Home > Consumer Reviews > Polaroid i-zone Webster Mini Photographic Scanner

Okay, I would have originally given this product a 3-star rating, but felt I had to give it the full 5 stars to offset some of the ... reviews from the customers.... Another thing, some other customer from Canada wrote that to use this product, you would need 12 things for this scanner to work -- but doesn't even mention what these 12 things are.

I can mention the obvious ones:

1. An I-Zone Camera (in the color of your choice)

2. Some I-Zone pictures (plain or sticky, again your choice) that you want to scan

3. A working computer with Win9x/NT/2000/ME, CD/DVD drive and the usual range of ports

4. This Webster Scanner, which comes with serial cable, CD (with lots of good image-related software) and 4 AAA batteries

That's it. What else do you need???

Product Review:

The scanner is pretty easy to use. Just hold the scanner over the picture, press the button, and voila! The picture is scanned and an image of it is stored (up to 20 images) in the scanner to be exported to your computer or to be uploaded to the internet via included serial cable at a later time.

The images produced are small -- about 250x350 pixels. The quality of the images aren't of the best commercial quality, but they're good enough for their intended use -- to be able to make copies of your i-zone pictures to share with everybody else. You can also scan small areas of other things such as text, postage stamps (*shrug* Why not?), other photos, magazines, etc. Nothing to stop you from doing this after all.

The CD comes with software and drivers you need to import pictures from your Webster scanner, plus some fun quality extras to dress them up.

The scanner itself is lightweight, but a bit fragile. It comes with a handy carrying strap, but I wouldn't exactly swing it around carelessly. The opening to the battery compartment can easily pop out and the batteries don't quite fit in snugly. This scanner definitely needs either a protective carrying case and/or improved outer casing. (How about it Polaroid?)

Overall, the Webster scanner is just a fun addition to the I-Zone line of products. While you won't get the best image quality, you no longer have to fight over who gets to keep the picture!

I mean the price I payed for mine, $10, where is $75 coming from? Do not buy it for that price!!! Don't get me wrong, I love my little scanner, I do not own the I-zone camera, I had lots of pictures that you could barely make out what was in them, now I scan them and Voila, LOL you can see everthing, I have my own website and every picture on there is from the webster. I would more likely recommend this scanner as a gift for a child, but for someone who does not have a scanner the webster is great too. NOT FOR $75 THOUGH, BUY A REAL SCANNER FOR THAT PRICE.

I use mine for other pictures as well as i-zone pictures. If used correctly, it works pretty well. Plus I can upload it on my computer and send pictures via email and put on my homepage. It cost much less than a full-size scanner and is pretty flexible. Check out [...] for all the uses.

I wasn't expecting much out of this, but I have to say that I was pretty impressed. Of course this is made for people who have an i-zone camera! You could even scan little parts of other full sized pictures that you might have. I had a fun time uploading the pictures to the web to share with family and friends. I'm glad I put this item on my wishlist!

Great idea... I think it is a cool idea to be able to scan lots of things, not just izone snaps. I just cannot believe that Polaroid made it PC only, by having it be use an old fashioned serial port connection. You would think they would know that their target market leans toward the Mac side of things. Unless you know PCs well, it is a pain in the but to get a serial port device like this working properly, and it is a much slower connection.

USB ports are probablyt more expensive for them to add to a product, (but a snap to install for the user,) and the only connection option for Mac users. They should have raised the price of the Webser the extra lousy 10 bucks and made it a USB device.