This scanner is TOO good. (Canon Canoscan N650U)

Member Name: one47

Product:	Canon Canoscan N650U
Date:	19/07/01 (406 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small, Cheap, Good Quality

Disadvantages: Picks up the tinyest speck of dust :-)

OK, so first the obvious - The 'U' in N650U means 'USB', so unless you know you have a USB port on your computer, don't go here. I have a family member who would like to steal my new scanner, but he can't :-)

I read Ciao, and I read DooYoo looking for advice on a good scanner, and both sites pointed me at the Canon N650U. Not because it is the absolute best, but because it is:

a) Sensibly priced. It can be had for between £50 and £70 depending on where its bought, and what discount vouchers you have in your sweaty palm this week.

b) Better than a home user is ever likely to need. 1200x600 doesn't sound like much these days, but it is all you are ever likely to need unless you plan on doing photo-editing at a professional level.

c) Pretty quick. With my old parallel scanner, I could go and make a cuppa while I waited for the preview scan. Now I just wait a few seconds.

d) Very good quality. When I first scanned some photos I was most upset about the white dots all over the end result. I looked at the original, which was spotless... There was some almost-invisible dust on the scanner glass, and these tiny specks were being picked up like I've never seen!

e) Comes with some very nice software. Usually I will install drivers and ignore the rest. With this selection, I installed most of it. The scanner has a front-button which integrates with one supplied app. to allow quick copying, faxing, saving, editing in a chosen application, or a couple of user-customisable choices. The Photo-Editing applications are not insultingly simple (for simple, read incapable) as you might expect. I am using OmniPage Pro (for OCR) and a combination of PhotoStudio 2000 (Supplied) and PaintShop Pro 7 (Not supplied) with a great deal of success.

f) Small. This beast is barely bigger that a sheet of A4, and is only 1.5" thick! That's tiny... I don't know what to do with all of the extra
space.

The installation of this scanner is a breeze. Plug in the one supplied cable at both ends. Turn on. Put in CD... Same 'ol same 'ol...

To scan, put the book or photo under the lid...

...no, face down :-) and press the blue button. Then choose what you want to do with your pretty picture.

Excellent!

Summary: