Rating: 
Summary: LiDE 30 PLUS VERY IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE!
Review: I read the great reviews here (and elsewhere) on the LiDE 30, prompting me to buy the newer, faster 50. I have USB 2.0 ports and wanted the better performance ? and wasn't disappointed! The 50 can scan a full 8.5x11 color image in less than 30 seconds at 300dpi, including several seconds for the scan mechanism to reposition itself afterward. The optional "preview" was so fast it wasn't worth timing. My guess is 5 seconds or so for the above preview.I won't rehash all the nice features of this scanner since many of you have read the LiDE 30 reviews. It seems to be an LiDE 30 with impressive USB 2.0 Hi-Speed performance added. It's also capable of generating 48bit color output and 16bit monochrome output, whereas the liDE 30 is half that, not that this is really important. 24bit is 16 million colors and 281 trillion colors is something I don't relate to. Aside from speed, I was pleased with the space saving design and attractive "stainless steel" appearance. The scanner bed has sufficiently high edges to allow me to easily position a sheet of paper in proper alignment, without it trying to climb over the edge. A lot of human engineering went into this product! Windows XP really loves this machine. The software installed without the slightest hiccup. This scanner is as hot-pluggable as any device could be. XP recognizes its presence and absence immediately. Even though the LiDE series requires no power source other than from the USB port (boy do I enjoy the absence of another power brick!), I prefer to remove power from the scanner when it's not in use and it's a snap to pull the cable from the front USB port. (If you're curious, the LiDE requires 498mA against the standard USB output of 500mA. Probably 10% or less of the current draw of CCD technology scanners.) The package comes with some impressive looking software but all I wanted to do was scan images from PaintShop Pro and Adobe Acrobat and enjoy convenience copying. There is appx. 500MB of software if you load everything but I only installed the XP Driver and the CanoScan Toolbox. I did this not because I didn't want the other software, but really to see if the scanner would be fully functional without it (including the 4 "one-touch" buttons). I was glad to discover that the CanoScan Toolbox has everything that's required to Copy, Scan to a program (PaintShop Pro?), Scan to email, and Scan to a file (including a PDF file). You may like some of the other programs they offer if you want to try your hand at OCR, manage photo albums, and similar tasks. I did install the Adobe Photoshop Essentials 2.0 because I respect Adobe software and wanted to see what this entry level image editing program can do. Not counting the 95MB for Photo Essentials, the driver and Toolbox took only around 30MB or less out of the potential 500MB. The CanoScan Toolbox is very functional, impressive software. It allows you to setup 7 discrete type of scans with their unique resolutions, scan method (color, grayscale, etc.), paper size, your printer, specify your pet image editing program, etc. Then, you can associate your choice of 4 of these 7 functions with any of the 4 physical buttons at the front of the scanner. Canon has preset reasonable defaults. There are a couple negatives to be aware of. CIS technology, as has been reported by some LiDE 30 users, is sensitive to the item scanned hugging the glass. This is quite true and even a thin pamphlet will produce a distorted scan, especially at page edges and corners where there's curl. The solution is to press the lid down to flatten the page against the glass. Consider this if you do a lot of scanning from magazines and books. Another negative is my mild disappointment with the automated scan functions and single button functions --- a bit overrated in my opinion. Scanning to a program or file creates a JPG file first and then saves it and/or gives it to the image editing program. The quality of that JPEG was not to my satisfaction and I'd rather have the imaging program manage the scan and work with the raw scan data. PDF files can be created automatically but may be a bit bloated and can have a grayish background. This can be improved considerably by choosing "Text Enhancement" or "Black and White" as the scanning mode. If you want to create an occasional PDF file, the Toolbox can do it for you rather easily. The scanner appears to be durable. I scanned 120 8.5x11 color glossies over a 2 day period and it didn't breathe hard or make any strange sounds. It's also pretty quiet, in my view, although a few have complained it was loud. It could easily be used in a home office environment while you're talking on the phone. Today I called Canon's technical support to ask some "how-to" questions. It was not toll-free but I got through very quickly and the technician was extremely courteous, knowledgeable, and generous of his time. After one year, they will continue to help but at only $10 an incident. Very good first impression here! I hope you learned something about the LiDE 50 and its software and technology from this review. If you're on the fence between Canon and another vendor, you'd likely be happy with the LiDE series. If you're on the fence between the LiDE 30 and 50, you'd save $$$ and probably be just as happy with the 30 if you don't have USB 2.0 capability or plan to install a PCI USB 2.0 adapter. (Canon explicitly supports a wide array of Adaptec adapters.) Good luck with your decision and enjoy the Canon experience if you take the plunge.
