Iris USOA400 IRISPen Express 6 Pen Scanner

• Portable, pen-size scanner with OCR recognizes 128 languages
• Recognizes alphanumeric characters, numeric data, mathematical symbols, currency symbols, and much more; scans small images
• Scans up to 3.15 inches per second
• Mac and PC compatible; powers off USB port
• Automatically recognizes mix of Western and Greek or Cyrillic languages; optionally reads Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Korean

I edit a small-town weekly newspaper, and in slow times, I like to have a story regarding some aspect of the town's history ready to go in as filler. So I spend quite a bit of time going through yellowed newspaper archives, and bought this toy to see if I could cut down on my retyping time. The result? Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. I find you have to recalibrate every time you start scanning a different newspaper page, and that the scanner works better on pages that still have good contrast, which is to say have not become too yellowed. The good news is that I get about 95 percent accuracy on unyellowed newsprint, so it works for me then; the bad news is that the error rate greatly rises when the contrast drops, so that retyping is still faster on most of the old stuff. But, it should be noted, I'm conducting a Pen Scanner Torture Test; I find it works just fine on better quality paper, such as book and magazines. But always, always, recalibrate first.

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The several versions of this product differ in the software offered, the scanning pen, apparently, is the same for all. Iris Express seemed good enough for me since I only wanted to copy information from library books.

Getting useful copy requires a steady hand, a modicum of practice and, above all else, proper settings of the scanner. Operating instructions are both obscure and sketchy, so a beginner should stay with the manufacturer's default settings until some proficiency is gained. It helped, somewhat, to download the instruction file from the ReadIris website when I was ready to create settings of my own. Those instructions are inadequate too, but better than those packaged with the pen.

Once technique is mastered, character recognition is excellent, but the output text is plain, with no formatting whatsoever. That lack is easily corrected by sending the copy to a word processor.

Everything considered, I'm glad I bought the gadget.

Wugo

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I bought this product with some trepidation, as other reviewers' opinions of it were all over the map. When I first started trying to use it, it didn't work at all well. My first few scans (each being one line of text) came out pretty accurate, but after that things just deteriorated fast, until before long all I could ever get was a big string of unrecognized characters, represented by tildes (~). I read the PDF manual, tried various settings, to no avail.

Then I contacted IRIS customer support, and they sent me a list of things to try, three of which actually helped quite a bit, and now I'm scanning along fairly happily.

The last thing they suggested--and the first thing I tried--helped a lot. I clicked File > Reset to Factory Settings. I've had to do that again, after I saw a deterioration in results. So I guess I'll just have to live with the default settings and Reset them every so often. Not a big problem for me, though it would be for some users.

They also said it should take 3-4 seconds to scan a 6-inch line of text. I had been scanning much faster than that. Slowing down helped.

And they said that a wavy scan is a big problem. I have found that by positioning a ruler about 3/4 inch below the line I want to scan works pretty nicely--I just run the scanner along the ruler as a guide, and it eliminates the wavy-line problem. (The thing doesn't seem to be bother if the line of text rises or falls slightly from left to right, provided it's all in a fairly straight line.)

I should mention that I suffer from a slight tremor in my hands, and so it is possible that some of my difficulties would not be experienced by someone with a steadier hand.

Bottom line: You can make this thing work if you stick with it. If, like me, you are constantly needing to scan in fragments of text, you will find it worth the trouble to overcome initial difficulties, should you experience them.

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I bought the IRISpen Express in the hope that it would make the endless research projects I have for college a little less time consuming. I always found it tedious and disruptive to have to stop reading to note a phrase or quote for use in a paper. Also, it is time consuming to have to refer back to those little sticky notes when it is time to type up the paper or even to compile the research for review.

The IRISpen makes it much easier to simply sit with a book and read it as usual. When I come across a part that I want to include in a paper or even just keep on my computer for use in a blog or webpage, I simply scan the page number and the passage I want to use. Done. I have blasted through 4 library books today in the time it would have taken to work through a one or two because I dont have to stop reading to type. I set up my laptop next to me and start a heading on OneNote with the book that I am reading. That way all I have to do is scan it like a highlighter when I see something I want.

This little scanner has made life as a student much easier and less time consuming. Im also one of the most organized students now, because all my notes are digital and can easily be searched.

There are, of course, flaws with the pen; it isnt perfect at recognition so it is important to review the text periodically to fix spelling errors. It helps to calibrate it before using it every time, which thankfully takes about 5 seconds. Other than that, I have been very pleased with the IRISpen and I would recommend it to busy students or professionals who have to organize printed material for any sort of publication.

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I'd like to set out a review for mac users.

1. I am a law student trying to use the scanner to consolidate information from book to print. The books I use have writing in them, over the words, and lots of highlighting and underlining.

2. I was extremely reticent to buy the pen because of the negative reviews.

3. I am using a Macbook Pro (2010) with the pen.

The bottom line is that the pen really does work when you are using it with written text. Reviews that mention otherwise (I have noticed) are mainly PC users. The pen really is helpful in getting down all of the information you want.

A. Dealing with books (exclusively with typed print)

The pen works wonderfully. It works BEST with a book on a flat surface. (I have only had problems with very thick book in the beginning chapters (where the binding is not flat on the table. It can read over yellow highlighting without a problem. It has a 60-70% success rate with underlined words. It obviously works best with clean text.

B. Mac experience

I have a feelign that the OCR engine for the mac software is somewhat different (though I could be wrong) than the PC version. The far and few between Mac users have seem to have positive experiences.

C. Realistic Expectations

In an ideal world, the pen would work perfectly... of course, it does not. But you can definitely optimize the experience to make it work best for you.

1. Somehow it depends on the light. Insufficient lighting with not allow the text to be read. Too much lighting on the other hand, seems to overwhelm the pen and writing does not get recognized (so don't hold have your friend hold a flashlight above the book... like we did last weekend). Second, the pen can recognize text REALLY quickly. But when it's underlined or highlighted, slow down. I usually do an entire line (flat, good lighting, clean text) in a quarter of a second. And it's 99% always right. I slow down on highlighted text and that seems to work well.

Lastly, I typically run into problems when I try to only get particular words from the page instead of a whole line. this might be due to my beginner level use, though.

Just realize that this technology isn't perfect, but it is pretty good. For the price, it will save you thousands of keystrokes. I just hope this review presents an objective approach that might explain some of the more negative ones. If you find any questions or issues, comment and I'll try my best to address.

-Rob