Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)SUMMARY
With a few caveats, this is a great little scanner. The best part is that it actually fits in my Targus computer case WITH my laptop. It weighs only 2-3 pds, and runs off USB power---no converter brick to haul around. Scans are sharp and fast. The automatic settings work very well for nearly all typical originals (old photos, business letters, receipts, etc.)Despite some shortcomings, the price and exceptional portability may make this series of scanners the choice for scanning books---because books which need to be scanned are often non-circulating items in libraries or archives.
SHORTCOMINGS
Unfortunately, the particular design of this scanner (and all other LED-based scanners) is that (unlike most fat desktop scanners) it cannot scan 3D objects.Any portion of your document or image which is not in absolute contact with the glass patten will be very blurry.The raised frame raises the edges of any original which does not fit on the glass patten, causing the egdes of scans to be blurry.This is particularly a problem when scanning books.Nor can you just press down harder---that warps the glass causing blurriness elsewhere on the page, and may even jam the scanning mechanism.However, these problems may be overcome using the strategies discussed below.
The lid is non-removable, which means that you may be out-of-luck if you need to scan part of a large object.
CAVEAT
Even though the frame is a problem, it is lower (1/16") and narrower (3/8") than most other scanners, and so, scanning books etc. is LESS of a problem than with most other scanners.
CHOOSING AMONG THE MODELS
The major difference between the various LiDE models (at least models 90 to 220) is 1) improvements in the automatic scanning functions, and 2) the rated scanning speed. There is no difference in the "advanced settings" portion of the scanning software. The scanners seem to have inadequate buffers, so that if you scan a full page in grayscale at 1200 dpi, or in color at >300 dpi, the scanner stops and starts many times.It is the stopping and starting which takes up most of the time scanning.In such cases there is no practical difference in scanning speed between the models.The "slower" models are quieter, and I suspect are more reliable.Since I use only the "advanced settings" (never the automatic settings), the 110 is my preference, regardless of price.
The 210 may be best for children and other users who will never learn how to use the "advanced settings", since it claims to have superior automated scanning. The 210 may be slightly faster when scanning small originals and/or at low resolution.
If you plan to scan books and if you do not plan to carry the scanner around much, you might consider a Canon LiDE 700. It has 2 major advantages. The right edge is actually flush with the glass surface (hurrah!!)---albeit there is still an excessively wide margin. The lid opens 180 degrees, so you can scan portions of a large object--albeit there is still an "edge problem" for the other three edges.
SCANNING BOOKS
It is easy to scan books which have at least ?" of margin between the print and the spine.Place the right side of the scanner at the edge of a table, so that the book hangs open at 90 degrees when placed on the scanner.Place a moderate weight on top of your original (such as a 1" thick book).If you must press down with your fingers, press at the edges of the glass area (or even better, at the corners), not the middle.If you can't quite get in tight enough, place a 1/16" sheet of stiff cardboard directly behind each page before scanning--it is a pain, but it works.
SCANNING CREASED OR FOLDED ORIGINALS
The foam "pressure pad" in the lid is a bit too soft to insure that some originals (such as stiff letters or receipts which have been folded) are pressed sufficiently flat (even with a book on top of the lid). If you notice this problem, then place a stiff cardboard sheet (or a thin book) directly on top of your original, and close the cover.
SCANNING TO A PORTABLE COMPUTER
The scanner draws power only when scanning.However, at least with my ThinkPad---scanning to a portable running on battery-power very seriously slows down scanning. Plan on having your portable plugged into an AC outlet if you plan to scan more than a few pages.
NON-PROBLEMS AND EASY SOLUTIONS
Despite the instructions, it is not essential to close the lid, but it is necessary to avoid bright light from shining into the scanner.I use my dark microfiber cleaning cloth (folded) to cover any exposed portions of the glass patten when scanning in a bright room with the cover open.
The maximum selectable resolution is1200 dpi.If you want to scan at, say 2400 dpi, you have to type the value in manually in the resolution window. However, such scans are very slow, the files are very large, and I have found no actual improvement in resolution (detail recorded).
