Scanner Reviews

I'm a newbie scanner and was looking for a good, all round scanner. I knew most of the bigger systems out there are using the "Trunk Tracking" technology, so decieded to buy a scanner that could track those systems (duh). After programming the freqs into the scanner banks (daunting at first but once you do the first couple it's pretty easy and quick) I was surprised by how 'quiet' certain airways were. After a little research I discovered that some of the larger agencies systems are actually DIGITAL, and this scanner can not listen into them. That was a little annoying. Uniden now have Digital scanners and Trunk Tracking III capability, so if your area is digital (check before you buy) then you might be better holding off for the newer generation scanner. Apart from that little snafu I am very happy with the product overall and have enjoyed several hours of listening to airport and other frequencies. Wish it could monitor FM and TV audio (I have a radio-reciever, yet can't listen to local radio broadcasts on it, seems a bit weird). There is a gap in coverage between 512 - 805 MHz for some reason, so I miss some airport tower chat. Not a huge deal. In summary, ignore some of the hype that it has Trunk Tracking II capabilities, if your area is digital, it makes no difference. I'll probably wait until the prices come down to a sensible level and get a digital & analog system. Happy Listening.

This scanner is Uniden's answer to key complaints about their first generation "Trunk Tracker" scanners. The BC-245XLT will now track multiple trunked radio systems simultaneously, it will scan conventional and trunked systems simultaneously, and it will now track EDACS (TM) trunked radio systems.

Other new features include computer interface port, "Smart Scanner" programmability via telephone modem (a feature requiring a 900-number call at $0.99/min.), and cloning capability.

Otherwise, this radio is similar in operation and functionality to its predecessor, the BC-235XLT. It features 300 channels, 12 band coverage from 29-956 MHz (excluding cellular and 512-806MHz), Service Search, attenuator, automatic display lighting, and other unique features.

On the downside, the radio delays for 5 seconds between scanning trunk systems even if no signals are detected.

Overall, this is a great radio for the money. It is the best available technology for scanning enthusiasts who want to monitor the modern trunked radio systems in use by numerous public service agencies worldwide.

The Uniden BC245XLT is a scanning radio that many scanner enthusiasts would love to own. It is known as the Trunktracker II because of the ability it has to capture trunk radio frequencies. This is a recent scanner innovation.

The programming was relatively easy for someone who has experience with scanners. Basic scanner functions were easy to see and accessible. The trunk tracking ability is useful and great to use, once you figure out which type of system you are tracking.

The only problem found with this scanner was not even the scanner itself. The computer interface using the Smartscanner software seemed to work fine. However, the phone number, which you call to download scanner frequencies, would never complete the download.

Having been a scanner enthusiast for over 10 years, I recommend this as an excellent scanner for the radio enthusiast. It has clear sound, and the trunk tracking abilities work well!! With a wide range of frequencies, you will be able to keep up with all the action in your neighborhood.

I think I was really awed when I scanned some black and white negatives, and got a positive for it and then adjusted the contrast and brightness, bringing out details that were not evident when I originally took the photo. I have also scanned color negatives, and made prints. I got it primarily to archive my extensive slide collection. I found that one of my slides had a scratch across a person's face. Using the sophisticated tools available with the program, I used multiple scans and the finished copy is scratch free. When using the 4000 dpi scanning setting, be prepared for some really large files. If one plans to get this, and one has a lot of material to scan, getting the largest available hard drive would be recommended. I plan to archive my slides to hard disk drive, then transfer copies as lower sized jpg files to a CD ROM. My only wish was that the program would have a way to put annotations on the copied slides; I am using a separate program to do that. I have found that my scans capture even the tiniest detail of the original slide, and one cannot ask for more than that. Some might think it a bit pricey for a scanner, but it does a fabulous job as a dedicated scanner.
I wished they had provided a complete written manual; the detailed manual is on their provided CD-ROM, in Adobe acrobat format. The Abode program is provided, but it is 153 pages long and takes a bit of time to print. A shortened manual is provided, and covers most of the essentials so a complete manual printed out is not essential.
The software with the scanner is very easy to use and the tools for adjusting the scans are interactive.
If one is using XP on their computer, an updated progam for XP is available..., and is about 15MB as a zip file. I recently scanned a 32 year old Ektachrome slide taken under the worst possible conditions (indoors, incandescent lighting, with the outdoor film). It always had a yellow cast to it, which it normally would under those conditions. Upon recent scanning (to preserve it before it lost everything) it showed embeded dirt and scratches. I used the digital ICE, and it came out sparkling clear, and the drapes which looked like yellowed newspaper became a crystal clear cream white, as it was in the room where I first took the slide. I have also scanned old slides that were badly faded, and restored the color and luster.

