Rating: 
Summary: Works Great for Me
Review: I purchased this scanner a few weeks ago and installed it on my home computer running XP Professional. Despite what others have said, this scanner works well for me using XP. I installed everything from the CD and it worked just fine. Later upgraded the driver from the Epson site. I've used it for copying so far, and a few scans. My scans looked great. Only quirk I've seen so far is that the scanner does not have an on-off switch; instead it fires up when I turn my computer on, so its always ready. May be a great feature for those who use their scanner everyday, but I don't. Overall, I'd recommend this scanner to anyone looking for a good all purpose scanner.
Rating: 
Summary: Do NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. The installation is horrible.
Review: I don't know how the average user would every get through the installation.Like the above review states, the software CD doesn't work; I tried twice. Then I spent more time at EPSON support website trying find the right patch or update. I thought of emailing support but they don't provide email addresses. You either call and wait or you write a letter. EPSON instructs you to go to a third party - newsoftinc.com. Ironically, after clicking on the link you receive a warning from EPSON that they are not responsible for content, blay blah blay. Like I have any choice at this point. The documentation at newsoftinc was some of the worst I've ever seen. If you can understand the following MAYBE you should purchase this scanner. Step 4. Find the file or folder and then delete them. [Sometimes they might not be there after you remove the Epson Smart Panel]
a. epfb5-> It may be under local disk:\windows\system32 or \windows\twain_32 Delete both of them.
b. epson-> It may be under local disk:\Program Files [or this was under just C:\Epson] There were 12 or 13 steps all together. I have no idea about the quality of the images since I'm installation brain dead.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Scanner for the Price
Review: After having read some of the spooky comments on driver issues, I was a bit hesitant to install the supplied software, but in the end decided to anyway. Everything installed in a snap on my XP Home system. (VPR Matrix - Best Buy's brand computer). The only thing I'm having a problem with is the Presto Pix!Express software that converts pictures to be used on a PDA. It doesn't seem to convert them correctly and when trying to run the program on my PDA , it won't run, giving me a soft reset error. I tried a repair install, but that didn't work. May try to uninstall and reinstall. Other than that minor glitch, everything else works extremely well. Scans are sharp, in particular I am impressed with the slide scanning. Much better than a dedicated Minolta Dimage Scan Dual that I used to have. Do wish the glass was removable however, so that one could clean both sides. That isn't an issue now, but could become one at some point. Smart panel is slick and easy to use - manual controls are nice. The documentation is a bit cumbersome but nothing that would kill the deal. Works on my USB 2.0 hub just fine (it has its own power adapter). In my limited experience (1 week), I'd say it's well worth the price.
Rating:
Summary: Bluish cast with OS X
Review: I'm not sure about this scanner. I'm getting quite a bluish cast on my scans done under OS X, and I've had GraphicConverter quit abruptly when using the TWAIN driver. I had better results with the less expensive CanoScan LIDE 30. The documentation is sparse, particularly as regards the ColorSync settings. There is some evidence though that the EPSON software may not be installing correctly on OS X, in particular it may not be updating color profiles correctly. In the course of a painful analysis of color profiles and iphoto [1], I began exploring Apple's ColorSync utility and the Image Capture color profile embedding. I discovered that after installing my 1660, the 1660 device was associated with a color profile of "Scanner RGB Profile.icc" (see ColorSync Utility). I double clicked on this entry, and saw that this 504 byte profile was produced by Apple. Looking at the Lab Plot it looks a bit like the Apple RGB and sRGB lab plots. I also noted, in browsing my directories, that installing the EPSON TWAIN driver installed a large library of EPSON color profiles, including one called EPSON 1660 and EPSON 1660 TPU. These two appear to be identical color profiles. The Lab Plot they render shows a very wide color profile (about as wide, but shaped differently, as Wide Gamut RGB. Huge. The files themselves are 198K, or 400 times as large as the Apple file. My suspicion is that the EPSON installer is not, at least in OS X 10.2.2, correctly updating the system ColorSync settings, so the images retain the default scanner RGB settings. I have used my ColorSync Utility devices setting to change my "Current Profile" for the EPSON 1660 to the full EPSON profile (Path is /Library/ColorSync/Profiles/EPSON/EPSON Perfection 1660. I have not tested the effect of this as the scanner is now running off my PC, but I will be doing some test scans to compare the results with the tiny Apple color profile and the large EPSON
Rating:
Summary: Frustrating
Review: The scanner itself is pretty good. It provides crisp scans with pretty good color rendition. But couldn't they have spent a couple of dollars and included a manual. Going back and forth between the sreens is just not worth the trouble. If it wasn't a gift I would return it.
