Scanner Reviews

I am no techie by any stretch of the word, but anything that is quick simple easy and fast, I will take. My hubby purchased the scanner for us to scan our wedding pix and in no time I had scanned over 100 pictures. It is quick and quiet, I did not have to crop, lighten, clean up not one single picture. I have recommended this scanner to a lot of my friends. I don't think the software that comes with it is easy to use so my hubby has us using Photoshop, which is just fine by me. I say get it, worth every penny

After bad luck with a previous scanner (that was highly rated in a computer magazine for it's ability to scan negatives) and not wanting to spend $1000 for a scanner, I tried the 1640SU Photo, based on the great success I have had with Epson products the last 10 years. I was not disappointed.
It is set up for home use; my son does a lot of flatbed scanning of art and graphics work. I use it as an enlarger for the computer, and the results are fantastic. Black & white negatives, brand new or 50 years old; colour negatives, or odd size negatives from the old style films. The colour balance is great. Slides, which are hard for most scanners at this level, come out very well.
The machine and software are easy to use, I have had it interfaced with Windows 95, 98, and now a Mac G-4 with only one problem, which Epson support fixed fairly quickly for us with one phone call.
I just bought a second one for my son to take to college, got it at the Epson web site in the clearance section, refurbished by Epson factory with a guarantee.
Using Photoshop software, a Espon Stylus Photo 780 colour printer, this scanner, and I was amazed at the colour quality and clarity I produce on 8x14 prints. Viva Epson.

I hesitated a long time before buying this scanner, because it's very hard to know what quality, what definition one needs to get good prints from slides.
This scanner is easy to install, easy to use. For slides, you must use the Twain 5 option in your Twain menu, but everything is very intuitive and you'll find the learning curve quite smooth.
If you are looking to scan slides so that family memories, etc... are not lost, then this scanner is very very good quality for money, the prints you'll get ( with an epson 890 photo printer, it works wonders) are very good. obviously, we are talking of amateur photography here, I guess a professionnal who sells his photographs would want something with extra-definition.
So if you want to be amazed and moved, to rediscover the past... go for it!

finally I decided buying canoscan 3200F unit. I believe that other positive comments on its very good results on photo
scanning although I have not tried it yet on the unit. Anyway, it is fast performance and nice style.
Negative:
1- Regarding text scan results, absolutely not really clear & sharp as expected; a workaround probably is with scanning at high resolution and have printouts at scaled down (smaller character size) size to have it looked good enough.
2- So far, after have used for a while to make copies of multi-pages (a hundreds) into pdf format with "canon toolbox 4.5" application (came with the package), on my box, it was unbelievable that the app could not survive from a error of not enough hdd space to save scans, but displayed error msg and terminated "abnormally". I lost hours of scanning hundreds of pages into pdf and all'v gone by that BS. I had to delete files to make room and redone the tedious and time consumming task. Hope canon will have a fix on this soon if it is really an issue and others can confirm this issue. (my hardwares configuration is not a matter - amd xp 1700, 756mb ram,...)

I've tried a lot of scanners with my Powerbook (Epson, HP, UMAX and Canon) - NONE of them worked as well or as fast as this one. For all you Mac people out there, you know how hard it can be to find software and hardware that works fluidly, especially with OS X. I've scanned photos, slides and negatives and had great results with all three. I highly recommend this product.

FOR THE PERSON WHO DOES TEXT, PHOTOS, COPIES FRON BOOKS AND IN A HURRY, DOES NOT WANT TO INVEST IN A EXPENSIVE SCANNER. THEN THIS IS IT ,EASY TO SET UP AND EASIER TO USE. TYPICAL OF CANNON PRODUCTS.

Very good scanner. Can not beat for the money. True Plug and play (Not like some stuff I have bought that says plug and play and hours later your still in the plug stage)lol. Very slim and not obtrusive. Slick design. Nice quality. Thumbs up.

Had to dump my 4 year old Umax when I was unable to get the latest drivers for Windows XP. I had my doubt's as to what you get in this [less expensive]scanner, but I can tell you I was not disappointed! Was up and running in a matter of minutes and I really like having just the one USB cable to deal with. Unit scans at good rate of speed and the quality of the scans is fine for most applications. Overall, I am very pleased with this scanner and would not hesitate to reccommend it to anyone.

I purchased an N676U for a budget system I built for a family friend. I had the system set up within 10 minutes. Truly easy to setup and easy to use, especially with Windows XP.