After using a Nikon LS-1000 for two years and constantly being frustrated with the scanner's poor performance on slides, I was blown away by the first scan I did with my Coolscan 4000. The colors were right on, the density nearly perfect and best of all, no more processing artifacts thanks to the Digital ICE. I used to have to spend 15 minutes carefully cloning out those little dust spots and other defects on every high-res scan. Now I can concentrate on scanning rather than retouching.

The sharpness of the images are noticeably improved, which I attribute to the ED lens. The color saturation is wonderful and shadow detail is excellent, even on a constrasty slide.

I use a Coolscan 2000 at work and the 4000 is definitely a huge improvement over that scanner. For the [price] difference, the 4000 is the one to own.

The Digital GEM and ROC are worth that price alone if you have slides or negatives in which the color has shifted. It is absolutely amazing this software restores these old images. I had some very red chromes from the 70s that it restored to full color.

While some reviewers have complained about the sharpness of negative scans, I have not found this to be a problem. And Nikon includes the option of using a film holder rather than the negative adapter for scanning.

In short, this scanner is the one to beat. I can't imagine 35mm film scanning getting any better. This one is a keeper, a real workhorse for the photographer who wants to bridge film and digital with a high-quality scanner.

After downloading the Nikon Scan 3.1.2 updated version [the CD version with the purchase comes with the 3.1.0 version] from the Nikon Tech website the communication between my XP OS and my scanner have been flawless. Using Photoshop Elements to manage my images after the scan is effortless since after the 4000 completes its scan there is not much enhancing left to do in Elements. The files can be large [64MB] if you so choose, but the image quality, especially slides, are excellent. My 5x7 and 8 x 11 prints on my HP 990 printer are wonderful. The 4000 is expensive, but the quality behind the Nikon name is there. The ICE and the resolutions make scanning and editing your own prints a great digital color lab.

The Canoscan LiDE 80 is easy to use for a variety of applications and the USB Hi-Speed (no longer USB2) interface is super fast and convenient since it not only is the data link, but supplies power to the scanner. If your power hub is as congested as mine, you'll appreciate this bonus. The LiDE 80 comes standard with a film adapter unit so you can scan 35 mm film or unmounted slide film. although the literature claims the film scanner runs at 2400 x 4800 DPI, I don't buy it. My Nikon fim scanner is 2900 DPI and gives MUCH better scans of 35 mm film. No contest. Then again, it was quite a bit more (4X)expensive than the LiDE 80 and only scans film...

The LiDE 80 includes software for automatic retouching of scratches and dust - and it also now has grain and fading correction. I tried these features on color photos taken over 50 years ago and was pleasantly surprised with the results. Overall, this is a nice package that goes well beyond the typical bargain scanner.

I just purchased this scanner to replace a slow, unwieldy HP 5300C. After 1 week, here's what I think.
===============================================================
PROs:

1. Slim form factor.
2. Good quality photograph scans. Maybe not for a professional, but for us amateurs, it rocks!
3. Very quick scanning
4. Negative scannning possible with included adapter.
5. Canoscan software definitely a cut above the norm
6. Windows XP installation is fast and simple.
-->a. Install Canoscan Drivers and software, reboot THEN
-->b. plug scanner into nearest HighSpeed USB (USB 2.0) port
-->c. You're good to go!
7. Full Photoshop Elements 2.0 included
================================================================
CONs:

1. A bit noisy
2. Some software supplied as "SE" or limited versions
3. Scanning Kodak APS film pictures can be tricky due to the
nonstandard print sizes.
================================================================
A final piece of advice - make sure you acquire the latest Canon software from the Canon, USA website.

