Customer Reviews

Microtek ScanMaker 9800XL Scanner

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

I thought the scanner was great, but the lamp went out just after 1 year after I bought it. So now all my scans have a rainbow line from top to bottom. Microtek's extent of technical support is reinstall the drivers, if that doesn't work you have to return it so we can repair it, because there are no authorized repair people out there, but us. They will not sell me the lamp, because they need to repair it themselves (they want the labor dollars). So, after I paid $1,400 for this thing a year ago I am going to have to pay another $200-300 for repair and shipping both ways.

We are a small publisher who scans large print publications for professional use. We ordered the Microtek ScanMaker 9800XL without the optional slide-scanning attachment, since we never scan slides. (The Amazon listings are not very clear on this point, but the more expensive version of this scanner has the slide attachment.) We ordered the scanner on a Saturday and it arrived on Tuesday. It was probably drop shipped from the manufacturer, who is in the same state as us, but that's still pretty efficient. The scanner is faster than our large-format Agfa Duoscan (which we bought for $5,000 six years ago and which is now broken). The Microtek bed is several inches larger than the Agfa's.

The only think I don't like about the Microtek is, the lid will fold up on a hinge but only at right angles. This bunches up really large publications that need to slop over the edge of the scanner bed at that end. The lid of the old Agfa lifted off completely, and I liked that significantly more.

But other than that, the Microtek is a great scanner at a reasonable price.

I have waited four years to buy a large bed scanner. I will never understand why the slight difference in scanner bed size increases the cost so greatly, (an 11 X 14 scanner is as little as $...) but that's the market as it stands. As an artist, I needed a scanner that would capture my work in one scan.

The Microtek scanner came practially ready to go right out of the box and installed into Windows XP effortlessly. It even came with a firewire card to install into the computer in the event the buyer didn't already have one. Very considerate! All necessary cables, both a Firewire OR a USB will operate it, and all the software was there and ready to go. Plugged in, it woke right up and scanned perfectly on it's first time out, as easy as downloading pics from my digital camera. No problems!

Amazon.com not only had the best price after a year of looking around, but offered free shipping and still got it to me the next day. If I had to spend this much on the scanner I at least got great service and treated well by the seller, as well as a quality product. OUTSTANDING!

Scanner stopped working one week after warranty expired, which means this scanner only lasted one year. Microtek will not accept the scanner back for repair even at my cost and does not refer you to an authorized dealer for repair. The response is "buy a new one." The time frame for this response is two weeks. Please take the time to consider another brand!

After some comparative shopping, at less than half the price of newer models, the 9800XL seemd to be the best value in tabloid scanners since I was interested in reflective scans and didn't need optical resolutions beyond 1200 dpi (600 dpi 24 bit color 12"x12" TIFF files are over 150 MB! Even if that doesn't exceed your software limit, most PCs will have a hard time handling the files). I'd only recommend higher resolution units if you plan to scan slides or negatives in which case you probably want at least 2800 dpi (I like my Epson V700).
On the plus side:
+ original setup went smoothly under Windows XP Pro using the FireWire interface
+ calibration is easy and works fine (see below)
+ scan times are acceptable (~3 min for straightforward 600 dpi 24 bit color 12"x17" scan)
+ Digital Ice is useful even if scan times increase by roughly 2-5x
Neutral:
o the adjustment options took some getting used to; initially you "reset" them often and start over until you get the hang of it
o creating and saving custom settings wasn't explained well, but once I figured it out, it worked well and saved time
Negatives:
- THE DISPLAYED PREVIEW IMAGE DOESN'T MATCH THE SCANNED IMAGE VIEWED WITH OTHER SOFTWARE ON THE SAME COMPUTER AND MONITOR!!! It tends to be darker making it very difficult to adjust scanner settings to achieve the desired result. You end up doing more test scans than would otherwise seem necessary.
- scanner is noisy; the combined low-frequency buzzing and high-pitched whirring takes some getting used to
- the supplied drivers and software worked fine but updating to the "latest drivers" from the MicroTek website caused my system to lock up with "Virtual Memmory" errors that couldn't be resolved until the software was completely removed, the MicroTek folder was manually deleted, and the software was reinstalled (and now some of my startup utilities don't!). I informed Microtek but never heard back.
- the pop-up "no scanner attached" notice from the MicroTek scanner server is annoying ("Duh, I know that!")
Other comments:
> 9800XL with the transparency unit offers some additional attractive software; LizardTech document fractal compression software is tenpting but couldn't find ample background and reviews/recommendations that would help me decide to pony up the extra cash.

I've purchased two of these over the past year, and both of them had the lamp fail within the first 3 or 4 months of very light use. Sure, it's an inexpensive tabloid size scanner, but combine the quirky, buggy software with terrible technical support and a product that breaks after a short time of use and I wish I had bought something else. Even if it's double the cost.

Microtek makes one of the only large format scanners on the market today, which concerned me as I don't like to see a monopoly as then product quality won't be job #1. I was surpised, albit pleasantly when I was received the scanner from CDW and how easy it was to use. It has SCSI, Firewire and USB connections on the back which make it easy to setup and install. Scanner quality is excellent as we scan dental xrays and then send them to insurance companies, who are always complaining about fuzziness of the scans. Needless to say we have had no difficulties with this Microtek and would probably buy another one in the future!

Scanner laster a little over a year before burning up. Mind you it has a one year warranty. This was with light use. I've had UMAX scanners for years and never had issues with them.

What can I say? This is the best scanner I've ever used. I'm a graphic artist, so I needed a large scanner to do the job, and this baby does just that. Color and black and white turn out equally fantastic.

Love this scanner! Great reproduction quality, true colors and fast. Gave it 4 stars only because the software is a bit quirky, but works well. The scanner is a 5!

Also, props to Amazon, for good pricing and availiblity on a hard to locate product, plus I got free super saver shipping too!