Customer Reviews

HP ScanJet 3970 Digital Flatbed Scanner

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I purchased this to replace an older HP scanner that was a good performer,...but wanted to take advantage of the higher data transfer speed of a USB 2 capable computer.
I'm frankly surprised by all the large number of low grades other users have given this machine. It has handled all the following scanning functions easily and with consistenly high quality output:
-Scanning photos to digital files (.tiff, .jpg and other bitmap formats);
-Reprinting photos directly to a photo printer;

-Importing printed materials directly into MS Office documents and Adobe Acrobat documents;
-Direct output of a scanned text document to a printer;
-Scanning negatives to digital files for editing/printing.

Minor...but not serious flaws:
-Other reviewers are correct: it only does 2 35mm negatives/slides at once (but scanners with an auto feed capacity are going to cost 2x-3x as much.
-Two of the 4 front panel buttons are directly related to marginally useful HP-specific functions ("HP Share-to-Web" and "HP Memories Disk"; their apparent presumption is that we don't know how to FTP or author CDs;-
-This model is among the loudest home scanners I've heard.
-The bundled software isn't outstanding, but it's certainly functional (especially if you take some time to customize the settings).

For $..., the digital and hardcopy image/text outputs are highly resolved and crisp

I recently purchased this item from a local electronics store for a really good price (open box items are my best friend). In less than 15 minutes, I was able to scan twenty-one 8.5" x 11" pieces of artwork created by my students. Using the software provided by HP, I also took the items that were created in the landcape mode and rotated them. I renamed them, copied them into a file and also created a photo album. I then printed out the photo album, 15 images per page. OK...so it was able to scan very well. I then decided to test its ability to scan negatives and print them out.

I took a negative that was about 8 years old. Scanned it and then opened it in windows viewer. I printed one slide out as as an 8" x 10" print, and another as a 5" x 7". I printed them out on a laser printer using 600 x 600 dpi. Both printed out very well.

If you want to make money using the scanner, you might want to invest in something more sophisticated. However, it works just fine for the basic user in a home environment.

For the price of $70-100 there are about 6-7 scanners. I picked HP for a simple reason -- proven durability. We have a couple of HP scanners at work and they've been used heavily for the past 3 years with zero problems. I've talked to many people who had Epsons and they all had problems of various kinds.
For the good: It scannes the old pictures very well. I come from a very "old" family and we have lots of pictures from 1800's. They turned out very good and easy to restore with editing software like the photoshop.
For the not-so-good: The software is a bit "clunky". Seems like it has too many tools that do the same job. A simple all-in-one program would have been just fine.
For the strange: Where's the power switch? You will need to physically unplug it if you'd like to save a couple of KWatts. One star taken off for that.
Otherwise a solid product that does the job.

I should have figured I wouldn't get a great product for such a low price, but I tend to trust HP products.

Scanning photos works fine, but the quality of slide and negative scans is terrible. The slide scans were unusable. Also, it took forever for the lamp to warm up, so even if I had just scanned a photo/slide, I would still have to wait up to 2 minutes for the lamp to warm up again so I could make another scan. I'm returning this unit and looking for another.

Despite some reviews, I took the chance that the slide and negative scanning abilities of the HP 3970 *might* be ok... they are NOT. Whatever the specs may say, you can only scan up to 2 negatives or 1 slide at a time. The lamp DOES have to warm up AGAIN after each scan session, even if your last one was just moments before. This makes just waiting for a preview excruciating! Next, the scan time to actually scan a negative at only 300 dpi is about 45-60 sec.

Long and short- this scanner was set up and tested and now is going back to the store... all within about 1 hour.

I didn't even bother trying the regular image scan functions, as all I'm really interested in right now is scanning negatives and slides. I'm sure the basic functions are good, as HP does have a decent rep for flatbed scans.

The software installed easily though in Windows XP Pro. It did seem a bit clunky, but I didn't bother playing with it enough to let it bother me.