Old scanner(4yrs. and it died) was a general HP not for pic's or slides. Decided I want to copy my pic's & slides onto CD. This scanner works great with a great price. And it has a nice software package. Cannot compare to a high price scanner but I am very pleased the the results that I am getting from my pic's, old negatives and slides. I am using the software with W98SE and I have the scanner plugged into a Belkin hup. I also have the Canon printer i860 which does very nice pic's.

I'm glad that some people have had a good experience with this scanner, but I am not one. I own an Epson Perfection 2450 Photo scanner and have been very happy with it. I thought it's "big brother" would make a nice, economical additon to the office where I work.

Boy was I wrong.

Several people have mentioned dust issues. I haven't noticed that but I do have the problem others have mentioned in the professional photography forums on the internet. Some of these scanners come with glass that has not been treated properly and I got one of them. What happens is when you lay an image on the glass, especially a glossy photo, it "sticks" a bit and looks like there are watermarks on the image after it has scanned. It will do this every time and in slightly different spots and there is no way to keep it from happening. I've tried wipping the glass and photos and even cleaning them, but to no avail. I called Epson tech support and they said the glass was faulty and to return it for a replacement.

No thanks, I think I'll try another brand where it won't be a crapshoot as to wether I get a working one or not. I've always loved Epson products but this leaves me a bit disillusioned. They let quality control slide a lot on the production of this model.

There is a rebate on this scanner because it is being replaced by the newer, better and hopefully higher quality Perfection 4870. It has a Dmax of 3.8 over the 3.4 of the 3200, so it should be able to better capture image data from the dark areas of photos too. If you are interested in this scanner, I would try that or the 2450. I've also heard good things about the Canon CanoScan 9900F.

I was also not overly impressed with the color reproduction on this scanner. For some reason it is not as good as the older 2450. I'm a graphic designer and at work I have an 9 year old AGFA scanner that is A LOT slower than the 3200, but it's color reproduction was richer and more evenly balanced. Details in the shadow area were also more acurately reproduced. I tested both on the same photo to reach this conclusion.

Also, only get the "Pro" edition if you want the extra software, otherwise they are the same exact scanner.

Aside from this, I didn't test it's transparency capabilities. It is very fast and would be a good deal for the $ if you don't get a lemon. It's up to you if you want to take that chance. I know my time is more valuable than that.

Recently, I purchased the 3200 Photo. Initial setup was fairly painless, but after the first attempted scan, there were some obvious issues. The first scan had white "flecks"(dust, when scanned at 600dpi or larger looks like flecks) that covered the scan. Despite the scanner being new, and some moderate cleaning by myself trying to remove the dust particles, alas, it was not to be. The dust was inside the scanner itself, not on its scanning surface. Despite the quality scans the unit appears capable of grabbing (the images scanned, excluding the dust flecks, were top notch. They were rich in color, the adjustments by the included software enhanced the already good scan to a superb level), the dust renders this unit non-viable. I am currently working with Amazon to get a replacement, as I still desire a unit with the capabilities of this scanner, but it must go back till I get one without the internal dust.

You must also be aware that SilverFast, one of the included software packages, while providing a very user friendly scanning interface, has some rather bad issues with not finding Adobe's "plugin.dll" file. After trying some things that Epson stated would fix the problem, launching the program crashed the system and forced a reboot. Uninstalling and reinstalling it several time (3+) finally got it to quit crashing the system, but the program itself still can not find plugin.dll, no matter how many times I point it to it or copy the file itself into the directory structure of the program.

Overall, the scanner appears to have a vast untapped potential, and if you can get one without dust, and one with a copy of SilverFast that works, you will be very pleased with this scanner. I have yet to try the film scan, but if its retains the quality of the general art book scans I have performed, it will provide you with an exquisite copy of your favorite pictures.

