Scanner Reviews

Better than I hoped; a great scanner. It's about the size of a toaster, so I keep it on my desk between dual monitors and scan in client letters, invoices, receipts, reports etc. It's let me move my consulting business to a 'paperless office', saving lots of find-the-paper-file time.

It's fast and easy, and in almost 3 months and 10,000 pages I've had no mechanical problems. (I chose this model because many newsgroup posters said it was business-level reliable.)

Flies through 18 - 19 one-bit black and white pages per minute at 300 dpi - wow. (300 dpi is plenty for archiving and OCR page recognition software.) Is quite a bit slower at higher dpis - about 8 pages per minute at 400. Goes up to 600 dpi.

100 dpi color scanning is quick but 300 dpi color is quite slow, about 2 pages per minute. The rate limiting step seems to be data transfer, not the scanner itself.

Duplex scanning - both sides at once - is wonderful, with lots of uses I didn't foresee.

Comes (Jan 2004) with Adobe Acrobat 5.0, which works fine. Upgrade to Acrobat Standard 6.0 was then just $100 and Acrobat Pro just $150. They sell normally at $300 and $450. A big savings. Acrobat 6 has built in page recognition - scan the page, and Acrobat will OCR it so you can search and cut and past text.

THE DRIVER SOFTWARE IS POOR. My version (Jan 2004) shipped with a driver that was two iterations out of date, and couldn't handle color scans on Win XP. Blue scanned in as green, etc. Useless. Tech support was friendly but evasive: "Reinstall your _other_ software", for eg. Yeah, right. Figuring out myself to download and install the latest driver fixed the color problem - except now it supports only 24-bit color, not 8-bit, which is unacceptable, I think, since mechanically the scanner will do 8-bit and 24 bit files are way big.

Also the scanner-driver has lots and lots of buttons and settings - good. But few of the settings are obvious, and the user's guide, which was written in Japanese, translated into Serbo-Croatian, then into Eskimo, and finally into English, is often undecipherable. Not much point having an SDTC Variance DTC Variance slider if you don't know what SDTC Variance DTC Variance is.

Still, if you're archiving business correspondence, reports, etc, the standard settings work fine, and the thing is a reliable little duplex speed demon.

We've used this scanner in our office for almost a year, scanning hundreds of pages per week. The problem is that having this has encouraged us to scan a lot more stuff (and have a lot less paper laying around), so there is a big line for the scanner. So I'm buying a second one!

Easy to set up and use and what a difference duplex scanning makes - the scanner eats up the pages. I was able to format a size for cancelled checks and scan them one at a time - the scanner automatically scans the back and places the scans in order ( probably with the help of the Adobe program, but it was easy) This scanner replaces a Fujitsu 620C sheetfed and flatbed scanner and quite honestly is so much faster and easier to use. It takes up no space on a desktop - especially compared to the old scanner. I would recommend it to anyone.

I purchased the IRISPen II with the intent to use it for my Master's thesis. So far I am very pleased with it.

It was very easy to install- I simply popped the CD in my Mac (running OS X), installed the software, and then plugged the pen into the USB port at the front of my monitor. Immediately, I scanned a line of text and automatically it was displayed on screen and imported into my clipboard. I could then copy that text into any application. I tried scanning faster and it wasn't as accurate as my first line, but there *is* a learning curve with it and it still beats typing the text in. Just pass it over text and it automatically turns on and scans- no button to press or keystroke required.

At first it appeared that the pen didn't scan more than one line, and that I had to paste the text into my documents, but as long as the IRISPen software is running, and your doument is active, each line you scan is automatically inserted after you lift the pen from the page. When you are in the IRISPen software itself, the pen will only scan one line at a time.
The Standard model is very nicely priced compared to the other pen scanners on the market (and offers more accuracy and ease of use, PLUS Mac compatibility). I'd give it 5 stars, but I haven't used it heavily enough to know if the accuracy will improve with use or if it works with all the apps I will want to use it with. But so far, no regrets.

