CardScan Executive v8 Card Scanner
by CardScan
List Price:
Our Price: $99.95
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Category: CE
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: CardScanAudio: English (Original Language)
Format: CD
Platform: Windows 2000, Windows XP
Model: CS-A08180-ENG
Color: BLACK
Product features:
- Use drag-and-drop feature to consolidate important business info from email, web sites, and other electronic media
- Creates digital address book from scanned business cards
- Categorize contacts, search, sort, print labels, map addresses
- Synchronizes with most business software including Outlook, Palm, Windows Mobile, iPods, and many smartphones
- Dimensions 9.2 x 8.1 x 2.8 inches; weight 4 pounds
- AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to A-Female Extension Cable (3.3 Feet/1.0 Meter)
- AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to A-Female Extension Cable (9.8 Feet/3.0 Meters)
- AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to Mini-B Cable (6 Feet / 1.8 Meters)
- AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to B-Male Cable (6 Feet / 1.8 Meters)
- Global Marketing Partners Readiris Pro 11 [Old Version]
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of CardScan Executive v8 Card Scanner
Customer Review: Exceeded Expectations
Summary: 4 Stars
After years of delaying the purchase of a business card scanner, I decided to make the plunge after amassing a pile of 300+ business cards. Generally, I am an early adopter of any technology that introduces additional efficiency in my life. However, I was a bit skittish about obtaining a business card scanner as the general impressions I have received regarding the product category has been quite negative. However, despite a few of its shortcomings, the CardScan Executive has been a worthwhile investment.
In the past, coworkers have argued that the accuracy of such products is so low (<90%) that they offer little value beyond the manual entry process. While the OCR accuracy of scanning complicated multicolored business cards is in fact only 85% to 90%, the CardScan software facilitates very rapid manual correction of the data. Not only are all of the relevant fields laid out in a consistent tabular form regardless of the original order, but the CardScan software highlights questionable data. At the same time, it allows the user to compare this data to the saved scanned image of the card. This juxtaposition is an important element of the value proposition of CardScan Executive solution. Regardless of the accuracy, the scanned images can be flipped through while inspecting the estimated OCR text. It is important to note that the user can scan hundreds of business cards, rapidly one at a time, before any of the time consuming manual correction takes place.
This automated process capability is one element of the software that I didn't fully understand before purchase. Assume you have 500 business cards that have elaborate graphics, which leads you to correctly guess there may be a high error rate. This isn't necessarily a problem as you can 1) scan all of the cards then 2) process (i.e. OCR)then 3) verify manually. The manual step can be done weeks later if you chose. In my case, I often don't know if I will need any of the cards, so the ability to scan and throw away the paper cards is important. Unfortunately it does not have a multi-card sheet feeder so assume that 5-10 seconds per card must be devoted to the original scanning process.
Another shortcoming of the CardScan Executive solution is that it does not learn as it goes. For example, if you have several business cards with crazy graphics from employees of a single company, the software does not recognize that you already identified key text on the previously manually verified cards. Moreover, where it can correctly recognize URLs and email domain names, the software can't intelligently determine the company name with this information. The difference between the domain name and the spelling of the company name is most notable with companies that have elaborate icons embedded in their company names.
The limitations of the device and software are most likely driven by cost. For several thousand dollars, the afforementioned limitations could be addressed. Yet, at this price point, most individuals who place a value of their time of greater than $20/hour (very low bar for white collar workers) and who want to digitize more than 225 business cards throughout the life of the product will receive a positive return on their investment.
Calculation
3 minutes saved per card for 225 cards = 11.25 hours
11.25 hours @ $20/hour = $225 > $200 purchase price
Pros
Relatively fast scanning
Easy Setup
Software productivity aids for manual verification
Cons
No automated sheet feeder
Does not learn from previous verifications or intelligently extract data from the different parts of the card to improve OCR (i.e. company name matched to URL/email domain)
Description of CardScan Executive v8 Card Scanner
CardScan Executive features a desktop card scanner and full-featured contact management software -- ideal for the power user. Synchronizes easily with Outlook, PDAs, smart phones plus ACT!, Lotus Notes and GoldMine. Color scanning and fast 3 second scan.Digital Cameras & Photo Categories
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