Scanner Reviews

I recently purchased a Belltronics 880 radar detector from Amazon for about .... It has audible and voice alerts that identify the type of radar signal, and an LED readout that shows signal strength; it does not have 'Shadow Technology' like the 890 to prevent the detection of radar detectors, but otherwise appears identical. Only Virginia and Washington D.C. actually prohibit radar detectors, so I am at a loss why Shadow Technology is needed, or even desired, for most people.

The Belltonics radar detector comes with simple mounting options including pads, a visor clip, and a suction cup bracket for windshield mounting (which I chose). The constraining feature is the need to attach the power cord. I mount my unit low in the center of the windshield ' just high enough to allow 360 degree detection, but low enough to keep the power cord out of the way. I would recommend a battery powered unit for anyone who would like to mount their detector on the visor or high on the windshield under the rear view mirror.

From the various reviews of radar detectors, it's obvious that the most serious problem with the technology is false signals. Belltronics units are no exceptions. I think that it's safe to say that people with radar detectors learn to 'interpret' the signals. Like several others, I have come to ignore 'X' band alerts. Most people mention that they encounter them around security systems, but I also seem to detect them around vehicles that I suspect have CB units turned on ' or security systems(?). I also encounter false 'K' band signals around traffic signals and security systems; 'K' band is also used by stationary radar devices that display speeds to passing motorists in California and Nevada. I have never encountered a (real or false) SWS or radar signal. Police vehicles in the West invariably use 'Ka' band radar and these are the signals that I pay close attention to.

In certain places, especially large cities, radar detectors are more or less useless. I confess that in the San Francisco Bay Area, my radar detector is more of a noisy curiosity than a useful device, and I seldom put it up local driving.

Traveling on the open freeway, you find that police patrols in the West ' with the notable exception of California - usually patrol with their radars on; policemen in small towns with a regional two lane highway passing though town also tend to cruise with their radars on. The radar detector picks them up well in advance, provided there is an unobstructed view. The alert is an audible and voice signal identifying the band and a LED indicating signal strength. The strength of signals from approaching patrol cars increases very rapidly, if not suddenly; signals from patrol cars ahead or approaching from behind increase in strength more slowly. I've also seen Arizona freeway patrols parked in speed traps around the crest of hills. The manual for the detector points out the fact that you must have an unobstructed view of the trap during a speed check on a vehicle ahead in order to spot a speed trap.

Basically the technology is intended to help drivers detect police patrols. If you are speeding, the bottom line is that sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. When the plan fails, the full strength alert sounds the moment you are caught. A New Mexico highway patrolman ticketed me doing 70 in a 55 after I rounded the top of a hill at night. A moment after I saw his vehicle, he turned on his radar and his lights as my radar detector lit up. (He didn't really need radar to determine that I was going over 55.)

It is worth noting that the ability to REMOVE your radar detector quickly is also a useful feature. The windshield mount on the Belltronics has handy little tabs to peel the unit from the glass, so as I was pulling over, I quickly removed the suction cups from the dash and tucked the detector away. I pleaded guilty to a $69 fine, and put it back up as I drove off. (My attitude about leaving the detector up during a traffic stop is that I would do it if I planned on defending myself against a speeding ticket, but not if I plan to plead guilty.)

I found the radar detector most useful on wide open roads like Highway 50 in Nevada - billed as 'The Loneliest Road in America.' My detector did not pick up a single radar signal outside of a town between Fallon, Nevada and Utah. It is important to remember that a radar detector alerts you to both the presence ' and absence ' of police patrol cars. For the most part, owners of radar detectors are actually looking more for the latter than the former, and I found that the wide open spaces of the Southwest had a lot of those places ' perhaps just one too few ;)

Has my radar detector actually 'saved' me money in tickets? That's hard to say. In my case, one might argue that it cost me $69 by encouraging me to think I could speed without getting caught. On the other hand, I probably would have been driving at least 65 without one in that particular case, so that is also debatable.

Radar detectors are basically 'technology toys' for drivers. I use mine for freeway and long-distance driving, but not city driving. I cannot say that it has prevented me from getting any speeding tickets ' that's always going to be hard to determine - but it has often warned me about police patrols that I was only able to spot after an alert. I have also learned to 'interpret' its signals, and become familiar with its limitations. If you are the kind of driver who tends to keep an eye out for police patrols, you would probably find it useful. Otherwise, not.