First, a warning. As I type this, Amazon's description states that this "Recognizes text, numbers, handwritten numbers, bar codes, and dot matrix documents." That description applies to the EXECUTIVE version of this product, NOT the Standard. Standard's software is NOT designed to output bar codes, handwritten numbers, and dot matrix documents. A test of handwritten numbers just now shows that it will read a few neat handwritten numbers, but only about 30% of them. As for dot matrix, the manual states that this WILL read good quality 24-pin printouts, but not poor quality 12-pin printouts and worse. If you need that kind of capability, buy the Executive.

Do note that the hardware -- the physical scanner itself -- is EXACTLY the same in both the Standard and the Executive (so for more reviews you might check out the reviews of the Executive version too). Only the software differs. You have the option of upgrading to the Executive version later if you'd like, and the software is available for paid download at the IRIS site. The Executive version also includes translation capability and supports text to speech so that you can hear the words as you scan. I chose the Standard version for budget reasons, and I'm quite happy with it.

The error rate on this pen is excellent. For example, if I printed out this review and scanned it, I would probably find two or three minor errors. The cord is distracting, but I've solved that problem by hanging the cord on a hook attached to my desk so that it's in the air and out of the way. Scanning does take just a little getting used to, but once you get it down you can scan quickly and efficiently. It helps if the book is flat. I tried scanning while a book was in a book holder, and that was too hard. I had no problems with installation on a Dell 4400 desktop running Windows XP. XP informed me that the IRIS driver was not approved, but I installed it anyway and had no problems.

The software is fairly thorough, including such thoughtful features as end-of-line hyphen removal and the option to set your button to tabs, enters, or other keystrokes. It also has a spacing feature to help you get around problems when you scan, say, short newspaper columns and accidentally scan a little of the adjacent column. You can set the scanner to ignore sudden jumps in space, etc., which is nice. However, there are a few irritating limitations.

First, there appears to be no way to turn off the prompt asking you if you really want to shut down the software. I have shut down my computer at night several times only to wake up to find my computer still on, locked and waiting for my response to the question. There should be a way to disable this nag without using third-party automation software, which I installed just to get around this problem.

Second, there is no easy way to have the scanner insert two spaces between sentences instead of the usual one. There is probably a way to do this through the character conversion feature, but as many papers and manuscripts are supposed to be formatted with two spaces between sentences, it should be a built-in option. It's a pain to go and add those spaces. I have resorted to turning on my word processor's built-in function for the extra space, but that means loss of control over my document (which is why I turned that function off to begin with), and is something that should have been addressed in the software.

But these are minor points that only partly detract from five stars (I'd give it four and a half if I could). Overall I'm very satisfied. I use this 1) To collect quotes, and 2) To insert long passages into a working outline I maintain that covers a specific field. I wish I'd had this when I was a student. It would have made typing up block quotes and class outlines much easier.

I have been using the IRISpen for about a year and have been extremely satisfied. It is particularly useful for taking notes and reads standard text from books with few errors (and very quickly too). It can be set up for left or right-handed use and can be adjusted for text that is light or dark. I have the executive version, which I believe adds some additional features (recognizes handprinted numbers, bar codes, and dot matrix text and can adjust for different shades of paper). Drawbacks: Must remain attached to a computer (it inserts text into an open application as it scans), many errors on some text--light printing, unusual font, etc. Overall, an excellent product that I would highly recommend for researchers, students, etc. I use it nearly every day.

I have had the Lexmark X1150 for just over one month. I really like it a lot. It makes wonderful copies, prints beautifully, with very good color matches to original material. It is a little slower than promised, but that may be my Computers fault. It prints, copies, and scans and as I said above, it also Faxes. That surprised me, and I feel as though I got a real bargain because of that. The ink cartridge is too small and in this one month I have already used two black ink cartridges and one color. That is a problem. That is why I do not give it five stars, only four. Ink cartridges cost too much.

This printer is great, its easy to setup, and its fast. I cant believe the quality of this printer and all the features you get for such a low price, i recommend it to anyone who needs or wants an new printer.

My mom came home with this thing, and I was skeptical because it was really inexpensive. I'm a computer tech so naturally I felt that my mom had been taken advantage of. Turns out I was completely wrong!

To start with, this model comes with very easy instructions for setup. It connects via USB port, and the CD autoruns. Setup is a breeze.

