Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 Instant PDF Sheet-Fed Scanner for PC
by Fujitsu Imaging
|
List Price: Our Price: $414.49 You Save: $80.51 (16%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $360.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 Instant PDF Sheet-Fed Scanner for PC
Customer Review: Another great scanner by Fujitsu
Summary: 5 Stars
Note - This scanner is the next generation of the Fujitsu ScanSnap S500 Clr 18PPM/36IPM Dupl Scanner
Our office has dozens of HP Scanjets and Xerox Documates and, as the IT guy, I hate every one. Feeders wear out, get jammed, pull multiple pages through, and are slow. I decided to go with the Fujistu ScanSnap because of all the great reviews, despite the higher price. Our budget doesn't allow for a copier scanner or a high priced workstation scanner. For the price, the ScanSnap is excellent.
1. This scanner is very small. It is only slightly wider than a letter-sized sheet of paper, and when everything is folded up, it is half as long. Unlike other scanners, I can easily find room for it at any desk in our office. It is so small it could even sit on top of a workstation.
2. This scanner is VERY easy to use. Previous scanners had buttons all over them for different functions. You would press the regular scan button, and then have to wait for the scanner's software to start up, the lamp to warm up, the image to preview (I HATE previewing the image!), and the slow process of scanning. The Fujitsu ScanSnap has two buttons. A power button (which I never use since I leave the unit on all the time) and a big green SCAN button. Put the paper in, press the button, and literally within about 5 seconds it scans the image, and in another 3 or 4 it converts it to PDF and saves it. It is amazing how insanely fast this scanner is.
3. The Software provided by Fujitsu is great. It is very unobtrusive and easy to use. I scan most of my docs to PDF, so after it is done scanning, I just use their included software, which shows previews of the actual scans. I can click an "e-mail" button and 2 seconds later it opens my email program with the scan already attached. MUCH faster than scanning directly from Acrobat. It's also great that I can use their software standalone and don't have to deal with Acrobat at all, which is incredibly bloated in version 7.
It comes with some other software, such as an OCR reader which I haven't tried, and a program called CardMinder which you can use to scan in business cards. It will scan the card, use the OCR reader to categorize the contact information, as well as save an actual image of the card. I don't use this program either but it definitely seems useful for people who receive a lot of cards. It also comes with Acrobat Standard 7.0 so you don't have to buy Adobe's software.
This might be the best piece of office equipment I've purchased. If you are looking for a powerful scanner at a mid-range price it is great, and I definitely recommend it for anyone who does a lot of scanning to PDF. It is worth the extra $250 or so compared to the HP scanners simply for the copy of Acrobat and the speed of use.
The differences between the S1500 and its predecessor, the Fujitsu ScanSnap S500 Clr 18PPM/36IPM Dupl Scanner, are:
1. The S1500 is slightly faster at scanning, and the software seems to be a little faster at processing the documents. Given that the S500 was fast to begin with, the increase is barely noticeable.
2. Form factor - The S1500 has straighter lines and looks more modern while the S500 is a little more rounded. The differences are pretty dramatic and I probably prefer the S1500 more.
3. The S1500 comes bundled with a newer version of ScanSnap Manager. That's somewhat significant because it is pretty difficult to obtain the software/drivers if you don't have the disc it came with. You can't just go on Fujitsu's site and download it, you have to actually contact them and give them your model number, and then they give you an FTP site to obtain the software. So don't lose your discs. It also comes with Acrobat Standard 9. The Acrobat software is terrible, but it is a little better than the Acrobat Standard 8 that comes bundled with the S500.
Overall, I do think they improved a bit on the S500, but not enough where anyone needs to replace their S500 with the S1500.
Customer Review: So far this scanner is wonderful
Summary: 5 Stars
Our business has 6 years of quarterly forms piling up, with about 1300 forms per quarter. My job has been to either find a company to scan the documents for us or find a scanner to do the job instead. After getting the bids for companies to scan documents for us--about $3000--I put the task off until I could find a scanner I liked. This was the scanner I liked, after doing all my research. And it hasn't disappointed me, at all! Now, I've just started using it and have now scanned 2 years of forms. What once seemed a daunting task has become incredibly easy and fast. A mountain turned into a mole hill.