360 degree detection? Who needs it? No one. The unit works well, but being hit from the side with a radar or laser unit will give the radar operator zilch for a speed indication. The only way radar works is if you are coming or going in relation to the transmitting unit, i.e. the radar gun or the laser gun. This is a marketing hype that shouldn't even be listed as a feature. Just worry about the front and back.

The BEL 890 is my 3rd radar detector in as many weeks. And this one I'm going to keep... I got the 1st one cheap...- it was a COBRA 9100. Not bad, but not great. Then after trading that one in (read: selling it on eBay) I got the Whistler 1785 with a Digital Compass since I felt that I needed a ...compass! This model has gotten some decent feedback regarding its sensitivity and selectivity, but ...if you can't work the buttons and it gives you false alarms and erroneous compass settings to boot, well then, it's time for a REAL radar detector. For the money, this baby (BEL 890) is a gem! Easy to use, easy to SEE, easy to TRUST. If it saves you from ONE speeding ticket, well, then it has paid for itself. BEL is the top of the line...

I guess maybe it was my own fault but I assumed all of the new scanners on the market included USB connections. This one is going back! This is probably an o.k. scanner but most computers offer USB connection for plug and play operation and find it pain to hook it up through my printer.

This scanner was a breeze to set up and get going. The picture quality is great...photos scan in crisp and the color is dead-on. Also, it takes up less space than most other scanners I've seen.

Great scanner; beats the daylights out of the one it replaced. Easy to set up; software easy to install and easy to use. First photo I scanned came out great.

Setup was painless,i was scanning 5 minutes after i opened the box.A "must have" for any BJC-85 owner.

I've seen several other companies try to produce portable printers or scanners and they have all fallen short of the Canon BJC-55/85. One main reason is this little device that allows you to carry both at once! The software is extremely easy to use. In part because there are no settings to change; you can only ever scan at 300 dpi (most flatbeds have much higher resolution, thus my rating of 4 stars).

However, the image is crisp, color is good, and the unit snaps in very easily. I only wish they included a hard case like the one for the ink cartridge which came with the printer instead of a flimsy plastic "storage" bag. It is so tiny, this is probably the only scanner you'll ever worry about losing :)

I use this scanner primarily for text documents and couldn't be more impressed. You do need text software - I have Textbridge - but I find relatively few errors in the scan, proofreading and corrections are easy and efficient. Best of all, I don't have another device plugged into my computer or taking up space on my desk. Caution - I haven't used it for photos, but it does a great job on text.

No problem with USB on Win98, Win98SE or Win2K. Software crashes regularly, cannot be uninstalled, won't work with Officejet 1150cse on same computer. Scanner plate glass came dirty on underside, not cleanable. HP support says this won't affect images but it does. Document feeder only worked once. Scan quality good except for dirty spots on scanner plate glass (top edge). Lamp failed after approximately 10 hours of use and is not replaceable (only used every few months). HP support is not helpful, web site difficult and little information on this model. Requires too much time to get working for busy office that only needs occasional scan. Other HP products have been excellent but very disappointed with this one.

HP doesn't want you inside the scanner changing bulbs and cleaning the underside of the glass - too difficult for the average user and you can damage beyond repair. Service is available through HP by contacting the HP Customer Care Center at 1-800-474-6836 But smoke, etc. is outside the focal range and does not affect the scan (I know, I smoke and that is mainly where it comes from)

RE bulb problems, I found my bulb was fine. If anythng goes wrong reset the scanner. Just power everything down, disconect the cables and power for 30 seconds. power up scanner (usb or scsi not conected) repeat 3 times, then a forth time with everything conected. Start up your computer and it all works. you may also have to check that your hpscnmgr.dll and hpscnmgr.hlp files are still in your wwindows system32 directory - if not, reload your software (available on the HP website)

I also had the paper feed problem, HP told me how to clear and clean it. Bottom line was HP service answered my email within an hour (as they usually do) and continued to work me through any problems. Those problems didn't occur until after almost 3 years .. as these things go that is pretty impressive.

BUT - I would like to have a larger flatbed (legal documents, etc.) and sugest that to anyone buying a scanner

If you're like me, you probably have a number of handwritten and typed notes that you want to scan into your computer (along with a chaotic shoebox of pictures). This scanner has saved me so much time and it will save you time, also. Whereas every other scanner forces you to attend to the scanner to change EACH page, this scanner takes a bunch of pages and scans them in at once. Presto!

