Canon Canoscan LiDE 80 Color Image Flatbed Scanner

The Canoscan LiDE series of scanners is perfect for those who are looking to save space or who are on the go but don't want to sacrifice quality and performance. As I've mentioned in previous posts (here), I'm a tablet pc user who is trying to go completely digital this year. And as a student, I get a lot of handouts and miscellaneous loose leaf pages and books that I have scan into my laptop.

Well I actually own a Canoscan LiDE 80 scanner and it has been absolutely vital for my everyday use. While I don't use my scanner to scan my textbooks (that's over 300+ pages to scan!), I do use it to scan class handouts, homework, and old notes. This Canoscan is absolutely perfect for those who need to take their scanning on the go. The scanner is a slim 1.5" thick, which is thinner than 80% of my textbooks and it only weighs one pound so it's lighter than most of my books and the scanner weighs about 1/6 of what my tablet pc weighs! The scanner's dimensions are about that of a legal sized sheet of paper so it even fits perfectly in my backpack or one of my laptop tote's side compartments. It's also powered by the same USB cord that connects it to your computer so there's no extra power cord or adapters to carry around.

While all this is fine and dandy, but what good is a portable scanner if it sucks. Well I can assure you that the Canoscan LiDE 80 does live up to it's claimed specifications of 48-bit color and a 16-bit grayscale and 2,400 x 4,800 non-interpolated resolution. Scans come out beautifully with rich colors and sharp clean text. The included software also has an OCR utility so scanning searchable text and pdf documents are a breeze. There's also an included film adapter unit which can hold 35mm negatives or slides for scanning.

I will have to warn you that when you scan a document, you'll want to align it so that the top left corner of your document is positioned at the bottom left hand corner of the scanner. Basically you'll want to flip whatever you're scanning upside down. And this is not the fastest scanner around, unlike bulkier flatbed scanners, the Canoscan LiDE 80 will not give you a scan in less than 5 seconds, much less the super fast speeds of 1 or 2 seconds of higher priced scanners, so don't plan on using this for heavy duty scanning. However, if what you're looking for is portability and the ability to scan quality high resolution images, then you'll find this to be an excellent scanner.

Technorati: canon, Canoscan LiDE 80, scanner, product review, mobility

Canon CanoScan LiDE 60 Color Image Scanner

Four front buttons for easy access to automated functions.

• Scan


• Copy


• Create e-mail attachments


• Create PDFs

The USB 2.0 Hi-Speed interface enables fast image transfers to your computer, with previews and scans available in approximately 9 seconds

The CanoScan LiDE series scaners are highly portable and space efficient. The unit measures just 10.1" x 1.5" x 14.7" and weighs 3.97 lbs. One USB cable provides connectivity to your computer and power. Plus, an included desktop stand gives you the option of positioning the scanner vertically to save desk space.

The CanoScan LiDE 60 produces a maximum optical 1200 x 2400 (19200 x 19200 interpolated) color dpi resolution and 48-bit color depth, for over 281 trillion possible colors. The LiDE 60 scanner comes with the CanoScan Toolbox for easy scanning. The scanner can also be accessed through image editing applications which are TWAIN compatible.

For maximum productivity, the Multi-Scan Mode lets you scan multiple images simultaneously and each image is saved as an individual file. The expandable Z-Lid top makes scanning books up to 1" thick vertically an easy task.

What comes included?

• CanoScan LiDE 60 Color Image Scanner


• USB cable, stand


• CanoScan Setup CD-ROM


• Warranty information

As a college student who has to do a lot of research at libraries, the Canon CanoScan LiDE series is the perfect research companion to a laptop. The scanner is small and thin so it fits in both most backpacks and laptop totes. At just 3.97 lbs, CanoScan LiDE 60 is lighter than many laptops and books. It takes at least 9 seconds to scan a page so this is a trade off for portability, but unless you're scanning hundreds of pages, this shouldn't be a significant issue.

Technorati: canon, canoscan, flatbed scanner, imaging, reviews, scanners, document scanning

Canon DR 2580C Document Scanner

The Canon DR-2580C scanner isn't exactly spectacular at first glance.  It's small, measuring 3.2" x 12" x 6.6" and lightweight at just 4.2 pounds.  Papers are fed straight through the automatic document feeder in this scanner so you can scan thick unbendable documents as well as fragile papers.  There is also a flatbed scanning option which can scan documents up to 21.9" x 12.4".  This scanner can work at speeds of 25 pages per minute (ppm) in single side scanning and 50 images in duplex mode.  This scanner by Canon offers 600 dpi maximum resolution, 24-bit color, grayscale, and USB 2.0 connectivity.


Technorati Tags: Canon, scanners, document, imaging

Syscan Dockport 485 Duplex Color Scanner

The Dockport 485 Duplex Scanner by Syscan is the ultimate on the go portable scanner.  Duplex scanning scans both sides of a document and the Dockport can scan up to legal sized sheets of paper.

• USB 2.0 High Speed Interface.
  
• 25 bit color output and maximum 600 dpi (optical) resolution.
  
• Scans 3 black and white pages per minute and 1 color page per minute.
  
• Can scan document sizes ranging from business cards to legal documents (A4).
  
• Weighs just 505 grams or 17.8 ounces (approx. 1 lb).
  
• Measures 11.8" x 2.4" x 1.9" (300 mm x 61 mm x 48 mm).
  
• USB powered and USB cable is detachable.
  
• Can scan paper thicknesses of 0.1 mm to 0.5 mm.
  
• Comes with PDF creation software
  

Technorati Tags: portable scanner, syscan, duplex