Rating: 
Summary: It scans so well but so slow...
Review: It scans so well but so slow. Even with USB 2. That just about sums it all. This comes from someone who has used an Epson Perfection 1200U and a Visioneer 9020. All these three scanners have comparable price tags. As explained below, the Canon is definitely the slowest among the three. On the other hand, the Canon may not necessarily be slower than an average consumer grade scanner carrying comparable prices. I have not done other comparisons and therefore don't know the answer.
The quality of the scans is great. It is at least as good as the Epson, if not even slightly better, and significantly better than the Visioneer (at least when copying plain black-and-white documents). But both Epson and Visioneer are much faster. At 300 dpi OCR black and white document mode, both the Epson and the Visioneer can complete a scan from the moment you hit the scan button within about 8-10 seconds. With Canon, even using USB 2, the same scan would take about 40 seconds to complete, including 12 seconds for the "lamp adjustment", and another 25 + seconds to actually complete the scan. If you are using it for the first time after a period of idle time, it is even worse - it will take a ridiculous 30 seconds to just adjust that lamp. For me, the issue becomes not so much about waiting for those extra seconds but rather more a psychological nuisance to be reminded every time what a dumb machine they have made (and I have bought). The message "Please wait, the machine is adjusting the lamp" that appears every time and boldly glaring at you during the whole period does not help either. For your information, the above comparison was done when the scanners are set up to skip the preview step. When scanning black-and-white text documents (for OCR for example), there is no need to do preview. The similarity of the reflectivity of the papers warrants same calibration every time. I did not time the Canon scanner when using USB 1, but my impression is that the scanning part itself is almost twice as slow as using USB 2. This makes the Epson even more remarkable in terms of speed because it is a USB 1 unit. (Words of caution regarding Epson: Don't assume that because the 1200U is so faster, the newer Epsons such as 1250 or 1260 must be even faster or at least as fast. They are not. The model numbering of Epsons is misleading) But again, Canon scans such beautiful scans. And it is well-designed except for its slow speed. The software comes with the Canon is quite good and is integrated seamlessly with the printer. For someone who doesn't scan so extensively, a few extra seconds may not be a problem after all. Between a bad job done quickly and a good job done slowly, I'd choose the latter every time even when I'm in sleep. In addition, compared with the Epson, the Canon's hard buttons and the intuitiveness of the operation probably make it up for its longer scanning time for occasional and small scan jobs. It is when you scan a stack of papers at one time under the same condition that you really start to see the difference made by a speedy scanner such as Epson. For this reason, Canon's slow speed may be a much lesser issue for people primarily do color photo scans only. Seldom do people make large batch of color photo scans. In addition, for color photos, the scan quality becomes more important than speed. Installation and operation of the Canon was a breeze. I never had any problems with the unit, except, of course, it is so slow. As has been said, the Canon may not be significantly slower than other consumer grade scanners carrying comparable prices anyway. I have not done other comparisons and don't know the answer to that question. The Canon comes with a USB 2 compatible cable. This is good. Some scanners include a necessary USB cable and some don't. Canon scanners usually do, a good thing because a separate USB cable can easily cost you well above $20. As most other USB 2 models, however, CanonScan D1250U2F does not come with a USB 2 adapter, which is a PCI card to be installed in the computer. I am not aware of any USB 2 scanner that comes with a USB 2 adapter (PCI card). I purchased a cheap USB 2 adapter (made by Hawking) at Amazon.com with the purchase of CanonScan D1250U2F. The adapter worked perfectly. It took me only about 10 minutes to install the adapter and its driver. I have encountered no problems whatsoever. If you have a newer computer that already has one or more USB 2 ports, you of course do not need to purchase a USB 2 adapter. For those whose computer does not have a USB 2 port, purchasing a separate USB 2 adapter is a good idea anyway and should not be counted as a part of the scanner's cost since the added USB 2 capability is also available for other USB 2 devices. For your information, Cannon also makes a CanonScan D1250U2, which is an identical unit except that it does not include a film adapter (as the missing letter "F" suggests).
Rating: 
Summary: not as advertised
Review: I purchased this scanner primarily because it advertised that it would copy documents directly from the scanner to a printer. Well it won't. Cannon sugessted I download new drivers --that didn't work. Then they admitted that their software was bad and they're "working on it". Then don't advertise it as being able to make direct copies.
What scanning I've done with it is fine.
It makes a fine paper weight.
