Scanner Reviews

A very handy product when we were on Mac OS 9. Sadly, Visioneer has not seen fit to keep the software up to date for OS X. It will still work in classic mode, but uncomfortably. The software for image editing shows its age. Visigo™ A4 Mac by Ambir is said to be able to take its place for OS X.

This is a great little scanner, when it works. It works in conjunction with PaperPort, and the two are just a great combination. Just stick a piece of paper in, and it will run it through, then bring up PaperPort where you can categorize it and group it with other pages of the same document.

For instance, you scan in 10 pages of a contract, then, in PaperPort, you just drag the pages on top of each other, and title them as a group. You can also drag the pages to an FTP icon, an Archive icon (which puts them somewhere in the file system), an email icon, a print icon, etc.

BUT, here's the problem --

The system seems designed for Windows 95 or Windows 98. I have tried to install it on Windows XP Pro and Windows 2000 with no luck. It's a wrestling match to get it working, then when you do, it will spontaneously reboot the machine mid-scan. I am using the latest driver, downloaded from Visioneer.

To be fair, maybe I have defective hardware and this isn't a wide-scale design problem. It sure is disappointing, however, because when it works, it's a dream. With this unit, we're one step closer to the vaunted "paperless office."

GOOD review follows! First, this is NOT the best choice for PERFECT scans of photos or fragile documents. It does a perfectly adequate job with snapshots and newspaper clippings, an EXCEPTIONAL job with color or B/W letter-size material. It scans for fliing/fax, OCR or color images, up to 600 DPI.

If you are careful, you can easily feed sheets into this device without trouble. Be patient. It has an included software application that allows scanning multiple succesive sheets to one document, for convienence...but you can separate the pages later! Cool. Or you can group different scans to one document later. Cooler!

The image editing software is pretty darn good. Why? Because it has a decent selection of tools while not being overly complicated to use. You can use it as a desktop-type filing system too.

Some versions of the "Paperport" software export scans to PDF! If you understand what that means, you'll jump for joy...

But you know where the Strobe REALLY excels? You can quickly scan a document, drag it to Word and have about 95% immediately recognized as an editable Word file. Very little re-typing. How many times do you need some information IN your computer at school or work that exists only in a printed form? Wow! And you did this in about 30 seconds...

The Strobe is not perfect, but it does many jobs well enough to overlook that it is not the best solution of any ONE job. But it's the 90% solution for a TON of jobs! Buy it. You will not regret it.

What a joke Pacific Image's customer support is. No help, all they say is we are aware of the issues. This was over a year ago. You have been warned

This little scanner works. After I got the new drivers, it worked fine with Windows XP. It's a one at a time scanner, and it takes about 5-7 minutes per slide. Problem: It overheats after 3 or 4 slides. You have to turn it off and start over after a half hour or so.

Reading some of the below reviews, I am reminded with I use a Mac (17" iMac 1.25ghz, 768 RAM): things usually work. The PF1800 is actually a good, if not outstanding, scanner. I am scanning all my Dad's slides in and it produces good, easy to use results. I use about 1200 to 3000 dpi which produces printable good quality images in manageable file sizes. Previously I was using an Epson flatbed scanner w/ slide attachment which was much slower and could not reliably reproduce quality scans. The PF1800 does though although not perfectly: it has trouble with darker slides which come out very grainy despite various manipulations. Also its CyberView 35 driver in Mac OS X (Panther) is not glitch free: it often mysteriously retrieves an old scan while posting a NEW slide and freezes up occasionally. I've had no problem with it overheating during EXTENDED scans. But it's MUCH cheaper than the rest and it DOES WORK. I've done about a thousand slides with it so far... I should know. Also check out Costco.com for a better price and a cool software bundle that includes Adopre Photo Elements. Happy scanning!

I bought this scanner and while pleased with the some of the scans, the software always seems to be locking up and is quite a nuisance. It is currently in the shop being repaired. If the Nikon IV wasn't so much money, I would have dumped it and went with it.

I had some difficulty obtaining quality scans with this scanner, and the software wasn't very efficient. Focusing was often inaccurate. However, I tried Viewscan software and the results became very acceptable and fast. 4 slides at 2800 dpi in about 10 minutes. Accurate colors and 8x10 prints are very sharp. I have scanned about 600 slides without a malfunction.

