- Battery Operated for Full Portability Purposes. Stores Up to 100 Pages into Memory
- Scans Take Approximately 4 to 8 Seconds
- Scans a Full Page Width Including Text & Graphics
- Free PaperPort Software Included with OCR Capability
- Rechargeable lithium-Ion Batteries
The images scanned with DocuPen look almost exactly as if they came out of a conventional fax machine. The pictures looked pretty bad (if heavy graphics/pictures are what you need don't even think about DocuPen) and some of the text lines were stretched in a way a fax machine does when the paper gets a bit jammed. I am sure, with some practice it will get better but not too much as it's humanly impossible to keep moving the hand up to 8 seconds with precisely the same speed.
However, if the text and some light drawings are what you need than this device is for you. I, personally, do historical research and need to copy some articles from old newspapers. DocuPen works great with text. Just make sure you always use 200 DPI even if you don't really need to. The reason is that if you mess something a bit (say, your hand shakes or so) with 200 DPI there is a chance to fix the image later on or at least to be able to read it. At 100 DPI it's pretty much dead end.
The two major drawbacks of the DocuPen (at least for me) are the small memory and inability to work with a PDA. DocuPen's internal memory is only 2 Mb which in my opinion is ridiculously small. And there is no way to increase/upgrade it. Don't believe the ad that says you can store up to a 100 pages. You don't want to scan at 100 DPI, and with 200 DPI 50 pages is the max. What they don't tell you in the ad, is that if any of those pages contain heavy graphics the number could go as low as 12 (!) at 200 DPI (that's what the manual says). That sounds like almost nothing to me.
The small memory issue would not be that bad if the DocuPen was compartable with any of the PDAs. As long as I could download those few pages and start scanning again I would have being OK with that. However, I don't always carry my laptop with me and it is sort of a hassle to bring it to the library every time. On the other hand, my PDA is always in my pocket. If I download those scanned pages to my PDA not only to clear the memory but also to check how they turned out (and re-scan any if necessary) that would have been great. But the DocuPen DOES NOT work with any of the PDAs !!!
I actually made a call to DocuPen's tech support (BTW the guy who works down there was very nice) and talked about this issue. Apparently the problem was not the compartibility but the lack of drivers. The company supports Windows 98/2000/NT/XP (and, I've heard, some of the MAC's OSs) but not Windows Mobile or Palm OS. So, they simply don't know what's going to happen if I connect the DocuPen to my PDA (provided I find the correct cable or make one myself). So if anybody out there feels like writting a driver for the DocuPen to work with Windows Mobile please let me know :-)
They also told me that in six months (Spring 2006) they plan to launch a new model of DocuPen which would have a slot for SD card (yes-s-s !!!) and would scan in full color. Personally, I don't think that DocuPen's upgrade to color scanning is such a good idea. The quality of its images is low enough in b/w and the addition of color would just make things worse. It will also enlarge the size of the device and, of course, the price will go up.
For now, your choice is either to buy the DocuPen R-700 and deal with its small memory or wait six months (at least) and pay more for pretty much the same device (again, I don't believe in color on the "world's smallest scanner") to be able to save your scans on a SD card.
Two other things that I would have changed about DocuPen are fairly minor and are really more inconveniences than major issues. The button that turns the device on is very hard to press. Every time I do that it feels like I am going to break the whole thing. Also the carrying case that comes with the DocuPen does not provide the adequate protection. I wish they made some sturdy metallic tube/box instead of this fluffy pouch. But may be that was the point. The sooner your DocuPen breaks, the sooner you get another one :-)
Overall, I did like the DocuPen and I would recommend it to anybody as long as you clearly understand what you need it for. If you plan to use it for copying a few book articles at your library, class notes from your friend's copy-book or some simple hand-drawings it will work great for you. But if you need quality graphic images of pictures or complicated blueprints and/or plan to scan a large number of documents at once DocuPen is NOT for you. Try to get HP's CapShare 920 instead.
Buy Planon DPENR700 Docupen R700 B&W Pen Scanner Now
I am a student and I bought DocuPen thinking I could scan library books or part of books, convert them to PDF and have my own collection of readings, with my annotations and highlights on them. Fat chance...First of all, it looks very cheap and not very solid (very cheap-looking plastic, poor finish).
Second, the controls are incredibly frustrating everytime you scan you have to press a button (twice, if you want hi-res), and the button is pretty much burried in the scanner and tough to press. Why do I have to press it every time and hurry to scan (it shuts down quickly, unless you start scanning, I do not know).
Third, the 2MB of memory is a joke. I guess you could fit 100 not-too-large low-res scans on it (as the product claims), but who wants 100 dpi scans? Why, when flash memory has dropped so much in size and price, the Docupen has a measly 2 MB?
Fourth, the software interface and transfer mode are atrocious. Why is not recognized as a USB Mass Storage Device, but instead you have to install its software or use another image-acquiring program? Moreover, the transfer speed is horrible, and you have to download all the images in its memory before choosing which to actually keep.
