I purchased this unit for a very specific reason. I have thousands of old photos that probably would not benefit from a high res scan since they do not look all that great as pictures. Many are of family and pets and thus I would like to keep them and display them using my digital frame. The idea that I could scan pictures in on a table top without a computer was very appealing. When the unit arrived, I read the instructions. It tells you to use these clear plastic sleeves (one for 3x5 and another for 4x6) to scan your photos. Don't. These things are poorly designed and will either not catch properly on the unit causing numerous rescans or it will create lines on the photo. It tells you in the packaging that they are to protect your photo. Nonsense. I have scanned a lot of pictures without them and there has not been even a hint of a problem. Once I ditched the sleeves and scanned directly in to the unit, I was quite pleased. Just be aware that it crops a few mm's off your original. The final product is respectable. You get a 1.5 mega pixel jpeg for 3x5 and a 2 mega pixel jpeg for 4x6's. This is fine for displaying on a digital frame but hardly high enough resolution to do any real editing to or print enlargements. I have used up to 4 gig Utra II SD cards and they work fine. There is also a compact flash slot so you can make use of some old cards if they are sitting around. Bottom line, it works as advertised but the final product is hardly a comparison for even a low cost flat bed scanner. Pandigital SCN02 Photolink One-Touch Scanner with Memory Card
This is great for doing 300dpi scans. It is so fast and quicker - much faster than placing photos in a desktop scanner. I have been impressed with the results and can easily sit and scan hundreds of photos (up to a 4x6 size) while watching tv. The quality is great. I would highly recommend this PanDigital scanner to anyone who took tons of photographs and wants to have them on their computer or just to create digital images for backup. If there were ever an emergency, it is far easier to run out of the house with a memory card rather than boxes and boxes of photos. So far, I have scanned about 4000 photos and very happy with the results. Would love to see PanDigital come out with a higher DPI unit. I would be first in line to purchase.
I bought this scanner to scan several photo albums and many boxes of prints that I have. Some are old, one-of-a-kind family photos that go back to early in the last century.
This scanner screamed through my grandmother's album (with 400+ photos). I was able to scan them all in about 2 hours. That's incredible. However, I didn't run into a few issues:
1) Some photos just won't feed straight and you end up with a funky curve in the photo.
2) Some photos get stuck and need help. These photos end up with a lot of leading or trailing bogus data.
3) Some old photos from the 40's/50's are tiny. These really need a higher resolution scanner to be useable.
There are a couple of things that would definitely improve this scanner. A battery so that it could be used without plugging it in and a way to more securely put in a SD card. That way I could through this in a backpack and just use it.
Even with these issues, it's a very nice addition to flatbed scanner, but it's not a replacement.
I purchased the digital scanner after reading the reviews - aware of the potential scan line problem. While initially happy with the scanner after trying a couple of scans, my optimism turned to disappointment as the infamous "scan line" appeared. I consider myself technically proficient and have tried all the manufacturers cleaning and problem corrections (and even disassembled the unit and cleaned the roller - but nothing worked and the very prominent scan line problem persists. While the unit is extremely fast in scanning photos, the scan line problem overrides its efficiency. So, essentially, this piece of equipment is now a paperweight as the photo scans are unusable. I'll revert to my larger desktop but slower CanoScan 8600. I gave it a shot. Maybe pandigital will improve their product to permanently fix the problem.
I got so tired of using my flatbed scanner to back up the thousands of photos that I had laying around that I had to find something more effective and this was the ticket! I purchased the scanner and while watching a couple movies I scanned over 2000 photos. That would have taken forever on my flatbed scanner. I am using with windows 7 so I know it works on that too.
This thing is perfect for quickly scanning in old photos. Like others have said they won't be the best quality (as compared to a flat bed scanner), but we were able to scan ~500 photos in 2 hours (including taking them out of the book and watching tv/drinking). If you want super high quality photos use the flatbed. If you want to be done scanning before you die...get this.
Don't use their plastic sleeve. Its a waste of time. If you're only putting the photo through the scanner a few times its not going to damage it. - Portable Scanner - Scanner - Mobile Scanner - Usb Scanner'
Detail Products
Detail Reviews
Click here for more information
