Has anyone seen a "x"-shaped adf scanner, similar to the one Neat makes?

March 26, 2009 1:00 AM

I'm looking to go paperless, and have been quite impressed by what I've read about the Neatdesk adf scanner. I'm looking for something similar to compare it to(so I don't buy the first thing I see), and I recall seeing some "X"-shaped scanner somewhere in some magazine(Wired is ringing a bell, but I really do not recall), but no amount of Google-fu can help me locate it again. Has anybody seen such a thing?

...or, alternatively, knows of any good hardware/software package that works well for them?

I've tried PaperPort, along with my HP Laser MFP(M2727nf - terrible resolution, leading to really poor OCR results), but I'd rather use something that has a more modern look & use.

posted by zweldon to computers & internet (8 comments total)

I have a Fujitsu ScanSnap that is awesome. It automatically ports to .pdf and came with a full version of Acrobat.

The OCR has been decent, even on the old dot-matrix stuff I scanned in. It also has varying degrees of resolution, so you can customize to your application.

My husband did a bunch of research before buying it and a crazy old guy I know who compulsively scans things and has half a dozen different scanners said it was a really good choice.
posted by chiefthe at 4:47 AM on March 26

I don't have much to say except that I really want Neat Receipts. It's at Costco right now.
posted by Abbril at 5:03 AM on March 26

Neat Receipts is terrible when compared with CardScan, which is pricier but you get what you pay for. zweldon, there is also a piece of software called Dymofile which allows you to digitally store documents using any conventional scanner and is fully searchable.
posted by eggman at 6:52 AM on March 26

The Fujitsu ScanSnap really is a thing of beauty. It is the only peripheral I have ever bought that I have zero complaints with.

It is not cool and x shaped, but it is compact and has a very small footprint, and works flawlessly.
posted by MsElaineous at 6:59 AM on March 26

I have the small Fujitsu ScanSnap (the S300, not the big one), and I (expletive) love it. Tiny, pretty fast even when just drawing power via USB, scans both sides, just great all around. Could not be happier with it.

If you want to scan giant stacks of things, then perhaps the S500 would be best, but if it's just occasional items & desk space is limited (or you just prefer small objects), then go with the S300. Either one would be an eminently sensible acquisition.

This is embarrassing -- I've turned into a ScanSnap Prophet, wandering the streets proclaiming the excellence of my scanner....
posted by aramaic at 7:12 AM on March 26

aramaic speaks the truth! Listen you fools! The end of paper is near!

Seriously, I use a Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 and it is the bee's knees.

I realize that paper scanners will be much less useful after paper ends. What without any paper to scan and everything.
posted by Chrishartley at 7:36 AM on March 26

I'm a big fan of my Canon DR-2050C, but I've never used the ScanSnap so maybe I don't know what I'm missing...
posted by Squid Voltaire at 12:23 PM on March 26

As far as X-shaped, I don't have the specific site, but if you do a search for Snapter software it will lead you to one scanner for books. For single sheets (even if multiple single sheets) there's no reason for the X shape. For books it's different. The most exotic book scanner is shown on a youtube video, it's made by a German company and goes for more than $100 k.
posted by tesseract420 at 12:57 PM on March 26