Rating: Summary: Great scanner, but ArcSoft scan software has some problems Review: I recently did all the research to figure out which scanner to buy, since the old HP scanner we got for free a few months ago does not support Win2000 or macintosh. I was originally leaning toward Epson or HP, but decided on the Canon for the following reasons: 1. Canon supports scanning bulky objects, such as books (HP does not) 2. The Canon is smaller, thinner, and lighter than Epson and HP (and comes with a little stand so it can be stored on its side) 3. Comes with PhotoShop Elements, an excellent program 4. There were many complaints about Epson's software, as well as reports of dust trapped inside the Epson, whereas Canon got nothing but excellent reviews and was in the top selling list on every scanner site I looked.I have seen some reports of this Canon scanner being noisy...NO WAY. You CAN hear it working, but it's more like a gentle hum... My only complaints are in regards to the ArcSoft scanning software. The biggest complaint is that my images were CORRUPTED if I save as a jpg! I checked arcsoft.com and they are "aware of the problem" but have not posted a patch. Their workaround is to save as another file type, such as tiff, and translate to jpg using another program (PhotoShop Elements should do the trick). My other complaint is more like an enhancement request. There's this AWESOME time-saving feature for multiple photos where it crops and rotates up to 10 photos automatically, but it only does it at 300dpi. It would have been SUPER to be able to set a higher resolution. Yes it would be slower, but I just press the button once, go do something else for 10-15 minutes, and then when I come back all my images are perfectly scanned and waiting for me to save them. It is easy to set a higher resolution in the manual mode, but you have to keep coming back to crop and rotate the images manually and select a new area to scan...it's a pain unless you only need to scan a small number of images. Overall, I'm VERY pleased with this scanner...now they just need to release some drivers for native OS X
Rating: Summary: Poor Scan Quality Review: I recently purchased the Canon N1240U flatbed scanner. I was very disappointed with the quality of scans. In addition the scan speed was very SLOOOW and noisy. I needed to scan pictures into my web site and could not get a good scan no matter what I tried. I was surprised by the poor quality given the good reviews of other purchasers...
Rating: Summary: Slow...but small Review: I recently recieved this scanner and it is more advanced than my other one. I love that it hooks to a usb port rather than installing a scanner card. It is noticelby slower than our other scanner but it's compact and has a stand so when it's not in use, it's not a nusiance. It's probably 1/3 the size of my other one. I also have noticed the quality of the scanner is great and you can edit your image in the software they supply to you. If it wasn't so slow I'd say it was the best. I also with the bed was a little bigger.
Rating: Summary: No power cord sold me Review: I waded through all of the info and compared prices before deciding to buy a scanner - a non-essential but desired item for me to use for work(text) and webpages(photos) at home. I wanted good quality without buying unnecessary features or spending more than 100-150 bucks. I bought this scanner in July of 2002. It has absolutely exceeded my expectations. It is lightweight (3lbs or so), stores on its side (something I didn't think I'd like so much), and MAN it gets good detail. Being that I am a big geek, I scanned my hand after purchase to see how much detail would show up - I can read my fingerprints - and inbetween - better than I can see with the naked eye in good lighting. The detail is stunning imho. I use OmniPage Pro 9 for OCRing, and although the Caere software certainly gets much of the credit, the scanner shows enough detail that I get perfect scans often. The software is only as good as what it can read... so my point is that the clarity is impressive. I haven't seen any evidence of the single issue I read about during my research of this scanner - some reddish tones. Your eyes may differ, and as with anything, the manufacturing plant or date may affect color adjustment on some models. I'm not a big fan of Canon (home-use) printers over the years, but this scanner renews my belief that Canon can make a good product.