Second, the design of this model is very nifty. The flatbed scanner sits on top of the printer, and is protected from normal printer operations. The glass stays very well protected until you need it. When you're done scanning there is a safety feature built in so that the top closes slowly and doesn't damage the glass.

It's not like a fax machine that drags and curls your document while trying to duplicate it. It's a regular flat bed scanner.

third, I was VERY impressed with the copy function. You can completely bypass the computer. With other machines you'd have to scan the document, save and then print it. With this machine, you literally put down your paper and push one copy button. Ta-Da! The guides on the scanner make it foolproof as to which way the paper goes too!

fourth, the software that comes with the unit has a wide variety of printing capabilities. You can increase the size of a scan to fit on several pages, or combine a large photo into a smaller one. There is also a built in photo editing program.

All together, it's a very tight package. I was up and running within 5 minutes of opening the box. Installation was smooth.

As far as the other complaint about the ink, I have not gone through that. I haven't printed with it more than once or twice a day, but I have been printing photos in high quality and they have been really crisp.

Definitely a good buy!

This scanner is to be held to be believed. It is extremely light and small. It is powered through the USB port. I carry it with my laptop whereever I go in case I need to scan something.

The downside of lightness is that the scans take an extremely long time. This makes it usesless for scanning multiple pages at a time. It'll drive you nuts if you try.

The newer versions of this printer may be faster.

I myself will get a larger but faster Epson scanner to carry with me.

This is a terrific scanner. The setup was incredibly easy -- plug it into the USB port and that's it! No outlet plug is needed (and when you've got multiple peripherals and a computer making demands on your wall outlet, that is a great feature). You don't even have to reboot the computer. The scanner is slim and very light.

The software setup was quick and bug-free. The software included with the scanner is easy to figure out and use, and it allows you to make subtle corrections to the picture as well as apply many special effects.

Depending on the footprint of the item you're scanning, it can take from about 8 seconds for a photograph to about 30 seconds for an 8-1/2 by 11 inch page with photography and text. The scanner runs very quietly, which I value highly.

I run this scanner off a PowerMac G4, using it mainly for photos to be placed on the Web. I've also used it to scan in text. I have been extremely happy with it, and would recommend it without hesitation.

I bought this scanner in an emergency to replace my office scanner and fell in love. I scan photos for print publication and normally only need a clear picture at 200 dpi, while I often pump up the resolution depending on size requirements for the final layout. This scanner not only produced great looking images, it produced them faster than any other scanner I have ever used. Previews take seconds and large scans only take a few minutes whereas my old "pro" scanner would give me enough time to take a coffee break. I have used this scanner on my Athlon 600mhz, at work on my Apple G3 and at home on my wife's AMD 333mhz and had the same beatiful results. If I wanted great images I should have known to buy Canon in the first place!

I've now had this machine for a week and I must say, I'm quite pleased. I'm using it with my Macintosh G4/400 and without a hitch. This machine also works with Windows PCs via USB or an included Parallel cable.

You can get 12ppm, but only in the fast/low quality printouts... high quality printouts are a bit slower. The high quality printouts are just that... very fine quality in text and in photos.

I gave this item less than a perfect rating because while it's advertised as a USB printer, it doesn't include a USB cable. VERY FRUSTRATING to buy an expensive item like this, have it delivered and then have to drive 30 miles to a computer store to buy an overpriced cable!

I also could care less for the quality of the phone receiver. I have no idea why the phone receivers on fax machines are so flimsy... it hangs on the cradle by a hair and a slight jarring to the table it's on sends the phone flying.

Nonetheless, this is a fine machine and a great price for a laser printer even w/o the multi-functionality of a phone/fax & copier!

Bought this for a customer and loved it so much, I picked one up for myself as well.
Holds 200 pages, printing looks great and works well.
Easily connected to PC. I don't use the phone functions and strictly use this as a fax/printer so don't know much about how well other options works.

Our office bought a MFC8600 and we have had zero problems throughout the 6 months of heavy daily use. Quality and speedy printout plus stand-alone fax, copier functions make this machine the superman of the office.

