Scanner Reviews

The ADF on our scanner has failed twice in the year we have owned it. HP sugests we return it for a new one.

It is EXTREMELY slow.

Quality of the images is acceptable. Easy set up.

Based on web testimonials, I bought this scanner with automatic document feeder specifically to scan a couple thousand photo prints. The scanner and ADF worked perfectly for exactly one day; on the second day the resulting images started coming up smeared and with blotches of ridiculous color (like formless tattoos on people's skin and stains on their clothes). The ONLY appropriate help to be found (in the e-manual or online) advised me to "clean the ADF window"--which of course I did, to no avail whatsoever. I called HP. The representative listened to my complaint and said, "Oh, I don't think you can use the ADF for photos..." I told him that was precisely how it was advertised and the major reason I bought it. After a few minutes on hold, he came back and declared it sounded like a defective ADF. I advised him I wanted a replacement. He ordered it, and took credit card information to ensure I would send back the defective one. More than two weeks went by and no ADF was delivered. I called HP again with my case number and was told by another rep that the replacement ADF order had been canceled; he had no explanation as to why. I told him this: "I want you to ship me a new ADF for this machine *today*, and I want you to pay postage for return of the defective ADF. If not, I will return the entire unit and I will never buy a Hewlett Packard product again." The rep set about making it happen, and finally said it was OK, except that the part was out of stock. So I took the damn'ed thing back to the store and now am back to using my slow old manual flatbed HP without an ADF. All in all, a very disappointing experience with HP.

The features sound great. But reality is different. Negative scans look horrible, with loss of detail and color mismatch. Photo scans also show color mismatch. The document auto feeder will usually fail and produce a paper jam. What else can be said? Go for the Epson Perfection 2450.

If you are a Mac owner keep away from this and other HP scanners. Certain performance claims made by HP in pre-sales literature as well as the Users Manual cannot be met, except for Windows. HP admits this, but does not appear to be bothered by these misleading statements.

In addition HP does no provide a hard copy user's manual, this is found on the CD, which makes for difficult learning unless you want to print out the 150 page color manual.

Customer support is not customer focused.

bad product,COMPAQ IJ600, LASTED 13 MONTHS LONG ENOUGH FOR THE WARRNTY TO RUN OUT.
BLUE BACK GROUND EAT'S UP COLOR INK LIKE FREE---junk"""
agatha m coltrainc

I returned mine after spending about 14 hours installing, removing, reinstalling, cleaning the registry, searching HP's web support site, etc. with no success. HP's support has been no help, and my visit to the HP scanner support forum was no help either--much of the talk was about class action suites and BBS complaints.

The hardware and feature set is great, but HP apparently is having a problem managing their software development. I know I can't afford to spend this much time trying to get a technically mature, commodity product to perform its advertised function.

Tried to hook up to a 3yr old Compaq Deskpro EN with windows 2000 professional [could not get program to fully load or configure] & I spent many hours on the phone to HP with NO luck at all.The scanner/copier lid had a lot of play & when I tried to copy a Birth certificate it cut off 1/4in on 3 sides & a 1/2in on the bottom. The only thing I was impressed with was the photo editing abilities. I returned the PSC 1315 for a refund & bought a Cannon MP 370.

I bought my HP PSC 1315 at COSTCO without researching. It worked nicely when first installed on my Athlon processor with Windows XP home. The next time I turned on the computer the installed HP software immediately kicked my computer into restart. Very frustrating was the blue screen error message that remained up only long enough for an idiot savant to read.

I have spent too much time on other computer equipment that didn't work and after a few quick checks decided that there must be a printer/scanner that will work without hassle and returned this one.

I just recently purchased the HP PSC 1315 from another retailer. It was on sale at a reasonable price. The installation was difficult at first because I also just recently bought a new computer which was already HP Printer-ready which caused the installation CD to not allow the software to be completed. I called Technical Support and talked with a very nice man in India who walked me through the entire process, staying on the line with me until everything was complete, including the printer working properly. It turned out that I needed to eliminate a couple of things on the computer that were preventing the software from being installed. I am very happy with my 1315--it's really superfast with printing the pages (in black ink)! HP could lower the price of the ink cartridges though. I didn't realize how expensive they are just for one cartridge!!

I'm reasonably happy with how this printer performs in general, and it does the job as a quick and dirty copier.

However, I was extremely disappointed that Canon apparently doesn't have the slightest intention of writing MacOS X native printer drivers for it. As a workaround, I print my documents to a PDF file and then run Acrobat in the Classic environment to print from there. MacOS X PDF support is excellent, so this works quite well.

Nevertheless, given Canon's disgraceful lack of support, I doubt that I'll ever buy a Canon printer again.

The versatility and light-weight, compact design of this machine made it practically irresistible to an iMac man like me. But after experiencing some communication problems between the printer and my computer, and then noticing that the product is absent from the catalogs of most Macintosh dealers, I was able to determine that the Canon 545 uses a conversion cable for USB compatibility. The Canon 555, on the other hand, comes with "hard-wired", built-in USB capability. Only slightly larger and a few dollars more than the 545, the 555 may be the better bet for most Mac users, at least in this price range.

