Customer Reviews

Xerox DocuMate 250

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

 

 

For the past several years I have used Epson flatbed scanners for both personal and business use. My Epson scanners provided a very good scan quality, and at a decent scan speed. The Epson software interface was ok, but not the greatest. Last week I decided to take a chance on this Xerox Documate 250, and I'm really glad I did. This thing rocks! I am amazed at how fast it scans stuff. And the scan quality is great. The software that comes with the scanner is really good, too. Much more user-friendly than the Epson software. Another neat feature is that this scanner will scan directly to PDF format. So no more cumbersome file conversion from JPEG's, BMP's, etc. I am seriously considering buying another Xerox Documate 250 (or another Xerox Documate model) for home and/or business use. I'm that impressed. I don't write many product reviews, so that should tell you something about this product.

I have to scan medical documents, sometimes 4 or 5 at a time, to .pdf. Interfacing with Acrobat 6 was a problem at first, but Acrobat 6 Prof and Standard have an update, 6.0.2, and after that, I had no problems. This machine is FAST. Zip, zip, zip! Done! The software interface is simple and unobtrusive. I use a program, MacroExpress, to facilitate the process,and this is the only software I've used (two others so far) that adapts almost pefectly. The warmup time was a problem for me in the past. I dictate reports, then attach other documents to the finished products. If one inserts the sone-to-be scanned documents in the scanner as one is nearing completion, it warms up, and by the time I'm ready to scan, it's over in a matter of seconds. I spent a significant amount of time searching for the best if not perfect scanner. This is it.

The product support was friendly and good, and I didn't have to wait too long to talk with someone when I was having trouble with the Acrobat 6 interface. Coming from a flatbed scanner without auto document feeding, I feel like the ape in the beginning of 2001 Space Oddessy, my leg bone just morphed into a space station.

I have been using the DocuMate for two months, but it was in use for some time before I arrived at my company. I like the machine a lot and have considered calling my co-workers at my former place of business to recommend it.

Last week, the machine started jamming and was feeding documents in crooked. I later saw what I believed to be a strip of paper dangling out of the output tray and yanked it out. It was a long white strip of tape. After its removal, image quality dropped to the point of uselessness. I decided to try using Bic White Out Correction tape over the space where the adhesive strip had previously been and the image quality returned.

I have called Xerox to reorder this missing "part" and have been told that there is no replacement part because the machine is assembled overseas. Can you imagine that a $700 machine can be disabled over a three cent strip of tape? I will continue using the machine and reapply the white out if it removes itself with use. OfficeMax sells the starter package for $2.29 and two-pak replacement tapes for $3.99.

Four stars for product use, 1 star for Xerox product support.

Bought this for a research project. Broke down after scanning just under 4,000 pages (it's supposed to scan 2,500 per day). No longer under warranty (2 mos. past), so Xerox refused to send another one. Xerox does not service it's own products or sell replacement parts. I've talked to a number of repair centers who say the documate is junk. So stay away from this product.

This product fairly reeks of the "rush to release" syndrome. The instruction manual comes with several separate "Errata" sheets attached, correcting misinformation inadvertently printed in the manual. If you use this scanner, you can't have any drivers for any other Visioneer scanners on your computer, which is frankly ridiculous -- for a scanner that costs $1000, you'd think the software engineers could devise a driver that doesn't cause such problems, especially since many people own more than one scanner. What's worse, they're not kidding -- I uninstalled the Documate driver and returned the scanner for a refund, but I still can't get my other scanners to work, because the Documate software screwed them up. This scanner is way too much trouble for the money. I wish I'd never heard of it.
Update -- 4/2005 -- if you're looking for a duplex scanner, you're better off with the Fujitsu FI-4120C2. I found it, and it's excellent.

This scanner arrived with an incorrect power adapter in the box. Xerox customer service replaced it for the correct one promptly. The software that comes with the scanner is not usable on newer systems. As described in the product description it works with Windows XP and older. I have Windows 7 and I got this to work with the help of Xerox customer service and buying the Paperport 12 scanning software from Nuance for $100(the scanner comes with version 9). More work and expense than anticipated. I am happy with it now.

I have had this up and running in my law office for almost a year, now. Replaced a Fujitsu scanner that consistently jammed and mis-fed. With the Xerox I have experienced exactly two misfeeds out of thousands of scans, one because I neglected to remove a staple and the other because I failed to adjust the paper guides to the smaller paper being scanned. The supplied software permits scanning to PDF and virtually flawless OCR and is user-friendly to operate. And it is zippy! Load the originals in, the machine immediately grabs the first page and cycles it into position. Once the light is warmed up, a process that takes about 20 seconds, the pages verily fly through, scanning the front or both the front and back. If multiple docs are being scanned one after another, there is no lag time on after the light is warmed up for the first batch. The feeder accomodates some 25 pages, depending on how heavy the sheets are. Instead of scanning to file, it can be set to scan to the printer, effectively turning it into a desktop copy machine. Mine even came with a replacement sheet feeder bearing; this is evidently a wear item provided so that when the machine begins to mis-feed this part can be replaced by the user to solve the problem. The installation and use literature came in a booklet and was not written by someone whose English is a second language. This thing is expensive, but in my opinion its worth it if you want a commercially mature machine.

When I purchased this scanner the provider was out of stock of the simplex model so we settled on a deal for the duplex version. It is providing me with excellent service and I have no complaints. I particularly recommend the duplex version which scans both sides of the document in a single pass as the pages zip through one after the other.