Rating: 
Summary: Great Scanner...Bad Software
Review: I bought this scanner shortly before Christmas in haste based on recommendations that the image quality would be excellent. I installed it shortly after Christmas after purchasing a separate USB cable, because the one included was too short, and downloading Win/XP software, because the included software was marginally XP-compatible. Once I got everything installed, the frustration increased. I can't scan to copy (my main use for a scanner) because that utility is incompatible with my HP Photosmart printer. I can't scan to fax since no such utility is available. Scanning to files is very slow and noisy, and directions for adjusting resolution, etc. are totally inconsistent with actual operation. The OCR package lacks much-needed flexibility. Contacting Tech Support at Epson and the software company, NewSoft, has been completely useless. As an Engineering executive, I do a great deal of work with computers, and this is clearly the worst software I've ever seen.If it's too late to return this scanner, I'll donate it to a school as a charitable contribution (and hope that the school accepts it). In any case, I'll do more research and get a scanner from another manufacturer. Further, I'll never buy any Epson product again. By the way, the one star rating is one too many.
Rating: 
Summary: Worthless Product
Review: I bought this scanner shortly before Christmas in haste based on recommendations that the image quality would be excellent. I installed it shortly after Christmas after purchasing a separate USB cable, because the one included was too short, and downloading Win/XP software, because the included software was marginally XP-compatible. Once I got everything installed, the frustration increased. I can't scan to copy (my main use for a scanner) because that utility is incompatible with my HP Photosmart printer. I can't scan to fax since no such utility is available. Scanning to files is very slow and noisy, and directions for adjusting resolution, etc. are totally inconsistent with actual operation. The OCR package lacks much-needed flexibility. Contacting Tech Support at Epson and the software company, NewSoft, has been completely useless. As an Engineering executive, I do a great deal of work with computers, and this is clearly the worst software I've ever seen. If it's too late to return this scanner, I'll donate it to a school as a charitable contribution (and hope that the school accepts it). In any case, I'll do more research and get a scanner from another manufacturer. Further, I'll never buy any Epson product again. By the way, the one star rating is one too many.
Rating:
Summary: Copy Utility Stinks
Review: I have had this scanner for over a year and between the problems I've had with this and my Epson printer, I will never again purchase an Epson product. My scanner will not copy an entire 8.5"x11" page. It invariably cuts off about an inch off the margin. I have to reduce the image to about 90% in order to get the entire page to print. I have tried saving to a file and then printing...same result. The entire image appears in the preview, but will not print. I have downloaded all the newest drivers for XP, and have spent many hours on the Epson Tech Support site, all to no avail. I had an HP scanner before this, and decided to try the Epson, because it was so cheap. I guess you get what you pay for.
Rating:
Summary: Copy Utility Stinks
Review: I have had this scanner for over a year and between the problems I've had with this and my Epson printer, I will never again purchase an Epson product. My scanner will not copy an entire 8.5"x11" page. It invariably cuts off about an inch off the margin. I have to reduce the image to about 90% in order to get the entire page to print. I have tried saving to a file and then printing...same result. The entire image appears in the preview, but will not print. I have downloaded all the newest drivers for XP, and have spent many hours on the Epson Tech Support site, all to no avail. I had an HP scanner before this, and decided to try the Epson, because it was so cheap. I guess you get what you pay for.
Rating:
Summary: Copy Utility Stinks
Review: I have had this scanner for over a year and between the problems I've had with this and my Epson printer, I will never again purchase an Epson product. My scanner will not copy an entire 8.5"x11" page. It invariably cuts off about an inch off the margin. I have to reduce the image to about 90% in order to get the entire page to print. I have tried saving to a file and then printing...same result. The entire image appears in the preview, but will not print. I have downloaded all the newest drivers for XP, and have spent many hours on the Epson Tech Support site, all to no avail. I had an HP scanner before this, and decided to try the Epson, because it was so cheap. I guess you get what you pay for.
Rating: 
Summary: Epson Perfection 1250
Review: I have owned and used this scanner for more than a year now. Its intallation was very smooth and its output is always almost perfect, not rquiring any further adjustments. 1200dpi is a lot of resolution that is required for most line art publications. I have not used the software package as it is really functionally very limited, particularly the ocr software, but again I doubt that any scanner in the same price range comes with a respectable ocr software (as omnipage). The scanner's control panel is a very large program (about 150MB) and although it offers many options I have not required those. As a whole, I have been very satisfied with this product although I do not depend on the supplied software package.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Scanner!
Review: I just got this scanner to replace a Umax Scanner. Ihave never had anything but a umax, and decided to try something new. I am glad I did. This scanner is fantastic. I could not believe the quality of th first 2 test scans I did. Even in low resolution the scan looked amazing! I was pleasantly surprised. The only reason I did not give a 5 star rating is because of the software. First, it is not the easiest to use (especially compared to the umax). It is not as hard as other reviews state, but it is not simple. Second, the software is not MAC OSX Native. It works fine in classic. Although the Epson website says OSX software is on the way (another reason I bought this over another UMAX). I am an art teacher, and illustrator, and would use this scanner for jobs in both fields. This scanner is well worth the money. You won't be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Scanner is fine, beware the software!
Review: I just purchased the scanner and it works well. I would prefer an on/off switch instead of the always on aspect of it however. My complaint is in the software supplied with the scanner. Twain seems okay however the NewSoft package is a little difficult to use, tempermental, and has some pretty poor manufacturer support. There is a "SmartPanel" that allows you to access all the different scanning options you would need (photo scanning, OCR, copy to file, copy to web, etc.). It has a mysterious habit of launching itself about every five minutes which is really quite annoying. The NewSoft site is minimally helpful and (it just launched itself while I was typing this note!)offers a patch which is older than the software that came with the scanner. I hope that Epson reconsiders it's relationship with NewSoft. But for ($) USD, it seems pretty good. The scans were very sharp, but a little dark. It's quiet and scans quickly. It easily sorts out the photos on the glass and scans each one individually. I'm not sure that it's the best deal around as I have never owned a scanner before. Good luck!
Rating:
Summary: Great hardware, worthless software
Review: I recently bought this scanner to do some photo scanning and to scan some of my wife's art for the web. It's a great piece of hardware and we've been very happy with the images it produces. The software, however, leaves a lot to be desired. The TWAIN driver works well, but the "SmartPanel" software is a horror: don't install it! The image editing program that ships with it is high on flash but low on usefulness (there's no scaling option, for example). The software isn't that big of a deal, though... All you need is an image editing program that can acquire from a scanner. I use graphics workshop professional, which meets all my needs quite well.
So if you need a quality affordable scanner and are willing to roll your own software, I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Windows XP and Epson 1250
Review: I'm loving this scanner. It is small, delivers great color scans, and does a great job with OCR as well. I bought the scanner to do a family reunion project, scanning of hundreds of old photos. I scan directly into Adobe Photoshop to made edits and to save photos. What is lacking is the software. I'd like to have a little more precise control over scanner output, like dpi rate and final scan size (blowing up a smaller photo to a larger one) For the most part, via additional software I can control the output. Overall, I'm happy with my 129 dollar scanner, it's doing everything I needed it to do for my project.
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