Setup of this very small scanner was really fast, likewise the software. No messing with the back of my computer, just plug it into a front USB port, unfold the scanner, hit the button and watch it work. It's fast, taking about a little over an hour to scan 1000 pages. Now, that's including the time I spent taking out staples, which slowed the process somewhat. So I can scan close to two years worth of papers in one day, at approximately 1300/quarter. I'll have the entire six years worth completed by next week, and that's very, very good. And cheap.
Jammed paper in my HP all in one printer/scanner is a hassle to deal with, but not with this scanner. Although it scans crinkled pages quite well, a few have gotten stuck (or when I missed a staple). I can't believe how easy it is to unjam the scanner: Just push a button to open the scanner from the front, take the page out (the paper immediately releases), close, and go. EASY. Always a must for me. I've been putting in about 50 sheets per scan, as well.
I set the scanner to scan only one side of a page, but it will scan both sides. I also set the scanner to continue to scan after each pack of paper has gone through. Otherwise it will end the scan job and you'll need to join 2 separate pdf files. I wanted the choice to continue. With this setting, if you have a jammed page you don't automatically end the scan job while you unjam the machine, you just clear the jam and hit the button to continue. It's so simple.
This scanner is incredibly small, which I love. It almost fits anywhere. You don't need to find its own space, you can stick it on your desk, scan what you need, and put it away till next time. Unless, of course, it's going to become a daily part of your office routine. Then it's very easy to make space for. On my file cabinet it's 11" long, 6" deep, and about 6" tall at the tip. So, very compact.
The quality of the scans is very good, as well. I did a test print after a scan and it was exactly like the original.
Now, what I didn't realize (as we get pdf files that are well over 1000 pages) is that I could only scan 1000 pages into one document. I just started using this so am going to check the preferences to see if this is something I can change. If you have smaller stacks at a time, this fact won't matter.
The scanner does scan large file sizes, even when I set the resolution lower. Maybe I haven't found the right setting to ensure much smaller sizes so after I'm done scanning I have to go into the open adobe file and reduce the file size, which reduces by 1/2. My scanned files were way too large at nearly 200 MB per file (again, 1000 pages though).
Although windows 7 programs don't perform well on my new windows 7 machine, this scanner has had no problems with compatibility or functionality. This is very good. Windows 7 has proven to be very unstable with most of my other programs so I was a little leery of installing something new to run on it, but it's been fine.
At the price I was quoted to scan all of our documents, this scanner could break 1/2 way through the job and I'd get the rest of the job done with a new one, and still be paying 1/3 of what scanning companies wanted to charge me, so I'm very happy with that. Our business partners in another state purchased one of these after I recommended it to them, and they have been doing the same thing, and loving the scanner.
I highly recommend it.
Customer Review: So my take on this as a, *gasp*, photo scanner....
Summary: 5 Stars
If you're like me you've been looking everywhere for a photo scanner that has an ADF to finally digitize all of your photos. Like me, you probably don't want to spend the rest of the year scanning with a flatbed but probably also aren't comfortable shipping away your memories in a Fedex box to a scan service. All I want is a digital copy of my pictures for purposes of scrapbooking or loading onto photo sharing sites.
Well, I'm happy to say that the ScanSnap might just help you out. On my first night playing with ScanSnap, I scanned in a few pieces of mail and about 75 - 4x6 photos from the 80's and 90's. I was VERY happy with the results and am now in the process of scanning the rest of my photos, my parents and some of my friends, too.