I bought this scanner as an upgrade to my old Epson Perfection 610 Scanner. There was nothing wrong with the old Epson, but I wanted a scanner that could do 35mm negative scans.

I've had this scanner for about 4 days now, and it's worked great. The setup was effortless and the scans are great, rich in color. As I said, I primarily use it for film scanning and the tools they've bundled with it are terrific. You can scan 12 35mm negatives, or 4 slides, or even 120 medium format film. I've tried scanning at 3200 dpi, and it produces files which are around 800k-1.5mb in size with a resolution of about 10-12 megapixels. 2400 dpi is acceptable, but I really wouldn't go lower than that.

Also, when scanning in your negatives, you can do up to 12 35mm negatives at a time. However, I'd suggest doing just 6 at a time when using the higher dpi settings. That's because the top lamp tends to "cook" the negatives if you leave them on the tray too long. Maybe cook is too strong a word, nothing happens to them - it's just something to be wary about.

I've tried out both the Silverfast scanning software as well as the standard Epson scan software. It works great if you're only interested in scanning the pictures/negatives. However, the only drawback to it is that the dust removal software that's bundled with both are pretty much useless. It adds twice the overhead/time to the scanning process and does nothing to remove dust or scratches. I'd say get familiar with the Photoshop Elements 2.0 software that comes bundled with it, or use Photoshop 7's Healing Tool.

Because of the software's inability to remove dust, I keep a can of compressed air handy and give the tray and film a quick burst of air right before I scan them in. BTW, the Silverfast software is ugly and very unintuitively designed - it reminds me of an old Windows 3.11 app.

I'd say, overall, I'm very happy with the scanner. However, because of the software's limited functionality, I give it 4 out of 5 instead of the 5 out of 5 it could've gotten.

I'm an engineer. I bought an HP Scanjet 2200C for my 5-year old daughter to use in school. I singled out Scanjet 2200C from my other choices because it was an HP, "Designed for Windows XP," a newer model, and priced low. I liked the neat, careful way HP packaged the product: artful and without the usual clutter on the outside. Inside the box, I found the scanner snugly fit. The lid is key-locked against movement during transport. I knew beforehand that this scanner included only the elements: LTX Precisionscan (scanning software) and I.R.I.S. OCR (text recognition software.) I found no occassion yet to use Adobe ActiveShare and the HP Copy Utility. But what it does have, it does quite well. I thought the scanned image looked brighter, sharper, and livelier on the computer than on the original photo. The OCR may lack advanced features. But the mere fact that I can easily scan and EDIT documents with it was already a big help in my technical reports. On my Windows XP computer, the LTX software installed seamlessly. It's interface is clean and simple. Though the 2200C doesn't have an ON/OFF switch my PC does NOT automatically turn ON the scanner UNLESS I clicked the LTX program first. What's more, after the scanner has been idle for about 10 minutes, Windows XP AUTOMATICALLY turns it OFF. I checked by lifting the lid to see the light. The lid can be removed to scan thicker objects and it's no big deal putting the lid back. I don't know how fast scanners ought to be. If this was slow, I didn't notice. I don't have problems with it since I bought it a month ago. It came with one year local warranty. I'm keeping the box in any case. Just about the only gripe I can say is that it can't accomodate legal size paper (which I rarely use anyway.) This is my family's first scanner and we're happy it does what it says. There are plenty of scanners out there. I'm sure one would closely meet your requirements. This elegant little machine did for me. Good luck!

One of the cheaper scanners out there, the HP 2200C offers a no-frills solution if you want a scanner that gives you high resolution for a low price.

It has a nice, big scanning surface and works fairly quickly. One downer is that it comes with no cool editing software...just the necessary scanning and basic editing tools.

The pictures come out looking sharp, and the scanner is of a reasonable size. One problem I had with it was that my computer would randomly reboot as I was saving the scan image....a tech support call suggested that I eliminate all other programs while running the scanner to maximize my system resources. I did this, and haven't run into any more reboots...so far, that is.

A good product, but you can do a bit better if you spend 20 bucks more.

