Epson 1250 not perfection but good enough
Written: Oct 07 '02 (Updated May 17 '06)
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Pros: great price for an easy to operate, light use, basic product
Cons: very slow and very noisy
The Bottom Line: This product gets an average rating quality wise against other units on the market for just a little more money. It is a four star for my home use.
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| popsrocks's Full Review: Epson Perfection 1250U Flatbed Scanner |
About a month ago I tried installing a Hewlett Packard 3500c scanner. I gave a review as to what happened and promised to review whatever the replacement would be. I waited a few weeks to get some use out of my new Epson Perfection 1250.
INSTALLATION
After my experience with the other unit last month I did not know what I was in for. Honestly, because all this computer stuff is so new to me I thought that maybe it was something I did wrong with the other unit. Well to my pleasant surprise all went well. The installation was flawless. It took me a total of one hour of reading some pretty straightforward directions, understanding what it meant and then following the process. I am sure anyone who is computer competent could have it done in ten to fifteen minutes.
The scanner with it's UBC interface plugged right into my computer. It is good for both PC and Mac. One thing I didn't count on was another power source to be plugged in. My power strip was already full and I had to get a new one that could take more.
GETTING TO WORK
The unit sits on my desk and at 11"x17" and a half inches it takes more space than I would like but there are not many options in a $99.00 price range.
Going to work was actually fun for a guy who usually looks at a computer as "a machine with too many buttons". As a practice I took a magazine and put it face down on the document table glass. It can scan anything up to 8.5x11.7 inches. It's not good for legal documents that are 14 inches long or more. When you lift the lid there is an arrow on the top middle. That is what you use to center with. Up and across the edge are scale markers that make centering etc easier for the eye. The lid is actually a self-adjusting cover that makes it possible to scan some thicker items, like the magazine I was doing or books.
By pressing the big button, that happens to be the start button you automatically opens the Smart Panel by default. The panel will have some options like copy
Scan to email
Scan to ORC
Scan for application
Scan for creativity
Scan to Web
Scan to file
and Photo Print
If you like you can assign any of these application directly to the start button. The instructions are very clear and easy for doing that.
SCANNING A PHOTO
There are three other buttons on the scanner. The first one is for scanning a photo and printing. It's pretty much that easy. Put in your photo, document or whatever onto the scanner. Be sure you have the correct paper in your printer. To do the rest here is what you have to do. Press the Photo Print button. That's it!! In a couple of minutes you have your photo.
Yes, I did say a couple of minutes. You see this scanner is pretty darn slow. It takes almost a minute of fairly loud noise to get the picture scanned and then depending on your printer it could take a little while to print. Hey, Rome wasn't built in a day. Anyways, for me it doesn't make much difference as far as time. I rarely am doing more than one or two scans at a time. If you are planning to use it more than that then move on to a better and fast scanner.
I thought the quality of the picture and all those I have done since are very good. I suppose this has something to do with interpolated resolution of 9600x9600, a Max colour depth of 48 Bits, a Max Gray scale Depth of 16 bit and an optical resolution of 1200x1200. This stuff must mean something to some of you guys. To me it means a pretty good picture or document copy.
SCANNING TO EMAIL
Scanning to email takes a bit more. First you have to know you are connect to the internet. Then put in the photo or whatever, press the Email button on the front of the scanner. The Smart Panel opens and then Epson Twain scans the image. When that is done another thing opens, it's the E-Mail dialog box. You can then tell it you want to scan more images or just hit finish. You will see your e-mail programs in boxes select what you want and then click launch. The email dialog box just needs you to input an address, send a message if you like and then click SEND.
I was amazed when I opened my mail and there it was. I had sent it to myself and I then patted myself on my back. Hey, this is big success to me.
This is pretty much the way you do all the applications. Just follow the easy to use directions and off you go.
THE EPSON PHOTO CENTER
The company also has the Epson Photo Center This is the last button on the front of the machine job. This Epson Photo Center is a photo-sharing site that helps you organize your photos, share them, store them,or even print high-resolution photos straight from the Web. They also have a place to order prints and custom gifts with photos. Pretty cool.
They give you a book with some trouble shooting solutions and problem solving. I am happy I have not had to refer to them.
The warranty is good for one year covering first end users against manufactures defects in workmanship and materials. This is from date of purchase.
For my use of some photo work and making copies, and sending contracts this unit is great for me.
Hewlett Packard PSC 1510 All-In-One InkJet Printer Our newest home edition May 2006
HP 3500 Scanner, My first choice
Fuji 312 Zoom Date Camera
Sony CCD TRV68 HI8 Video Camera
PLACES
New York City
Las Vegas
New Orleans
Key West, Florida
Rome, Italy
Venice, Italy
England
London, England
Bath, England
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 99
Interface: USB
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