HP Scanjet 4570C - Review - Okay scanner but possible troubles with software

Reviews for HP Scanjet 4570C

HP Scanjet 4570C

Newest Review: ... be used for scanning slides, which was useful as Sis brought tons of them from China.. It has a button for making 'photocopies' directl... more

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Okay scanner but possible troubles with software - UPDATED! (HP Scanjet 4570C)

Member Name: LaylaStar

Product:	HP Scanjet 4570C
Date:	13/01/09 (230 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good quality of scanning, scans slides too..

Disadvantages: a bit problematic software, bulky & a bit slow, high-pitched noise,editable text not scanned so well

HP Scanjet 4570C is now a-bit-old scanner, we've had it for a few years, but it's still usable & working allright...
It is a bit bulky & not quite easy to work with, but it's okay..

It has been mentioned in other reviews that the software that comes with it is a bit, uhm.. not easy to work with, and takes time getting used to.. (some people sent it straight back because of it)
As this was our first scanner & we didn't know what to expect, we kinda did get used to it..

We also bought it online, and didn't see it 'in person' before (don't recommend this!) - personally I was a bit shocked how big it was! But sister and Mum didn't mind, the price, resolution and ability to scan slides persuaded them..

It is a bit bulky & too big to have on the desktop.. so this is a bit inconvenient.. Visually I preferred the thin small scanners..
But this one had better resolution.. and it can also be used for scanning slides, which was useful as Sis brought tons of them from China..

It has a button for making 'photocopies' directly, but mostly I found better results if I just scanned a document 'as a picture' & then printed it, as I could adjust the darkness/light & amount of ink used etc.

For scanning 'editable text' into Word, we've had mixed (and not so happy) results - especially if in Slovenian, German, or other languages.. One must adjust the language then first, and even then results are not guaranteed and you have to carefully read everything if it's been scanned proper, especially if there were any other graphic elements in the text, eg underlining etc.

It also takes some time to warm up the lamp & scan, so possibly other scanners can be faster..

There's an option to scan and send directly to the web/e-mail, but we haven't ever used it (just seemed too complicated!)
Possibly there are some other features too, that we also haven't used as we didn't need them..

Basically, it's a good, reliable scanner, that's not so easy to use as one would prefer (so it's not used that much), but it's still okay. Tons of slides and photos for Mum's Family Tree/Chronicles have been scanned on it, so if my Mum can use it, it can't be *that* complicated! :)

UPDATE #1: after our computer had to be reloaded, the scanner didn't work anymore.. We tried reloading drivers from the HP website, didn't work.. A bunch of other people also had similar problems after eg updating their Internet Explorer to a higher version or such!

So while the scanner I guess still works, the software seems to need a patch or something - different people had different solutions for this, so I guess we'll just have to keep on trying until (hopefully) something works!

I do NOT recommend buying this scanner precisely for this reason! An okay scanner can't be used due to unpredictable software issues!!

UPDATE #2: Okay, I feel pretty stupid now. We recently saw that a cousin's external HD didn't work with the front USB connection holes (don't know what's the proper name?) but worked excellently with the ones on the back of the computor. So now Sis suggested I try the scanner with those - & it works!!
Apparently Sis has 'not been very gentle' with the front USB connection holes, & this is the result!!

Sis & a neighbour tried installing the drivers from their website and some other stuff suggested on their forums before, so not sure if any of that helped too..

End line: there are probably better scanners out there now.. This one is quite high-pitched & I forgot how annoying it sounds when it scans (it didn't use to bother me before), not sure if other scanners are better or not, when I buy a next one, I'll try to get a quieter one (& possibly one with a fax - this one is just a scanner with a 'copy' feature that is slow)..