My granddaughter gave me her unused scanner, hp 2200c, but has lost the software. How do I find an installation disk? I'll be glad to purchase what's needed. Thanx, Bill

Be aware buyers. Epson still doesn't have windows XP driver for this scanner. There is absolutely no reason the drivers are not ready as of Feb 2002. Even the ones coming out is not certified by Microsoft. I usually like Epson printers but this scanner is totally useless with my Windows XP system.

Scanning on the Epson 1640SU initially worked well. It was very fast, and the documents looked very good on my display. However, two of the main reasons that I wanted to use a scanner were making copies of documents and faxing documents. After I started using the Epson 1640SU scanner, I found out that I could not do either function, even though they say that they can. After days of effort with Epson technical support, I found out that the scanner would make copies, if I had an Epson printer, which I did not. Finally, one of the technical people referred me to a 3rd party SW firm that had a "patch" that would allow copying to non-Epson printers. I tried that, but my non-Epson printer was apparently not on their list, so it still did not work. Then, in order for me to fax a document, I found out that the process involved a multistep operation that I was never able to make work. After a week of effort trying to make this work, I sent the scanner back. I sent a note to Canon and HP asking them specifically about the faxing and copying, and they both replied that they work with any printer and any fax SW. I will probably try Canon or HP.

I purchased the 1640SU scanner for our office. We use the scanner on our "image cneter" computer which is shared by everyone in the office.

The hardware works well: the image and color quality is superb, and the scanning speed is pretty good. The TWAIN driver and control works well, and there's a simple "auto mode" for people who want to scan their documents without worrying about scanner settings.

Because our "image center" computer has only USB expansion (no PCI slots), we cannot use a SCSI interface that would speed up scanning tremendously. This has the unfortunate side-effect of seriously slowing down scanning at the highest resolution when the scanner has to temporarily stop scanning while waiting for data transfer to complete. This leads to a "back hitching" of the scan head which slows things down considerably.

As I mentioned, this scanner is installed on a shared computer. Unfortunately, there is a really bad bug with the Epson Smart Panel software when installed on a networked Windows 2000 system. When this software is installed, it prevents people from logging in and using the computer -- it repeatedly throws an error dialog box that won't go away. We had to uninstall the program. That's too bad, because if the ESP program worked, it would have made the scanner even more useful and easy-to-use -- the ESP software allows you to assign a preferred scanning software to the push-to-scan button built into the scanner.

The big problem with the Epson scanner is the awful technical support. Epson's web site is practically useless for technical support; and their non-toll-free telephone-support line, while cheerful, was useless. With our problem with the ESP software, Epson would not support the software; instead, they referred me to NewSoftInc (who wrote the software for Epson). NewSoftInc's web site is even less helpful, and I've not been able to get technical support, even after waiting on the phone for 25 minutes!

Overall, this is a good scanner. I would have given 4 stars, even with the ESP software issues; but given the terrible technical support, I've decided to bump them down to 3 stars.

I've had the S20 for several years. It suffers a lot from "communication lost".
The software upgrades do nothing to solve the problem.
Buying expensive cables does nothing. Re-installing software does nothing.
Adding high quality USB ports does nothing.
Swapping computers (at least five different machines) does nothing.
Once in a while it works and then it works adequately.
You can tinker yourself to death with this one.

After reading review after review for film scanners I decided to purchase the HP S20xi and I don't regret it. If I properly exposed a slide in the first place I hardly need to make any adjustments to the scanned sample. The S20xi scans my color and chromogenic negatives wonderfully. The scanning software that is including in the box is good. With it you can crop, adjust brightness, shadow areas, colors, etc. before you perform the actual scan. My only complaint so far (I've only had it for three days and I've scanned about 60 pictures so far) is the dust. I have a light box and I clean the neg/slide until I'm sure it's spotless before I put it in the scanner. The scanned image still has some dust spots and I've use air on the scanner to no avail. It's not too big of a deal to me to remove the dust spots using Photoshop, but it would be nice if the scanner had ICE or at least was willing to let my air remove the dust! Overall, I'm very happy with the S20xi...if you want to enhance your images for personal digital printing or simply archive your photo library to CD (as I'm doing), the S20xi is a good alternative to higher priced scanners.

