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More…The Fujitsu ScanSnap s500, a lightweight, 5.9-pound model, is one of the most compact document scanners available, measuring 6.2 by 11.2 by 6.2 inches (width by depth by height); it's about the size of a breadbox. The $495 (as of 2/6/07), 600-dpi, sheet-fed USB scanner is primarily designed to convert single- or double-sided pages into searchable PDF files, and provides quick-start buttons for convenience. You also can customize a button to scan and print, scan and e-mail, or perform other scanning tasks.
Fujitsu Fujitsu ScanSnap s500
| Scan quality (text/graphics) | Very Good/Excellent |
| Speed | Good |
| Text scanning speed (pages per minute) | 13.0 ppm |
| Average scan time for graphics page at 300 dpi | 13 seconds |
| Features | Good |
| Max optical resolution | 600 dpi |
| Scan area | Sheet-fed only, no flatbed |
| Connection interface | USB 2.0 port |
| Automatic document feeder capacity | 50 sheets |
| Bundled software | Abbyy FineReader for ScanSnap 2.0, Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Standard, ScanSnap Organizer 3.0, CardMinder 3.0 |
| Design and usability | Very Good |
| Support policies | One-year warranty; 12-hour weekday toll-free support |
Pros
Very high image quality
Includes document management application
Cons
OCR software is basic
Fujitsu ScanSnap s500
Fujitsu ScanSnap s500 Review, by Richard Jantz February 19, 2007
The s500's automatic document feeder (ADF) holds up to 50 sheets at a time, and it performed flawlessly during our tests, with no misfeeds or paper jams. In our speed tests, the s500 took less than 17 seconds to turn a double-sided color page into a 300-dpi PDF--faster than any other scanner tested, and significantly faster than the average of 35 seconds. The s500 didn't outpace all of the competition at scanning text documents, however, taking 109 seconds to scan a double-sided 15-sheet document at 300dpi, compared with the average of 101 seconds.
The s500 earned a Superior rating for its color document scans, which displayed sharp text, accurate color shades, and subtle detail in color graphics. In comparison with other models, the s500's marked ability to reproduce blues matching those of the original image on a magazine cover was particularly noticeable. This model's black-and-white scans earned a score of Very Good for solid, readable text and fine details in line art in documents with graphics.
The s500 is one of the easiest scanners to set up and use (no assembly required). The power switch and quick-start buttons are both conveniently placed on the front panel, and the ADF and output tray fold up neatly when the scanner is not in use.
The scanner driver, ScanSnap Manager 4.0, is simple enough to use but it isn't TWAIN- or WIA-compliant, so you can't access the scanner when using other applications, such as a word processor or image editor. Another distinction is that the s500 saves images only in PDF and JPEG file formats, whereas most document scanners also support TIFF and other graphics formats.
The s500's driver includes an integrated optical character recognition function (Abbyy FineReader for ScanSnap 2.0), which converts documents into editable files in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats. Although this function lacks a proofreading mode (a handy feature that scanners with separate instead of integrated OCR applications provide), the s500 still did a reasonably fine job of converting several test documents into editable text, with a high degree of accuracy.
Other bundled software includes Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Standard, two proficient document management applications (ScanSnap Organizer 3.0 and Rack2-Filer 3.0), and a business card OCR application, CardMinder 3.0, which did a fair (though not flawless) job of recognizing business card information and saving it in a database. A notable extra is a clear plastic "carrier sheet" that proves quite useful for scanning irregularly shaped documents, such as newspaper clippings.
The ScanSnap s500's compact design, easy operation, and impressive image quality make it an excellent choice for any small-office or home user--especially if your main goal is to create searchable PDFs.
Richard Jantz
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User Reviews
Average User Reviews for Fujitsu Fujitsu ScanSnap s500
3 Reviews Add your own »
- Latest User Reviews 3 reviews
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Reviewed by: ChristmasB
Duration of ownership: 5 Months
Strengths: Fast and virtually flawless.
Weaknesses: None now that the Vista driver is out.
Overall: My only frustration was the lack of a Vista driver. Today it was posted and I installed it without a problem. (http://tinyurl.com/2by5h6) It seems to work just fine. For personal use, this unit may seem expensive, but the speed and efficiency with which it works means that you can: 1) Convert just about everything in your file cabinet(s) to electronic and discard the originals; and 2) Keep the unit on the desk and scan stuff in as you receive it, then toss it. It also allows easy sharing of all sorts of things via email. You will feel very good about this purchase.