I am a Mac G3 user and for the price and all the functions this machine performs, I think it is great. I have space restraints and this is the smallest of the multifuntion machines. Probably the only thing I don't love is the quality of the printing, although if you instruct your computer to print on best quality (which is slow) the quality is much better!

I purchased this unit in Dec 2003. Scanned a few slides, then came back to in a month later. The unit would not load or unload slides. It made all sorts of grinding noises. Minolta fixed it under warranty. When they shipped it back, it had a damaged face plate. I stupidly did not bother to call them back and demand it to be fixed again. I did not care about minor cosmetic damage to the face plate. I subsequently scanned over 500 slides with it with good results. I did not use if for several months, and now the unit is dead. Won't load or eject the film holder. Now Minotla claims it is damaged and not under warranty. Before you buy this unit, look for others will similar repair problems. I wish I did before I bought this scanner. Not recommened do to the poor workmanship and faulty design that requires frequent trips to the repair shop.

Please, check out postings on serious digital photography forums before even considering this scanner. I would suggest the Digital Darkroom forum at www.photo.net (you can search for DSE 5400 related threads) and especially the Film Scanners forum at www.photo-i.co.uk.

Regarding my personal experience with this scanner, my unit was faulty right out of the box (the "green lines" problem, see forums for more). As of now my (less than one month "old") scanner has been at Minolta repairs service once where it was cleaned. NOTHING was actually done to repair the problem despite the truckload of info (including my original slides and their scans) that I'd assembled for the repairs service. In the next few days the scanner will be shipped out for repairs again but I have a big suspicion that my problem will be ignored just as the first time.

This is what I think about this. Yes, if you are lucky to get a perfectly operational unit, it would produce excellent scans for you. However, my feeling is that Minolta is pushing a poorly designed and tested product that is inherently faulty and susceptible to various quality problems. Currently the risk of getting such faulty unit is fairly high, and if you read this post then you know how you will be treated by Minolta repairs. Minolta appears not to be an honorable company. There is a big chance that if your unit is not operating as it should it will not be repaired but you will not get a refund for it either.

I've tested this scanner for two weeks now, and I must admit that despite it doing excellent slide scans, I am worried
about numerous items that may force me to return it.

I'll start with the good: It does excellent slide scans
at 2700 dpi and these come through in about 4 minutes,
pretty consistently and beautifully sharp. The saturation seems only very slightly lacking and I've
been noticing some deficiency in the yellow end of the color balance, but I also have to admit they are very sharp and
perfectly acceptable for a scanner at this price. The Elite also does excellent scans of very dark images, for
instance night shots, which exceeded the capacity
of my last slide scanner.

There remain other problems, however. Top of the list is the results from color negatives. Granted, the results from
my Nikon Coolscan III also suffered the same deficiency in
saturation but I bought that scanner in 1999 and figured
this would be a solved problem. When you scan a negative
in this unit, expect to have to readjust it, a hassle with
negatives for which there may be no real reference
(ie prints, etc) I've gotten beautiful rich prints from
Kodak negative film and these scans just do not come
anywhere near that richness of color. You'll do much better
to scan prints from a flatbed.

Of equal or more concern is the slapdash look of the software included. There was little or no attention paid
to the look of the user interface, which leads me to distrust the value of many of the suppposedly automated functions, such as noise reduction and dust and scratch removal.
The prescans seems to be superfluous. Nikon's
software left this in the dust. I know for a fact that the color adjust is basically for show only. It doesnt appear to
update as you adjust it. Anyway, it's advertised as some
remarkable support ware for scanning which it is not.

The most serious concern is the occasionally wild
variations in scan times that occur when scanning
negatives, however, and the varying times of setup
when you leave it unattended after scanning.
I've seen this unit take from 6- 20 minutes(!) per image at the 2700dpi negative setting
and why it should take so much longer than the slide scan
is a mystery. What's worrisome is the variation in
function. In all fairness, the loaders allow you to load
and leave 4 slides or a strip of six negatives. While the scanner works, you can take a break or snack. I really
appreciate this function and you won't find it elsewhere
at this price. The unit has a thin long profile, and the firewire
makes transfer much faster than any USB scanner will muster.

However, the variation in function and motor noise, cheap appearance of the software, and online rumors make me wonder about the long-term durability of this item, so
proceed with caution. Buy an extended warranty, I guess. So far so good on the slides, though, and that's what really counts, since my experience until now has shown me that negative scans are not gonig to be great at the sub-$1000
price point. They're certainly sharp enough, but Minolta,
where's the color saturation? Telling me to adjust
it in the crappy interface is not a sufficentt answer. And
what in golly's name is the focussing button for?
How am I going to accurately focus a laser on a
small piece of emulsion? Does this mean that this
thing goes out of focus easily? GREAT. That's YOUR
job, Minolta. Mine is to focus the camera.
I'll be looking to another company from now on.
I expect to see a software update if you want to keep the
business of a PRO photographer.