Rating:
Summary: MS Office / Outlook users beware
Review: After using the Cannon CanoScan D1250U2F for several weeks, I have found everything to be acceptable with one MAJOR exception. The Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software bundled with the system is more that just a few years old. In fact it is so old that the digital certificate has expired. The bundled OCR software is from Caere Corporation -- OmniPage Pro 9.0. That software in and of itself works adequately. It converts scanned text into an editable document format with some mistakes that require correction. However -- and this is a BIG HOWEVER -- because its digital certificate expired July 14, 2000, macro security warnings are generated -- as they should be -- by the Microsoft Office 2002 product suite. I have not tested with other versions of MS Office, however, the same macro security violations should be generated on older versions as well. Security warnings are not the whole story however; there is the annoyance factor. EVERY time I start up Outlook or Word, I have to click through several levels of macro disable dialog boxes. This gets old real quickly, especially if you are a frequent email user like myself. There are three dialog boxes to click through when starting the programs and one when you close. Microsoft has a work around for the macro warnings posted on its support web site. However, the solution does not work, at least for Office 2002, I am a software engineering professional and could not get it to work, the directions will be very difficult for many non-professional users to follow. It involves the manipulation of files in hidden folders. The other alternatives are to uninstall the OCR software or get a software upgrade. Worst of all, after contacting Canon regarding the problem, I got form letter saying the software was NOT THEIR PROBLEM! Canon said they only supplied software that they get for free. Canon also said: "Canon is unable to govern which version of the software we are provided ..." Although I did not expect the bundled software to be the latest-and-greatest, I did expect it to run properly and not break the software on my PC and millions upon millions of PC's across the world. .... I highly suggest that everyone be very cautious when purchasing the Canon scanner products.
I do not recommend the Canon CanoScan D1250U2F. Be very cautious when purchasing a Canon scanner. Look for SPECIFIC software versions. One blatant problem suggests other problems may be unearthed.
Rating: 
Summary: Versatile and Easy to Use
Review: I purchased this scanner for my husband for Christmas. It is very versatile and easy to use. It has an adaptor to scan slides and negatives with ease. It also turns your computer into a copy machine with the push of one button. The software was simple to load and is not very difficult or time consuming when you would like to scan something. I would definitly recommend this scanner...especially for the price. You do not need to purchase any separate USB cables. Everything is in the box!!
Rating:
Summary: I LOVE It!
Review: This scanner is so much more than what I had expected. The pictures and slides turn out wonderful.As for the bundle of software, this does take up a lot of memory, but well worth it. It is very user friendly and I am amazed how easy it was to figure out.I highly recommend this scanner.
Rating:
Summary: Canon D1250U2F scanner
Review: I read some reviews about this scanner and I was worried that it may not be very good.
I bought it any way and boy was I surprised.
It was easy to load the software , it took very little to set it up.
I have scanned pictures, a news columns and several letter to forward, with added comments.
The picture quality is not the best but it is good, the colors are just a little darker than the orignal.
I am still learning to do much more with it, getting started was very easy.
I have no regrets about buying this scanner
Rating:
Summary: Very low quality scanning
Review: The biggest problem with this scanner is its very low quality
scanning. I have images which I scanned with HP G55 All-In-One,
HP PSC 2210 All-In-One, and this Canon 1250UF.
Even with higher resolution (720dpi) with Canon 1250UF, the image quality
was worse than lower resolution (600dpi) from HP all-in-one's.
I have no idea why. Specifically, the depth and contrast were
so bad. For example, I have a picture with my daughter taken
in the evening. In the background, there are lawn and trees.
Because the picture was taken in the evening, it was a little
bit dark. However, in the original picture and the images from
HP all-in-one's, the lawn and trees were clearly distinguishable.
But in the image from this Canon 1250UF, I can't.
So, I had to adjust the image using PhotoShop. However,
if I adjust the image using PhotoShop to make the trees and
lawn distinguishable, the overal image quality suffers, and
does not look really natural.
Besides, even though you can do some work using PhotoShop and
make things better, it shouldn't be that way.
How can you do this job after every scan ?
For low quality scans to be used on non-commercial web site,
this scanner might be OK.
However, to archive your photos, don't even think about
using this scanner. It's that bad.
Rating:
Summary: Love my scanner!
Review: Got this as a Christmas present and I love it!!
It was simple to set up, easy to use, and the quality is great! The pictures that I have scanned into my computer have all come out great thus far! Worth every penny!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent scanner!
Review: Software installed easily into my XP system. The software includes a neat program called "photo record" where you can create a montage of different pictures on one sheet with many different effects. Also included is an easy to use Adobe Photo shop, which has taken some of my old faded pictures and revitalized them. I have scanned B/W negatives, color negatives and slides with very good results. Though capable of up to 2400 DPI, I find that I often only use 400 to 800, with excellent results! I highly recommend this scanner!
Rating:
Summary: Nice Scans!
Review: A great scanner for anyone with that box full of forgotten family slides laying around! The picture quality is great on all the pictures, slides, & negatives I've put though it. Software install from CD did hang up the computer for some reason, but I downloaded the software from Canon website instead and it installed without a hitch. It's not super-speedy, but it is priced right, and it does a great job. Negatives turned out extremely well, and I'm very pleased with it.
| 