I am a photographer and I've used this tool almost everyday for five years. At 16 bit, 2,400 dpi this scanner makes a 40 mg file. This scanner is easy to use, reliable, an incredible bargain. If you don't need resolution above 2,400 dpi you can't miss with this gem.

I used the MFC just a little over one year, and its main circuit board failed resulting into malfunctioning of the fax. Cost of repair over $200! A few months later the copier started giving problem - a vertical band on the right hand side and uneven (faded) ink on the left hand side of the document. I changed the toner but no result. Scanner does not produce good quality on photographs. Tech support were not successful in solving the problems most of the times.

I was very surprised at the one star review here. I have had an mfc9600 for over a year with excellent results. I scan, print, copy and fax documents using it, running as much as 1,000 pages per month and the reason I was browsing this website is that I am considering buying a second one. The only negative I have had with it is sometimes the feeder scans a tad crooked, but that is a problem I can live with. Otherwise, I think it is extremely well designed and I use all the features on it regularly except for the video capture. Based on my experience with this machine I am also considering a Brother color laser printer.

In contrast, I also have an HP R80xi multi-function inkjet machine. I am extremely unhappy with that one and have hardly used it at all. Actually, it works pretty well, has good color and a good scanner. But here are the negatives -- and these are serious problems for me because I have to connect my laptop to several different machines: (1) won't work with printer switches; (2) won't work with USB/Parallel converters; (3) won't work with any other TWAIN devices; (4) won't work with all sorts of other software, including communications packages, virus scanners, etc. (5) has a really small paper tray. (You can get a >second< paper drawer for the MFC9600!!)

I don't have anything against HP products in general and I have an HP Pavilion laptop that is my primary work machine. But I think the communications of the HP R80xi were really poorly thought out.

I have used the Brother MFC-9600 for over three months now and I absolutely love it! All printed output quality has been quite high and it prints rather quickly. I love that it can recognize different telephone rings and only picks up when its "number" is called. This feature is critical for a person like me running a home-based business that can only afford two lines (one office line and one for the home). It enables me to assign two numbers to my home line without having to answer every call to figure out whether it is a fax call. A big selling point for me was that it had a flatbed with a decent-sized automatic sheet-feeder tray. This makes both single- and multi-page copying and faxing a breeze. Although I don't need to scan for my business, I found it easy to use when I tested it.

I have run into some minor problems when using features for the first time. It took me some tries before I was successful in printing on cardstock and then the paper would sometimes go through crooked. Also, a minor glitch is that I can't leave the USB plugged into my laptop (which runs Windows XP) when I shutdown--it causes my system to hang. I consider this minor because I just unplug the USB cable when I'm finished my print job.

I think that a lot of the problems others who have given this machine a low rating have had are due to them not carefully reading the setup instructions/manual. There are instructions for every Windows program in the manual (with the exception of XP). (XP users should be aware that, per the product instructions, they must not, under any circumstances, load the software that came with the machine.)

This is a fantastic piece of equipment and I recommend it for anyone who needs one machine to take care of everything.

I was quite skeptical when I heard the Agfa was "easy touse". The one-touch buttons which are programmable are handy, butyou're not committed to them. It's suited for such a wide range of computer literacy. If you're a low-tech person, this scanner is for you. If you're a high-tech person looking for great value, user-friendly software, sleek and compact design, and good-quality scans (good enough for my freelance publishing and design), this scanner is for you. I was only upset to find that this scanner which cost me a fraction of the price I paid a couple years ago for an HP, scans better and faster! As with any computer peripheral, do your homework, and it make sure it's compatible with what you're looking to get from a scanner! END

I never scanned anything before I bought this scanner, but my first scan turned out great! I'm using my scanner with a B&W Macintosh G3, but it also works with Windows 98 if your computer has USB ports. It took me less than 30 minutes to set up the scanner and begin scanning. The Scanwise software that you use to make scans is laid out in such a straight forward manner that it takes very little practice to learn how to use it effectively. It features a guided mode that can guide you through the scanning process every time you scan or just until you feel comfortable doing it. The more I've "played around" with scanner, the better my scans have become. The latest versions of the Scanwise software are available on Agfa's web site, and they are easy to download and install.

