Rating: 
Summary: very poor quality
Review: a very poor quality product. I wish I could get my money back. you would do better to buy a proper scanner and ocr software.
Rating: 
Summary: IRISPen EXPRESS is a newer version of IRISPen II standard.
Review: Before I purchased an IRISPen EXPRESS scanner, I had read through customer reviews on amazon.com and got confused by so differing rates for IRISPen Express (very low) and for IRIS II Executive scanner (high). As some reviewer pointed out, IRIS II Executive scanner is the same as IRIS II standard in hardware with only difference in software. I needed only standard feature, so IRIS II standard was likely to be the one that suits for me. By contacting the company I got to learn that the IRISPen EXPRESS is, in fact, a newer version than IRIS Pen II. I thought that newer version is usually better than older version. Since I used it, I have found that I was right; IRISPen EXPRESS works just as reviewed for IRISPen II. I do not understand why IRISPen EXPRESS should deserve such a low rate whereas this is supposed to be equal or even better than IRISPen II. All the tips that I collected from the extensive reviews of IRISPen II section were equally helpful for me in using my IRISPen EXPRESS. For instance, one reviewer below mentions a problem of the light coming in & out during scan. After I learned from other reviews in the IRISPen II section, I do not use any buttons at all, and use it with other application. I just put the pen at the beginning of the line at correct tile angle (see manual), then the green light comes in automatically and I scan the whole line and lift at the end of the line, then the text goes into the application nicely. The light should be on all the way during scan, otherwise it means that the pen is not in correct position to see that part of the text (when the light is out). I made this type mistakes at first, but now I manage to do it. As in someone else's tip, it helps if the page is laid flat. One tip I can add (as non-expert) is that I try to move the pen slowly (still much faster than typing) to get better results. This helps improving accuracy of my hand motion, while the scanner itself might be more capable. Another reviewer in this session mentioned that the text must be triple-spaced. I don't think so. I usually pick up only one line near the center of scanner regardless of the line spacing. I give five stars, since this device works almost perfectly for my purpose. It does require some exercises and tips, but it'll be common for any handheld scanners.
Rating:
Summary: Vapor ware
Review: Before I purchased this product, I read the Amazon reviews. There were fewer of them than now, but the opinions were just as polarized. Based on the content of the reviews, I decided that the product was probably OK and that the problems resulted from a lack of technical skill on the part of the users. Wrong. All I've been able to wring out of the IRIS pen is two lines of text printed at about one character per second followed immediately by a system crash. I emailed for tech support. Silly me. IRIS tech support does not exist. My first email went unanswered; my second got a reply that said they were having trouble with their email server, so try again later. Weeks later my third try produced an error message indicating email could not be delivered to the listed address. Something else they don't tell you is the pen only works off a POWERED USB port. Plug it into your keyboard or piggyback it off a port extender and you get nothing. In my case, I had no extra ports and had to buy a $20 powered hub, only to produce the shoddy results reported above. IRIS is quite good, however, at flooding your email with ads for more of their schlocky products. The IRIS Pen may possibly work if you somehow fortuitously have the necessary configuration of hardware, memory, and operating system already in existence. If you don't, IRIS won't be there to tell you what that magic combination is or to help you get the pen to function.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to use
Review: Easy to use device. USB plug in. Scans directly into MS Word or virtually any other popular program.
Rating:
Summary: Poor results
Review: First, upon installation you're warned that the product has not passed Windows Logo Review, so even though it says "Supports Windows XP" on the box, you're cautioned that the software may destabalize your system. Second, unless the text you're scanning is triple-spaced, it's pretty much useless. It scans one line at a time, so after calibrating the proper line and fixing OCR errors, you may as well have typed it yourself. Third, if you're buying one from CompUSA, DON'T. Three words: 15% restocking fee.
Rating: 
Summary: IrisPen locks up after scanning over ten pages
Review: I agree with the other reviewers that the accuracy of the scanner is very good. However the software locks up after scanning for more than ten minutes. I downloaded and applied the latest patch and tested it on both a Windows 2000 and Windows XP pc, so I don't think it is a client problem. What is worse, I tried repeatedly through email and phone to contact support and got no response. If I had to do all over again I would not buy this product.
Rating:
Summary: Sorry excuse for a peripheral device, extremely disappointed
Review: I agree with the reviewer of 06/17/04 that wrote "I too read the reviews and took the risks, and I too,am sorry I did". The only positive item was that the installation of the software and hardware was sucessful. After that everything was downhill.
