Xerox DocuMate 250 Sheet-Fed Scanner for Windows

Rating:
Summary: This thing is AWESOME.
Review: For the past several years I have used Epson flatbed scanners for both personal and business use. My Epson scanners provided a very good scan quality, and at a decent scan speed. The Epson software interface was ok, but not the greatest. Last week I decided to take a chance on this Xerox Documate 250, and I'm really glad I did. This thing rocks! I am amazed at how fast it scans stuff. And the scan quality is great. The software that comes with the scanner is really good, too. Much more user-friendly than the Epson software. Another neat feature is that this scanner will scan directly to PDF format. So no more cumbersome file conversion from JPEG's, BMP's, etc. I am seriously considering buying another Xerox Documate 250 (or another Xerox Documate model) for home and/or business use. I'm that impressed. I don't write many product reviews, so that should tell you something about this product.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: I have to scan medical documents, sometimes 4 or 5 at a time, to .pdf. Interfacing with Acrobat 6 was a problem at first, but Acrobat 6 Prof and Standard have an update, 6.0.2, and after that, I had no problems. This machine is FAST. Zip, zip, zip! Done! The software interface is simple and unobtrusive. I use a program, MacroExpress, to facilitate the process,and this is the only software I've used (two others so far) that adapts almost pefectly. The warmup time was a problem for me in the past. I dictate reports, then attach other documents to the finished products. If one inserts the sone-to-be scanned documents in the scanner as one is nearing completion, it warms up, and by the time I'm ready to scan, it's over in a matter of seconds. I spent a significant amount of time searching for the best if not perfect scanner. This is it.

The product support was friendly and good, and I didn't have to wait too long to talk with someone when I was having trouble with the Acrobat 6 interface. Coming from a flatbed scanner without auto document feeding, I feel like the ape in the beginning of 2001 Space Oddessy, my leg bone just morphed into a space station.

Rating:
Summary: Double-Sided but Half-Baked
Review: This product fairly reeks of the "rush to release" syndrome. The instruction manual comes with several separate "Errata" sheets attached, correcting misinformation inadvertently printed in the manual. If you use this scanner, you can't have any drivers for any other Visioneer scanners on your computer, which is frankly ridiculous -- for a scanner that costs $1000, you'd think the software engineers could devise a driver that doesn't cause such problems, especially since many people own more than one scanner. What's worse, they're not kidding -- I uninstalled the Documate driver and returned the scanner for a refund, but I still can't get my other scanners to work, because the Documate software screwed them up. This scanner is way too much trouble for the money. I wish I'd never heard of it.