Scanner gives Great Color and Contrast but the setup seems to take forever, under Win2000 scans terminated if IE/NS Browsers are used. ...,

This scanner arrived and immediately would not function. I use XP, and the software stated it would only run on Windows 95(!).
When I went to the Mustek website, it offered a 9 part download to update the software. The problem is that the Mustek website is so incompetent that the connection for the download was at about 400bytes per second (with me using DSL). It would be better to return the scanner then to sit through the 18 hour download.
Having known people who have used terrible Mustek scanners in the past, I am surprised that this company is still in business. I suspect they may not even really exist.

i would like to have software for my mustek 1200cu scanner i really need help, i can scan but nothing else, i was told that i needed software, please HELP.

I have this scanner at home for personal use and have used it to scan in a lot of my old photos. I think the pictures turn out great! The quality is at least as good as my digital camera. I run the software on Win XP and I have had no problems. It is so simple even my computer illiterate in-laws run it effortlessly.

the automatic document feeder on this piece of [junk] jams up every other time you use it!!! i am trying to scan documents in to email them to save money however i spend more time trying to clear jams and correctly scan the documents in that i wind up just faxing it. stay away from this one. i shouldn't have even gave it one star but i think i had to!!!

I am on my second Onetouch 8650. I had to ship the first one back because no matter how careful I was with positioning and making sure that the proper paper was used, the ADF would jam up about every other page. I was then shipped a new one. It doesn't jam quite as often as the first, but the ADF is essentially useless unless you are just using copy paper. If you use any standard weight correspondence paper, it will jam the ADF. If I scan without using the ADF, there are all sorts of weird marks that show up on the scan that then need to be erased. This also occurred on the first machine which I shipped back. I used to use the Visioneer Strobe Pro, but that scanner won't work with Windows XP.

Works just fine. Scans are great, document feeder rarely jams, PaperPort software is terrific. Nothing as good in its price range.

I have had an Agfa SnapScan 1212U Color Scanner for just a little over six months, and it died for no apparent reason. I think the power switch on it stopped working. I noticed that the scanner did not shut off when I turned off my computer the last time I used it. My husband returned home from work yesterday and noticed that the scanner was making a lot of noise. He tried turning it off, but when he was unsuccessful, he unhooked the power supply. Now it's dead. I hear it making a slight noise when I power up my computer, but nothing happens. The Snapscan software doesn't even recognize that the scanner is powered on. I looked through my documentation and can find no information on a warranty, so I think I am stuck with a bum scanner. I didn't like it that much anyway. The software is hokey. Take my advice, and don't buy this scanner.

I have the AGFA 1212U, and it has worked very well until the other day when it will print only one size (small). The only way I can get a different size is to send it through the E-Mail back to my self. Could you give me a hint as to what I am doing wrong? I have tried every thing I know.

I've had mine for over a year now and one similar to it before. It's very easy to operate and the scans come out great. It's also very quite and did I mention cheap? Buy this scanner!!

I bought this scanner because the image ratings were great. What I got was a scanner that spends more time warming up and thinking than scanning. This has caused a 4 fold increase in my scan times. As they say, time is money! Also, the software tools that come with have a poor, non-standard interface that required much head scratching. I just returned the scanner!

I bought this scanner 2 days ago in Phoenix and returned it today. Software takes almost 20 min. to install, is very confusing to use ( compared to a Visioneer 7300 which I have) there is no power switch meaning that the scanner is always on. But the warm up time is long and the scan is slooow and noisy. Cost was $199.

I was looking for a high image quality FAST flat bed scanner and found 2 within my budget both MSRP$199, Canon 8000F and Epson 3170 so I bought 2 to compare. Both exhibit excellent image and text quality, both include negative/slide adapter and both have great software bundle.
However, 8000F comes with Photoshop Element 1.0 where as Epson 3170 comes with Element 2.0 which is $50 value by itself.
The slow scan speed of this 8000F makes this unsuitable for my need. Preview takes 7 second as oppose to 4 sec advertised speed. Scanning color photo full bed at 300dpi takes 43 sec, 96dpi takes 23 sec. The canon website says this is a fast scanner but my test proves otherwise. With the same PC setup for Epson 3170, preview takes only 4 sec, 300dpi color photo full bed takes 23 sec, and 96dpi takes 9.3 sec.
8000F is also noisier than the 3170. Another minor problem is 8000F does not have a power switch like the Epson.
One good thing about the 8000F is the copy to printer function works and OCR is a tiny bit more accurate than 3170.
Canon makes great printer which I also own but their scanner is a disappointment
I would not recommend user to buy this scanner.

Like a previous reviewer, I needed to e-mail the company to get drivers for XP/Win2000. They sent them the next day. My laptop still has 2000... software installed easily.
I have to disagree with the reviewer who said this scanner isn't even mentioned on the company's website. At the bottom of http://www.antec-inc.com/support_faqDownload.html they tell you where to e-mail for Attache drivers.
I've only used the scanner in OCR mode... not actually doing OCR, but scanning entry forms etc when I'm on the road. The quality is quite adequate... and the documents are marginally easier to read than when scanned with my Canon LiDE20.
You do need to be a little attentive when feeding paper through the scanner. Be sure it's inserted all the way before clicking on Scan, and making sure it travels straight.

