Customer Reviews

Fujitsu ScanSnap fi-5110EOX Sheet-Fed Scanner with Automatic Document Feeder

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is only the second time I have ever rated an item on Amazon (I started buying here when the company first came on line) - the last time being because the item was so unfailingly bad I thought I owed it to others. This case is just the opposite.

I was looking for a FAST and SIMPLE means of dealing with the need to archive and share paper stuff - both for business and personally. To me, the ideal product would do only that (I already have a multi-function machine, the first product I reviewed on Amazon, and a flat bed scanner) and do it well. I did a little research and decided to test drive the fi-5110E0X.

It took a few minutes to install the software and Acrobat 6.0 standard (provided) on to the server I have at home (1.8G Pentium, 512K memory, Windows 2000 Server). I checked the settings, set the default directory and chose the lowest resolution, duplex scan, auto detect color and auto rotate options, dropped in a sheet of paper and literally in seconds was looking at the PDF.

I was so tickled I ran a few pages through upside down and even cut several pages from a Herrington catalog to test the color and duplex features. Again they were processed flawlessly and in seconds Acrobat had opened and there they were!

My experience on machines like this is that the success or failure ultimately depends on whether the manufacturer gets the software right. When the software works well I actually USE the product as intended (HP can't seem to get the software right to save their lives). In this case Fujitsu really got it right and it seems that Adobe Acrobat has been improved to work seamlessly with a machine like this. On top of it all the machine has a small footprint and simple controls.

Try it - I think you will be pleased.

The strengths of the ScanSnap are compactness, speed, and duplex scanning. It is well made and does its job well. But it suffers from self-inflicted wounds -- problems that could have been avoided by simple changes in firmware -- that limit its utility needlessly.

While I don't find the lack of a TWAIN driver too much of a handicap, there is a major limitation in its ability to scan many documents well: lack of a grayscale output. Monochrome documents are automatically output as black-and-white (1 bit/pixel). Depending on the typeface, this can severely degrade readability and suitability for OCR. It also means that continuous-tone images reproduce very poorly.

Paper handling is fairly good. It does jam fairly frequently but is easy to clear and usually does not tear up the paper. However, it automatically outputs a file at the end of each batch scanned, which means no more than 50 pages. When scanning a longer document you have to merge successive files.

Don't plan on using your computer for anything else while the ScanSnap is snapping -- it ties up your computer fairly thoroughly.

Will O'Neil

Have had it for around 18 months now (the previous model of Scansnap). Sure it has some quirks (scan quality is not like a flatbed, sometimes doc feeder misbehaves)...but still giving it 5 stars.

This thing is *fast* - joy to watch it work.

Its one of those products that re-defines a category like iPod or Tivo, once you have it, you cannot be without it.

Has had a measurable impact on me over the last year - my college notes, over 10 years old, from the garage are slowly all scanned in, so are half my product manuals and bits of random paper. Its so much easier to search for something sitting comfortably in a chair on your computer looking at PDFs than sifting through dusty papers. I can instantly pull out any bill going back last few years.

Before I bought this I tried a flatbed with an ADF attachment, which was a big waste of time (I think Microtek's). I still use a flatbed for nice color/photograph scans.

Overall, I thought I would use the OCR more than I do - its not worth the extra effort (I even bought Omnipage for this). Acrobat writer that comes bundled is very useful however, more than I would have guessed.

Other minor issues: 1. I ended up replacing the pad assembly at 8k sheets (10k recommended), documents were not getting fed correctly. 2. Sometimes the image is too light, even at the darkest scan setting.

Footprint is good and compact, saves desk space.

This is the VW Beetle of the scanning world -- tiny and toylike, but excellent. While archiving an extremely large amount of papers of various conditions and sizes, I was pleasantly surprised to find this scanner scans all the way to each sheet's edge -- essential when scanning materials with notes written in the margins. Easily handles smaller sized papers (but items of oversized width cannot fit into the 8.5 inch wide feeder). I was also impressed that the blank page detection sensibly ignores staple holes or other binding marks on otherwise blank pages. Automatic color detection is sometimes fooled by aged paper or coffee stains into scanning in color -- but then again coffee is a color after all. The paper path is very direct (slides from top to bottom) so if paper ever jams (as it will if you try to put cardstock through it without bending it first) it is easy to pop open and remove the sheets. Includes Adobe Acrobat.

An update to my review: I still love it, but, I have three criticisms:

It is best when set for "black and white" only, and bear in mind that the black and white images it captures are high contrast. If you want to capture shades of grey you'll still want a flatbed scanner. So I've been doing the bulk of my scanning with this Fujitsu, and I set aside items that need more careful flatbed work. It has been a real time saver.

Secondly, the color accuracy of this scanner is exceptionally poor - sufficient for capturing a bright red "VOID" mark stamped on a form, for example, but not suited for anything requiring nuanced colors.

Thirdly, the software's optional "deskew" function, which is sometimes useful for leveling out any badly typed pages, only works on pages that are completely full of type. Indeed, any page with wide open spaces, such as a title page or a page with only a single paragraph of type, will end up worse if the option is on. A perfectly typed (but brief) page will end up up to 5 degrees off kilter if the "deskew" option is on. This is obviously a software limitation which they should fix.

In review, this is a great high contrast black and white scanner that will dramatically reduce your need for a traditional flatbed scanner - but it won't replace it entirely.

I must admit I have been pleasantly surprised by this little guy. I was looking for a sheetfed scanner to archive about 30 bankers' boxes of files for my law office. The ridiculously low price of this machine finally made me decide to try it. I have been extremely happy with it.

