Rating: 
Summary: Clumsy but adequate scanner.
Review: This is an average scanner. The main attraction of this particular model is that it can scan bigger transparencies, while most scanners that offer this feature at all are limited to 35mm negs or slides. The lid tends to make books slide out of place and would be better if it came off entirely, or opened from the side instead of the top. The software is too idiot-proof -- if you are an experienced scanner user, it is rather stupefying. Fortunately you can override all the presets and do your own thing. If you need a good scanner with transparency capability, this is fine for its price range.
Rating:
Summary: Clumsy but adequate scanner.
Review: This is an average scanner. The main attraction of this particular model is that it can scan bigger transparencies, while most scanners that offer this feature at all are limited to 35mm negs or slides. The lid tends to make books slide out of place and would be better if it came off entirely, or opened from the side instead of the top. The software is too idiot-proof -- if you are an experienced scanner user, it is rather stupefying. Fortunately you can override all the presets and do your own thing. If you need a good scanner with transparency capability, this is fine for its price range.
Rating: 
Summary: Thumbs down
Review: This scanner's flaws... hmm... where to begin. First, the driver GPF'd if I didn't have the scanner powered on during boot up. So, I always had it powered on when the computer was on. Then there developed a problem with the scans. I'd get bands of red hue in parts of the scan. Even when I rescanned, the bands appeared in the same spots.As was stated by other reviewers, forget the transparency option. The quality of transparency should be higher since, first it is not a reflective scan and secondly, it is from a first generation source (a negative) rather than a second generation source (a print). But the transparency feature on this scanner is very, very, very bad. All of this was rendered moot when the scanner failed completely. The power light was not even coming on. After investigation, I discovered a resistor on the main circuit board had begun to turn brownish black and melt. Don't know if this was a flaw in a component or a flaw in the design, but I didn't want to try to fix it and then have it burn my house down if it was a design flaw. So it's in the dumpster now. I'll go back to Microtek or to HP for the replacement.
Rating:
Summary: Boasts more than it does
Review: We returned the UMAX 3450 because it (the company) boasts more than this scanner can perform. First, as we found and as website reviews confirm, the UMAX 3450 CANNOT SCAN negatives. Every attempt produced horrible results! Second, reaching their technical support is a joke. Our guess is that the company must be on the brink of bankruptcy. After waiting OVER 1/2 hour on a NON-toll free call accompanied by continual promises that "the wait will be no longer than 3 minutes", that "only a moment longer", that "someone will be right with you" we finally hung-up. Frankly we felt duped. We don't ever wish to hear the word "UMAX" again and are sorry that ...(the website) sells their products.
Rating:
Summary: Australian Umax 3450 Experience
Review: When it works it's good. After a few months the Umax 3450 decided to scan the underside of it's lid and send it to the printer whenever it felt like it, which seemed to be once or twice a day. It also intermittently scanned only mono in a shade of red. After six months it only scanned in a red tone period. This was very inconvenient but I was not worried as it was under warranty. I soon became worried when I had to deal with the Umax service agent for Australia. It took 10 weeks to get a replacement scanner. They have no idea about the concept of a 'customer'. They don't exhibit any empathy, sympathy or even personality. They promise to get back to you and they never do. They just don't seem to care. So I swore I would never get another Umax product and never have to deal with the service agent again. Unfortunately the replacement lasted two weeks before packing it in. It is now in the hands of the service agent, who is so far taking a week to decide if they will treat it as a warranty claim, since the warranty on the original unit has run out. If they had replaced my original in a week or two I would still have warranty. They used it up for me. So, if you live in Oz my suggestion is don't touch Umax, because if it goes wrong you will have to have therapy after dealing with their "service" agent. ...
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