I chose HP 3970 assuming it was good quality for the price, and that it would be easy to use with my HP Pavilion PC. It is a nice scanner, although a little slow, + does a decent job scanning, BUT the drivers/software is incompatible with a large number of systems. I learned this too late (after my 30 day return period), for i had only done test scans of photos and transparent materials, and a RESTART of my pc, not a cold boot. My pc will not cold boot with the scanner software installed, as there is a conflict with the NVIDIA video chipset which came with the HP pc. So, now i have a new scanner i cannot use without great pains. The next shopper should be forewarned to go to www.hp.com and search for the 3970's known incompatibilities BEFORE spending money. Good luck! :)

After 2+ hours with a technician on the phone, we have concluded that it will not work on my PC for an unknown reason. Probably an incompatibility issue. My Pc is a Dell and operating system is Windows ME. The scanner hardware seems to work fine and the software seems to be working, but together they are not working. It is being returned ASAP. I like HP products, but this one is not working. Beware.

I have to say that the $100 was worth the money for this scanner. I have to say though that I did read all the reviews that I could and in my mind none of them realy helped. I was not expecting the HP3970 to meet my standerds of a good scanner, but at the same time I did only pay $100 for it. Well to get to the point, I am totaly amazed by this scanner. Not only did the photos turn out wonderful it scanned about 16 photos in 10 min. I am impressed to say the least. Nor did I have any problems installing the software. It walks you through the entire setup and install. The only way I can see anyone having a problem with the software was if there was something wrong with their computer be for they start. I only buy HP and will never buy anything else. If you are wanting to scan a large or even a small amount this scanner will do it for you in moteration. One more thing that I found to be a plus was you can scan your slides and 35mm negatives.

I was skeptical of flatbed scanners that claim to scan slides and negatives, but after using my HP 3970 I have a different view.

The scanner seems sturdy and is packaged well--the norm for HP products. Installation was effortless with both XP and Win ME.

My slides and negatives are turning out great--It just takes a little tweaking of the highlight, shadow, midtone and sharpness adjustments in the software for an excellent image. Also, this scanner is so good that it will pick up the film grain in 35mm film, so you will need a good photo to start with. Even the best scanner can't fix film grain and poor photography.

Flat art and printed photos turn out PERFECT. With most photos the default settings work fine--just press the button and let it go.

The included OCR software seems to work well. I don't use OCR software enough for that to be an issue, but it scanned a printed document into StarOffice with just a couple minor character errors.

The lamp does take while to warm up, but the accurate color and excellent highlight and shadow range are worth the wait time.

The software is geared toward entry level users--seems very straightforward. I just use the TWAIN driver to scan directly from Photoshop.

There is no on/off switch, but the scanner uses 15 watts when in operation, and it shuts off with the computer, so the lack of a power switch is a non-issue.

In short, the HP 3970 is well worth the $100 or so you'll spend.

This scanner seems to have been looked at more and more because of it's ability to scan negs and slides for a cost of less than $100. Let me caution you...you will get what you pay for.

The regular document scanning functions produce decent results, probably right up there with any other scanner in this price range. The negative scanning/slide scanning feature produces grainy, blotchy, blurry, mucky, pitiful images. Oh, sure; if all you want is something that will produce a decent web-ready 4x6 image, you can't go wrong. But; if you want a scanner that will produce a printable image, look elsewhere. This one will not do the job.

As for the software, this is probably the worst I have ever used. Everything is Javascript oriented, and HTML in style. The software locks up, you might get an "Image cannot be displayed" page, or just a plain blank window. Who knows? What worked fine five minutes ago will now receive "fatal errors" and no longer work worth a darn.

Truly folks, if you want a document/photo scanner, there are better ones out there for less. If you want a negative/slide scanner, there are much better ones out there if you will be willing to pay a little bit more.

Don't waste your money. HP didn't waste any of theirs on you. Not when it comes to the 3970, anyway.