NeatReceipts Professional Mobile Receipt and Document Scanner and Software Combination Version 3.0
by NeatReceipts
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List Price: Our Price: $179.95 You Save: $70.00 (28%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Office Product See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of NeatReceipts Professional Mobile Receipt and Document Scanner and Software Combination Version 3.0
Customer Review: Great Idea; Great Product, Needs Software Overhaul/improvements: V3 -SP1
Summary: 3 Stars
I purchased this product roughly 1 month ago; had a need to scan documents, receipts, business cards. Since I travel on business, the portability came in quite handy. (Great idea for a product for the typical road warrior) Here's some overall Good points & suggestions for improvements.
The Good:
Hardware:
Very portable, light weight, easy to hook up, uses a very common interface, comes with a easy travel pack, doesn't take up too much space on the desk, comes with a nice little stand & a wall mounting option; and a hidden little compartment to hide the soft carrying case.
Software:
Intuitive interface, easy to install, clear instructions, works well for a small scanner, scans in color!!, has OCR, scans multiple forms of documents (does what it advertises)
Suggested Improvements: (ranked from highest need to lowest)
Hardware:
1) USB cable doesn't fit in the soft travel bag. Can you make it bigger or with a couple of velcro straps to carry the USB cable. As anyone who travels knows, if it isn't packed together, it'll get lost, or tangled in the , left in the hotel room.
2) Consider changing from USB B type to Mini USB. The hardware states it runs on 5V, 500mA; so it doesn't seem to me that it needed the USB type B connection. Does it really use that much power to run a scanner? These days with many cell phones, PDAs, Blackberries, and digital cameras all using the mini-USB cable; the USB type B cable is less commonly used. (Personal opinion) From looking at the use of it, it seems the USB is mostly used as a data transmission line.
3) Cable too stiff, too long; and get rid of that toroidal ferrite thing hanging on the end of the USB type B cable. It's too big & bulky. Stiff cables makes it harder to sit the scanner flat on the table. Maybe the engineers who designed this decided the set length USB is cheaper; but in use, I would think a shorter USB cable doesn't get in the way and would work better.
4) Other minor misc issues: change the USB cable color to black, it will look better as the cable jacket wears, scuffed and discolored. Consider making a marking on the stand more intuitive because the scanner only sits in the stand one way.
5) That hardshell hardware case is quite nice, I just wish you would have put a little marketing flyer inside the original box to let me know the hardshell hardware case was available.
Software:
1) This software takes forever to open. You click on the icon and it takes about 15-30 seconds before the opening screen even pops up on the screen. Next to Adobe Acrobat; this is the longest loading software program. ...and functionally it shouldn't be that slow should it?
2) Memory Usage is too big. Because it took so long to open, I started opening the Windows Task Manager just to see if the program is running or not. I have noticed it takes quite surprizingly a large amount of memory. Why is this software such a memory hog? (Again: I'm using Version 3, SP1)
3) Can you incorporate a drag and drop feature into the various cells of the business card & receipts section of the software program? I understand OCR is difficult to implement correctly; I would not mind correcting it if I didn't have to retype all the correctly scanned words and just putting it in the correct data cell. This would make things much more intuitive and easier to work with. This same drag & drop feature would work nicely if you could allow scanned files to move from one section to another. [receipts section/Documents section/Business cards section] I frequently don't remember to click on the right category before it's scanned.
4) Can you put in the opening screen a load % progress bar so it's more intuitive how long before the program is up and running?
5) Maybe there's a preset I've not clicked on, but does it always start with the receipts section? ...can you make it use the last setting I left with when I closed the program last time or make it a preference setting option?
6) Perhaps this might have something to do with memory usage; but can you make the default image file format JPG instead of BMP? Bitmap images are generally really big for the resolution you get.
7) If possible, can you change the blinking LED setting on the scanner blink until the image is completely transferred to the PC? Being a portable device, similar to a digital camera, it would be nice if there was something telling me not to unplug the thing before the image finished transfered.
8) I've noticed there's a greater frequency of software crashing when the USB cable is hooked into the USB hub instead of the USB port on the PC/Laptop. Is this a software stability issue?
9) simple image editing. This is a low priority software improvement suggestion, but it would be nice if there was a way to allow me to do some simple image cropping or rotating so the image size is smaller. I noticed frequently I'm scanning in other things on the paper I'm not interested in. It would be nice if I could crop it out so it doesn't take up extra memory space.