Very happy I bought mine, and would do so again.

Jane Fleming, MCSE

I wasn't expecting great image quality at this price, but have been very pleasantly surprised.

Have been using with Windows XP Pro without any problem at all. Tech support on Antec website e-mailed XP drivers on request.

Paper transport needs a bit of hands on guidance with really small items and sure, USB interface would be nice. But this is a closout, so one should not be expecting state of the art.

It's not for the desktop, but it fits very nicely into laptop case and is great for the road.

Even with XP, it's a deal at this price if you don't mind making the effort to get the drivers. But it would probably be wise to get them before buying.

I bought this as a student needing to lighten my backpack (endless photocopies and pages of stuff...) It has been perfect. While the quality isn't necessarily top of the line, it is excellent considering the size and cost. There isn't a lot of software of documentation included, but it really isn't needed.

As for the win2k/xp drivers, all you need to do is ask. I sent an email to tech support and the drivers were delivered to my inbox within 15 minutes (Really!) It has been working flawlessly ever since.

The only problem I have ever had is remembering to make sure that the paper is inserted all the way, but that isn't the scanner's fault.

This scanner has brought me one step closer to being an entirely paper-free student!

(Rating: 4 stars for quality, price, and usability + 1 bonus for excellent customer service and to counterbalance low ratings from people who don't know how to contact tech support)

The ScanJet 7400C displayed abundant dithering patterns in many colours especially in dark areas. The 6300C line was way better in terms of image quality.

I read some of the reader's comments and, frankly, I'm not sure if they're talking about the same scanner.

The 7400c is large (it does accomodate 11x17 sheets so compact isn't one of it's features), takes a long time to initialize and warm up and still tends to be noisy but the reproductions are brilliant and scanning is a snap.

It sets up in nothing flat and if you can lift the cover and push a button, you can scan. That's it. You can e-mail, import into another program, etc. The software installs effortlessly and it's quite easy to figure out without reading the manual.

HP does not have a 1-800 number for customer support and that should be a mark against them. But, after a long wait, when you do get the staff on line, I've found them on different matters to be nothing short of patient, knowledgable and they always search until they find an answer.

One gripe I do have with the 7400c is: why couldn't they put an On/Off button on it? I can never understand why most HP scanners are designed without this feature. Most of their other products (printers, cameras, computers) have it so why leave it off a scanner?

But that's a small point when you consider that the 4700c scans quickly and easily with fantistic, quality, output.

I am a bit puzzled by the negative comments. I have had absolutely no trouble, and I have done hundreds of scans in the last tree or so months. Installation was flawless (after I found the unlock tab), and performance is far beyond my expectations. Color repro is the first I have not been able to distinguish from the original. It is much faster than the 6300 or 5100 I have. Benign and friendly. It does take a bit to warm at first.

I wish there were more reviews from others.

Since I wrote the review that was somewhat harsh on this scanner, I went back to Mustek's site in the hopes that they'd come up with something to make this work in XP before I broke down and bought a new scanner (I hate to admit defeat). While there are still no specific XP drivers for this scanner, they do have a tool available that's supposed to make the Win.2000 drivers work. .....
While the site wouldn't let me download the app. that's supposed to do the trick, there were instructions for editing your registry in order to make the 2000 drivers run, and guess what, it works! The scanner now scans in better color than it ever did using ME or 98! While it still sounds like it's about to explode every time I turn it on, it's definately a deal at under [amt]. if you're comfortable tweaking your registry a bit. With that in mind, it now qualifies as five stars

I bought one of these when they first came out. The scans aren't too bad if you realy play with the settings (the bundled software's not too bad either).On the serious problem side, the drivers cause problems with certain peripherals when using Win 98, upgrading to ME fixed that, and things were pretty stable. Also be aware, there's no XP support for this scanner, and from what I have been able to learn from talking to Mustek's nearly non existant support staff, they have no intention of releasing updated drivers for this scanner that will run with XP

I also noticed the problem one of the reviewers mentioned, as my system slowed to a crawl after installing the scanner. It turns out that the "quick-start" icon it installs on the taskbar runs the program in the background even if you're not using the scanner. When I took it out everything returned to normal. Aside from that I'm quite happy with the product.
Note that if you upgrade to Windows XP, you will have to install new drivers (available at the Mustek web site).