Rating: Summary: FOR THOSE WHO SHOP AROUND - Review: I waded through all of the info and compared prices before deciding to buy a scanner - a non-essential but desired item for me to use for work(text) and webpages(photos) at home. I wanted good quality without buying unnecessary features or spending more than 100-150 bucks. I bought this scanner in July of 2002. It has absolutely exceeded my expectations. It is lightweight (3lbs or so), stores on its side (something I didn't think I'd like so much), and MAN it gets good detail. Being that I am a big geek, I scanned my hand after purchase to see how much detail would show up - I can read my fingerprints - and inbetween - better than I can see with the naked eye in good lighting. The detail is stunning imho. I use OmniPage Pro 9 for OCRing, and although the Caere software certainly gets much of the credit, the scanner shows enough detail that I get perfect scans often. The software is only as good as what it can read... so my point is that the clarity is impressive. I haven't seen any evidence of the single issue I read about during my research of this scanner - some reddish tones. Your eyes may differ, and as with anything, the manufacturing plant or date may affect color adjustment on some models. I'm not a big fan of Canon (home-use) printers over the years, but this scanner renews my belief that Canon can make a good product.
Rating: Summary: Good things DO come in small packages Review: I was impressed with the size and the simplicity of this scanner. The USB connection makes for an easy hook-up and one less cable to have hanging around. The scans are clean and clear (depending on your resolution settings) however I would have to agree that the scanner is not the quietest machine around but by no means loud (unless you work in a library). For the money this is a great little scanner. I had a UMAX 600S and this scanner is no worse than that one, in fact I like them both. Installs in just minutes with the included XP disk with no problems.
Rating: Summary: Works great with the new iMac G4! ;-) Review: I was very careful in looking for a scanner to try to make sure that it was Macintosh compatible, but until you plug it in and try it, you never really know. I recently purchased a new iMac G4 (flat panel) iMac (which is wonderful BTW), and making the leap from an old PC I decided to go with a new printer and scanner as well. This scanner (CanoScan N1240U) worked perfectly right out of the box! I did add a powered 4 port hub to plug the scanner into (since it draws its power from the USB connection), but this was just because I wanted to ensure that it got plenty of power, but probably not necessary). Easy to setup, was able to get it to work with Adobe Photoshop Elements (comes with the iMac) with no problem what so ever. All in all, a great (quiet) scanner for the price.
Rating: Summary: Everything I was hoping for Review: Installing the scanner was painless (Windows 2000). Using it for basic scanning is easy as pressing a button. My favorite features (other than the high resolution and the good color) are the lid that allows to accomodate books and the flatness that allowed me to stuff yet another peripheral into my shelf. I've so far used it to scan some photos, some book pages, and many children's drawings for archiving. I am perfectly happy with the results. The hardware comes with a whole wad of software that I haven't tried yet or felt the need for, but it includes a text recognition software, and that sounds interesting. Recommended.
Rating: Summary: Terrible installation under W2K Review: Installing this scanner under w2k is painfull. The manual combined W98 and W2K installation procedures, and you get some strange errors when trying to install. Getting support from Canon hotline is impossible - they don't take the phone.
Rating: Summary: Beyond expectations Review: Just got this scanner. It is simply amazing. The best scanner I have ever tested. It is very fast, has only a USB connection (no extra cables), and is very light. The setup is very simple and it was up and running in 10 minutes (after software installation). No problems whatsoever. The software that comes with it is very simple to use. Adobe Photoshop Elements comes bundled with it, which is a very very good program... In comparison to other scanners, like those heavy duty Umax and Epson scanners, this Canon scanner beats them all. It is faster, lighter (has the option of keeping it vertical to save desk space), and comes with better software. I have tried to scan in pictures, text, graphs, forms, etc. It works perfectly. It has also this wonderful option, called OCR, which allows you to scan in a text document and edit it in MS Word. The 3 buttons on the scanner can be adjusted to your needs so if you are always scanning in high quality pictures you can select which button to use for that. The standard setting is scan for saving, scan for printing, and scan for email. The best thing about this scanner in my opinion is how fast it is. The scanners I have been using, Epson and Umax (brand new scanners in my university) are very slow compared to this one. I have it connected to a HP pavilion with windows 98SE and it works fine. I was told that it could be resource intensive since it gets the electricity through the USB connection, but I have used it with as many as 6 programs open and it works fine. In fact my computer has never crashed using the scanner...although it has often crashed. Would recommend this scanner to everyone
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