C-pen 20 Handheld Scanner

by C-pen

Product Details

• Item Weight: 2.9 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B000EOMZO6
• Item model number: C-PEN 20
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 25, 2008

Product Description

The C-Pen 20 is an affordable and reliable handheld data entry alternative to fixed desktop scanners. Letting you capture the exact segment of the text you need, it instantly inserts scanned data into the desired field within your applications. Seamlessly integrating with translation, word processor, database or spreadsheet applications, you can now scan and insert text from curved, laminated and patterned surfaces - something standard scanners just can't do. Significantly faster and more flexible than a desktop scanner it connects easily with your laptop or Win XP based handheld device and is lightweight and extremely portable. You can use the C-Pen 20 in the library, at the office or even on a plane. Able to read printed text in over 238 languages it lets you send a phrase or a whole paragraph from foreign books or documents to your PC for phonetic pronunciation or to speed up translation and learning. Now you need never again copy-type long sentences or number combinations from contact sheets, business cards or any other printed surface, eliminating the costly and time-consuming mistakes which often occur during manual data entry. In the warehouse, C-Pen 20 enables the creation of custom inventorying and tracking solutions that target the specific needs of your business. Now scan data from any surface directly into standard applications on your computer and continue to process it within the application of your choice. It couldn't be easier.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

181 of 184 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Essential Tool for Students and Researchers, December 30, 2006

By 

T. Bryan - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: C-pen 20 Handheld Scanner (Electronics)

As a scholar who works with books and other printed sources a lot, I have long been on the lookout for an easy way to scan text into my laptop. I've tried using both flatbed scanners and digital cameras for this purpose, but I've found both to be awkward and time-consuming. That's why I was pleased to discover the C-Pen 20 - it's not perfect, but it does the job quicker and more easily than any of the alternatives.

PROS:

- It's easy to use; you just press the pointer to the page and a light comes on to let you know that the sensor is active. You then sweep the C-Pen from left to right at moderate speed as if it were a highlighter, and it converts the text on the page into electronic characters on your computer.
- The text instantly appears wherever the cursor on your screen is located, so you can use this device with just about any Windows program (e.g., Word, Access, etc.).
- The recognition rate is higher than I thought it would be; it's better than 99% on book-sized text. In practical terms, this means that you'll get one or two errors on average per paragraph, but these flaws are easily corrected (particularly if your spell checker highlights them for you automatically).
- It's small and easily portable, so you can take it with you to libraries and archives with a laptop.

CONS:
- The character recognition is sometimes thrown off by underlining and other marks on the page.
- You must use it with a PC or laptop that has a USB port (it doesn't run on batteries like some scanning pens).
- Even though it recognizes just about every major language written in Latin, Cyrillic, or Greek letters, it can't handle older typefaces (like German Fraktur). It also has trouble recognizing some symbols (such as footnotes).
- You have to scan each line of text one at a time, so it's not necessarily the best solution if you need to copy many pages of text.

The bottom line is that the C-Pen 20 has been an excellent investment for me, and I recommend it to anyone who's looking for an easy way to transfer printed text into an electronic medium.

UPDATE (2011):

I wrote this review almost five years ago. I continue to think highly of this product - despite the occasional error, I'm still amazed at how accurately it reads text most of the time. I only have two caveats to add:

1) The original grey and beige C-Pen 20 doesn't work with newer 64-bit versions of Windows, only 32-bit ones. This is tricky - if you bought your PC or laptop in the past two years or so, you may be running a 64-bit version of Windows without realizing it (they both look the same to a non-technical user). You can check which version you have by going to Control Panel and selecting "System" - it should say "32-bit" or "64-bit" under "System Type." If you have a 64-bit copy of Windows, you'll need to buy the newer C-Pen 3.0 or 3.5, or else see if you can find a black C-Pen 20 (which is also 64-bit compatible).

2) Digital cameras and OCR (optical character recognition) technology have improved dramatically over the past few years. If you need to scan multiple pages of text into electronic form, a digital camera and a good software program (Finereader or Omnipage) might be a better alternative. For saving snippets of text, however, the C-Pen continues to be the best solution.

148 of 153 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but not great., November 7, 2006

By 

John Kitchens "electronics and fitness fan" (Lexington, KY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: C-pen 20 Handheld Scanner (Electronics)

I am a bit of a scanning pen fanatic. I write papers and use them to collect research data. That is why I was excited to see that C-Pen (the best scanning pen manufacturer) had come out with a new model (the first in several years). My expectation was that this model would be far better than the C10 (the previous USB scanner) given the advance in technology since its release. I was pretty disappointed overall. This model is no quicker than the C10 and no more accurate. The software does not do as good a job as the C10 and it is not uncommon to have the pen miss an entire line of text. This is particularly important since I am often scanning very rapidly and don't take time to look up at the screen to see that the text is entered correctly.
Overall, not as good as the C10 (which I would give 4 stars), but better than the Iris Pen Executive (2 stars).
Please also note that this pen does not work with Mac computers (the only USB pen that does is the Iris Pen).

61 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Product, February 27, 2007

By 

Kevin V. Gresham "KVG" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: C-pen 20 Handheld Scanner (Electronics)

I feel completely compelled to write this review for the C-Pen 20. It far exceeds my expectation. I am a graduate student, working on a doctorate at Harvard University. It is a tool, or better yet, a weapon that has reduced my time tremendously. I wish I had it while going through my master's program.

I would say that it is about 90% accurate right out of the box without any training. I have had it about 3 weeks now, and with improved technique, I have increased its accuracy to about 95% - 97%. I have found it helpful to always perform the stroke left - right. It is easier for 2 reason, 1) that is the way humans read and 2) you don't have to readjust the position of your hand.

I would recommend it to anyone who has to do research, or persons who are in a profession where previous documentation is necessary.