Wondering if a new S1500 scanner is worth the expense

August 15, 2012 8:04 AM

Document Scanning -- I have a fairly old Fujitsu FI-4120c scanner I use for scanning double sided documents. I'm wondering whether a newer S1500 is worth a buy?

Over the years the 4120c seems to be getting more and more finicky about mishandling pages. It'll go fine for a few pages then chomp down on 3 at a time. It's also USB 1.1, so it's a whee bit slow when trying to do anything at a higher end dpi.

The stats on the S1500 seem fairly similiar though -- except for the USB connection, the stats pair up. Has anyone upgraded from an older 90's model of Fujitsu to the S1500 and noticed any considerable difference?

posted by cavalier to technology (11 answers total)

I haven't upgraded, but I'm completely satisfied with my ScanSnap S1500.
posted by Wild_Eep at 8:15 AM on August 15, 2012

One of the features of the new scanner is 'multi feed detection sensor', FWIW. I don't know if your older scanner has that feature.
posted by Wild_Eep at 8:21 AM on August 15, 2012

Fujitsu sells a consumables kit to replace parts that wear out and supposedly that helps with mis-feeds. The amazon reviews are positive and it is a lot cheaper than a new scanner.
posted by ChrisHartley at 8:27 AM on August 15, 2012

Sounds like your document feeder is worn and will likely continue to multifeed. Given the annoyance and the certainty it will get worse it's worth upgrading for that reason alone.
posted by tommasz at 8:28 AM on August 15, 2012

Mr Eep -- do you usually scan at anything over 200dpi? Say 300dpi? How long would you say the wait is from running through the drum and ending up on the screen?

I'm excited to see there's a consumables kit, though I wonder if upgrading from USB 1.1 to 2.0 and modern drivers (I can't use this scanner on my Mac, for instance) may still warrant an investment.
posted by cavalier at 9:16 AM on August 15, 2012

I ran a test on our Fujitsu S510 and it took 24 seconds to scan an 8.5x11 sheet in color at 600dpi. Opening the document in the ScanSnap manager took an additional 8 seconds but I think the file was saved before that process began. Our Fujitsu Scansnap S1300 running on AC power (it can run from dual USB only but is much slower) took 38 seconds for the same 8.5x11 600dpi color scan from button press to writing the file. A 300dpi color scan on the S1300 took 14 seconds.
posted by ChrisHartley at 10:11 AM on August 15, 2012

You... you are handsome. Thanks for that, Chris!
posted by cavalier at 10:26 AM on August 15, 2012

Mrs. Eep does most of the scanning, I must admit. She reports that her day-to-day resolution is set to 300 dpi, auto-color detection, duplexed. She says it's around 5seconds/sheet.

I can tell you that there are a few youtube videos of the S1500.

It's not a cheap unit (~$400, last time I checked), but it's been very reliable and a cool tool.
posted by Wild_Eep at 10:30 AM on August 15, 2012

I have an S1300 and it works wonderfully on my mac, btw.
posted by phearlez at 10:32 AM on August 15, 2012

As a follow up I have decided to go ahead and purchase the S1500 as a trial run and do some head to head comparisons with the old unit. If there is no significant difference I will return the unit and buy the replacement parts. If there is a significant difference I would be happy to send anyone the f4020 if they want to replace the parts themselves. ;)

Thanks for the input, y'all!
posted by cavalier at 6:06 AM on August 16, 2012

As a further follow up; if cost was an object, I could have gotten by with repairing the existing scanner. If cost was not an object, or if I wanted to scan MUCH faster, the S1500 is very sweet and I will be keeping it.

I do have that f4120c available if anyone would like me to send it to them. I assume with a cleanup and new roller it could still be a very functional machine.
posted by cavalier at 10:50 AM on November 6, 2012