Agfa SnapScan 1212U Color Scanner (Blue)

Rating:
Summary: Arrived defective
Review: After installing this scanner and seeing it listed on my system as functioning properly I was unable to scan. Any software I tried said that the scanner could not be found and gave me some information and suggestions for my SCSI ports. As this is a USB scanner the references to SCSI were disconcerting. After much seaching I located a couple threads in a newsgroup that the scanner only works on one of the two USB ports. Weird I know but after switching the USB connector to my other USB receptacle it was recognized.

Great right? No. The arm wouldn't move and any program I tried said that the scanner was locked. I made sure it was unlocked more than a few times.

This scanner is being returned.

Rating:
Summary: Don't buy this scanner!
Review: I have had an Agfa SnapScan 1212U Color Scanner for just a little over six months, and it died for no apparent reason. I think the power switch on it stopped working. I noticed that the scanner did not shut off when I turned off my computer the last time I used it. My husband returned home from work yesterday and noticed that the scanner was making a lot of noise. He tried turning it off, but when he was unsuccessful, he unhooked the power supply. Now it's dead. I hear it making a slight noise when I power up my computer, but nothing happens. The Snapscan software doesn't even recognize that the scanner is powered on. I looked through my documentation and can find no information on a warranty, so I think I am stuck with a bum scanner. I didn't like it that much anyway. The software is hokey. Take my advice, and don't buy this scanner.

Rating:
Summary: Prints only small.
Review: I have the AGFA 1212U, and it has worked very well until the other day when it will print only one size (small). The only way I can get a different size is to send it through the E-Mail back to my self. Could you give me a hint as to what I am doing wrong? I have tried every thing I know.

Rating:
Summary: Prints only small.
Review: I have the AGFA 1212U, and it has worked very well until the other day when it will print only one size (small). The only way I can get a different size is to send it through the E-Mail back to my self. Could you give me a hint as to what I am doing wrong? I have tried every thing I know.

Rating:
Summary: I love this scanner!
Review: I have yet to get my scanner running. Maybe I shouldn't have taken it for granted that the product would run on a Windows NT OS. I could even live with the fact that it would use the drivers from Windows 98 and I would lose some performance. But the setup programs alerts me that it doesn't support NT, and then promptly quits.

Something, somewhere, whether on the Amazon.com website, or on the product package, or in the requirements listing, should let you know that it is not compatible with Windows NT. But it doesn't.

Rating:
Summary: No support for Windows NT (so far)
Review: I have yet to get my scanner running. Maybe I shouldn't have taken it for granted that the product would run on a Windows NT OS. I could even live with the fact that it would use the drivers from Windows 98 and I would lose some performance. But the setup programs alerts me that it doesn't support NT, and then promptly quits.

Something, somewhere, whether on the Amazon.com website, or on the product package, or in the requirements listing, should let you know that it is not compatible with Windows NT. But it doesn't.

Rating:
Summary: I love this scanner!
Review: I've had mine for over a year now and one similar to it before. It's very easy to operate and the scans come out great. It's also very quite and did I mention cheap? Buy this scanner!!

Rating:
Summary: Well worth the money
Review: The only problem I had with this scanner is that the drivers wouldn't load from the CD that comes with the scanner onto my IMac. I had to download them from AGFA's webpage, it was easy to do, but maybe not so easy for the non techie. Once I got the driver loaded, the scanner works great. The images are clear, the scan time is very quick and the machine runs very quitely. I do alot of graphic designing, and this scanner has been great. Now I need to find a good and inexpensive color printer.

Rating:
Summary: Well worth the money
Review: The only problem I had with this scanner is that the drivers wouldn't load from the CD that comes with the scanner onto my IMac. I had to download them from AGFA's webpage, it was easy to do, but maybe not so easy for the non techie. Once I got the driver loaded, the scanner works great. The images are clear, the scan time is very quick and the machine runs very quitely. I do alot of graphic designing, and this scanner has been great. Now I need to find a good and inexpensive color printer.

Rating:
Summary: Great Hardware, so-so software
Review: Wow, I have been waiting for many years to afford a scanner. Now there are a number of inexpensive models to choose from. I chose the Agfa 1212u for a number of reasons:

1. small form factor.

2. mac compatibility- of course!

3. after comparing the rated speeds of other scanners (from manufacturer's web sites), the 1212u compared well.

4. I read an online article (somewhere?) comparing cold-cathode scanners versus the newer contact image sensor (CIS) scanners. The light source of CIS scanners fades much quicker than cathode tubes, this article said, in as few as 1000 scans the light source dimmed by a significant amount. And finally, cold cathode tubes are easy and inexpensive to replace. The 1212u, uses cold cathode tubes, as you may have already guessed. It strikes me that CIS is one of those new "technological marvels" that is actually a step backwards in order to make more profit.

I was not dissappointed after receiving my scanner. For less than a tenth of what scanners cost a few years before, I was expecting a cheap piece of plastic that mostly got the job done. The 1212u is actually quite nice and robust. The glass is thick, important for puting pressure on books to flatten them out for scanning. And by the time of this writing, I have scanned over 1000 pages! It still keeps chugging along like new and I do not expect it to break down any time soon.

I received foto-look software with my scanner (sent out before the newer ScanWise). Fotolook's interface is a little rough looking, but it offers a full range of options and is fast. You can set all the nitty gritty options you want. I particularily like the optimize for speed or quality options. When optimized for speed, and set to monochrome 300 dpi, I can scan the entire bed in 10 seconds! FotoLook is also fast to start up from my imaging programs. The last nice feature of FotoLook is that you do not have to do a preview to scan: set the scan area to the full bed, and you are off to the races. Later on, you can crop the images in your editing program. This is very efficient for scanning a large number of pages.

Then came ScanWise, and I beleive FotoLook is no longer shipped with these scanners. ScanWise is one of those "new age" programs with a spiffy, although a cumbersum, interface ala photoSoap. It is big, 6MB installation, comparitively slow to start up, is slow and clunky, offers some new features over fotolook, but omits some important ones. For one thing, you must do a preview to scan- bad for batch scanning. Being an application rather than a TWAIN plug in, it is slow to launch- bad for batch scanning. And it omits the optimize for quality/speed option- bad for batch scanning.

If you plan on scanning lots of material, the 1212u may not be the best buy. If you only plan on scanning a couple of photos a year, it is definitely a very nice package.