Overall, please don't let my comments reflect negatively on the product. It's a great product idea...I think the software could improve greatly. This should not prevent me from buying the product since software can easily be upgraded via the internet. Restating this another way: Product Idea: 5 stars. Software implementation: 1 or 2 stars.
thanks,
Will
Customer Review: What a NEAT dea, but what a NIGHTMARE!
Summary: 1 Stars
This product is a good example of environmental waste. What you are buying here is a great idea, but what you get is a product that is glitchy, with incomplete glitchy programming, fields that don't populate properly (State for instance can be changed but not removed), and then crashes after a few hours. After spending 8 hours to scan and label approximately 40 receipts (yes, SLOW!) out of about 1500 receipts I need to scan, the system then shut down, with the message:
"An unexpected error occurred while using NeatReceipts Professional. We
apologize for the inconvenience, please contact Technical Support if
this problem persists."
I bought this item really just for the recognition software, as I already have a faster laser scanner. Turned out that the software was proprietary to the scanner and couldn't be used with your own faster more reliable scanner. NeatReceipts turned out to be another product that went untested properly, and still got mass-produced and distributed without being ready for market.
I read the reviews first, saw some bad reviews on the 2.5 version, but then saw a huge mound of these at CompUSA a few days ago with 3.0 version, so thought maybe its improved. Buried in a pile of receipts that must be organized and itemized by years end (I manage residential properties), I have been desperate for help. Some of the receipts need to be billed to various HOA accounts, and others need to be applied to cost basis or maintenance for tax return purposes. Our accountant has been after me to get this done. Unfortunately I have several toddler children crawling all over me during the day, so I needed something fast and easy to use. Thought this may be the solution. Here's what happened:
1) Receipts scanned with errors each and every time except for twice (that's 38 receipts that I had to go make corrections to out of 40 scanned). The software makes guesses too much, like UPS and USPS came up as the company on the receipt many times for receipts that read for instance, OfficeMax.
2) The recognition software does not recognize many company names (got Walgreens and The Home Depot), but not many others. Company names in plain font on top could never be read, which surprised me.
3) No field for shipping charges.
4) Scanner finicky and receipts often start going sideways in the feed (many rescans necessary). Resolution not that great.
5) No ability to scan cancelled checks (which are most common type of receipt for property tax payments and handyman expenses).
6) No customer service. I called and left message on general mail box, technical service mail box (that said busy with other callers), and then sent e-mail to tech support. Received following e-mail back, that provided no solution to problem, just more questions that were already answered in the initial on-line form I filled out for tech support:
"
Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support
center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.
We will assume your issue has been resolved if we do not hear from you
within 72 hours.
Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.
Subject
An unexpected error occurred .... AFTER 8 HRS OF SCANNING RECEIPTS.
Discussion Thread
Response (Megan) - 11/28/2007 09:31 PM
Hello Suzanne,
When do you receive this message and what version do you have of the
software. Check the version from Help> About NeatReceipts. Have you ever
been able to use the program successfully or not at all? Have you ever
been able to get the program to open? Thank you and let me know. Have a
good night.
Customer (Suzanne) - 11/28/2007 07:21 PM
An unexpected error occurred while using NeatReceipts Professional. We
apologize for the inconvenience, please contact Technical Support if
this problem persists.
"
Ok, I indicated I had used the program for 8 hours, had keyed in the product key id and the serial number, but no answers from customer service and no call backs.
Here's what I'm going to try next. Using my Brother laser scanner/fax/printer/copier, I'm going to try scanning all the receipts using my Adobe Acrobat. Then I'm going to just set up a master "LEDGER" spreadsheet in Excel, splitting screens to imput the data from the PDF images. I think this is a far better solution.
Sorry guys, great needed idea, but test the product before distributing so many to the market. This produces a great deal of waste for our environment as well as waste of our $$$. Also, improve the software to work on any scanner so can just buy the software. Most people don't need to travel with a scanner and can wait for when back home or to office. Returned the item back to COMPUSA today and reported it as defective product.
Customer Review: Mediocre at best:: Great at some things, Horrible at others
Summary: 3 Stars
After reading these reviews, I decided to take a chance on this little machine. I understand why there are so many great reviews and so many warnings. It does what it says it does but I experienced most of the problems that someone else had.
My system is a Windows XP system. My first installation of Neat Receipts went well and the software and scanner worked. I scanned in about 80 receipts within an hour. However, the images were out of proportion and much narrower than they should have been. I never found out why.
I turned on my HP All-In-One and my laptop crashed, the NR database crashed along with it and I lost my data but I had a PDF file, which stopped me from cursing myself for shredding my receipts.