After a thourough research between a few models that interested me: HP 3200, panasonic FLM600, brother 4600, I decided to go with a 8300 for myself, because of its speed, win2k/me compatibility and wonderful price. It's been a week and so far I'm very happy with it. In fact, I like it even better than the 8600, simply because at bootup after installing the software, the software installed does not complain about not finding the machine (should you choose not to connect it), as opposed to the 8600. The print quality is good enough for me and I've never had any problem with the limited ram (2Mb).

The only thing I would wish this machine had, is a few more buttons for the commonly used tasks, so that one doesnt have to press a bunch of buttons to access these features, e.g., "function", "1" , "0", "2" for a list of caller ID names. One more line on the LCD screen wouldn't hurt either.

The toner is cheap and the machine operates quietly. So far, I havent had a single crash, software conflict or print/copy/fax problems. Highly recommended!

It's been awhile since my previous detector was stolen but the new supercharged vehicle dictated some extra eyes. I liked the features of the Bel especially the digital design and capability to upgrade should that be necessary. So far, I have found the following. A fair number of false signals in the same locations. I don't know whether it is the unit or similar frequencies looking like radar. The true radar signals seem to be mostly X band and some Ka. I like the way the 950 talks to you. This can be adjusted. I don't care for the slide in clip on the unit that attaches to the male end on the windshield. You have to press it just right everytime you want to take the unit off to hide or take with you. A simpler design might be warranted. A soft carry case for the unit should have been included from Bel. Overall, I think it is a good unit with likeable features. I can't say if it is overpriced or whether a less expensive unit would work just as well considering most of the old technology X band that I have encountered.

This radar has prevented many unnecessary tickets for me. It is super sensitive, yet does not give off many false alerts. I can pick up signals on an average of 1.5 to 2 miles away. I travel on the highway quite a bit, and no radar I have owned performs like this Bel....

Overall it does what Canon says it will that is both normal and film scanning in one package with software correction of surface defects. However if you compare a scan of let us say a 4x6 print from a negative with a direct scan of the negative there is a slight loss of detail present at 2400 dpi the max resolution possible. How significant this is to a customer is a matter of personality and need. It is the best dual scanner right from what I can see but as a prosumer type of person I have a problem with that slight loss of detail.....but then again look at the price I would have to pay to get better (ouch).

I have used a Microtek ScanMaker 35t Plus for film and two flatbed scanners for paper copies. The Microtek was a great disappointment that does not perform as expected. After acquiring the CanoScan D2400U, I can get rid of my three scanners and can scan larger-format negatives as well. The speed of this scanner is not the best, but this does not really bother me. At least, a prescan of three 35mm negatives at once do save some preview time. The sharpness might be a bit less than a dedicated film scanner, but look at the cost of such a scanner that can also handle large negatives. With some retouching on Photoshop, the quality of the scans are very good. I particularly like the automated scratch removal feature, which I use all the time for colour films. That saves me a lot of retouching time afterwards.

The unit seems to do a pretty good job as a document scanner. The rating depends on the purpose for which you purchase this scanner.

Couple items to note:

1. The unit does not come with the PaperPort Pro 9 office as advertised by Amazon. It is bundled with the Deluxe 9 software which is a less costly product.

2. The flat bed scanning of photos is not up to my expectations. It is probably ok if you're scanning photos for commercial / non-artistic reasons. I do not believe that this takes the place of a 'decent' photo scanner. I had planned to compromise on getting shorted on the Pro 9 Office software and keep this scanner. However I decided that it was not worth it given the compromise that I would also have to accept in the photo scanning.

3. The ADF always pulls slightly to the left as the pages go through. I don't know if this is a typical problem on other ADFs or not.

4. The instructions for the software both hard copy and on the web site are not thorough. A lot of trial and error is required in order to better understand the scanner options.

5. I don't like the fact that the Deluxe 9 software provides the 'preview' scan in a small sub-window. The window is too small to get any valuable 'preview' info.

6. A positive item is that Xerox has spare parts available for the ADF and scanner which may need replacing. I don't believe that this is typical for other non-commercial consumer type units.

This scanner works really well! I would give it 5-stars if it was faster!

Look at my full review in my April 2004 posting here:
http://reecewilton.tripod.com/blog/

The scanner does a fine job. There are many options to control file size and scan quality. The interface took a little getting used to, but after a couple of days I was a "whiz".