Then, using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software, you can turn those typed notes into Microsoft Word documents you can edit yourself.

Need to get your documents scanned into your computer? Get this scanner!

The product is OK, but Microtek's support options are second to, well, everyone. You can call a toll number, listen to more options than you ever thought possible, and hold for at least twenty minutes, or you can browse their shockingly inadequate website. I'm not sure that it isn't more prudent to go with a different brand that has more comprehensive support options, especially if you are a new or inexperienced user.

The scanner itself has what I value most: dependability. I need something that works everyday as I have no down time in my digital photography and design business. I can't tell a customer to hold on while I'm trying to get a product in for service. Needless to say this has not broken down on me since. It has metal rails which is nice when everything else looks like they have gone entirely plastic. With that being said I like the fact that they give you an advanced menu bar, not treating you as if you are to incompetent to know what color curves and descreening are used for. For those of you who do not know what I am talking about don't worry, they have a simple version of the software that comes with the scanner.

I'm been shooting film for quite some time and decided to give digital a try. I consider myself to be a professional and wanted a professional scanner, but not something that would put me out. After reading a bunch of reviews I came up with the 8700 Pro. Came with Silverfast which I have heard great things about and this software that lets you blow up a 35mm slide to near poster size without pixelation occuring. Scanner also comes with calibration software that allowed me to plug in my ICM profile into the software for the correct color on everything. Next step is to obtain a great printer. I recommend B&H as they were excellent on helping and the scanner shipped pretty fast.

For slides this ScanWit an another one I tried both produced severe banding and noise. That was whether attached to the supplied SCSI card or my own Diamond FirePort 40 Dual - using different leads and the ScanWit being actively terminated. My reason for buying it was to convert to using slides for overall better quality. I can hide the banding by making the slides darker but that makes for inferior scans.

If you have one, you might try this yourself: crank up the brightness or the midtones on the Curves tool or Levels in either Mira or Photoshop. These bands occur even on a Raw scan. Now look for any banding effects...

Negatives are a different story. They are clear of noise and banding. I suppose it is the greater range of slides which pushes the scanner to its limits - at which mine fails.

Oddly, others claim slides are excellent and negatives are rubbish. Plainly, there are serious inconsistencies in these scanners. If you buy one, check it out carefully and make sure you can return it if it fails to be what you expect.

Thankfully, I can return mine. I will try another one and hope I get one that is good for slides and negs.

Contrary to the first reviewer, a passive terminator is not needed if this is the only SCSI device in the computer and you are using the bundled SCSI card. All I needed to do was plug in the SCSI card, hook up and scanner, install the driver, and boom, it's working! You do, however, need a terminator if you're hooking up the scanner to a third party SCSI card (ex. Adaptec). The scanner produces excellent scans for negatives, and very good results with slide films. Bundled software, Mirafoto, has ver nice features and is easy to use. However, for certain negative films it does not produce the most accurate colors, but that can easily be corrected in any imaging software (Photoshop 5 LE is included). For this price, this scanner is an excellent buy!

This is a wonderful scanne, loads of detail, with little shadow noise. The negative carriers and software are a bit fiddly, but the results are good with a little playing with the defaults. With a little looking, you can find this for a great ... price.

I bought the scanjet 4400cse scanner 4 months ago. It just quit (conviently after the 3 month warranty expired, probably built in planned obsolescence). No mercy from HP.

It performed fairly well, except the IRIS OCR was [unsatisfactory]. I bought FineReader Pro 5.0 OCR, which works wonderfully.

The photo scans are amazing. The scanner is also easy to use and set up. If you want amazing photo scans at a great price than I recomend the 4400cse.

Hewlet Packard does a wonderful job of making photo hardware. I have their DeskJet 932C which is mind blowing, and their 4400Cse Scanner? Scan'tastic! It enlarges your photos beautifully to several times their normal size and has 48 Bit color and 1200x1200 DPI!

I liked this printer at first because I was able to insert my CF card from my digital camera right into the front of the printer. It would then download all my pictures.
Soon I found the ink clogs so easily that after about 5 pages printed the black ink was only half there. It was very light and smudged. I would have to get it to run a cleaning cycle. Sometimes it had to clean 3 times or so before the black would work. It also happened with the colors several times.
The photo printing was so-so.
Then I got an "error 41." This says to unplug the printer and call brother. Great. Its a generic catch all error I've found and it can mean your printer is now useless. This happened to me after only having the printer 5 or 6 months.

