The Umax AstraNet e5420 Great Features, but SLOW!
Written: Oct 30 '00 (Updated Oct 30 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great Resolution
Cons: One word - Slow.
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| jwlester's Full Review: Umax AstraNet E5420 Flatbed Scanner |
The Umax AstraNET e5420 is a fairly good scanner if you need high resolution. The features are pretty good for the price (It was $160 total), but when I compare it to other scanners I've owned and/or used I find that I'm somewhat disappointed with this unit.
The resolution of this scanner is great - almost too great. It has a max resolution of 1,200 by 2,400 dpi. What's more, this scanner is 42 bit, which means that the maximum resolution is astronomical. To be honest, I can't imagine how most people would ever find a use for that kind of resolution, much less have the processor capacity/drive space to do much with the images which will end up being over 100MB!!! Part of the reason this is OK for me is that I sometimes scan images of my lab work, and I do like to get a very high resolution so I can zoom in on specific areas - but in those cases I'm scanning about a square cm of a gel, not a whole photograph. You can also buy a transparency adaptor ( I didn't get one as they're expensive, better to just buy the model which includes it) which allows the scanner to use slides or negatives, so if you want to do this, the resolution is great.
The software bundle is big, but I already have all the software I need, so I didn't really look at much of it. The driver is kind of clunky.
The main reason I don't really like this scanner is that it is SLOW!!! I expected that when I got a new scanner that it would be faster than my previous Umax scanner. WRONG. This thing is marginally faster, but thats like saying that a Geo Metro is faster than a Yugo. I can't figure out why Umax hasn't improved things. The Parallel scanner I use in my lab is almost as fast as both of the Umax USB scanners I've used, and none are as fast as the Acer Prism USB scanner my Dad has (and which I used to have before I was an idiot and threw away the power supply by accident).
Umax is hyping the "scan to web" feature that works with PhotoMail and ImageOL. Thats great - but when you read the fine print, the "free" web space (50 MB) is only free for one year. Further, when I went to check out the website before signing up, it didn't even work! "Cachunk" - thats the sound of their software hitting my recycle bin.
All told, this is an adequate scanner. If you need the great resolution, then this might be an OK scanner, but be prepared to wait. If you scan alot of things, and don't need the resolution, then avoid this scanner.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
jwlester
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Member: JW Lester
Location: Northern California
Reviews written: 69
Trusted by: 38 members
About Me:
I am an avid kayaker and climber.
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