Second installation went well. The image for receipts had the correct proportion. However, my laptop kept showing "New Hardware Found" message for my HP all-in-one. I ignored it for awhile. When I took care of the problem, it took about an hour and a half. It was probably more of a problem with the HP printer than with NR. Afterwards, everything worked well together.
With everything working well, I was able to evaluate NR fully in several areas.
1) Installation is easy and not too slow.
2) The program does waste time. It starts up slowly because everything is done in connection with the database.
3) Scanning was a mixed bag.
3.1) Business cards: The scanner had no trouble with business. The image was straight or re-aligned to be straight by the software. The OCR picked up the name 90% of the time, e-mail 100%, address 99%, phone number 90%, address 95%. It would become confused with multiple names or multiple addresses. The export to Outlook was fast and efficient. You can also scan the back of the card or scan another attachment if necessary. This is great because I sometimes write notes when I met the person. The scanned version looked good and the speed was about 2 business cards per minute.
Business cards: A/A+
3.2) Photos: You can't adjust the dpi on the scanner so I assumed it was scanning at 600 dpi in color. I scanned photos through the Documents tab and the Business Cards tab. Color scans looked grainy and the color matching was never quite right. B&W scans were okay. However, all my scans of photos were twisted even if the photo slid straight through. Half the photo would be straight and half would be crooked or squeezed. I could never fix this problem. My old flatbed gives much better results.
Photos: D+
3.3) Documents: I scanned 8.5 by 11 bank statements, and the scanner handled these well. The documents would mostly come out straight but once in awhile a crease would cause part of the scan to be crooked but usually not by much. The images were good but the saved files were huge. Instead of being 30 KB or less than 100 KB, the PDFs were 1.5 MB. That is a big difference if you e-mail documents. B&W or color didn't seem to make a difference. The files were huge.
Documents: B+
3.4) Receipts: This was the worst feature. The scans were almost always crooked or disjointed. The OCR software never worked properly so I would have had to enter most of the information myself. The scans were always in B&W and the images were good albeit crooked.
Receipts: D
4) The PDFs were much larger than they should have been. The Database itself took up 1 GB or more. Because I re-installed several times to fix the HP problem, the database seemed to grow. I don't know where the database was located but my C drive lost a total of 3 GB after all the installations. That is for an empty database.
5) I was able to use the scanner with ReadIris and Microsoft XP programs without any problems.
6) I was disappointed that there is no scan directly to PDF function. I would have to buy other software for that or always go through NR database which is much slower.
7) I don't use Quicken so I can't comment on that.
8) No PDF importing is a pain but I didn't really need this function.
9) I bought my NR at Costco and its version has the NR carrying case which is great and would fit most portable scanners. In fact, the accessories are great to have for this little machine.
My overall opinion is that it is not what I need right now. If I traveled a lot, I would love the feature of logging my receipts even with the hassle of entering data and bad image(just in case I lose one), the feature of logging business cards with a quick export to Outlook and the ability to scan a document reasonably well. I think that I could put up with the bad quality in that case.
Although I am trying to buy more mobile accessories for my laptop, the quality is just not there to justify the purchase. In most cases, I can wait to scan documents at home and this little machine won't replace my flatbed. I haven't tried any other portable scanner, but I look forward to the next generation of mobile scanners with better software.
Customer Review: Works well - considering the challenges
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought one of these and returned it after a day or two of experimentation. Later, I reconsidered. After better understanding the product's capabilities vs my expectations, I repurchased. I think many people misunderstand (as I did) the challenges involved in scanning, analyzing, and parsing receipts. Ever run across a receipt that took you some time to figure out??
This scanner is a compact sheet-fed scanner, and saves images in PDF or JPEG formats. Up to 600 dpi. It's handy, portable (11 ounce) and convenient to keep in a desk drawer, brief case, etc. Being able to scan a document to PDF anywhere (without AC power) can be very useful.
But it's the software component that performs OCR and attempts to decipher the text, graphics, smudges, wrinkles, and other artifacts. Then the program populates a simple database with its best interpretation of the receipt data. No, it is not perfect. But as you correct entries, the software adapts and recognizes the same receipt format.
My only disappointment - which is why I returned the product the first time - is the software will not read and import data from PDF or email receipts. (It does read receipts in graphic formats like JPG, BMP, GIF, etc.) They're working on it... Until then I can only give 4 stars.
