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Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 Instant PDF Sheet-Fed Scanner
See it at Amazon.com for $430.89Average Customer Rating
(5.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
This little scanner is awesome!
(5 out of 5) by BookMan on Apr 1, 2009 (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA)My old HP scanner (actually, it wasn't that old) died a few months ago and it was time for me to get a new one. I accidently came across the predecessor to the ScanScap S1500 (the S510) last week while I was having my taxes done and was amazed at the speed and compactness of it. My tax person also gave it glowing reviews. As I wasn't aware that Fujitsu manufactured scanners, I thought I'd do a little research which led me to reviews of the S510 here on Amazon. Rather amazingly, I was very surprised to find that the S510 had so many extraordinarily high reviews (something that I don't believe I come across too often, especially with items such as scanners). One of those reviews mentioned that a new model (this one - the S1500) had just been released by Fujitsu. After some more research (it wasn't yet listed on Amazon), I found that this scanner was available and that it had many new features. As it turns out, I was the "first kid on my block" to acquire one and I'm glad I did! This machine is incredible!
The speed is absolutely blinding - an incredible 20 pages per minute but, because it scans both sides of a page at the same time, double sided documents scan at 40 PAGES PER MINUTE! Wow! As with previous models, this scanner is very small and appears to be well built: it's quite heavy for its small size and fits very nicely on my small computer desk. The scanning quality is equally spectacular - it scans up to 600 dpi in color, grayscale, and black and white and mine came with a good assortment of software (Adobe Acrobat 9, Rack2-Filer, and ABBYY FineReader). It scans documents beautifully! While I've been too busy scanning the billions of pieces of paper that have cluttered my life for years (this scanner will actually do that quickly and efficiently - something I've always just dreamed would be possible), I haven't yet tried to scan photos; I suspect that this scanner will do a good job but that another type of scanner would probably do better for archival purposes).
The only problems I've had were with Acrobat (I already have Acrobat 9 Pro on my computer) - I found that importing previously scanned documents into Rack2-filer were always listed in reverse order (ugh!) and Fujitsu tech support replicated the problem. They suggested, however, that I completely uninstall (not just repair) Acrobat and reinstall it. That did the job. BTW, I received great tech support from Fujitsu.
One interesting thing is that this scanner does not come with TWAIN drivers. Because of this, it is not possible to use it to the same extent as other scanners. Just the same, my reason for getting this scanner was to create .pdf files and this scanner does it like no other.
Overall, I'm thrilled with the Fujitsu S1500 - there is no question that it is the best one I've had (and I've had many) and is well worth the money (the S1500 is also the most expensive scanner I've ever purchased). I would recommend this to anyone who needs to scan documents.
The speed is absolutely blinding - an incredible 20 pages per minute but, because it scans both sides of a page at the same time, double sided documents scan at 40 PAGES PER MINUTE! Wow! As with previous models, this scanner is very small and appears to be well built: it's quite heavy for its small size and fits very nicely on my small computer desk. The scanning quality is equally spectacular - it scans up to 600 dpi in color, grayscale, and black and white and mine came with a good assortment of software (Adobe Acrobat 9, Rack2-Filer, and ABBYY FineReader). It scans documents beautifully! While I've been too busy scanning the billions of pieces of paper that have cluttered my life for years (this scanner will actually do that quickly and efficiently - something I've always just dreamed would be possible), I haven't yet tried to scan photos; I suspect that this scanner will do a good job but that another type of scanner would probably do better for archival purposes).
The only problems I've had were with Acrobat (I already have Acrobat 9 Pro on my computer) - I found that importing previously scanned documents into Rack2-filer were always listed in reverse order (ugh!) and Fujitsu tech support replicated the problem. They suggested, however, that I completely uninstall (not just repair) Acrobat and reinstall it. That did the job. BTW, I received great tech support from Fujitsu.
