Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I was thoroughly impressed with this scanner upon taking it out of the box. Although it is bulky compared to the popular Canon flatbeds (670U, 676U) this model was surprisingly economical with desktop space. The exterior shell is nice and has a metallic shine to it. Simple five button layout. All in all, not a bad looking machine.
As with all other USB products I own, the installation was EXTREMELY easy, and the concise manual is written in plain English. Just as important, the Windows 2000 TWAIN drivers are very stable. Running ScanWizard 5 and importing to Photoshop 6 is very painless and simple.
Scans are pretty fast with 96-300 DPI resolution, but once I reach 600, it becomes a tortoise-like drag. I do a lot of scanning of magazine pages in full-color, and I wasn't impressed with the clarity until I reached 1200 DPI (although the maximum interpolation DPI goes as high as 9600). However, because my preferences for professional quality photos are high, most consumers shouldn't worry, especially if you're only using this scanner for web graphics and family photos. Black and whites and web graphics were very fast to scan, and I was impressed with the results. I'm sure most people won't need to go beyond 300 DPI anyway, because that's the best resolution for printing.
I stick with Adobe Photoshop 6, but the included software (Adobe PhotoDeluxe) is a trimmed-down version of essentially the same stuff. The ABYY fine reader program is pretty good with OCR but the Ulead Photo Explorer SE is the best program included, making organization of my scans very painless. Furthermore, to clarify another review, the 35mm Light Lid IS included for scanning film, although I haven't tried it myself yet.
As for the cons, the most disturbing thing is that there is no power button! The only way to turn it off is to unplug it, although there is a power-saving mode. Secondly, size does matter and I do envy the Canon owners who get a much sleeker model that is literally three times thinner. Another thing to note is that support is only available for 30 days. After that, you have to pay for the call. Fortunately, I haven't had to question anything yet, and that's always a good thing.
In summary, I say the buck stops here for scanner buyers. Do your research to confirm you need 48-bit color (most people don't, and actually the human eye can't perceive beyond 32-bit), and have the desktop space. The software, extra features and installation are a steal..., and there aren't any extra hassles to deal with either.
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