PLUSES:
I like the fact that it scans directly to PDF format. I especially like the "Scan Manager" that allows you to preview reorder, and add pages to an ongoing scan. For example, if you finish scanning a document and want to add a forgotten page to the same file, you can do so in the Scan Manager. You can even re-order the forgotten page to its proper place in the PDF file. This feature would also be useful if you had a 200-page document to scan since the ADF cannot hold 200 pages at once. The machine also comes with a spare ADF "roller", which is supposed to need replacing after 20,000 documents.

I had some trouble with pages that had been stapled, but I was able to correct my problem by flat rolling the staple holes to make it feed properly. This was more user-error than the machine's fault. In fact, I scanned an unstapled 50 page document without a hitch.

I will buy this same machine as the demand for it grows at my office.

I've been using the FS4000 since January. I previously had a 2400dpi Minolta DImage II(I believe!) that kept on freezing up and was exceptionally slow. I can't comment in absolute terms about the speed of the FS4000 but it is certainly way faster than the old Minolta. My deduction of one star (more properly about 1/2 a star)is due to the fact the scanner still seems like it could be a lot faster - perception only, maybe, but still....

I have been scanning slides at the highest resolution with the noise reduction on but no color management or adjustments made during scanning (preferring to work on the scanned image in Photoshop). Overall scan quality is excellent with no issues from a functional or performance perspective from any of the approx. 1000 scans done to date. The noise reduction capabilities are the primary benefit I notice in that the time spent touching up dust and minor scratches afterwards is very very minor (and usually due to forgetting to clean the slides in the first place!). Color balance and detail resolution are far superior to what I experienced beforehand. Desk footprint is great and noise level while scanning is comfortable.

If I had any complaint at all it is that the scans can reveal problems in the original image such as a lack of sharpness in some areas of the image due to me using lower quality lenses in the old days - such problems don't show up quite so easily either when viewing the slides through a loupe or after the 2400dpi scans - serves me right for using cheap glass, I guess.

This is a very good scanner. The FARE system has worked well for me and that is the reason I bought it. I have the HP PhotoSmart S20 as well. While the scanners are roughly in the same price range, each has its strengths and weaknesses. The FS4000US is SLOWER and the images have more grain than the S20, but the images appear sharper, with better color depth. As to speed, I don't have to spend hours removing dust and scratches manually. And a neat s/w package called "NeatImages" workes wonders with the grain. Bottom line, total processing time is quicker with the FS400US, and the finished product is noticably better.

Given the price, this is a great film scanner. But, it's not perfect.

First, it produces wonderful images with color depths up to 42 bits. Its scratch-removal system (FARE) works well (within limitations), and it seems reasonably quick (though I have nothing with which to compare it). Since it supports both SCSI-2 and USB, its versatility is hard to find - even in more expensive models. Setup was a snap. I just plugged it into my (Windows ME) USB port, added the software and voila!

There are some limitations: Unlike competing Nikon models, there are no accessories. And the scanner is made for 35mm only (slides, negatives and APS). As I said above, FARE seems to work very well. But if a negative is too scratched, the software will fail and may even hang your system.

This scanner was easy to set up and use. It's scan quality is what you would expect from a scanner in this price range, but not exceptional. The disapointment comes from no printed manuals at all. They provide you with a set up poster and all the manuals are on the disk. Makes it very hard to use them as a reference when running the scanner software or when away from the computer. If you plan to print the manuals for the software and scanner, pick up a ream of paper and a new ink cartridge. Also for win95 users, I had to pick up a new scsi card and cable, It was different than the one used for my old HP 5P scanner. (that one came with the card and a good manual). The cost at a local chain Computer store was $ for the card and cable. I wish I had know all this up front.

The 6200Cxi has outperformed my expectations. The USB connection was easy to make. The software is easy to use. The HP Copy Utility is wonderful as is the HP Precision Scan Pro software.

You can spend less, but you won't get a faster scan or better scanned images.

This is the second scanner I have bought and the quality of scan image is great. The software is fairly straight forward to use and easy to install. USB technology is great. The scanner is fast (five times faster than my old scanner which was 3 years old). I use it scan photos, drawings, documents... It is more expensive than other scanners, but the extra resolution, HP reliability, and color quality are worth it.