Customer Reviews

Umax Astra 3400 Flatbed Scanner

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

This is a wonderful scanner. PROS: - USB interface - scans really fast (about 20-30 seconds!) - easy to use push button for scanning, copying, or custom (email, fax, or OCR). - around $90 - $20 rebate = $70. - very quiet

CONS: - custom button only works with certain software for emails. - OCR Presto software to use with the push-button is not accurate . I use the Omnipage that it came with for OCR which is very accurate but it can not be used with the push-button (at least I haven't figured out how to do it).

I bought a Umax 3400 scanner about 3 years ago. The copy utility worked great however the other programs were difficult and touchy. I have since upgraded to Windows XP and it is now not compatible. I bought the software to upgrade it (duh) and it did not work (nonrefundable). I tried to contact the company by phone and they want to charge $25 for tech support over the phone (not to mention it's not an 800# and I had to pay long distance). NO WAY! I tried to e-mail them without any response. DO NOT BUY UMAX. THEIR TECHNICAL SUPPORT STINKS!!!!!

Buy Umax only if you will never upgrade your software. If you plan on upgrading your operating system in the future Umax is not the way to go. Any time you need to upgrade drivers for say a new operating system or if you lost yours, unlike most other computer manufacturers, Umax will not let you download drivers for the upgrade. Instead they will mail you the drivers for [a price]. Real customer service.

I upgraded my Operating System to Windows XP and UMAX scanner stop working. Obviously it required driver for Windows XP.

Unlike other vendors, UMAX dosnot provide drivers for free. They charge so much that in that amount you will buy another scanner.

I will never buy any UMAX products in future. I don't know how this company is still surviving.

NEVER BUY UMAX PRODUCT. If you don't belive me try calling their Customer Service and ask for driver, you will get the answer. Then you will thank me for this review.

About the scanner, it sucks, its very slow and color are not accurate.

I would have given ZERO stars but this was not the option.

Despite the fine job this scanner does with scanning, its software is very poor. My system is above average and not frequently thrown off, but everytime I connect this thing, the entire system goes ot of whack and frequently freezes altogether. Also, it is a pain to have to unplug the cord from the outlet everytime I want to turn it off because it has no power button...and you also have to take out the usb cord when you unplug it. Bottom line is: good at scanning, but poorly designed for purposes of convinience.

I really wanted to love my new scanner. I had owned a UMAX scanner years ago when I still had a Mac and had no problems so I felt comfortable trying this one. Now with a PC laptop, I was all geared up but found when the Astranet3400 arrived that I had no place to go. The User's Manual contained several errors, including the fact that you cannot use the email function if you have Netscape. The PhotoShop software did not work with Windows 98 but at least I had other software I could use, an option which many folks won't have. The scanner came with 2 cds, one which contains Adobe 3.0, the other Adobe 4.0 and you have to uninstall 3.0 before you can go any further. I did manage to scan for about 3 days and tried to work around the bugs. Then, all kinds of error messages started popping up. Email tech support said I needed to uninstall and reinstall the whole shebang, which I did. The errors continued and then finally, it failed to scan altogether. I defragged, uninstalled, reinstalled, uninstalled, reinstalled... After 2 wks of lost time and energy, it is being returned. Too many bugs, too many conflicts, too many broken promises. It may be defective, frankly I am not willing to reorder. I ended the relationship before either of us could be hurt any more...boo hoo.

I got this for occasional scanning needs, and what a peice of $#!%. When it did work, it was reasonable, but at one point just started scanning grey. Patches, jiggling, tech support were all completely useless. Now they make you pay for drivers if you lost the disk, which is like adding expensive insult to injury.

Do not, under any circumstances, buy this scanner. You may get lucky, it might work for you - but if you feel that lucky use the money on lottery tickets.

The box says Windows 98/2000 or above. After spending 8 hours on installation problems and working with 3 tech support people, the 4th tech support person told me that the bundled Adobe Photoshop software does not work with Windows Me. They had spent a month trying to get it to work, but gave up. I had mentioned to each of the previous tech people that I was using Windows Me. They need to get the message out to their own staff and buyers that it doesn't work with Me.

I got a scanner with my dell computer purchase. A UMAX 3400, well after two years i finally decided to use it and guess what its burned out. I dont know if I can get a replacement, its very disappointing.

If you do purchase a UMAX scanner, make sure nothing happens to the driver or software, because they will not help you recover the software/driver ever again. Instead, you purchase drivers and then pay $14.95. I think they are idiots for not supporting their products. I will NEVER buy another UMAX product again. NEVER!!!!!