Reccomend a portable scanner

December 11, 2009 11:13 AM

Do any of you guys have reccomendations for portable scanner which is powered from USB?

I'm completely paperless and until now have been reliant on the very nice scanner at the office -- but these days I'm traveling a lot and sure could use a USB scanner.

Ideally it is powered by USB given different power sources and complications with all those power converters and plugs, etc.

I scan receipts, but also standard letters.

I was thinking of the Pentax DSmobile 600 Scanner, but am not sure, thought I'd ask you guys first....

Sure do appreciate any input.
Thanks a ton!

posted by mateuslee to Technology (11 answers total)

I like the Canon LiDE scanners; it's just one cable. I cant remember the exact model that I have at home right now, but it's just bigger than an 8.5"x14" piece of paper.
posted by mrbill at 11:31 AM on December 11, 2009

Seconding the LiDEs.
posted by dmd at 11:38 AM on December 11, 2009

Thirding the LiDEs?

But yes, I love my Canon LiDE 20 Scanner - it even has a handy stand that keeps it out of the way when it's not in use! It is just larger than a letter-sized piece of paper and I've had it for about five years now and it's still going strong.
posted by urbanlenny at 11:46 AM on December 11, 2009

I, too, have a LiDE. I used to bring it with me to the library to scan papers that weren't online (seriously, this was only a few years ago).

Fit in my satchel/man-bag along with a laptop. Quite light, but my model (20) was a little bit noisy. Reasonable speed.
posted by porpoise at 11:48 AM on December 11, 2009

I have an LIDE as well, and it is USB powered only. Also, for sheetfed scanning, I have the scansnap s300 and it is a dream. It won't work well for scanning books and the like, but it works perfect for letters and reciepts. It's super tiny. It's usb powered as well.
posted by bigmusic at 12:01 PM on December 11, 2009

Second bigmusic's recommendation of the scansnap s300 (or the s300m if you have a mac). The sheet feeder is quite handy for scanning multi-page documents, but yes, it does limit what you can scan.
posted by zachlipton at 1:15 PM on December 11, 2009

I have a Canon LiDE 200. It's quite light and only one cable. However, I just had a bit of trouble getting it to work on my MacBook - I had to dig up the original installation disk. Anyway, if you're not prone to losing CDs, the scanner is quite portable and speedy. Mine has taken a bit of a beating and it's going strong.
posted by Mizu at 1:35 PM on December 11, 2009

I bought a Mustek ScanExpress S40 from Amazon which works very well for me when I'm on location.
posted by ljshapiro at 1:36 PM on December 11, 2009

Thanks for the tips! I think that the LIDE may be a bit bulky, so I'm going with the Pentax DSmobile 600 - sheetfed scanner, which seems to resemble the MUSTEK one from ljshaprio, but has more reviews on Amazon... Thanks for the input!
posted by mateuslee at 1:52 PM on December 11, 2009

I hope you are aware that not all USB ports are willing/able to provide a full half amp of current. That's particularly common with laptops. If you plug that scanner into such a port, it won't work. The only way to make it work with such a computer is to put a powered hub in between, and the hub would have to be plugged in anyway.

(According to the USB spec, the port is required to provide 100 milliamps. The device uses that to power enough electronics to permit it to handshake with the computer. The handshake includes a request for more power, which the computer is permitted to deny. If that's what happens, the device then shuts itself down again.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:04 PM on December 11, 2009

Thanks Chocolate Pickle, I didn't know that. Good to keep in mind.
posted by mateuslee at 8:54 AM on December 21, 2009