My experience with customer support has been extremely positive and productive. Jenn Choi answers emails and user forums promtptly and professionally. She is amazingly considerate, patient, and polite given some of the rather obtuse words and language she receives. From my perspective, the staff was always prompt and forthright with the product's limitations and problems, and offered recommendations. I encourage the marketing department to do a better job of letting people know of the software's limitations ahead of the purchase so they may check their expectations and avoid 'buyer remorse' situations. For example, right on the box it should say "Although the Scanalizer will create PDF output files from scanned documents, at this time we do not support the import of PDF files directly. We are working on it!"
Despite a lot of searching I have not found another product that does what this package does. Even with the low end 70% accuracy rate (mine was always much better), that's still 70% less transcription for me to do. During testing, I scanned receipts on my other scanners and used much more sophisticated (and expensive) OCR programs, but the recognition rate just was not that much better. But none of those programs could also analyze the result and say "Hmmmm... this looks like sales tax, let's put it in the TAX column. And this looks like a store name, so lets put that in the STORE field." Also remember, a graphic image of the receipt is saved and can be printed out if you ever need hard copy. When you highlight an entry in the database, the corresponding image is displayed in a view window. Database backup & restore utility is included so you can protect your work and records. If you forget to backup, the software will provide periodic reminders via pop-up window (you can configure as needed). You can export to many different file formats and financial apps.
As I sit typing this out, I look around my home office and count five (!) scanners. Each has its own strengths and purpose (or else it would be gone). None of the others do what the Scanalizer and its software can do. But I still look forward to being able to have Scanalizer read and interpret all my exisitng PDF and email receipts into its database.
Anyone contemplating purchase: Yes, do read reviews on Amazon.Com, Buy.Com, the magazines, etc. But also go to the company website www.neatreceipts.com and check out the user forums to see if it will meet your expectations.
(No , I do not work for - or have ANY relationship with - NEATRECIEPTS other than the purchase of a Scanalizer.)
Customer Review: "Made in China" Says It All
Summary: 1 Stars
Well, I certainly wish I could write a nice review for the Neat Receipts scanner, but I can't.
WHAT IT IS:
At barely around 12 inches long and only a few inches wide, the Neat Receipts scanner seems wonderful for those who wish to have a carry-anywhere portable scanner that they can use to scan documents, receipts, and other small texted based items into their computer. The theory is that you can scan these items via the scanner into the scanning software, organize the scans into folders, and have a nice databased of your purchases and expenses on file so that when you lose your receipts (which we all do), you'll have records to fall back on.
SETTING UP SLOW:
Setup was not the swiftest. You must disable all programs (including antivirus) and with the install CD in the drive, reboot your computer. Upon rebooting, the install continues. On my dual core system with 2 gigs of RAM this was a slow process, and during the install it checked for newer versions of the software and said there were none available. Ok, fine.
After completion, it goes through a series of further installs, and then asks you to plug in the scanner via the USB port. Once Window's recognized it, you continue by placing a "calibration card" into the scanner. The scanner pulls it through, and supposedly it's ready to go. Upon starting up the software, it then tells me that now there IS an update to fix "bugs" in the older version of the software, so I download and install that update and reboot.
Having all done, I start up the software, which is very slow to load up and get running. Once ready, your screen is divided into a main area where you can create folders, a detail area below, and on the left an area that is supposed to show you the actual scan once it's done - like a photo. You can then slip the front of a receipt (or document) into the front of the scanner, and press the "scan" or "PDF"(to create a PDF document) button on-screen, or on the scanner itself.
DEFECT DANCE:
The scanner pulls the document through, and at this point you are supposed to see a photo of it on the left. No such luck. All I get are gray lines. All was done correctly and placed in the correct way, but nope - no visual in place. Tech support is not available on weekends, so I took the unit back to the place of purchase and swapped it for another unit.
Same problem. This time I get gray lines where a scan of the receipt should be. Ok, so long story short, for those who buy a Neat Receipts that actually WORKS, then it seems like it's a handy device to organize receipts and documents. However, the girl at the store I took my first (and now will the second) unti back to did inform me that a number of them had come back as "dead on arrival" units. Whether this is simply a bad batch of them that went to a particular area, or whether the "Made in China" badge indicates low quality and a high number of defects, I don't know. I do know that two Neat Receipts produced two defective units in my case, so, I cannot recommend this product.
CONCLUSION:
If you already own a flatbed scanner then you can with slightly more effort simply do receipt scans with that, or for the $199 average price of the Neat Receipts buy a very nice flatbed (or save money and get a basic one) to do the same job. I vote "No" on the Neat Receipts due to reliability issues.