an option. Additionally, OKI offers a USB dongle that enables wireless printing (£29 ex. VAT). Although the B2520 MFP is a mono printer, copier and fax, it can scan both mono and colour documents.

The copy options for the B2520 MFP are straightforward. You can make up to 99 copies at once and make N-up and poster copies. When scanning, you can scan to your PC or to a connected USB drive. If you choose to scan to your connected PC, the PaperPort software will be launched. Here, you can preview the scan, save it to various locations on your PC, choose the resulting file type (including TIF, JPG, and PDF), or open the document in a number of different programs, including Word, Adobe Acrobat, Excel and Paint. If you opt for an editing program such as Word, the optical character recognition program will launch to scan the document as an editable file. Other options include attaching the scan to an outbound email (Outlook only) or to FTP.

Fax options include delayed, schedulable transmissions, secure fax receiving (called fax answering machine), and fax rerouting (including to an attached USB key). In the directory, you can create up to 250 entries, which can include a fax number, email address and FTP address, and up to 20 groups. Although you can assign a shortcut key to specific addressees, the control panel lacks one-touch dial buttons for your most commonly faxed contacts. Another interesting feature is the ability to create mailboxes on the B2520 MFP. It's set up for 32 mailboxes — one public and 31 private. Users can send and receive files (via fax or scan) from their private mailboxes for security.

When using a USB thumbdrive with the B2520, you can scan to it, fax to it or print from it. When printing, the only supported file types are TXT, TIF and JPG. You can also delete files from the key using the control panel. If you're scanning to the drive, the control panel will ask you name the file, which you can do using the QWERTY keyboard, and choose the file type: PDF or image.

Performance
In our laser multifunction tests, the OKI B2520 MFP failed to impress. Its task speeds were slow, and quality left a lot to be desired. It printed black text at a rate of 10.64 pages per minute, behind the Dell 1815dn, the Lexmark X340n, and the Canon ImageClass MF4690. It was also the slowest at printing greyscale graphics with a score of 11.21 pages per minute, at greyscale scans with a score of 3.31 pages per minute, and at copying via ADF, with a score of 9.18 pages per minute. With colour scanning, it was the second slowest with a score of 3.25 pages per minute, beating out the Canon.

Unfortunately, the OKI B2520 MFP didn't fare much better with task quality. The high point was the black text: it was crisp and sharp, although we'd like to see a darker, richer black. The graphics print was beset by distracting cross-hatching, and the photo elements weren't sharp. The greyscale scan was very disappointing: it was blown out in the light end of the greyscale, so highlight areas in the photo elements lacked detail. It was also a bit hazy overall, but worst of all, there was colour in the scan: a regular pattern of pink, green, and a bluish tone. The original document is a black-and-white image, so there's no reason to see colour in the resulting scan. The colour was most obvious in graphical patterns, but it also plagued simple straight lines. The colour scanning was pretty good, showing good colour reproduction and clean details. Overall, we were very disappointed with the quality of the B2520 MFP, especially given the fact that we've liked OKI laser printers such as C6000n in the past.

Service and support
The company backs the OKI B2520 MFP with a standard one-year warranty. Telephone phone support is available between 9am and 5pm Monday to Thursday and between 9am and 3:15pm on Friday (excluding Bank Holidays). You can also email OKI's support staff. OKI's site also has product-specific drivers and utilities, downloadable manuals and user guides, a list of consumables for each model, and a knowledge base.

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