On scan quality:
* The first couple scans yielded a burn mark across the top of the scanned image. I'm going to work with Fujitsu to troubleshoot that issue. However, I found that I could scan the images face up (it defaults to face down) and the burnt edges went away. A little dust streaking here and there needed to be cleaned up, but other than that, no other scanner marks or burned spots. (I'll be posting images for a sample of the burn marks)
* The scanned image comes out really nicely - very close to the original. Now, these are just snapshots from point and shoot cameras so you have to realize that they can be grainy to begin with. This scanner serves my purpose perfectly which is to preserve my photos and provide a little organization.
* Scanned at 600dpi. I did a test for a few photos using both the ScanSnap S1500 and my Canon Lide Scan 30 (just your run of the mill desktop scanner). I'll post some side-by-side comparisons. I'm sure there's tweaking to be done on both sides, but the ScanSnap holds up on clarity and the color is actually a little more focused. (The scan settings on the flatbed may have washed out the color a little) For any photos I plan to enlarge, I'll scan on a flatbed at a higher DPI, but since most of the original are 4x6, I'm not gaining much but file size.
* For great info on batch scanning photos, check out these sites:
o [...] Here the writer suggests that you won't gain much by scanning at higher than 200 dpi!!
o For a more detailed explanation read here: [...] , replete with a printing/resolution calculator: [...]
o Since the ScanSnap is so quick, I plan on sticking with 600, but all the same
* Another note, the setting to "Continue scanning after current scan is finished" is quite helpful. The feeder fits about 25 photos easily (maybe more, but I haven't tried to stuff more in). You can use this option to continue to feed the tray when the previous 10 are done and all the images will be scanned in the same batch.
On document organization:
* I do want to go paperless. I'm terrible at filing and this has given me an opportunity to get rid of all those loose papers. There's plenty out there on why it's good to be paperless (security, organization, etc) so I won't bore you with that. This scanner is lightening quick and doesn't make filing a chore. I've gotten rid of my filing cabinet full of documents from the past few years in only a couple of days. I don't want to make light of it's perfection as a document scanner but there are plenty of testaments to it's speed and ease of use. I purchased the deluxe version with Rack2Filer.
Hopefully this helps you all out there who are looking at the ScanSnap as a photo scanner. Let me emphasize, it's not professional quality and a more discerning eye might shun the use of a document scanner for photos. Some other users have mentioned why they don't think it's a good photo scanner, but for me this scanner is perfect! In one night, I whipped through 200 while watching TV!
Customer Review: Help.... I've run out of stuff to scan!
Summary: 5 Stars
Subject pretty much says it all... This is a JOY of a scanner to work with and I've scanned E_V_E_R_Y_T_H_I_N_G we had cluttering the file cabinets, kitchen table, dining table, living room, dressers, etc etc etc... Yea we have a bit of a problem when it comes to clutter and knowing what to junk and what to hold on to. SO I finally had enough and snapped this badboy up. Well, it scanned EVERYTHING I could throw at it... It even scanned cardboard CD sleeves that had game serial numbers on them. Why? Because I could! Then with assistance of a paper shredder... Our 'clutter problem' was greatly reduced.
Okay the device comes just as advertised and includes everything you need to use it.
It scans all sorts of ODD sized paper... Business cards, small scraps of paper with indistinguishable words or numbers scribbled on them, yea just about anything. Oh it doesn't like 'super thin' paper all that much (especially if its been folded or is old)... but it comes with a clear plastic carrier sheet that will get the paper to scan. It'll handle 'US Letter' and 'US Legal' sized pages (and smaller down to a very small scrap of paper) or just about anything that's under 9" wide (give or take) it'll scan pretty long documents (longer than legal) provided they are under that 9" give or take in width.
Oh and as for speed? It's very very fast and it holds quite a large number of pages at one time... 50+ if I remember correctly. For kicks I had a magazine that had a stapled binding so I pulled out the 3 stables and then divided the pages in half (at the fold where the staples were) and proceeded to scan the entire magazine and that had to be a easy 50+ pages. I'm actually contemplating getting a professional paper cutter and cut the bindings off my wife's paperback collection and scan them in so she can have them all on her iPad. This scanner was such a joy to work with it wouldn't be to tough...