One interesting thing is that this scanner does not come with TWAIN drivers. Because of this, it is not possible to use it to the same extent as other scanners. Just the same, my reason for getting this scanner was to create .pdf files and this scanner does it like no other.
Overall, I'm thrilled with the Fujitsu S1500 - there is no question that it is the best one I've had (and I've had many) and is well worth the money (the S1500 is also the most expensive scanner I've ever purchased). I would recommend this to anyone who needs to scan documents.
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
Fast, efficient, quality product...
(5 out of 5) by B. Brentlinger on Sep 15, 2009I have scanned about 8000 sheets so far. I have found these settings helpful with rack2filer:
1. Auto color detection, Duplex, Best image quality (300dpi Color/Grey 600dpi BW), Options [Only Blank page removal checked (no auto rotation - slows down page viewing)], Continuous scanning.
2. Same as above except change color mode to gray.
And in general I have found:
The multifeed detector works great and has detected many double feeds. It handles old thin thermal fax paper without double feeds - pretty amazing, because I would think that if anything would jam or double feed it would be that. The prompt shows the image of the detected multifeed and gives you the option of keeping it or discarding it - this has been helpful when it detects sticky notes on scanned paper that are supposed to be there.
It has handled many old papers - barely legible and has done an adequate job picking up light print.
Very light or old papers with light print or pencil hand writing are better handled by forcing the color detection to grey. Otherwise Auto everything works well.
Blank page detection - does not work with the other side of lined loose leaf paper or graph paper that has nothing written on it. That is to be expected - but a possible design improvement idea for this product. And to get around this, I have set the scanning side to single-sided. Otherwise blank page detection worked well.
Scans looked exactly like the originals and in rack2 filer the binders read and looked as well as the paper binders.
When it does jam (which was rarely the scanners fault and mostly from staples, taped paper or over loading), the prompt shows the last few pages scanned which makes it easy to recover.
Fanning and creating a step-like pattern of your paper stack before loading the paper makes a big difference in preventing paper jams.
Some of the advantages:
I can take many binders worth on information with me on my notebook without dragging the heavy paper binders in my bag - or one of those wheeled bags that my colleagues use.
There is the security of now being able to have multiple copies of my binders in physically different locations [desktop, notebook, and off site backups] all without using a copy machine.
I need less space for file cabinets [files], bookshelves [binders], and thus less office space.
Everything is now in one place. My office is too small to have all my binders and files together, but now they all fit in one folder on my hard drive.
Although I will still use paper to write on, I don't foresee a reason to ever need to bind or file papers anymore. Just take notes, scan, and recycle.
The actual images for Rack2Filer and CardMinder are in PDF files so if anything happens with Rack2filer - you can always access the data via windows explorer and acrobat.
I have used NeatWorks for my accounting (receipts), documents, and business cards for about a year now. The mobile scanner scans at 3 ppm black and white and 2ppm color - single sided only. So for duplex color ScanSnap is (20ppm x 2)/2ppm = 20x faster - a huge improvement. The NeatWorks software is also heavy and slow compared to Rack2filer and CardMinder.
However, NeatWorks is better than ScanSnap organizer or Rack2filer for receipts. And it can import the PDF scans from the S1500. So, I recommend using NeatWorks software (not the NeatWorks/Desk scanner) for receipts, Rack2Filer for documents and CardMinder for Business cards.
1. Auto color detection, Duplex, Best image quality (300dpi Color/Grey 600dpi BW), Options [Only Blank page removal checked (no auto rotation - slows down page viewing)], Continuous scanning.
2. Same as above except change color mode to gray.
And in general I have found:
The multifeed detector works great and has detected many double feeds. It handles old thin thermal fax paper without double feeds - pretty amazing, because I would think that if anything would jam or double feed it would be that. The prompt shows the image of the detected multifeed and gives you the option of keeping it or discarding it - this has been helpful when it detects sticky notes on scanned paper that are supposed to be there.