I researched these machines until the cows came home ( literally , I live on a farm) . I had a 5yr. old Brother MFC that provided good service but was no longer compatible with my new computer's Windows XP . I worried about reviews about low print quality . After 6mos. of service I find the only thing I don't like is my inability to copy from a book . It may be that I'm doing something wrong . Everything works great ! It fits nicely on my computer station , is quiet , fast and easy to operate . I even figured out how to scan pictures to file and to email !! I'm just your everyday shopper/emailer/info researcher so this machine is everything I need .

I have been very pleased with this multifunction printer. It is very quiet and has everything you need. One feature that is really nice is that you can hook your digital camera memory card right to the printer and print the pictures without having to go on the computer. I am comparing this printer to our old one, which was loud and wasn't a multifuncion, but the quality of this one is so much better and I love having the copier without having to scan things to the computer. I really reccomend this multifunction printer.

I've just tried a few basic functions and encountered the following problems.

(1)Color reversal-with the factory packed cartridges in the correct spot, red turns into yellow, yellow turns into red, blue turns into green when copying.

(2) Scanning makes very loud clicking noise

(3) Envelop printed out in the reverse direction when feeding according to the diagram on the feeder.

I have not tried other more sophisticated functions yet...

Brother customer service couldn't solve the problem over the phone. I took it to Brother authorized repair shop which took 3.5 days to find out all the replacement parts they have to order. Then the technician said he cannot guarantee that once the replacement parts arrive from NJ, he won't need to order more parts to fix all the problems. So I decided to just return it and purchase something else. I cannot be out of office machine for a month.

This Brother is quiet, and fast with high resolution. I have found it to be everything they promised, and in a sleek executive style package. The only reason this multifunction printer is not 5 stars is; since it is a flatbed, faxes need to be placed on the glass one at a time instead of sheet feed.

I rarely by an electronic device without reading all reviews but being that this is a new product on the market I decided that it was my turn to be the guinea pig and write a review. The 4820C has everything that I wanted in a small neat design and the price was terrific. All that was left to know was how it performed.
I've had the machine for three weeks and it has been most enjoyable. Keeping in mind that you just can't have everything, this machine is a great all-in-one and does the job nicely. I can't say that the print qulaity is better than any other inkjet printer but it is just fine and the color copies are impressive. The black copies only look nice when set to "best quality" otherwise they are grey and fuzzy.
Scanner and fax are good. As you know from the description, multiple pages first have to be scanned one by one, so if you send a lot of multiple page faxes, this may not be the machine for you.
This is not a powerhouse for any of the functions but for home and home office use it is really great to have it all in one small machine.
Oh, and unless you really need the phone and answering machine built-in (due to lack of space), you may as well go for the model without the phone because this feature is far from top-notch. The speakerphone is no good and the message center registers all calls even if a message was not left. You may come home one day and find 5 messages of just beeps. This is annoying.
I gave the machine 5 stars not because it is a wonder but because it is everything I expected. For $250 it is terrific value!

We purchased this fax because our old one grabbed several pages at a time when sending. This Brother machine SENDS great - the memory feature is awesome. However, the paper supply constantly jammed when receiving faxes. It claims to hold 200 pages of paper, but it could never manage much over 50 without serious jamming issues. Even with a small amount of paper in the supply tray, we would have to clear the paper path about every third fax received. Customer service tried to help, but to no avail.

The speed and quality of this fax machine is great. The pages are scanned very quickly, so you don't have to stand at the fax all day when sending multiple pages. I have been very pleased with this product and its abilities.

We had the MFC version of this fax in our office. We're talking 2,200 LASER faxes, copies, etc. (print-outs if you have the Multi-funcion Machine), for (price) per toner cartridge. This laser fax is the best deal out there.

Apparently, Brother hasn't figured out what megacorps like HP have-that it's best to sell customers the device at an o.k. cost-then guage them with the laser cartridges (price).

Another FYI: In general, injet faxes and printers tend to give you only 200 sheets per (price)cartridge and the quality is poor.

Brother ROCKS!!!! The print quality is great, the price is great. I highly recommend Brother laser fax and MFC machines.

Re the problem above--If you're running your phone, fax and modem off the same line--it's probably time for a DSL line.