Oh also single pass scans BOTH sides of a paper so no messing around with trying to figure out if you scanned everything properly. There is a setting in the scanner preferences that says "Scan Both Sides" that I think I had to check... but once set, the scanner is now scanning both sides as needed. If the 'back' is blank it doesn't create an empty page which, I guess is the way most people would want it to work like. However even the slightest smudge on the back of a page usually got detected and I'd just remove those as I found em.
The only other comment I could make is make sure if you want the Mac OS X version of Adobe Acrobat v8 (old) software you MAKE SURE you buy the S-1500M version... If you don't care then either one has a CD with OS X drivers but I messed up and got the non-M version and it came with Acrobat v9 for Windows. I'm not all that disappointed and I'm certainly not gonna send it back just for Acrobat but Mac users be extra careful if you're expecting to get Acrobat for OS X.
Now I just gonna get more ink for my printer so I can printout more stuff to scan... Waiting on the mailman takes far too long! lol lol lol :)
Oh before I forget: To anyone looking for a great photo scanner... As I stated above, I did scan a color magazine and it looked 'just fine' to me... but if you saw thru my eyes that might not be a ringing endorsement you're looking for. :) However, as others may have already posted.. this product is really built from the ground up as a document scanner and it does that task extremely well. It'll scan photos, sure! However, if you're expressly looking for an exceptional __photo scanner__ you might want to keep looking, I'm certain you'll find other scanner more suited to that task.
For people seeking a good document scanner... In my eyes you can stop looking... THIS is the scanner you've been looking for.
Customer Review: Pleasantly surprised
Summary: 5 Stars
I had a huge number of documents forwarded to me that needed to be scanned. Probably 2-3,000. I was somewhat dreading the task because my printer combo doesn't scan at top speeds. I decided to bite the bullet and get equipment to make it easier - which I also justified because I knew I could use it in my office for other occasions. When I saw the price tags on this, I didn't want to bite a bullet that big. I wanted to spend about half that price. However, the reviews won out. Better to spend more to get the job done than spend half and get half of it done.
It was easy (beyond belief) to set up and get going. Scanning started well, but then I started getting a ridiculous number of double feeds. I suspected it was the cheap paper and the fact that the paper had been freshly copied. Just like a copier, those tend to jam the most. I wasn't upset with the machine because even when I tried to copy on my good paper, my printer double fed it too. Still, I had just spent a ton of money and it wasn't working for my project.
That's when I did some searching on the internet. There were several comments on this. The most helpful to me was to set the paper gently into the feeder. I know that sounds weird because I wasn't slamming it in or anything. But, if I had a large number I was trying to scan (which was common due to the size of the job and the short amount of time to do it), I would tap them on the table to get them straight and then put them in. When I tried the "gently" approach, it made an incredible difference. I hardly had the problem at all after that. It was amazing. So, I am writing this review for others who may be in the same boat. Try the gently thing. It works.
Also, "gently" forced me to take out ten or so papers if I needed to. That helped, too.
I do have to say, the scanner is AMAZING at catching double feeds. You don't have to sit and watch. It will stop and tell you. It's not like the copy machine that, if you don't watch, you're gonna find out later it missed some.
The one issue I did have was that the scanner is duplex - which I needed - but, because of the thin cheap paper used to copy these documents, the scanner recognized print on some of the pages "through" the page. So, I would get one side with the correct print and another reverse side (as it also read the scan through the back). I don't think I will have this problem as often because cheap paper always causes me problems in the printer, copier, etc. So, I try to get good deals on the better quality. It saves alot of headache in the end.
I echo the other reviewers on the other things. The duplex is amazing. This thing is amazingly fast. I saved hours upon hours using it over my printer scanner. I never would have shelled out the money if I hadn't been in a huge time crunch on a big project. But, now, I don't think I could ever use another machine after seeing this powerhouse go through the scans so fast.
So, reading my review, please know that I agree with the others. I just wanted to add the "gently" thing because, as ridiculous as it sounds, it made a ton of difference.
Happy Scanning!