So far we have scanned a little over 46,000 sheets. Yes, you read that right. This was done in less than 3 weeks. I found that a competent operator could get this baby to churn through 2 full boxes per eight hour work day. I was concerned about the speed of scanning, as I was only using a 700MHz P3 laptop. I would estimate the speed with this setup as 30 pages per minute. With it's tiny footprint and diminutive size I must admit I thought this may be more of a toy than a useful piece of office equipment. I stand corrected. The one-button operation and the included software which creates consecutively numbered .pdf files with any name you wish is astounding.

It does suffer from paper jams, although bear in mind I was scanning documents up to four years old which had been stapled together and stuffed in a box for that time. My operator developed a fairly intricate process of removing staples, bending the corners against their crease and then flipping the pages to separate them. One of the many excellent features of the included software is that it shows you an image of the last page scanned before a paper jam. That allowed finding the correct next page and restarting with just a mouse click. Clearing the jams is simple as well -- there's one button that holds the feeding mechanism closed.

The scanner also creates color images so the photographs in my files are stored as well. I have already had two occasions to use the archived material and it was easy to find and print the needed images with the included Adobe Acrobat standard (v.6).

I am really impressed with the amount of paper this little guy has moved. The software is intuitive, the hardware is simple. I cannot recommend this enough for a medium-sized office. I look forward to using this scanner for years. It does require replacement of the sheetfeed roller (they cost about $10.00) every 50,000 images, and some other roller each 100,000 images (the other consumable is about $20.00).

The only down side appears to be that people don't seriously believe this little piece of hardware can do as much work as it can crank through. Color me impressed.

I have been tasked with evaluating scanners for our office so we picked out 3 of them including the ScanSnap. This thing wins hands down as the perfect machine when you want to scan to PDF. You put the documents in the feeder and you press the scan button. A few seconds later it has named the file and inserted it in the directory of your choosing. Done.

It scans color as quickly as Black and white documents. There are no questions to be answered about dpi, greyscale, color, ocr, nothing. It just does it. The scans were oriented correctly as well. The scans from the other machines were sometimes crooked.

On top of that, it comes with a copy of Adobe Standard not Adobe Reader, so once you get that PDF you can actually do something with it besides look at it.

While not listed as a portable machine, it comes in a box the size of a small toaster oven that even has a handle on it. The machine itself is the size of a toaster. The HP machine I have is about 3 times it's size.

The software is simple to use and easy to reconfigure. HP's software was combersome and confusing. HP machines might work in the home environment, but this ones shines at the office. I wouldn't get this to scan pictures, tho I am sure you could make it work for that as well.

Buy this if you need to scan pdf's quickly and easily.

We bought Fujitisu ScanSnap scanner to help clear out our office of many banker boxes full of documents. This was money very well spent. In approximately a month, I scanned a minimum of 20 banker boxes. (This was in addition to my other office projects.) I can't even give an estimate as to how many reams of documents I've scanned since we purchased this in December 2004.

It's been almost a year and the scanner has been working strong! I can't believe how quickly it scans both sides of a sheet of paper. I've scanned various sizes of paper from letter to legal and even small memo sheets. Granted, I have to scan the different sizes separately, but at least it does scan them.

The only thing that I do find irritating is that I am not able to use the computer for other tasks while scanning because the ScanSnap continues to "take control" of the computer. My current workaround is to use two computers. One is for scanning documents and the other is for working on other projects. This could be an expensive work around, but we already had an available computer.

The technical support for the ScanSnap earned kudos from me as well. I misplaced the installation CD to install the scanner on the second computer and tried to find the information on the Fujitsu website. I had to call in to get the information. The woman I spoke with emailed me the FTP link while we were still on the telephone.

Would I buy this product again? Definitely. It is a nice small unit that barely takes up any space on my desk. The space cleared in the office is amazing. It's nice to know that the important papers are now converted to PDF and can be stored off-site to protect this information.

Another amazing thing is that we ordered this item on a Monday and received it in our office on a Friday!

This scanner does exactly what it says, scans documents to PDF. It comes with Adobe Acrobat Standard 6 - full version from what I can tell. We use it in an accounting office to scan for our paperless document storage, and it does an excellent job. It has everything we need, scan to PDF, USB2 (no cards to install), and Acrobat STD for document management, and a good price.

Also, it is a duplex scanner - both sides at one pass. The scanner interface software (proprietary, not TWAIN) has automatic blank page detection, so we just leave the duplex option on all the time.

Rollers and pickups are replaceable, manual says after 1 year or 100,000 pages. Haven't had it that long, but it hasn't misfed anything yet.

It has a small footprint, so it fits easilly on a desk without taking lots of room

Don't expect this scanner to do everything for everyone. It has scan settings for black&white and full color scan, and only couple of resolution options (their terms fastest, better, best). So if you want to scan in 8 bit gray scale at some strange resolution, and scan to something other than JPG or PDF, this isn't for you.

Read the manual online, and make sure it does what you want. If you're a business who wants to scan documents to PDF, want a fast and inexpensive duplex scanner, this is the one.

In an office environment of 200+ people, a scanner that is "low maintenance" is high on the "IT Guy's" list.

This is the first scanner that I can honestly say is self explanatory, low maintenance, creates FAST high quality scans to PDF, with little to no intervention from the user.. hence no intervention from the IT guy. Expensive, but a great buy for saving time, hassle and frustration.

This product seems to be a godsend for our office. We have a lot of paper, and we get more in here every day. The Scan Snap very quickly will scan both sides of the paper (faster than your average laser printer can print them out). It creats pdf files from these that are easy to move around and rename to fit your organization's organization. THe only problem that we have been having is that paper often misfeeds. It tends to pull the paper in one direction and then jams. Clearing jams is easy and quick, but it is still a bit annoying. Overall, this is a great product and I would highly recommend it for any office to help in digitizing. It also makes a great system for scanning documents to send via email.