Rating:
Summary: This is a wonderful product and and a real bargain!
Review: I have had nothing but positive experiences with the Epson Perfection 1660 since I purchased it from Amazon.com a couple of months ago. I am using it with a Dell laptop (Windows 2000 Professional OS) and a Gateway laptop (Windows XP Professional OS) and have not had any compatibility problems. The images, which I work on using Photoshop Elements 2, are crisp and bright, with excellent color rendering and saturation. I am using the scanner mainly for digitizing, restoring, and archiving family photos and mementoes as well as fine art photographs I have taken and printed over the years, and the results are stunning. This scanner is a real bargain, but there is no sacrifice of quality.
Rating: 
Summary: More trouble than it's worth
Review: I haven't really used this scanner since I am having all kinds of problems with the installation. Too bad that I didn't read these reviews sooner. Never would have bought it. It may be the best scanner on the market but it has to have the worst documentation and tech support ever. I guess that it's my fault since my OS is XP and obviously XP and the Epson 1660 are not compatible. After spending over 1 hour (a toll call to California from the East Coast)and numerous calls to Epson, the tech at NewSoft finally was able to help me install the software. The techs at Epson were completely and utterly useless and to say that they were uninformed is to put it mildly. Since I bought the scanner with a 30 day return policy it will be returned unless I get some help from Epson fast.
Rating: 
Summary: not compatible with windows xp
Review: I just purchased a Dell 4550 with all the bells and whistles. Needed a Photo Scanner, best logical choice, the Epson 1660 photo scanner. Installation a breeze until I added the Adobe Photo Elements v2.0. Then the problems began. Error messages kept appearing. Adobe photo elements has XP approval but the Epson 1660 photo scanner is not approved by Microsoft XP OS System. Buyer beware! Epson software will not coexist in same XP system with Adobe Photo elements. Issues with Epson need to be addressed with their software.
Rating:
Summary: Great scanner, bad installer for Windows 98
Review: This is a great scanner - very automatic, very inteligent, very high-quality scans. A snap to use. BUT - it wouldn't install on Windows 98. The master installer program, Expson.exe, crashed with a fatal error every time I tried to use it. Very poor QA. Fortunately, I'm very familiar with this kind of stuff, so I was able to install it on my Windows 98 system without using the master installer.
For anyone who has similar problems, just right-click on the CD in your 'My Computer' window, do a 'Find' on SETUP.EXE, and double-click on the setup.exe's one by one. It's best if you install the TWAIN driver first -- I believe it's the last setup.exe in the list.
Once you've got everything installed, it's the sweetest, most automatic setup I've ever used. It automatically recognizes photos, slides, and negatives, and adjusts the scanning properties automatically, with really great results. I'd have given the system a 5-star rating if it wasn't for the installer.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Value
Review: I have been waiting to purchase a flatbed scanner that has good transparency support for several years. The Epson 1660 Photo is the scanner to buy if you want good quality slide scans. The only other option for really good quality scans is buying a dedicated film/slide scanner, but these start at two or three times the price of the 1660. As other reviewers have mentioned, don't install the drivers from the CD. I'm on OS X, and using the beta drivers -- everything works, except for batch scanning. I only wish that the scanner came with a FireWire interface as well as USB2. I might get a FireWire-USB2 adapter and see how that works.
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