It has handled many old papers - barely legible and has done an adequate job picking up light print.
Very light or old papers with light print or pencil hand writing are better handled by forcing the color detection to grey. Otherwise Auto everything works well.
Blank page detection - does not work with the other side of lined loose leaf paper or graph paper that has nothing written on it. That is to be expected - but a possible design improvement idea for this product. And to get around this, I have set the scanning side to single-sided. Otherwise blank page detection worked well.
Scans looked exactly like the originals and in rack2 filer the binders read and looked as well as the paper binders.
When it does jam (which was rarely the scanners fault and mostly from staples, taped paper or over loading), the prompt shows the last few pages scanned which makes it easy to recover.
Fanning and creating a step-like pattern of your paper stack before loading the paper makes a big difference in preventing paper jams.
Some of the advantages:
I can take many binders worth on information with me on my notebook without dragging the heavy paper binders in my bag - or one of those wheeled bags that my colleagues use.
There is the security of now being able to have multiple copies of my binders in physically different locations [desktop, notebook, and off site backups] all without using a copy machine.
I need less space for file cabinets [files], bookshelves [binders], and thus less office space.
Everything is now in one place. My office is too small to have all my binders and files together, but now they all fit in one folder on my hard drive.
Although I will still use paper to write on, I don't foresee a reason to ever need to bind or file papers anymore. Just take notes, scan, and recycle.
The actual images for Rack2Filer and CardMinder are in PDF files so if anything happens with Rack2filer - you can always access the data via windows explorer and acrobat.
I have used NeatWorks for my accounting (receipts), documents, and business cards for about a year now. The mobile scanner scans at 3 ppm black and white and 2ppm color - single sided only. So for duplex color ScanSnap is (20ppm x 2)/2ppm = 20x faster - a huge improvement. The NeatWorks software is also heavy and slow compared to Rack2filer and CardMinder.
However, NeatWorks is better than ScanSnap organizer or Rack2filer for receipts. And it can import the PDF scans from the S1500. So, I recommend using NeatWorks software (not the NeatWorks/Desk scanner) for receipts, Rack2Filer for documents and CardMinder for Business cards.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Just what I expected
(5 out of 5) by Eye Physicians Surgeons on Jul 1, 2009 (Augusta, GA)Our office has about six of the predecessor to this scanner -- the S510. They are extremely dependable and do exactly what they promise. When it came time to get another scanner, I immediately looked for a Fujitsu and found this newer model. I ordered it and got exactly what I expected - a very dependable scanner that needs very little babying. We've been very satisfied with the Fujitsu scanners and will continue to look to them whenever we have a scanning need.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
A great scanner
(5 out of 5) by Robert Truitt on Jun 26, 2009 (SAN DIEGO, CA United States)I purchased this scanner with the Rack2-Filer software so that I can eventually get rid of all the paper that I end up collecting over a year.
I just did an amazing thing with this item: I scanned a 129 page document, having a mixture of legal and letter size paper. I did have to baby-sit the device, adding 20 pages to the back feed tray, while removing scanned pages. I did notice that if can't feed the next page, you may want to slightly lift the feed tray (it is on a hinge). That helps the scanner grab the next page.
It placed the scan straight into my open "Rack2-Filer" binder.
Really nice!
I just did an amazing thing with this item: I scanned a 129 page document, having a mixture of legal and letter size paper. I did have to baby-sit the device, adding 20 pages to the back feed tray, while removing scanned pages. I did notice that if can't feed the next page, you may want to slightly lift the feed tray (it is on a hinge). That helps the scanner grab the next page.
It placed the scan straight into my open "Rack2-Filer" binder.
Really nice!
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
This little scanner is awesome!