Following is a litany of the problems I had:(Note the past tense)
1. Pen Calibration locked up the OS on the first attempt. (My hardware exceeds the recommended hardware list.)
2. After obtaining a calibration the pen read one word sucessfully and then switched to gibberish.
3. Thinking that operator error was the culprit I generated a document that was triple spaced with both large and small type and tweaked every setting one at a time but still only got about 20% accuracy.
4. The firmware/software seemed to have an inability to read repetitive items correctly. I would get one or two sucesses and then the pen output would go to gibberish.
5. I tried reverting to the simplest text editor, NOTEPAD, but
obtained the same results.
6. The firmware/software even had trouble with two letter groups. The letters SO (for Sunday Only in newspaper parlance) was consistently read as the word so in lower case.
7. I have extensive troubleshooting experience in computers/electronics and I think the output of the scan test reveals wherein the problem lies. The scan test raw optical output always read correct characters but the recognition by the
OCR firware/software produces corrupt output.
I would recommend against purchasing this device
Rating: 
Summary: IrisPen Express has a chip problem, but warranty covers it
Review: I can't really rate this item yet, as I haven't been able to test it out. There was a problem with my IrisPen that prospective customers should know about, but that I think will be resolved in a day or two.
I *just* got an IrisPen Express from Amazon.com--it arrived in the mail this week.
Now, I'm pretty computer savvy, but after trying for a half hour to get it working, I had no luck. When I calibrated the pen, it would say "calibration complete," but then it wouldn't scan anything. And when I tried to re-calibrate, it would say "calibration error."
So I gave up and called the company's technical support.
**IMPORTANT**: The tech support telephone number printed in the IrisPen materials is WRONG. I dialed it and the person answering was kind enough to give me the correct number. It is:
1-800-447-4744.
Once I got through to tech support, I was greeted by a very helpful employee. He had me read to him the numbers on the white sticker on the USB plug. My number was IP31BG2004080491.
He said that my pen was one of about 600 pens that had a faulty chip installed in it. This chip overheats very quickly, making the pen essentially "freeze up." He could tell that mine was one of the faulty pens because that number I read to him was within the range that they'd identified as having the problem.
He said that they will IMMEDIATELY be sending me, via UPS, a new pen that they have tested themselves to ensure it works. He requested that I then use the box the new pen arrives in to return to them the old pen.
I expect to receive this pen in the next two business days.
So: IF YOU HAD THE TROUBLE I HAD SETTING UP YOUR PEN, *or* if your pen FREEZES UP after using it for a while, call the IRISPEN technical support at their REAL number: 1-800-447-4744.
When I receive my new pen, I'll come back and let you know how it works.
Rating:
Summary: Very impressed with this product!
Review: I purchased the Iris pen scanner because it was one of the few reasonably-priced scanners that claimed to be Mac compatible -- all the way up to OS 10.3 no less! Sure enough, the software installed without a hitch, and all I needed to do was perform a quick calibration of the pen (no problem), open Word, and start scanning. This scanner works like a dream -- it is designed to scan at the correct angle, and automatically begins scanning as soon as you press down on the page. So far, it has given me 100% accuracy on just about everything I have scanned. I am so tired of having to deal with the "workarounds" that make peripherals barely usable on my iBook, and I am really pleased to be able to recommend this product whole heartedly!
Rating:
Summary: Poor Quality
Review: I saw the mixed reviews of this product, but decided to take a chance anyway, and ordered it. It was a bad decision. Trouble started right away when the installation CD didn't work. Amazingly, it simply didn't contain the installation files. I called IRIS tech support and they emailed me a link where I could download the installation files. I downloaded the files and then was able to install the program. Next, I read all the Help instructions (yes, I really did that <g>), calibrated the pen and started to scan some text. Well, I tried and tried, including recalibrating the pen several times, but mostly what I got was garbled text. It simply doesn't work very well.
The pen has three blue buttons on it, one large one and two smaller ones. However, the documentation doesn't explain what they are for. So, I called tech support again and asked them what the buttons were for. The tech support fellow said the large button was just there - it didn't do anything. He said you could program the other two buttons to enter carriage returns, paragraphs, and other commands, or you could just ignore them if you want.
I went back to trying to get the pen to scan text, but eventually gave up, boxed it up, and returned it to Amazon.
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