The N676U comes with all the hardware and software needed to get up and running, including a USB cable and all the software you need. Even computer beginners should be able to set this up. One BIG plus is that the scanner is actually powered by the USB cable! This is genius in my book (no seperate power cord/ugly power brick required)! I mean, who doesn't already have a mess of cables hidden behind their computers? Like I said, truly plug and play. Plug the USB cable in, install the necessary software, and you should be ready to go.

The scan resolution is relatively low (compared to entry-pro scanners), but then again, this system is not designed for professional graphic designers, it's for casual users who just want to scan pictures quickly and easily. Overall, a great piece of hardware that I would recommend to anyone looking for a quick scan on a budget.

This radio is a very good weather radio to use. It's "Statement", "Watch", and "Warning" lights are very useful when trying to find out how important the alert is. The clock is a nice thing to have and it will automatically interupt any of the other functions to bring you severe weather. It has a very nice range; I received a weather transmitter from over 75 miles away on it. I like the control that changes the siren volume as it doesn't have to be too loud. The programming is a little difficult, but after you get the hang of it, it isn't that complicated. A very good radio to own for the price. It is also up to date. Per next year, all weather radios are required to have the text display, and this one does. Just a word of warning: The alert siren WILL wake you up; it can be very loud even with the volume turned down.

So far this radio is great. Has all the features needed for emergency notification. Programming was very easy, but keep the manual handy. The back-lit lcd screen is nice and stays on all the time when used with the AC adapter. The weather signal is strong and clear. The 9 volt battery back up lasts about 3 days when the AC is off, so you will need plenty batteries if you are using it without the AC power. So far I have not had an emergency signal come across, so I can not give a review on this. In any case it is a nice unit for the price with many options, i,e external antenna plug, remote speaker or other warning device, earphone, etc. You can also adjust the volume for the alert signal unlike other models. Only draw back; No test feature to check the alarm and warning lights.

I highly recommend this receiver. I recently bought this to replace a weather radio that didn't have S.A.M.E. technology. With S.A.M.E. you put in the code for your area and get alerts for that area only. Wonderful! With the old radio, I was always getting alerts for the neighboring counties. Now, I just get what applies to me. I didn't buy models with AM/FM since in a real emergency I will be listening to the weather radio and my battery powered AM/FM radio at the same time. Reception is clear. The manual is well written. This unit does what it is supposed to do in emergencies ---- it comes on and alerts you. The alert tone is clear and unmistakable. The type of alert is displayed in the LCD display. I like this display since it faces you when the unit is on a shelf or counter top. Not so on some other models. One touch operation to hear the weather at any time. The 74-200 also has battery backup. I learned how important this feature is when I was in a typhoon on Guam.

We have now gone through 2 of these machines. There is a communication problem with the scanner that can't be resolved no matter how many phone calls were made to tech support. It's not worth the headache it will give you.

I originally just wanted to purchase a scanner and would eventually need to purchase a color printer. My fiance talked me into the all-in-one and I'm so glad he did. My computer know-how is intermediate so I was very pleased with the ease of installation and performance of this all-in-one. It comes with loads of photo-manipulation software and sample sheets of different paper types. I scanned our Olan Mills engagement portraits and printed some on HP's glossy paper with unbelieveable, non-grainy, perfect color, print quality. I gave them out with no one knowing the difference! Now I don't have to purchase more picture sheets at $10 each. With bulb warm-up, a scan takes about 15 seconds with actual scanning taking less than 5. HP's reputation/customer service is what made me purchase their product and they came through again. The printer driver disk in the box was warped (who knows why) but I was able to download the driver from the HP website (site address is on the disk) with no problems. This machine also allows easy editing of scanned documents. Phone Tools came installed on my PC so I could receive fax documents but now I can scan and fax out too. If you don't have a telephone program like that, you'll want to purchase either a different all-in-one with fax capability or use this one with a separate fax.

The HP PSC 500 is great for classrooms and students. It provides wonderful copying which actually makes it look like the same exact paper. Printing is a little slow but the project turns out to be great. I recommend it for everyone.

Bought this from Amazon about 3 months ago after I blew by a cop in my new Maxima. So far the unit works great. Minimal false alarms. It's obvious that in the city there are many X band stimuli, you just have to keep the unit on "Autoscan" mode which will greatly reduce the low intensity X band alarms. There is a silence button that I find useful. The alarm intensity level is a good indication of police presence. This thing definitely detects radar very well. Of course there is no fullproof detector, so don't get too cocky. Only one real complaint: The windshield mount is very noisy. I ended up mounting on the dash with a wedge and some velcro. Great $5 solution.