I've had a couple of questions for Agfa about my scanner that I submitted to them via their web site. Their customer service reps have responded to my questions within 24-36 hours.

I've been using my scanner to make copies of old family photos for which there are no negatives and, with a little effort, I've been able to turn out some beautiful reproductions that have looked as good, if not better, than the originals. That process starts with a good scan of the original.

I'd buy this scanner again!

I've had mine for over a year and love it. It's inexpensive, takes *zero* experience and has given me absolutely no hassle whatsoever. All the software you need comes along and is easily installed, only one cord to plug in (gotta love that usb connection) and the photo quality has been far better than the price tag suggests. I've used its results on websites, both personally and professionally with great results. Unless you're a digital photographer or just enjoy blowing money, I see no reason not to buy this product.

This scanner has become essential tool for helping me get work done around the office! I have lots of documents and marketing materials, and business cards that need to be scanned for filing as well as sending to my clients. I really like the idea of automatically scanning to PDF since it's a standard and my clients prefer that I send information to them in PDF.

Before purchasing my ScanSnap I had looked at a flatbed scanner, but I decided that it would be virtually useless since it can only scan one side of one page at a time. With the automatic document feeder, I can scan both sides of the page at the same time. And, the speed of the scanning is very fast. This is important to me because most of the documents I work with have more that one page and are often double-sided. I can scan a stack of pages and not have to worry which one is color and which one is black and white since ScanSnap does it for me! I just put the paper in the scanner and press the button.

The business card scanning software that comes with this product lets me update my contacts in Microsoft Outlook very easily. So, the bottom line is that I am able to get more done using ScanSnap. And to a small business person like me that matters!

I recommend ScanSnap to anyone who needs a reliable document scanner that's easy to use and takes a lot of the complexity out of scanning documents.

This scanner has become essential tool for helping me get work done around the office. I have lots of documents, marketing materials, and business cards that need to be scanned for filing as well as sending to my clients. I like the idea of automatically scanning to PDF since it's a standard and my clients prefer that I send information to them in PDF.

Before purchasing my ScanSnap I had looked at a flatbed scanner, but quickly came to the conclusion that it would be virtually useless since it can only scan one side of one page at a time. With the automatic document feeder, I can scan both sides of the page at the same time. The speed of the scanning is very fast. This is important to me because most of the documents I work with have more that one page and are often double-sided. I can scan a stack of pages and not have to worry which one is color and which one is black and white since ScanSnap does it for me! I just put the paper in the scanner and press the button.

The business card scanning software that comes with this product lets me update my contacts in Microsoft Outlook very easily. So, the bottom line is that I am able to get more done using ScanSnap. And to a small business person like me that matters.

I recommend ScanSnap to anyone who needs a reliable document scanner that's easy to use and takes a lot of the complexity out of scanning documents.

The scan width is 8.5 inches. It will not do letters sideways but otherwise it is fine (unlike what some poster said). It doesn't do greyscale. Only B/W and color.

It doesn't do photos well. Photo paper attract paper dust (from your other scannings) and you get white spots.

This machine is for converting bills and records into pdf quickly. 400 dpi at 10 ppm and 600 dpi are usable - not that much slower for me. For scanning pictures and greyscale, you will need to buy a $80 flatbed scanner. This is a specialized machine, it does not do everything.

The rated 15 ppm is for 11 inch pages. If you are scanning short paper (checks for example) it is faster. My checks scan at 60 checks per minute.

I love my machine for what it does. If you wanted the machine for something other than scanning into a pdf (B/W or color), you will be disappointed. For what it does, it is beautiful.

I haven't checked out the OCR capabilities. I think Acrobat will do it. Frankly, I don't need to OCR my bills and I never use it.