Tuesday, September 7, 2010

More on the New Toy

I realized I should have included more information on the wand scanner, so here is the blurb from the box:

Brookstone Portable Document and Photo Scanner

- Creates sharp, photo-quality files up to 600x600 dpi
- Easy – features one-touch scanning
- Fast – color scans in as little as 3 seconds, b/w scans in as little as 2 seconds
- Stores images on microSD card up to 32GB (card required, not included)
- Includes Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software for Windows that converts text documents into editable files (note: included OCR software not Mac-compatible) [waah]
- Uses 2 AA batteries (not included)
- Includes USB cable
- Scanner is compatible with Windows 7, Vista and Mac OS X 10.4+

The scanner costs $99 at Brookstone and we got a 4GB microSD card at Office Depot for $18.

My husband put the stuff in and started it up; he says that it was easy to do.

The instructions are simple: hold down the Power/Scan button for 2 seconds to turn it on and do the same to turn it off. To scan, place it on the document, with the document resting on a flat surface and located between the scan guides. Press the Power/Scan button once (a green light on the indicator means it’s on) and move it slowly and evenly over the document. If you are moving it too quickly, you will get a red light. When you reach the end of the document, press the Power/Scan button once to stop the scan.

You then use the USB cable to upload the images to your computer in much the same way as you would with your camera. I did make one mistake at this point; whereas I only have to turn my camera off to disconnect, the computer recognizes the scanner as an external device and it has to be disconnected from the desktop before you turn it off, or you get one of those “Device incorrectly disconnected” messages.

(Note: I am not associated with Brookstone; just a Techno-Dummy who is delighted to have a small, simple-to-operate scanner.)

5 comments:

  1. Thank Greta.

    One last question, and you may have to play with it for a while, any idea, how long the batteries will last?? 2 documents or 200?? I suppose some would depend on the size of the document, a legal size document,maybe not as many as something that is only half a page.

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  2. Hmm, not sure about that. Also, the width of the swath is something like 9 inches, so large documents would have to be scanned in more than a single pass of the wand.

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  3. Greta, I enjoyed your post so much I linked to it on our Facebook page. http://bit.ly/ciD48y

    Thanks,
    Brookstone

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  4. This seems like such a grand piece of equipment to take along on research trips. Thanks for sharing it with us.

    Congratulations on your anniversary.

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  5. Greta - I know it's been a while since your original post, but are you still loving the wand scanner? I'm thinking about getting one. Are you aware of any negatives now that you've been using it for a while? Have you run into any problems at any archives/ libraries/records centers with the staff not allowing wand scanners? Just curious...

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