Customer Reviews

HP Scanjet 4850 Photo Scanner (L1950A#B1H)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I've never been so frustrated by a piece of equipment in my life. I had an older HP scanner that died after scanning thousands of documents, so I naturally looked to upgrade to a newer HP model. This thing is terrible. It worked fine for about a week, but then I started getting errors in the scans. Soon after that the scanner began freezing up regularly and then it ceased to work altogether. I went to the HP web site looking for a patch, and what do you know? A lot of people have been having the same trouble and they had a software patch that would supposedly fix the problem. Unfortunately the patch doesn't help.

At this point, the scanner works about 1 in every 10 tries. It usually freezes up, which then requires a total reboot of Windows. I've managed to get 3 things scanned this morning in about 30 minutes. This scanner is headed for the garbage if a new patch isn't available soon.

Update: I have now downloaded SIX PATCHES from HP's web site and the scanner appears to be working. Obviously it is the software that is incompatible with the combination of Windows XP and various other imaging programs I have loaded on my computer (HP warns about this). I have software for Canon and Fuji digital cameras, so they may be the culprit. In any case, I still wouldn't recommend this scanner given the compatibility issues that come with it.

2nd Update: It is now two months since I posted my original review and I definitely stand by it. I continue to have problems making this thing work right. It's so frustrating whenever I want to scan a document to keep an electronic record of something and I have to shut down my computer or start and stop the scanner. I can usually make it work, but it is NEVER simple and ALWAYS time consuming.

Another Update: Today has been pretty typical of what it's like to try and use this awful scanner. I had six documents to scan. The first three scanned fine. The scanner locked up on the 4th one. Had to reboot and start over (it erased the first 3 scans). This time I scanned 3 documents, stopped and saved everything, then went to my other 3 documents. Now it locked up on the 2nd document. Keep in mind, when it locks up, you can't cancel the job. You have to reboot and start over. By the way, the error message I got told me to reinstall the software yet again. I'm wondering how many of the patches are included in the latest version of the software because I seem to add at least one patch every week.

Final Update: The scanner was destroyed by office workers angry that it failed to perform even the simplest of tasks. Rumor has it that it was thrown from a 3rd floor balcony and then run over repeatedly with a delivery truck. In any case, this was the worst piece of electronic equipment I have seen in 20 years. We connected it to state-of-the-art computers and it was remarkably awful on a very consistent basis. Sorry HP, you're not what you used to be. Canon anyone?

The make copy button on the front of the scanner and in the software does not work properly. In my case it makes copies only in draft mode. After getting the runaround from tech support, and even exchanging the scanner for a new one, tech support admitted to me that "make copy" doesn't work. In some cases it prints nothing, in others it just prints in draft. The gave me a "workaround." Scan it as a picture, then tell it to go directly to the printer. But then the copies don't look like the originals. What really makes me made is that they must have known this all the time, and they just wasted my time and tried to wear me down. I'm returning mine and buying another brand.

I have approximately 10,000 slides to scan. I purchased the 4850 and after about 3,000 slides began to get three to four dark blue lines across the image. After reporting it to HP they sent me a replacement TMA. The new TMA worked fine for the first 450 slides and then BINGO, I now am getting two dark blue lines again. I think the machine is not engineered to handle the work load I have.

I'll start by saying it's generally wise to create a restore point in Windows XP before installing new software. If you want to experiment with this scanner it's essential.

I was able to install the software and get the scanner running. One little clue to trouble ahead was that on rebooting I had to choose myself as the user. Control Panel showed that an invisible user had been created. Anyway, I did get some nice scans of documents and photos. Detail was very good, but there was a slight magenta cast in photos needing software correction. Besides more dpi, there was one noticeable improvement over my old HP Scanjet 5300C. The software of the new 4850 includes threshhold adjustment for one-bit scans. On scanning plain text that is the adjustment needed to keep too-dark background from turning into black blotches (the default in the 5300) or too-light text from disappearing.
Now, the not-so-good. Scanning slides and negatives is a token feature in this model. Gorgeously detailed Kodachrome slides can be scanned to cell-phone-camera quality digital images. That's after doing software correction of the color and brightness. The bloated software doesn't save scans to an accessible file until the scan session is closed down. The older Scanjet could save it directly to Windows Explorer, and the session could be minimized while the file is viewed.
At this point I considered it not bad, but not good enough. I decided to return it to Office Depot, and I might have given the 4850 three stars on the review. Then I removed the software. That's when I started getting error messages on bootup and shutdown complaining of missing .dll file. Fortunately I had a good restore point from a program I put in earlier. That cured the malfunctions in Windows created by HP's burning-their-bridges software. That's why I think one star is justified, even though it might otherwise earn a moderate to good rating.