The USB cable is nearly 5' long---more than adequate for most purposes.Longer replacement cables, or extension cables are cheap, <$5 if needed.
Don't panic about the scary "unlock the scanner before using" notice in the instructions.If you try to scan with the scanner locked, it will tell you, "unlock me". If so, just unlock it.
PRODUCING PDF DOCUMENTS
The direct-to-pdf option is not recommended unless quality is unimportant to you and you will only be scanning single pages or very short documents to pdf. The reason is that you cannot make any corrections to the scanned document. What if you scan a 50 page document, and then oops! page 2 is too dark?--you've got to rescan the entire document. For best quality and flexibility scan to 1200 dpi tif files, adjust the images with your graphics program, and then convert (and assemble) the files into a pdf document using Adobe Acrobat (or other pdf editor). Beware that any scan, even of text, is an "image" (not real text) and is likely to be downsampled when converting to pdf, unless you specifically disable downsampling. When using a pdf editor to convert to pdf, select "highest quality" --- OR a specific dpi (1200dpi) --- OR disable "downsampling".
GETTING THE VERY BEST SCANS
Admittedly, the automatic settings work very well under most circumstances when scanning "typical" originals (and it is the only portion of the very annoying scanning program that the Canon geeks make any atttempt at improving). But what happens when the automatic settings do not produce good results? You are stuck with crappy scans---or you have to spend half a day learning how to use the "advanced settings". My recommendation---use the "advanced settings" even for routine scans. You'll become a scanning wizard in no-time---far better than any "automatic" program. It only takes a few more seconds for fine-tuning per scan once you know what you are doing.
The very best scans are produced by using the "advanced settings", and setting the tone curve manually, with all of the various options "off". Pre-defining tone curves and other setttings for your particular project makes the process easier. Unfortunately, you have to "summon" your pre-defined settings for each scan. Note particularly, pay attention when defining settings that some of the settings, particularly color, resolution, and auto-tone have not reverted to the defaults. You have to define things in a particular order, or the defaults reset----very annoying.
If you want the best possible scans, you should save to tif---but the only tif files the scanner driver produces are huge uncompressed tif files. Solution: scan from a graphics program which allows you to save files as loss-less tif (LZW compression) which will produce files as small as 1/20 the size with no loss in detail.If it is incovenient to scan from a graphics program, you can scan to JPG. JPG files are always degraded by compression, but if saved nominally uncompressed, degredation does not become significant unless you repeatedly edit and save the files. Solution: scan as jpg, but convert the files to LZW tif before editing them in any way. LZW tif and uncompressed jpg files of the same image are about the same size.
If you scan half-tone (screened) photos from books, magazines, etc. You can use Gausian blur (in your graphics editing program) to improve (descreen) them for viewing and printing. Use the lowest possible value which eliminates the dot pattern: typically, 4-5 pixels at 1200 dpi, 2-2.5 pixels at 600 dpi. Caution---if your scan consists of both images and text, you don't want to blur your text---instead (in your graphics program) select only the images for descreening.
PROBLEMS
I have owned a variety of models. After several thousand scans, my LiDE 90 began showing irregularities (as faint moire patterns) only when black and white half-tone photos were scanned at 1200dpi (or color half-tones scanned at 600 dpi or higher) and then descreened. So, I purchased an LiDE 200 as a replacement, which exhibited the same problem after another thousand or so scans, so I purchased an LiDE 100. The problem is not noticeable in scanned text, or scanned continuous tone images, or otherwise when scanning at low resolution.I suspect that it is the stopping and starting which causes the wear which causes the moire patterns.
It is a bit ridiculous that the drivers are not common between models. You cannot use two different models on the same computer, nor is there any "remember my settings" option when deinstalling the "old" drivers, nor is there anyway to save or backup your settings---so you have to redefine all of your custom setting when install "new" drivers, or installing the software on other computers (such...Read more›
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