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Reviewed by: thomasebellamy
Duration of ownership: 1 Year
Strengths: Very quick and easy to scan documents. We even have some scan directly into a shared folder for many users to access. Scans quickly into pdf format, front and back scans at the same time.
Weaknesses: The software is limited, but if you are looking for the basics as we are it didn't matter to us.
Overall: We started with one in our office to quickly scan and send documents. One quickly turned into several and now every office and work center has one. This really is a great simple product that every office should have.
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Reviewed by: kludas
Duration of ownership: 6 Months
Strengths: OS XP this is a very fast reliable scanner. I may convert my new notebook from Vista to XP pro just to be able to use this device.
Weaknesses: Warning No Vista Drivers. Due April 07 now pushed to June/ July 07 No notation of this in the PCWORLD review.
Overall: If you have XP this is a great scanner. No excuse for Vista drivers not being ready. This is why the one star / poor rate. Sometimes pages stick together on fresh printed documents. I need to bend the pages different directions then restack and feed in the scanner.
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User Reviews From Around the Web
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Reviewed by:
Strengths: Simple to use.Different sized papers all go in in one stack. We have a $30,000 copier that can't do this.
Weaknesses: None - For this price, the quality is exceptional.
Overall: Saved me money - Took client's tax papers, Small W2 and 1099 papers, and large sheets of various sizes. They all scanned in without a problem, at the same time. By reducing the time to scan (feed the pages through) I get to spend more time on my clients work which gets me paid more money.The OCR reading is great with 750 pages scanned an not a problem. This saves me more time/money as I can now index all the OCR converted pdf documents using Windows Desktop Search.
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Reviewed by: ua2000_25
Strengths: Fast, simple, efficient, ADF works nearly flawlessly, jams are simple to clear, everything is automated and searchable
Weaknesses: It is pretty expensive for personal use. Wish it would accept up to 11"x17" without having to use carrier sheet.
Overall: This scanner has finally let me get organized! Everyday I bring home a briefcase full of papers that I have collected, spend a few minutes scanning, and toss them in the garbage. I'm now virtually paperless! Also great for keeping track of bills, etc at home. I was amazed with how quickly this machine scans...even double sided and color. Be warned though...using the option to make searchable PDF's will take some processing time (50 pages took ~5-10 minutes).
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Reviewed by:
Strengths: quite compact, very fast, the bundled software works very well, this is what document scanning is meant to be!
Weaknesses: occasional ADF misfeed, there is a little bit of a learning curve of setting a stack of paper in but generally works very well
Overall: I've used brand H flat bed scanners for years with quite some frustration, especially the suitability of the software for bascially turn pages of paper into electronic format (preferrably pdf). The bundled Acrobat is worth half the price of the unit. The Abby fine reader and the front end software work well for quickly and easily scanning documents. I like the fact I can control the settings to get the result I want (like turning a bunch of old yellow thermal faxes) into a text searchable pdf file in 1 or 2 minutes. The files are also reasonably compact, my old brand H version you could scan to pdf, but a simple page of B&W text could end up being 1-2 megs, instead of a more reasonable 40-80 kb. I am going to recommend this to my tax guy so he can turn a complicated tax return with odds and ends of reciepts and statements into one nice compact pdf file. If you go to the Fujitsu webstie, their video demonstration is, I think, an accurate representation of using the product. Highly recommended.
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Reviewed by: kaval
Strengths: A very fast DUPLEX sheetfed scanner. Wonderful for scanning odd sized documents.
Weaknesses: No twain scanner.
Overall: This is a compact desktop duplex sheetfed scanner excellent for scanning multiple sheets. It is very ergonomic. You will almost certainly require a second scanner if you want to scan photographs. The software took a little while to install and recognize the device, but once this was accomplished it worked extremely well on windows XP. I would recommend this scanner for rapidly converting papers to pdf format.
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Reviewed by: scotte9999
Strengths: Very small footprint, and works with Linux/BSD!
Weaknesses: ADF occasionally multi-feeds, bundled Windows drivers are so-so.
Overall: This scanner is much smaller than I expected, and also a lot faster! I have it connected to my NetBSD system (using SANE), and all the computers on my network are able to scan (in duplex!). The scanner is VERY fast, especially at 300dpi (it maxes out at 600), so no complaints about speed at all.I tried the bundled drivers for Windows, and was not very happy with what they offered, although the bundled Acrobat is a nice extra. Using the Unix drivers (with SaneTWAIN for Windows compatibility), this scanner is awesome.
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