As stated before, this is not as described. It is only a card reader, period. Works OK, but not as slick as some others and the cord length can be an issue.

For what it is, it works well, and transfers the data from my CompactFlash card in the blink of an eye.

It's not what the manufacturer describes, however. It's not a 4-port USB hub, it doesn't come with an AC adapter (doesn't need one to just read/write to a data card), and the attached USB cable is only about a foot long, not the fifty-something inches as in the description.

If you're looking for a USB hub, keep looking. If you're looking to save digital camera batteries, and to download your images from the data card faster than your camera-connection would, this is a very inexpensive way to do just that, and only that.

I found the (Freedio FZ-700S) Handheld Scanner useless without the (FZ-200C Cradle) which I was unable to find on Casio's Web Page! I think the Cradle should come with the (Freedio FZ-700S) or at least be made more available!

To repeat what another customer said, "what a useless toy!" I've never been so let down by a product in my life. Read the fine print very carefully. It can only scan half a page of continuous text and has almost no storage capabilities. If you are a serious researcher, don't bother.

After a huge headache getting no support from Casio, I finally got it to beam to my Casio E115. You have to download a utility to make the casio emulate the freedio printer. I got it to work to discover that the battery is only good for about 4-5 scans of something as small as a business card. Since the battery is not removable without taking the unit apart, after the 5 scans you need to charge the unit for another 8 hours. I'll use my digital camera thankyou very much.

On a positive note, Amazon made it very easy to return the unit at no cost to me. If it wasn't for the battery issue, I would have kept the unit.

I have mixed feelings about this machine. I bought it because I could get it cheaper than the comparable Brother model. It seems to me that this is a very nice fax machine that Panasonic tacked some other stuff on to so they could sell it as a multifunction.
Printing: Slow (not 10 ppm as they claim), but sharp on plain paper. Will not print on heavy paper according to panasonic.
Fax: Does everything I would expect a Fax to do.
Scanning: B&W only, fine for documents and includes effective OCR software.
Copy: Again, no complaints here. Good, sharp copies with a 15 sheet document feeder.
I don't regret buying it but would not consider buying another panasonic unless they improve their efforts.

This flat panel (B&W only) scanner and bundled OCR software work well. The laser printing quality is good, and the new pricing is competitive ($$$ if you find bundled rebates). The downfall is that this was obviously a FAX machine with the printer function added on as an afterthought.
The fact that the manual has 80 pages dedicated to fax functions (as if they never considered email as a substitute) and 2 (that's two) dedicated to print functions says it all. The printer setup is not well coordinated with Windows XP features, e.g. you cannot add drivers for other printers since the setup CD only offers a "canned" installation. I could not get the parallel interface to work with a Win98SE or XP box. Plan on using the USB (provide your own cable).
Summary: I like it as a good personal laser printer, but would not like it at more than $$$ . The Panasonic product-marketing group needs to get over faxing as a sophisticated product, this box has stuff like "broadcast" faxing that I never heard of anyone using. I'd rather they just made the printer function work well with a PC. The sophisticated fax stuff is outdated and cumbersome to navigate through to get to the important functions.

I read the reviews at various sites and not many were complimentary. I had a choice between a Canon MP730 Inkjet and the FLB751 as both were in the same price range. I finally went for Panasonic as it looked very compact and neat.

The installation of the Printer was easy as the manual was very clear. The driver installation on XP went very smoothly with the USB interface. It printed the first test print immediately, the quality was good.

Copying quality and scanning quality are acceptable and printing quality is very good. Faxing went thru' very well.

Pros: Compact neat design, Laser printing at a low cost. Good scanning and copying quality and good to very good printing quality. Great Faxing. Telephone Handset and USB interface.

Cons: No color Printing and scanning. Unit a bit slow in printing.

I definitely recommend this printer for anyone who wants a compact all-in-one Laser Printer for personal use.

I received the scanner, but there was no software included. Without the software, the scanner is useless. I contacted the seller about this problem, and have not heard back from them. I would not buy from this seller again.

I received the scanner without any software. Without the software, the scanner is absolutely useless. I contacted the seller stating that I did not receive this and have not been contacted by the seller to get the software.

Works great, scans fast. The Photosuite III SE lets me build greeting cards, postcards, photoedge effects. Worth the price.

still no drivers for mac os 10.3 and upgrades (Panther)
no photoshop plug-in too.
and even for mac OS 10.2 drivers are not downloadable by the net:
you must contact HP for them to send it to you by the post office and they will make you pay for that!!!

sorry but if you want an universal scan that work on several different computers try another one !

This is my 2nd HP scanner. The first lasted 6 years, this one 6 months. The scanner seemed a little slow but did a good job of scanning. I don't use one everyday so I don't need a high end scanner. At light usage I did expect the scanner to last longer than 6 months. Since this is a relatively inexpensive scanner, repairing it is not cost effective. My next scanner will be from Canon which I have found out has a 1-year warranty rather than only 90 days.

I love this scanner. It is a high quality machine. The quick access buttons on the front are very conveint. My only problem with this is that it didn't give enough instructions on how to use the picture negatives part.