(5 out of 5) by BookMan on Apr 6, 2009 (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA)My old HP scanner (actually, it wasn't that old) died a few months ago and it was time for me to get a new one. I accidently came across the predecessor to the ScanScap S1500 (the S510) last week while I was having my taxes done and was amazed at the speed and compactness of it. My tax person also gave it glowing reviews. As I wasn't aware that Fujitsu manufactured scanners, I thought I'd do a little research which led me to reviews of the S510 here on Amazon. Rather amazingly, I was very surprised to find that the S510 had so many extraordinarily high reviews (something that I don't believe I come across too often, especially with items such as scanners). One of those reviews mentioned that a new model (this one - the S1500) had just been released by Fujitsu. After some more research (it wasn't yet listed on Amazon), I found that this scanner was available and that it had many new features. As it turns out, I was the "first kid on my block" to acquire one and I'm glad I did! This machine is incredible!
The speed is absolutely blinding - an incredible 20 pages per minute but, because it scans both sides of a page at the same time, double sided documents scan at 40 PAGES PER MINUTE! Wow! As with previous models, this scanner is very small and appears to be well built: it's quite heavy for its small size and fits very nicely on my small computer desk. The scanning quality is equally spectacular - it scans up to 600 dpi in color, grayscale, and black and white and mine came with a good assortment of software (Adobe Acrobat 9, Rack2-Filer, and ABBYY FineReader). It scans documents beautifully! While I've been too busy scanning the billions of pieces of paper that have cluttered my life for years (this scanner will actually do that quickly and efficiently - something I've always just dreamed would be possible), I haven't yet tried to scan photos; I suspect that this scanner will do a good job but that another type of scanner would probably do better for archival purposes).
The only problems I've had were with Acrobat (I already have Acrobat 9 Pro on my computer) - I found that importing previously scanned documents into Rack2-filer were always listed in reverse order (ugh!) and Fujitsu tech support replicated the problem. They suggested, however, that I completely uninstall (not just repair) Acrobat and reinstall it. That did the job. BTW, I received great tech support from Fujitsu.
One interesting thing is that this scanner does not come with TWAIN drivers. Because of this, it is not possible to use it to the same extent as other scanners. Just the same, my reason for getting this scanner was to create .pdf files and this scanner does it like no other.
Overall, I'm thrilled with the Fujitsu S1500 - there is no question that it is the best one I've had (and I've had many) and is well worth the money (the S1500 is also the most expensive scanner I've ever purchased). I would recommend this to anyone who needs to scan documents.
The speed is absolutely blinding - an incredible 20 pages per minute but, because it scans both sides of a page at the same time, double sided documents scan at 40 PAGES PER MINUTE! Wow! As with previous models, this scanner is very small and appears to be well built: it's quite heavy for its small size and fits very nicely on my small computer desk. The scanning quality is equally spectacular - it scans up to 600 dpi in color, grayscale, and black and white and mine came with a good assortment of software (Adobe Acrobat 9, Rack2-Filer, and ABBYY FineReader). It scans documents beautifully! While I've been too busy scanning the billions of pieces of paper that have cluttered my life for years (this scanner will actually do that quickly and efficiently - something I've always just dreamed would be possible), I haven't yet tried to scan photos; I suspect that this scanner will do a good job but that another type of scanner would probably do better for archival purposes).
The only problems I've had were with Acrobat (I already have Acrobat 9 Pro on my computer) - I found that importing previously scanned documents into Rack2-filer were always listed in reverse order (ugh!) and Fujitsu tech support replicated the problem. They suggested, however, that I completely uninstall (not just repair) Acrobat and reinstall it. That did the job. BTW, I received great tech support from Fujitsu.
One interesting thing is that this scanner does not come with TWAIN drivers. Because of this, it is not possible to use it to the same extent as other scanners. Just the same, my reason for getting this scanner was to create .pdf files and this scanner does it like no other.
Overall, I'm thrilled with the Fujitsu S1500 - there is no question that it is the best one I've had (and I've had many) and is well worth the money (the S1500 is also the most expensive scanner I've ever purchased). I would recommend this to anyone who needs to scan documents.