I purchased this BEL after selling an earlier to upgrade. The rearward facing sensor picked up a cop 4.5 mins before he pulled up behind me!. The falsing is minimal & its great you can programme it to your style. This a top radar & worth the investment!.

The Vector 985 is one of the 3 best detectors available and also happens to be the least expensive.

It's got excellent range and can pick up signals from weird locations. I've gotten GENUINE K and Ka readings coming from below a mountain road and downhill behind a subdivision surrounded by houses, trees, etc...

I actually slapped on my old Cobra ESD9200 next to the Vector 985 just to test them out. The Cobra was dead silent UNTIL I was literally in front of police radar. The Vector 985 had been going nuts 1-2 miles from the radar source.

This was a great scanner for it's time. It does a good job of scanning slides (haven't used it much for negative scanning). The Color Management System doesn't do the job I wish it did, often the colors are darker than the slide, so I usually adjust them in Photoshop. The shadows can be dark as well.

Overall, it's a good scanner, especially if you're only doing small-print or web work. Nikon now has newer scanner models with greater o/p and bit depth.

The question to ask yourself is "What am I going to do with the images I scan? Produce small prints or put them on the web?" If so, this scanner is perfect. If you're a semi-pro or pro who wants as much detail as possible, then get a newer model (ie: 4000 ED).....which will most likely be my next purchase. :)

This is a great scanner - but first time buyers of such a scanner, with Windows XP as an operating system beware! If you purchase the scanner, be sure that the package contains the Installation CD that contains the Windows XP installation update. Many of the inventoried Scanners do not have the update and to trying to get an update is an exercise. You have to download it from the website, but you must first call Nikon support to get this information. The hold times for the support line can take more than an hour. Then, best of luck on the download. After spending 4 hours on the thing myself, I finally had to call Nikon back, wait on hold for an hour and 15 minutes to then learn I had to call someone else to get them to mail me a disk. Hopefully, this tip can save you hours!

If you're looking for a 35mm film scanner, your research has finally come to an end. Specially now that THE PRICE HAS BEEN LOWERED! I've been using this scanner for about two months and I can only say that it's worth every cent you put on it. Colors are great, detail is incredible, the resolution allows really big output (around 12.5 X 8.5 at 300DPI - even bigger if you use 250DPI). But the biggest star is ICE. Ok, it doesn't work on B&W film, but the time it saves you from retouching on Photoshop more than pays for this scanner. And ICE comes in two flavors - normal or sharpen. You can improve sharpness while removing scratches and dust. Mine came with the latest firmware (1.31), but I updated to the software's latest version (2.5.1) via download. The software works fine. Specially if you know how to use curves to correct color casts, improve details on certain areas, etc. And it has a very special feature that makes it better than all others I've seen - you can resize the preview window to the size of your monitor. You can't imagine how much this little detail helps on correcting or improving each scan. Great. The Nikon Coolscan III (LS-30) is such a good scanner that I don't believe paying more for the LS 2000 makes sense. Ok, the other has 36 bit and multiscan for improved shadow detail. But until now I never felt the need for this. Or for throwing US$ 700 more on a scanner. Better buy another Coolscan III... Ah, with Vuescan, a third party software, you can do multiple scanning on the Coolscan III for better shadow detail. It has a nice place for storing the transport screws on the back, has built-in termination. The connectors are HDI-50. It comes with a cable (HDI-50 to 25 pin SCSI), but if your SCSI chain has other equipment and you want to place it right after the computer, you'll probably need another HDI-50 to other connector cable. As with most things Nikon, it feels solid as a rock. Certainly will last a long time. Hope as much as the faithful Nikon Fs. Looks like. It's hard to go wrong with the Nikon Coolscan III.

I bought this unit last January. It was easy enough to hook up on my old Toshiba 4010CDT P2 266mgh laptop. Basically, the unit is fantastic EXCEPT for the scanner which still doesn't work properly. I must say that Brother support is not fantastic. I had several sorties with no postive outcome. I even offered to take both units to them even though I have bought an on site warranty. The support guy thinks my Windows 98 o/s is corrupted and suggested I format C and rebuild. This I do not believe as I have a friend who has exactly the same laptop as me and he had his rebuilt just a couple of weeks before. I borrowed his laptop and the scanning software perfomed very poorly. It was extraordinarily slow and cumbersome. My old HP5200 was fantastic as a scanner so I new what to expect. The real test will be when I buy a new laptop soon. If the scanner doesn't work I will take them to task.

