VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand Portable Scanner (PDS-ST410-VP)

• Features: Scanner for color & monochromatic images, documents, magazines
• Sensor: A4 Color Contact image Sensor
• Resolution: Standard Resolution: 300x300dpi (default); High Resolution: 600x600dpi
• File Format: JPEG
• Requires Micro SD card up to 32GB

I'm a graduate student and I spend a lot of time in libraries poring through books that can't circulate (rare, antique, etc.) Some are not even allowed out of specific parts of the university library. This is the answer! I can just roll the wand over the pages, and then I can study the text in the comfort and convenience of my house. I will add a picture of a scanned page for review as a product image. I'll never go back.

Oh, it does eat batteries, but who cares...AAs are cheap.

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I bought this scanner for the purpose of scanning pages out of law books at the library. After about two minutes' practice, it was a cinch. In fifteen minutes I was able to scan 30 pages' research, and later downloaded it all to my laptop as .PDF files. The resolution is great, and the scan quality was good enough to use in powerpoint presentations after cropping and magnifying with Microsoft Picture Manager. You can't get scans out of books with a page-fed portable, and a desktop model is too big to carry. Light years better than waiting for the library photocopier.

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It has been way too long since anyone made a really usable hand scanner. I've been looking for one for years. So I was very excited when I saw a review of the 'Magic Wand' on one of my news feeds.

This product does the trick. You have to be fairly slow and steady to get a good scan, but hey... it's a hand scanner! So no surprise there. The scan quality is quite acceptable for a device of this type. Not what you would get from a flatbed scanner, but hey... it's a hand scanner! Print is readable, photo quality isn't fantastic but might improve as my scanning skills get better.

The scanner is bundled with 'ABBYY Screenshot Reader', which extracts text from an image. ABBYY is one of the major producers of optical character recognition (OCR)software. I have a document scanner that came with and ABBYY OCR program. But I have never seen a screenshot reader before. This product allows you to select an area on your computer screen, and it will extract text from that area and put it in your clipboard.

So when you scan an image with the 'Magic Wand', you can connect the scanner to your computer with a USB cable (included); open the image in a picture viewer; and use Screenshot Reader to capture the text.

You will probably have to do a bit of touch-up after you paste the text into another application. I have yet to see an OCR program that does perfect text conversion. One trick that helps a lot is to zoom in on the text to make it larger. OCR programs work better with larger text.

I am very pleased with the 'Magic Wand'. I keep it next to my laptop in the living room (yeah, I'm a multi-computer geek, and I do "side surfing" while I'm watching TV) so I can quickly scan things out of magazines or books. And it's small enough to toss in my computer bag when I'm on the road. Along with my Planon Printsitk portable printer (Planon Printstik PS950ME Label Printer Monochrome Direct Thermal), I've got a complete office in a bag!

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I purchased this scanner to help in cataloging my DVD and book collections. Frequently I find that the default cover art which is downloaded by the catalog program doesn't match the actual item and all too often the correct image isn't available online. Taking books and DVDs from the library and living room to the flatbed scanner in the office so I can scan the cover art is tedious, so I thought this portable scanner might be a good solution. Unfortunately, the results weren't as good as I had hoped based on the other reviews I read here. It's not that the scanner is "bad" because it isn't really, it's just that it wasn't as easy to use as I had hoped.

Pros: The scanner is compact, reasonably priced and attractive. Reasonably good results can be achieved with practice.

Cons: In order to produce a good image, the scanner must be moved very carefully. Uneven motion, brief pauses, etc. basically anything short of consistent movement will cause distortion in the image.

I've uploaded two examples, one good and one bad, of a DVD cover scan (the movie "10" with Dudley Moore, Julie Andrews, and Bo Derek).

In conclusion, while the scanner is certainly compact and inexpensive, there are limitations which the buyer should be aware of before they decide to purchase.

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This little device is way better than one would have any right to expect. There have been hand-held scanners in the past, and they have mostly been overpriced and frustrating toys.

This is not. It's a decent quality scanning device. Credit that to the drastic drops in fixed lens camera elements and ccd detectors over the past few years.

You can use this device, after a very modest learning curve, to scan things like text out of book, documents, receipts, etc. Basically, anything that is text based can be scanned pretty well with a little practice.

HOWEVER, this wand is NOT appropriate for scanning photos, blueprints, or any other source material that requires high precision. That's because you WILL have distortions in your scan. That's unavoidable due to the fact that it is impossible to ensure a 100% constant scan rate (or 100% straight path, for that matter) across your source material. For figures/pictures, there's no automated way to correct for this.

Bottom line: I'd recommend this highly to those who have the need for a portable scanner for text based documents. But I would STRONGLY advise against getting this if you expect to use it for photos/figures/blueprints or any other precision document.