Hot Dog!!!
Written: May 14 '01 (Updated May 15 '01)
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Pros: Awesome quality. No power cable. Slim. Z-Lid. Easy to use. Reliable.
Cons: Not Blazing Fast. No Slide Scanning. May be too good/$$$ for the average consumer.
The Bottom Line: If you have the money to spend, then go for it. You won't be SORRY with this investment, which is the most important thing when buying anything.
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| glennhanna's Full Review: Canon CanoScan N1220U Flatbed Scanner |
You can’t go wrong with this scanner! My new scanner just blows my old scanner out of the water. The term, “you get what you pay for” couldn’t hold truer. My old scanner cost $30, and it was a bulky dinosaur that took forever to scan a document. The CanoScan N1220U cost me about $170 at Costco.
Very Sleek
This scanner wastes no space. The dimensions, according to my tape measurer, are (LxWxH) 14”x10.5”x1.25”. The scanning glass is about 12”x8.5”. It weighs about three pounds. My old scanner is over four times the size of the new one. You can store the scanner horizontally or you can attach a plastic foot to the scanner and store it vertically, which is how I store mine and yes, you can scan images while the scanner is in the vertical position.
USB Connection
This is a USB scanner. USB is faster than parallel ports and the best thing about it is that the power that runs the scanner comes through the USB cable; you don’t need to plug this into an outlet. Another plus about USB is that can plug and unplug other USB devices while the computer is on without having it freeze up on you or not detect the current device. It comes with a five foot cable.
The Z-LID
This scanner has a wonderful lid that can come off the glass by up to an inch. This means that you can scan pages from a book or magazine without the lid pointing at an angle. It has some kind of hinge that slides out to help keep the lid parallel to the glass.
Scan Test
I tested the time that it took to scan a 11.0” X “8.5” at 100 dpi. It took about a minute. My old scanner took 2 minutes and 15 seconds to do the same thing. This isn’t exactly an astonishing jump for the new scanner that costs almost six times as much as the old one, which is about three years old. What IS astonishing about the new scanner is the quality and richness of the scanned image. The CanoScan does an absolutely beautiful job. The images are crisp and the color is amazing. I like to scan my images at 200 dpi which is plenty for me; wonderful quality. A user can go nuts and scan an image at 1200 dpi! This is where the bucks pay off. It’s nice to know that you have the option to scan at such a high resolution, but most users won’t need to scan at such a high res.
Included Software
This scanner comes with some great software which includes ArcSoft PhotoStudio 2000 and Adobe Photoshop 5.0 Limited Edition. Both programs let you edit images. Photoshop is such a wonderful product, and a steal of deal to be included in this below $200 package. It is the limited edition, but I can’t tell what exactly the differences of this version and the full version are. I would suggest looking it up if you are critical about what version of Photoshop you get and what it can do for you.
Ease of Use
Scanning an image is easy. There is a button on the front of the scanner that you push that lets the computer know that you want to scan an image. A toolbar will popup with nine buttons to choose from: Fax, Mail, Copy, Save, Custom 1, Custom 2, Custom 3, Settings, and Help. I am not sure how the Fax option works because it is set up on my computer to scan an image and then print it on my printer. The Copy button does the exact same thing as the fax button; it acts like a copy machine. The Mail button is very cool. Press the mail button and then select the area that you want to scan. The scanner will scan the image and export it as an attachment to your computer’s email program, which opens up in compose mode with the photo attached. The Save button scans an image and saves it to your default photo file without opening up ArcSoft PhotoSuite 2000. The Custom buttons are your own buttons to play with. You get three of them to adjust the settings to make your various scanning projects faster. I only need one custom button, I select my preferences for each individual scan. The Settings button controls the preferences of the previous buttons. The Help button will assist you through any trouble or questions you may come across.
Work While Scanning
A wonderful feature to this scanner is the ability to work on other things on your computer while an image is being scanned. I couldn’t do this with my old scanner, oh no! The computer would halt entirely until the scan was completed with my old scanner. Not the case with this CanoScan. It does, however, slow the computer down a little bit, but I’d rather have slow navigation over zero navigation any day.
No Slide Scanning
One feature that this scanner does not include is the ability to scan slides. I have quite a few slides that I want to scan, but it isn’t possible with this scanner. I will have to wait for Canon to come out with an adapter. I am not sure if Canon is even planning on making an accessory for slide scans.
Overall Recommendation
I highly recommend this scanner to person who wants a good quality and reliable scanner that is not at all bulky and is easy to use. You can’t go wrong with a CanoScan N1220U. For those bargain shoppers out there, I would suggest looking for a scanner that is not capable at scanning at such a high resolution. This scanner can scan up to 1200 dpi, which is insane for most users. 200 dpi is plenty for most people. You can save some money by purchasing a scanner that scans at a maximum of 600 dpi instead of 1200 dpi.
Official Specifications(Off the product website)
Scanner Type: Flatbed, color and monochrome
Scanning Element: Contact Image Sensor (CIS)
Light Source: Three-color RGB LEDs
Optical Scanning Resolution: 1200 x 2400 dpi
Maximum Resolution: 9600 x 9600 dpi
Scanning Mode: Color: 42-bit internal/24-bit external
Grayscale: 14-bit internal/8-bit external
Black & White
Text enhanced
Document Size: Letter (8.5" x 11.7" maximum)
Interface: USB
Dimensions:
(W x L x H) 10.1" x 14.7" x 1.3"
Weight: 3.3 lbs.
Cable Length: Approximately 5 ft.
Common System
Requirements: 32MB RAM (64MB recommended);
Color monitor with 800 x 600 or higher display and 256 or more colors;
CD-ROM drive (2x or faster);
USB port (excludes add-on board)
Windows®
System Requirements: Windows 98, Windows 2000 Professional, Pentium® 133 MHz processor or higher; Windows Millenium Edition, Pentium 150 MHz processor or higher
Macintosh®
System Requirements: Mac® OS 8.5 or later; iBook,™
iMac,™ G3 or G4 processor
Compatibility: Canon Plug-in Module CS-U for Mac OS 8.5 or later;
ScanGear® CS-U TWAIN for Windows 98, Windows Me
and Windows 2000 Professional
Software: ScanGear CS-U TWAIN driver, ScanGear Toolbox CS,
Canon Plug-in Module CS-U, CanoScan Toolbox CS,
ArcSoft® PhotoStudio® 2000, ArcSoft PhotoBase™ and
ScanSoft® OmniPage® OCR and Adobe® Photoshop® 5.0 LE
Power Requirements: Powered through USB port, no AC adapter required
Maximum Power Consumption: 2.5W (12mW standby)
Environmental Conditions
(without condensation): Operating temperature: 41° - 95° F
Storage temperature: -40° - 140° F
Operating humidity: 10% - 90% RH
Storage humidity: 10% - 90% RH
Warranty: 1-year limited warranty
with SelectExchangeSM warranty program
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 170
Interface: USB
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Epinions.com ID:
glennhanna
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Member: Glenn Hanna
Location: Eugene, Oregon, USA
Reviews written: 34
Trusted by: 64 members
About Me:
Glenn Hanna of Eugene, Oregon. Born 1980.
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