This device is perfect for our needs for copying and printing. The laser quality is terrific and it prints much faster than similar ink jet models. The printer connected to the home network right away and both our Windows and OS X computers were able to print. The browser-based printer configuration over the network is really nice. The paper feed on the top never jams or rotates the page. This multifunction device is a great value.

I wish that I could comment on the scanner abilities except that neighter the Windows or OS X TWAIN drivers work. I've submitted a request for help twice over the past two weeks from Brother's online support page and have not received a response. It sounds like other people have very limited success with Brother's phone support. I have doubts that this company is willing to resolve issues that people have with their products. Be prepared to return the device if all functions don't completely work right out of the box.

I bought this Brother MFC-8820D multi-function (MF) machine from Dell for $511.95. It seems to run great.

The real story is in the hideous tech support from Brother. The printer did not ship with a the OCR software CD for Win2K. There was only a Mac CD. I called Brother and they told me that I would have to buy the OCR software from ScanSoft, even though it was supposed to be included in with the MFC-8820D unit. I told them that that was crazy and I asked them to send me the CD. Then the printer support person told me to send the MFC-8820D back to Dell and ask them them to ship a new unit. It can't be very efficient to ship printers around the country when you really just need a CD! I guess Brother doesn't mind spending Dell's money.

I called Dell. At first they didn't give me a final answer about resolving the problem. Then to my surprise, Dell told me today that they shipped me a new printer. I can't believe that in order to get a replacement CD that Dell should have to ship a new system. Laurel to Dell, a Big Dart to Brother and extra work for me to send back the first printer.

I was sold on this product based on other reviews. Couldn't find it (at) well known national retailers that I visited. Couldn't find it on HP site so called them. It is no longer available. HP suggests the K80. They say it has better resolution & other improved features. Compatible with Windows 2K but have to go on-line to download drivers.

I have been involved with computers over the last 18 years. The T65 is the best printer I have ever used. It's ease of operation is fantastic. I put the printer on line with my computer and it worked right away after using the installation disc. The FAX is easy to use and brings quick results when you send the order form filled out. I have enlarged many photographs to 8 X 10 and framed them. The color copies are good as the original. The T65 is a great buy and has exceeded my expectations.

My HP T65 works flawlessly. It replaces the excellent and slower T45.

One good feature is the forgiving paper handling system. I print both sides to conserve paper.

This is my third multifunction printer, Brother 7000 which failed, HP 45, which I moved to my shared office and the T65.

This is Uniden's base station equivalent of their popular first generation handheld Trunktracker scanner. The 895 can track ONLY one trunked system at a time and while doing so excludes all conventional frequencies you might have programmed. The Scan List function (memory for storing favorite trunking talk groups) is limited to 50 slots, and that may be too few slots to accommodate large metro area trunk systems.

This is one gadget that you will need to read the manual before using. They squeeze a lot of options into this scanner. If you need to monitor a trunked system this one will do it. The only problem is that it could take you a while to figure out how. Overall, I highly recommend this product.

I have been using this scanner for about 3 weeks now. I own 4 other different models of scanners -- 2 from Radio Shack (PRO-92 / PRO-2067) and 2 from Uniden (BC 245XLT and BC 235XLT).

I like the BC 895XLT because:

- Fast scanning of 100 channels / second. The Radio Shack (GRE made) scanners that I own only go 25 channels/second. And while they are more technically sophisticated, I miss the scan speed which is desirable if you live in a busy area.

- CTCSS tone capability - What this does is let you enter in a special "code" that filters out different companies using a frequency. In busy urban areas it is not unusual to have three or four businesses on the same frequency. They use a special code called a "PL" code which allows their radios to only hear their broadcasts. The 895xlt supports the use of the PL tone through the CTCSS tone capability built in.

You might want to rethink your purchase if:

- You want to follow BOTH trunked and conventional frequencies at the same time. This scanner only follows one or the other --- and if you are following trunked frequencies you'll only be able to monitor one bank of them at a time.

- This scanner does not monitor a common type of trunked frequency called EDACS.

Overall:

I strongly recommend this scanner. Even though it has a few limitations, you cannot beat the price/performance. In reality I have found that I monitor very few trunked frequencies -- and that the bulk of my local action is the local PD and FD. Even if one town is trunked there is usually more than enough action to be heard on surrounding towns.

My one exception to the above advice is if I lived in NY or another big city that had LOTS of trunking, I'd probably wait for the 780xlt model.