Hi,
why is everbody, including Devon Tech., recommend the Fujitsu ScanSnap scanners? What do they offer over multifuntion printers like the Canon MX series (who are capable of ADF scanning with 30 pages a minute or so)?
Just wondering. Any thoughts?
Don’t know exact answer to that. Same scanner is recommended by competitor as well.
I was in same position as you month ago starting up with paperless office. I accepted recommendation about scanner type because I didn’t want to experiment with 400 dollar scanner, purchased ScanSnap and like it. It is easy to use, and quite fast, comes with Adobe software (didn’t touch it yet).
Like DT Pro as well even that I still don’t know how to use it properly. I am unsure about tags, automatic sorting, there is no multiple users among other things.
I’ll give you my reasons. I recently bought a Scansnap S1500M after using an HP L7780 all-in-one. Here’s why I upgraded:
- The HP was slow at duplex scanning. It (and most MFPs, I think) can only scan one side at a time, while the Scansnap can scan both sides.
- The HP was prone to jamming. The scan paper path isn’t as straight and seems to be more prone to jamming, especially when scanning thin paper. It also had a lot of problems where it would feed multiple pages through at once. Recovering meant restarting the job or stitching files by hand.
- The software was terrible. I could not scan within or to DTPO, I had to scan to images and OCR it in. HP ditched their Twain driver with Snow Leopard, and the DTPO Image Capture integration couldn’t find my networked scanner.
The scansnap is better in all ways. The S1500 is extremely good at finding multiple-feed problems and at avoiding jams. When one of those happens, it’s much easier than the HP to clear, and the software makes it easy to ignore the page with the problem and restart. It’s got good autorotation so that most of the time, however I put docs into the scanner, the file is right-side-up. The integration with DTPO is seamless. I can drop a full magazine (with binding removed) in the hopper, and in a couple minutes it’s scanned and DTPO is off OCRing it.
I don’t know how good the Mac software is for the canon MFPs, but the HP software was only adequate in a pinch.
One more anecdote:
I’ve got a lot of old magazines that I’d like to keep to read, but don’t have physical space for. I want them in digital form. They aren’t on the web and aren’t likely ever to be there. I cut the bindings off one and scanned it with the L7780. It took me about 2 hours, as I dealt with paper jams and multiple feeds, and manually figuring out which pages I’d been missing.
With the S1500, I’ve done five more issues, with barely a speed bump. Occasionally I had to handle a multifeed, but since the scansnap noticed, I could address it while scanning and just feed the pages back into the hopper. Average time per issue: 5 minutes for a 100 pg magazine.
Another High Five for the Scansnap S1500M. I’ve been using one for months. It’s AMAZING. A really top-quality scanner. Currently I’m using it with Yep!, but I hope to use it with DEVON as well if I can master DEVON.
Really, it is a great scanner. I used to have a PaperPort, and that thing had to be rebooted 4x every session.
The S1500M has NEVER crashed on me–ever.
If I had to get rid of my ScanSnap or DTPO, I’d keep the ScanSnap 
(As much as I’m a heavy user of DTPO, the scanner is what saves me money.)
I’ll throw my $0.02 in here too. I have an S510M (the ‘older model’ of the S1500M).
I’ve used scanners from multiple vendors in both my professional and personal life, from Canon to Xerox to HP. All have MPF capability, and every one has to be tended while scanning to watch for (or wait for) a jam.
when i got the scansnap, i was utterly amazed at the way it just worked. i don’t have to babysit it, even when i scan multiple pages.
but the biggest benefit (aside from it just doing what its supposed to do), is its ability to handle pages of different sizes. i’ve NEVER been able to scan a stack of pages that had letter and legal pages in one go on anything but the SS. it does it without a hitch.
'course, it’s also pretty much bullet-proof when it comes to paper type as well - from cardstock to triplicate-type receipts, it just chugs along and works.
the fact that it works seamlessly with DTPO is icing on the cake. i was actually expecting to have to screw with the scansnap manager software to point it to DT, but no. after the software install, i fired up DT and it asked if i wanted to install the scansnap support. boom. scan-OCR-file.
worth EVERY penny (if only it could be bought without the lousy adobe crud included)…
Hi,
thanks for all the input guys. It’s gonna be the 1500S then! 
Btw what is the difference between the s300m and the s300?
Same question with the s1500m and the s1500?
Is it only the bundled mac software (which I won’t need, using DTPO)?
I vaguely remember it mentioned in some other thread(s) a few months ago that the ‘m’ versions include an OS X driver which you have to find/download separately if you get the non-‘m’ model.
Sorry to bump an oldish thread. Does the above mean that one has to “find” the Mac driver through “alternate means,” or is it freely available from Fujitsu for owners of a plain S1500? And if one buys the S1500M will it work w/a Windows machine as well?
I have the S300M and tried to connect it to a Windows machine (XP Pro SP3) and it wouldn’t work. I called Fujitsu directly and was told the “M” ONLY worked with Macintosh. I don’t know if it’s a marketing thing, or a physical limitation. Don’t know if the same is true with the S1500M. I did find a link that says the S300M does work with Windows 7. Can anyone verify this?