Looking to upgrade to Wifi scanning -- Brothers vs. Fujitsu recommendations?

Hi,

Currently using a Fujitsu ScanSnap s1300 scanner to stay paperless. This scanner requires that I have two USB plugs to my Mac or one USB plus a power cord. I’m looking to move to a wireless / WiFi solution and drop the USB connection. What seems to stand out in the reviews and such are the Brothers ADS-1250W/ADS-1700W and the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1500.

Have folks here had luck with the Brothers or the newer Fujitsu? Seems like reviews are mixed on the web / Amazon. I tend to use DevonThink as my scanning solution, and avoid the manufacturer software.

Looking for recommendations on something reasonably sized that can scan duplex docs over wifi direct to DevonThink.

Thanks!

Jeff

I have been using the iX1500 for about six months and think very highly of it. The software on both Mac and iOS is quite good and updated regularly. The scanner retains what I’ve long loved about ScanSnaps, the ability to scan almost anything at high speed without jamming. I’m fairly sure I could scan a ham and cheese sandwich in duplex using it.

I’ve had a long line of Brother MFC units, the scanners of which have been fine. No complaints, but the software isn’t as much to my liking and they don’t seem as robust when given a mixed stack of items to scan. Their one advantage is that they work with Image Capture on the Mac. Not a big deal for my uses.

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If you go ScanSnap you will definitely want to avoid Fujitsu’s software. The switch from ScanSnap Manager to ScanSnap Home has been met with almost universal scorn (at least, in my crowd).

I didn’t realize that DT had their own separate interface for it. I’ll have to check that out.

If you go ScanSnap you will definitely want to avoid Fujitsu’s software. The switch from ScanSnap Manager to ScanSnap Home has been met with almost universal scorn (at least, in my crowd).

I would disagree with this. It’s certainly a clunky looking interface now, but you really don’t need to interact with it much. Just for setting the profile to send the output to DEVONthink.

I didn’t realize that DT had their own separate interface for it. I’ll have to check that out.

And remember, you can’t control the ScanSnap with DEVONthink.

To @banshee and @BlueFrog’s points: I have a profile set up in the current ScanSnap software for my 1300 scanner that sends scans directly to DevonThink. I have DevonThink set up to automatically deposit these into the Global Inbox and then make them text searchable (OCR with ABBY Finereader). I try to interact with the ScanSnap software as little as possible and have DevonThink do most of the work. This has the nice side effect of allowing me to queue up scans for OCR in DevonThink. This way I can scan as quickly as possible, and then DevonThink clear the OCR queue in the background. The ScanSnap software itself blocks while it processes/OCRs, so I have to wait for it. DT doesn’t block. DT isn’t controlling the scanner, but it is taking over most of the processing work that used to be done in the ScanSnap software and providing a queue mechanism that ScanSnap doesn’t.

Ah. Thanks for the clarification.

Also make sure you read up on Fujitsu’s new licensing model. It has some weird (and arguably draconian) provisions limiting the number of Macs you can use your hardware with, if I recall.

Have you done a comparison of the quality of the OCR between ScanSnap and DEVONthink? That’s one I don’t think I’ve compared, yet. When I compared ScanSnap’s OCR to several other PDF apps (PDFPen Pro, Acrobat DC, PDF Expert, and Bluebeam), the ScanSnap came out on top for me, nicely balancing resultant file size and OCR accuracy. I’m usually scanning less than ten pages, so the ScanSnap OCR is pretty quick for me.

I upgraded this year to the Scansnap iX1500. I use the Scansnap to scan docs at home into the DT inbox. My old Scansnap was tethered to my iMac in the basement study so I would build up a pile of docs and then take them down to scan every now and then. With the new iX1500, I have it located in the kitchen next to where I open the mail so I can immediately scan docs as they come in and they are wireless sent to my iMac to be processed in DT. OK, I’m lazy… My old scanner was giving me some trouble after many years of service so it was time to upgrade anyway.

Works great. I do use the Scansnap Home software and don’t have any complaints after the initial learning curve. Set it and forget it basically.

The one thing I don’t like is that my only Scansnap is not supported by Scansnap Home so if I want to use it connected to my iMac I have to use Vuescan software.

All I can say is my Fujitsu S510M is still working with my Mac, albeit tethered, and it must be over 12 years old.

I have to agree with @banshee; i find ScanSnap Home to be a cumbersome, bloated and unreliable piece of software. I have experienced numerous crashes, it blocks me from using the scanner whilst it is working (only briefly if sending documents to DT though, with one caveat: when scanning complex A3 sized documents with the support sheet the pause after scanning and before I can scan the next document is noticeable), and the integrated licensing system has repeatedly blocked me from using the scanner at all (following some crashes it looses licensing information and will no longer scan until reregistered, which only works when my internet connection and Fujitsu’s servers are alive).

The licensing model is something I have never come across before in hardware - Fujitsu limit how many computers their scanners can be attached to - the lowest number being 1. When my iX100 failed to register correctly it was bricked, and still would be if I hadn’t been able to activate my account using the iX500. Now, those were early days, and perhaps things have gotten better. But honestly: coming from the previous software (which just worked) to what Fujitsu have turned out now was frustrating and wasted hours of my time.

Having said all that: the scanner (iX500) is very very good.

@BLUEFROG: IIRC: DT3 has a fixed level of quality when performing OCR; if I want the document to be compressed to a different level, creating larger or smaller files, then I have to perform OCR in ScanSnap Home before passing the file to DT - or am I mistaken? AFAIK that means some use cases will require the user to actually use ScanSnap Home. I for one would buy a different make of scanner if I had to use ScanSnap Home regularly (the main reason being the mad wait before I can scan the next document when using ScanSnapHome)

Correct regarding the lack of user-definable settings. There are now default settings in the OCR, balanced for speed, file size, and quality. Development would have to comment on the specifics of those settings.

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