Slim and Trim
Written: Mar 16 '02
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Pros: Low desk profile. Good scanning software. Good price
Cons: Some installation issues.
The Bottom Line: Great quality for a fair price. This is the best scanner for at-home or small business usage.
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| secondmidnite's Full Review: Canon CanoScan N670U Flatbed Scanner |
I'm pretty critical of my computer hardware. Most of the time, it costs too much and does too little. I've used a number of different scanners. And while many of them are great tools, I just couldn't see myself paying all that much for them. Maybe I'm just cheap. But the duckets don't come in buckets.
I recently bought the N670U for my sister for Christmas/Birthday present. She has a lot of pictures of my neice and nephew that she'd like to send to us all. I bought this scanner in particular because it's the next incarnation of the scanner I own (N650U). While I swear by my N650U, its cousin was just a bit more of a problem.
Some differences
Unlike the 650, the 670 has 3 function buttons on the front face. These are nice for show, but don't add a whole lot of flexibility. Each button will activate a different function on the scanner. So to start scanning, press the scan button and it will open up the included scanning software. This isn't ground breaking or anything, but it helps avoid a couple of clicks. There is also an email and print feature. This model also has a purple lid. That's about all the differences. The rest of it is just hardware - updated drivers, etc. But you still get the same sleek, easy to use interface.
Some Installation Problems
I'm usually pretty quick about installing things. But this scanner gave me some trouble. Step 1 - plug in the USB port. Done. Step 2 - Install the drivers. Problem. I tried to install it on my sister's (actually it's my Brother-in-law's but you know how that goes) computer - a 1GHz Athlon running Windows 2000. This scanner comes with Windows XP drivers (you have to read the fine print). So this posed a bit of a problem for me.
But I don't take no back-talk from my electronics so I set out to find the answer. I went to the Canoscan.com website and downloaded the drivers. My sister only has AOL so I had some other download issues (took a while to download and I ended up having to do it twice). But for some reason the downloaded drivers didn't take).
So I didn't get the thing installed during Christmas. But, like I said, I won't be defeated. I came back to my sister's house later in January with pre-downloaded Windows 2000 drivers (downloaded on my RoadRunner Cable service - not no stinkin' AOL). This time, no problem. Run the install EXE (the one I downloaded) and that was all.
Not quite the best quality
I wasn't actually all that happy with the quality of the photos that I scanned on this scanner either. They came out okay, but they didn't seem quite as crisp as with the N650U. This might be because I have a better video card and better display. It's hard to tell, but you might want to check out your own display settings and see what you get.
Good Price & Low Profile
The best thing about this scanner is the price. Right now, it costs about $67. This is the one reason why it took me so long to buy a scanner. These lines of Canon Scanners are really impressive to me because they actually fit the bill - a low-cost, high quality scanner that is easy to install and doesn't take up a lot of space.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 67.00
Interface: USB
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Epinions.com ID:
secondmidnite
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Location: Stanford, CA
Reviews written: 93
Trusted by: 18 members
About Me:
Grad student
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