You Get What You Pay For
Written: Apr 02 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cheap, fairly good image quality, easy set-up.
Cons: The Pagis software and the fact that it scans upside-down.
The Bottom Line: This is an okay scanner, but the software is horrible if you're someone who knows what they're doing. Setup and use are easy.
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| Zifa's Full Review: Visioneer PrimaScan Colorado 2400u Flatbed Scanner |
When I added a webcam to my computer, my old scanner, $70 at Costco, stopped working. Rather than try to fix the problem (I'm way too lazy), I went and bought a new scanner. I gravitated toward the cheapest flatbed at Circuit City, the PrimaScan Colorado 2400u, which happened to be on sale for $30.
While my old scanner was connected through a parallel port (the printer was plugged into the scanner which was plugged into the computer), the Colorado is connected through USB. I don't know if that was the factor that solved my problem or not, but it did work with the webcam hooked up to the computer. Excited, I did a few test scans, which were fine except for one thing: they were upside-down. Apparently, even though the numbers on the ruler next to the scanning bed are right side up, you have to place your pictures upside down on the bed to scan them properly. Just do it - it's more trouble than it's worth to flip them on the computer.
My biggest problem, though, is with the scanner software. Pagis is a huge pain. First, it added all sorts of unnecessary programs to my computer, and every time I booted it up they needed to tell me things before I could start Windows. I finally uninstalled everything, then reinstalled it, selecting only the bare minimum of what I needed. Second, Pagis messed up all my file associations. Suddenly, everything that is an image file (and even some things that aren't) opens with Pagis Editor instead of my regular image editing software, and then Pagis Editor says it can't read it anyway. Third, using Pagis to scan forces you to save your images right away. You can't crop them or fix the color or anything (as far as I can tell) before you save them.
At first I was very disappointed in the image quality, but after I learned how to change the quality (in increments of 100 dpi) I was slightly happier with the scanner. Also, everything seems to come out a little dark, but that can be corrected with software. The file associations still make me mad, though.
Size-wise, you could easily find much smaller scanners. The Colorado is about 3" high, making it pretty bulky. The one physical feature that I like, though, is that when you put in something thick, like a book, the whole lid raises up to accommodate it, making scanning 3-dimensional objects easier.
Overall, the PrimaScan Colorado 2400u is pretty good for a cheap scanner, but the software is horrible if you know what you're doing. I assume for a beginner it would be better, because it really guides you through everything and makes it easy, but I like to be in control of things in my computer, and Pagis just drives me nuts. However, it is possible to get fairly good images for a pretty good price.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 30
Interface: USB
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Epinions.com ID:
Zifa
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Location: Pennsylvania
Reviews written: 30
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Web Designer for a big company, musician and music-lover, TV-watcher, book-reader
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