Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100 Document Scanner
Review:
With the advent of the paperless office, it's hard to believe that this portable scanner has only just made an appearance on the market! Even in such an office, it is inevitable that some paper correspondence will still be received, so this will need to be scanned into the electronic database. While most offices will already have an office scanner, this portable scanner is ideal for the businessman/woman who travels around, or even just for the home office where there isn't much space. The size of the scanner is about the width of a ruler and slightly smaller in height, so it really can't be described as anything other than portable!
The installation of the device software was painless and quick, and the instructions that came with it were easy to follow. The scanner itself also produces perfectly acceptable scan results and there are several different default options for the quality; these being small file size, high quality and recommended. I would say that the high quality scan settings only have a very marginal improvement in detail, and only scans at about half the speed, so from my point of view, I would probably use the standard settings. The colour rendering is also very accurate, so users shouldn't have anything to worry about here.
If using the default settings, it is very quick to operate. Simply plug it in to your USB port, insert the sheet of paper and press the scan button on the device. However, one of the downsides is that you can only insert one sheet of paper at a time i.e. there is no document feeder. Obviously this is the price to be paid for the scanner being so portable and in any event, it's still easy to scan multiple documents as it will continue to automatically scan each page inserted into the same document until the user tells it to stop. If you try to feed the documents into the scanner too quickly (i.e. don't leave enough time for the 1st page to clear before inserting another) it will jam, although these are always easy to clear and the only effect of it is that you have to start from the beginning again!
Many different types of documents can also be scanned as the paper can either be fed out through the top or the back. Therefore, you can scan anything from paper to card to credit cards.
The output files from the scan can be saved in many different formats, ranging from the usual pdf or Microsoft Office document to JPEG picture file or printing directly. Some of the software also has great potential for managing documents in any environment, such as Evernote which allows you to keep all your scans organised, however you do need to be careful that you don't accidently share sensitive documents with other Evernote users!
From my review, you'll have noticed that I haven't mentioned many downsides to this portable scanner, other than it can jam if the paper is fed too quickly and that there is no document feeder. However, this is because I can't spot any others and hence I really do believe this is an ideal product for any modern paperless office!
Technical Details
- Maximum scan size: 216 x 863 mm
- Scan type: Sheet-fed
- Optical scanning resolution: 600 x 600 DPI
- Colour: Y
- Scan speed: 7.5 sec/page
