Home > Consumer Reviews > Compaq S4 100 Color USB Scanner

This scanner is a big waste of money to anyone. It didn't take a long time to figure out that this scanner wasn't very good. The software installation caused my computer to freeze several times. After getting everything installed correctly, I started to try and scan. It took about a day to try and figure everything out, and some things didn't work. The one-touch buttons didn't work, one program completely crashed, and it wouldn't scan to email, fax, or applications. The Presto! PageManager that came with it worked once and then it was never to work again. The vistascan only let me do the screen saver thing. The calander and all that other stuff never worked. Compaq offered no support whatsoever on this scanner. They told me it was my computer. Every other piece of equipment worked on my computer, so what's the deal? The top cover to the scanner then broke off the little hooks. Also, when the scanner decided to work, I got a rainbow streak of lines on all of my pictures and documents. After a few months of frustration, The whole thing finally went kaput. I get a lovely little message that says "Scanner failure". Please, don't buy this. If it comes with your computer package, try to get them to do something else instead. A few dollars off the package, software, just anything but this. It's a waste of time, money and energy. I went and bought a Lexmark X83 3-in-1 machine. That has worked like a dream. Get that--you get it all in one and IT WORKS!

I contacted Compaq who responded quickly and tried to help me,but their software program conflicted with my Lexmark program and caused close-down faults of the Lexmark program. I didn't finish the question of there being a final software patch for this problem. But I was turned off by having to change the printer software spooling every time I switched between the scanner other types of printing.

The other problem is that the lid does not disconnect and as my scanner is in a tight space I have to wrestle with the top when I put bulky objects (such as books) on it.

Physically and software-wise, the Compaq scanner was easy to setup.

The color scan accuracy was fair, but not sharp. I tried resolutions up to 9600dpi, which took about 4 minutes for a color scan. A 600dpi scan took about 10 to 15 seconds depending on B/W or color. I don't know if the problem was with my printer, but when I made color scans of a black and white picture, the print-out had a blue cast all over the page. The black and white scans were fine.

My S4 100 scanner is only about 6 months old. It will only scan in a sort of pinkish/red color, although up to this point, it worked fine. I called Compaq support and received NO HELP. Their representative informed me that my warranty was up and that they could do no further troubleshooting for me. I think this is very bad customer service and just thought I would let you know.

The Compaq S4 100 is a relabeled/repackaged UMAX Astra 3400. Althoughthat's not a bad thing, the UMAX version costs less (after rebates onboth versions) and comes with a 1-year warranty compared to Compaq's90-days. Unless this scanner is being "thrown in" with aCompaq PC purchase, or unless you're intent on getting the Compaq namefor some reason or another, check out UMAX's version.

Don't buy this scanner if you have any interest in the new XP operating system. It only works with the basic functions under the new WIA interface, and does NOT work at all with the included Vistascan software, including the one button functions like copy. Also Compaq barely knows that this scanner even exists, and UMAX (it's a 3400) drivers don't work either.

Bad, bad, bad.