I didn't experience the problem others reported of the program freezing at high resolution. That may be because the decision to upgrade my scanner came after upgrading my computer. The new computer is probably more tolerant of heavy resource demands than older ones.
I'm currently getting used to a new Epson 4490 that I got to replace the HP 4850. Initial tests of the Epson look very encouraging.

I found this scanner at Staples across the street - I grabbed it because it was easy to get. Well, so is VD. It held up for about 1/2 dozen documents, then began crashing: the program ("scan pro") quits every time. Wasted plenty of time trying to find help at the website - wound up chucking the damn thing into the trash with the rest of the kitchen stink. If you're on a mac, don't waste time with HP. I should have known better.

i dont think this is worth the money. It barely scans anything at 1200dpi and darkens all slides and negatives by at least 10 shades. it will not copy anything with words, and takes over an hour to scan anything at a high resolution and the program often freezes up and you have to turn off and re start your computer

I just got this HP 4850 scanner to scan some slides that I could not get scanned with an Epson 4490 (took too long). I scanned a bunch of 35 mm slides at 600% enlargement (a bit bigger than 5x7") and a final resolution of 300 dpi. I used the dust removal setting on the HP software. Took about one minute per slide (four slides can be loaded at once); the Epson was taking 5 minutes per slide at best. I printed the resulting images on a Canon iP4000 inkjet printer, and they look fine. The HP 4850 had some trouble finding the slide images automatically, and it consistently left a black border on the left and bottom of the slides. Adjusting the image capture in the preview was not easy -- had to zoom in, reposition, and zoom out to see the next one -- and even after adjusting, some border was scanned. But I am happy with the purchase -- so much faster than the 67% more expensive Epson. Wish I had known that the next HP up the line (4890?) can scan 16 slides at one time!

Works real well , no promblems with downloading program info , very basic program. First unit came damaged , but Amazon.com sent me new unit immediately. I was up and running in two days.

I have now spent more than 10 hours downloading software patches, deleting programs, adding programs, & rebooting -- all to no avail. Not 1 scan has completed successfully. My system is a well maintained Dell Dimension running Windows XP-Home with 512 meg main memory and a 100 gb hard drive that is less than 25% full. I run Norton Systems Works, Corel Paint Shop Pro X and Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite 8 software without problems. I installed a HP Photosmart 8250 printer in Mar. 2006 that has performed and continues to perform well & problem free.
HP customer support for the scanner promptly replies to my email and provides suggested solutions. However at this point, even if they eventually supply a solution that works, it will not make up for the veritable torture inflicted.
I find it incredible that HP offers its scanner products with such poorly functioning included software. I doubt I will ever purchase an HP computer related product again!

Updated: I can't believe it's been a year. I have learned to work work the software- and I am realizing that it seems to have been designed, essentially, to scan photos without a whole lot of effort, which it seems to do pretty well. Once I learned how to set it up for this- and actually had a need for this- it began to make a little more sense. But not much else has changed, and look forward to upgrading to something a little - no, make that a lot- better thought out.

They used to make such reliable stuff. Buy an HP peripheral and you knew that was the end of it. So what happened? Why do they feel a need to constantly "improve" such an essentially simple device? I know HP can build great hardware, but at what point, exactly, does a gasping designer rush in and say, "Oh, wait, that old software isn't as GOOD as *ours*!" What is a scanner but a mirror? How complicated is that? I want to make images of my images, and the easier it is for me to do this the happier a consumer I will be. Instead, I find apparent refugees from Microsoft or some community college software design school polluting the work of good engineers by muddying up the UI so badly I am compelled to hate this product beyond words.

Show me what is on the glass and ask me where to put it. Should be no more complicated than this.

After reading all the reviews of all the scanners I possibly could before need took over, I had to replace my venerable old HP ScanJet 5730 without feeling like I really would be improving the situation a whole lot. I settled on a ScanJet 4850 mostly because it was the least objectionable off-the-shelf choice I could make in this little town of mine. It looks like my old 5730. It fits in the drawer I custom built to house it. And I am still trying to find a direct way to quickly and simply get a photo saved or a document copied.

I am still shocked beyond disappointment. And it has only been about two hours. I may have to buy every unit in town to see if it's just me or not.

For now: One star for software, 4 for the machine. Averages a 2. Sort of. More later.