Customer Reviews

HP ScanJet 7650 Flatbed Scanner with Auto Document Feeder (L1940A#B1H)

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

 

 

I agree that I did have some problems with paper jams in the ADF. But then I noticed that it seemed to mostly happen with smaller width paper (11" long, but less than 8.5" wide) and legal size documents when trying to duplex. Well, then I read the manual (duh!) and it clearly states that the scanner is not set up to duplex legal size documents or unusual sized paper. So I thought that was a problem.

But I am trying to scan all my documents into electronic form and so the scanner is only part of the solution -- electronic document management software is the other part. I got PaperPort Professional 10, set it up with the ISIS driver (the TWAIN driver is not so good) using the PaperPort scanner setup utility running all scanner tests -- and it started working perfectly! The key with legal and odd size documents is not to duplex! Scan one side with the ADF then turn the documents over, put them back in the feeder and let PaperPort do the collation. It works GREAT!

This is EXACTLY the solution I have been looking for since I started scanning in all my paper documents about 5 years and many failed hardware/software solutions ago.

I am using none of the software that came with the scanner, just downloaded the latest drivers directly from the HP website.

The only issue I have noticed (which could explain why some people think the ADF is "broken") is that when a jam occurs (which hasn't happened since I started doing things using my new procedure) is that the ADF gets into a wierd state where it thinks that there is no paper in it even though there paper there. The fix: unplug/plug in (not turn off) the scanner and let it reinitialize. There are rollers in the ADF which get stuck in the down position during a jam that don't ever seem to reset unless you power cycle it (and you can't really turn off the scanner with the power switch -- it just puts it into standby mode).

If you are looking for a reliable scanner with a duplex automatic document feeder, save your money and sanity and keep looking.

The included software is inflexible (global setting for duplex is either on, or off, you can't select the duplex setting without going through 5 menus and 8 clicks to turn duplex scanning on and off)

Save the hair thats left on your head by avoiding this scanner and the included automatic document feeder jammer. Not only are the paper jams frequent (on the type of stuff you would regularly scan, I'm talking about bank statements that come right out of the post mail - not tissue paper) but a paper jam can actually destroy your documents if they get stuck mid-scan. There is no easy release button or pull. Pull tightly, and hope that the bottom advice piece of your phone bill does not take up permanent residence in the duplex bay of your scanner.

A software update will not fix the paper jam feature, so just look elsewhere.
HP, if you are reading, allow the user to select duplex or non-duplex for each scan.

I got this to help me scan paper documents to save as pdfs to de-paper my office. Except for some difficulties clearing the rare paper jams, it seems to be fine mechanically.

I would be satisfied except I haven't been able to make it play nice with Acrobat v. 7 for Windows XP SP2. The HP-supplied software will produce pdfs, but of generally poor quality compared to what the scanner can do driven from Acrobat. The problem is trying to get a scan of both sides of the paper from the ADF. The recommended TWAIN driver (the "Document" TWAIN) that comes with it simply won't do this from Acrobat, but it works fine for single-sided scans. Using the other TWAIN driver will scan both sides, but it automatically crops out chunks of some pages apparently at random, so you have to correct the scanning area for each page - and it won't let you control the scanner parameters like you should be able to. The WIA driver won't do both sides at all, and has odd defaults on top of that.

So if you are scanning front sides only with Acrobat, you can make this scanner work from Acrobat, but otherwise, you are in for a hassle. Maybe there is some other driver that would work, but I haven't been able to find it yet.

I haven't had any of the problems the other reviewer mentioned. The document feeder has not jammed on me yet and is incredibly quick compared to my old machine. Once you customize the settings, it's one touch operation.

It's true that machines of the same model can perform differently, but I'm with the "thumbs-down" group. I bought this to PDF my paper files and found in the first 30 minutes that the document feeder was nearly 100% consistent in its inability to throughput multiple pages. It either jammed or fired through pages without scanning virtually every time. That's with the included software and, as above, Adobe Acrobat 7.0. I returned it.

Problems:

1. Will not scan document information in light blue colors.
2. Sometimes cuts off lower 1/4th of the document.
3. Documents sometimes jam in the feeder and are difficult to remove/pull out. (When that happens, I sometimes have to completely shut down my computer and restart.)

I do not recommend this scanner.

If you need to scan just documents, buy a Xerox scanner.
Our office also has a Xerox Documate 250 vertical feeder scanner that is superior to the HP Scanjet.Feeding is much easier and documents rarely jam. If they do, they are easier to pull out.

One advanced feature that the HP Scanjet 7650 has is the ability to scan 35mm negatives. I used this feature and it works. The drawback is that it takes a long time. It's a lot easier just to take the negatives to a nearby photo lab (Walmart and CVS Pharmacy are near me) and have the technician transfer the negatives (which convert to pictures) onto a CD-ROM for around $7.00. (Something like 144 pictures can be put on a CD-ROM.)

The product comes bundeled with good software. However, the scanner itself has serious issues. Most notably, scan speed and feeder reliability. Making things worst, clearing a paper jam is a significant amount of time. I did not realize how terrible a product this is until I bought a Fujitsu S510 (from Amazon). The difference is night and day. The fujitsu is extremely easy to use, fast, and reliable. When it jam, it is straight forward to clear the jam.

If you are running vista, save your money! Do not buy this scanner!!! Tech support will get it to print to their crappy software, but your computer will not recognize the driver. You will not be able to use it with any purchased software.

This scanner works great now. It only took two hours to figure out that the reason it would not work right is that I had a 20ft USB Cable. This scanner is very particular about cable and cable length so if you have trouble getting it running check to make sure your cable is no more than 16ft long (this is what they support). Also it does not seem to work well from the HP Director so we use the buttons on the front of the scanner. It has been working well otherwise and the ADF seems to hum along pretty well.

I've been using this device for about 12 months now and I'm happy enough with it. Perhaps in the future, I might try this product which seems to get stellar reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000YA1XVG/ref=nosim/gizmodo-20

Yes, it does seem to jam a lot, and when it does, it does seem to be a pain to get it out, depending on where it is. But for the hundreds of documents I scan in, mainly office papers, it does the work well enough.

It creates searchable PDFs, and I simply scan in a document through the ADF, and it creates a file, subbed by the month, and I'm able to later search the documents by the month.

I also use the flat bed for documents that are strangely shaped, or look as though they won't fit the feeder, but those are rare for me.

Overall, I'm happy with it, but I do wish I got the item I linked to above instead, because I don't think I would've expected as much for only $260. For the price of about $460 that I paid for this. . . I think we all expected less hassle with jams. . .