Rating: 
Summary: Easy scanner with great software
Review: I run XP and had no trouble whatsoever installing and using the scanner software. The adobe photoshop elements that comes with this scanner is worth the price alone. There is one glitch however, I have a USB Canon printer and neither will work if both are connected to the computer. I think this may be because the printer is the USB 1.1 and the scanner is 2.0 but I'm not sure.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for XP, not for PDF
Review: I will keep this short. My last complete review was not posted. I bought the Canon LiDE 50 from Amazon & installed the supplied drivers. The drivers do not support XP, & the Canon Toolbox is very buggy supporting PDF. Went to Canon's site. It states XP users should not install the drivers that come with the unit! Their update is also very buggy. If your stuck try unloading all Canon stuff & restart your computer 3 times. Then install their update. It might work some of the time now.
Rating:
Summary: Great personal scanner for home use
Review: If you are in the market for a simple, easy to use scanner for use at home or for light office work, this will suit you very well. Relative to its slim size, light weight, and USB power supply, the speed of this device is excellent. Obviously, bigger, more expensive scanners will be faster. But for home use, this is a great little machine. The USB support was painless for me and the lack of a bulky power supply or another AC cord is wonderful. Installed the software, connected, and scanned a photo in under 10 minutes. The quick start guide is easy to use and clearly produced. All in all, I am very pleased with the purchase. For the money, this is great little scanner.
Rating: 
Summary: LiDE 50 on Linux a no go
Review: If you plan to use the Canon CanoScan LiDE 50 on Linux, you're currently out of luck. Of the LiDE scanners, the Sane (Scanner Access Now Easy - http://www.sane-project.org/) project only supports the LiDE 20 and 30. That's why only 3 stars. BTW, though this is labeled as a USB 2.0 product, it also works with USB 1.1.
Rating:
Summary: LiDE 50 on Linux a no go
Review: If you plan to use the Canon CanoScan LiDE 50 on Linux, you're currently out of luck. Of the LiDE scanners, the Sane (Scanner Access Now Easy - http://www.sane-project.org/) project only supports the LiDE 20 and 30. That's why only 3 stars. BTW, though this is labeled as a USB 2.0 product, it also works with USB 1.1.
Rating:
Summary: Mac OS X Users Be Forewarned!
Review: If you're using Panther, don't expect the disks that come with the unit to be of much use. After a (non-toll-free) hour on the phone with tech support I was finally able to get the scanner communicating with my PowerBook, only to find out that in order to install the bundled OCR software I actually had to BOOT in classic mode. Or I could contact ScanSoft and upgrade to OmniPage Pro X, (at almost twice the price of the scanner, by the way!). So if you want to do optical character recognition under OS X in native mode, don't think you're getting a bargain with the bundled software. And go directly to Canon's tech support site to download CSToolbox_OSX_v4130X.app.sit and LiDE50_OSX_v7134X.app.sit, unless you LIKE wasting time and having higher phone bills... Like another unhappy OS X reviewer, I experience different behavior after installing the Canon tools. Now, on boot, I get a window with some weird text in it. Of course, Canon tech support said that there was no way that installing the Canon software could have caused this problem. My advice is to keep looking if you want a scanner to use with OS X...either that or dust off your old Windows box.
Rating:
Summary: Patience wins!!
Review: Initial item ordered was faulty. Bad logic board. Contacted Canon directly and, using their 'instant replacement' policy, they fedexed me a replacement the NEXT DAY!! Their service dept. is superior. Replacement works great! USB 2.0 hi-speed is fast. Well-made unit. No-brainer to operate :-). Highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: I am in Love
Review: Quick and easy setup, takes up little desk space, scans beautifully and comes with a sweet software package. I'm in love with it.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful scans, great value, fast... just as advertised
Review: Since I purchased my first Canon color printer 2 years ago, I've had nothing but positive experiences with Canon products. This scanner is no exception. It's replacing a VERY old parallel port scanner and I must say, technology has come a long, long way. To begin with, this scanner is incredibly fast. Connected to a USB 2.0 port, full page color scans at 300dpi take less than 30 seconds to complete. Most of the time, I use it to scan pencil sketches directly into Photoshop (extremely easy). In gray-scale mode, I can scan an entire page at 300dpi in ~10 seconds...blazingly fast! Top it off with easy setup, self powered USB (no power brick!), and sleek design, this scanner is a bargain. Unless you're doing hardcore, ultra high-res, ultra high-quality, professional graphics work, this is the scanner for you.
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