But, most important, unless you have a very steady hand and are very careful when you scan, the quality is very poor and there is no hope of OCR (by the way, the bundled OCR software is slow and not very accurate). I guess they should have the rollers on the bottom of the scanner measure the speed you're going, the way they do in ball mouses, or have measure the speed the way optical mouses do, and thus compensate for variations in scanning speed across the page.
I have had much better OCR results with snapshots of books taken with a digital camera (done carefully, in bright sunlight) and a professional OCR suite, such as Abbyy FineReader, than with Docupen scans (using the same OCR software).
Last, but certainly not least, it costs a lot (but that could be a problem with most handheld scanners, since the cheapest I could get a used C-Pen on ebay one year ago was some $ 120).
The only good things I can say about it is that it comes with a leather-like case, good for protecting it against scratches while carrying it around, and that one of the led lights on it blinks when you're scanning to fast, thus offering some control over your optimum speed.
All, in all however, this seems like a good idea that steel needs some technological progress before it can actually be useful (higher DPI, speed-variation compensation) or at least some simple and sensible improvements possible at present (more ergonomic and simple controls, higher memory and transfer speeds, and implementation of USB Mass Storage protocols instead of the clunky TWAIN interface).
Read Best Reviews of Planon DPENR700 Docupen R700 B&W Pen Scanner Here
Easy to install and easy to use.I used to have the older model (DocuPen BW) but after knowing that the new model featured rechargeable batteries I decided to buy it (my son inherited the BW and now uses it at school)
Since I bought my DocuPen R-700 I have been carrying it around with my mobile and my notebook and it is almost like having my whole office on the road.
The scan quality is good for my purposes (it is 100 dpi, not a 1600 dpi flat bed scanner OK?) and the best part is that I don't have to look for photocopy machines anymore.
I have heard some complaints about the installation but it worked perfectly to me and have not found any problem (I use XP). If you follow the instructions on the screen you should not have any problem at all
Anybody working on the road should have one.
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This product looks and feels very flimsy. Do not be fooled by the flashy, metallic-looking picture. The plastic shell of this device is the quality of McDonald's toys. One would think that for $300, the company would at least commission a manufacturer that did not leave plastic whiskers hanging off the rims due to bad cutting.The buttons are hard to press. In order to turn the device on, you have to press very firmly, which is a risky thing to do considering the cracking delicacy of the shell.
The cable port for the DocuPen is also extremely flimsy, and you have to hold the cable firmly in place in order for the downloads to take place; otherwise, the connection will be lost.
I am a pre-medical student, and I very stupidly invested a lot of money in this product, believing that I could (for 8 seconds a page and 100 pages per disk) scan my science textbooks in the library, including the colored diagrams, and in that way, I thought I would make back my investment, since textbooks go for at least $100 each. However, I now see that this belief was naive, to say the least. The Docupen is extremely difficult to use. The words come out distorted, like a jammed fax machine, and although the free Paper Port software which comes complimentary with the DocuPen is rather useful for annotating PDF's, the DocuPen does not produce texts that are legible enough to annotate.
Furthermore, downloading is very slow (at least 15 seconds per page on my fast computer), and since you can't see how your scans have turned out until you load them into the computer, you will have to re-scan about 80% of pages due to stretches, smudges, blurriness, suspicious blank spots, and general illegibility.
I wish I had read some of the other negative Amazon reviews before buying this product. I would have saved myself a lot of money and time.
If you are a user who is only looking to scan pictures or a few flat documents, then this product may work okay for you, although a digital camera will probably deliver better results. If you have been harboring grandiose visions of going all-out "paperless" with this product, you will find yourself extremely disappointed.
Until PlanOn decides that this product is worthy enough to invest in a semi-decent shell manufacturuer, it will not a good buy. The idea is wonderful and has a lot of potential, especially when coupled with a Tablet PC. However, the execution of the idea needs improvement. I hope to see a far better version of this product in the next few years, at a price that is comparable to quality.
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Although I would like some type of "high-tech" mobile scanner like Kiefer Sutherland uses in the show "24"....that's a few years off...LOL. Anyway, this thing is pretty easy to use once you get the hang of it. As far as text is concerned the resolution is adequate for my needs, and probably the vast majority of users. With regards to graphics, it is the only hand/pen scanner that can scan graphics, but with a limited resolution (200dpi). Overall, this docupen is great. I did notice however that if you do alot of mobile scanning and don't necessarily have the ability to dump the info immediately into a computer...space becomes limiting. I've decided to get a "handful" of them (no pun intended), so that I'm never caught short of memory and space. I will let you know that I was able to easily scan about 50 pages of text at decent resolution with little or no difficulty (with alot of room left over). It saved the the hassle of looking for a copier where I was on-site working. One thing to know: there is supposed to be a "calibration sheet" enclosed in the package that "tunes up and calibrates" the pen. After looking around for it to no avail in the package, the customer service department let me know it was on the installation disc as a file that can be printed out and scanned for calibration purposes. Other than that, like I said, it's simple, effective and quite honestly the only product that's currently on the market that can scan and store text and graphics on the fly. If you need something that absolutely must have the flexibility of incorporating graphics this is the only game in town...and as I've already indicated I couldn't be happier (unless someone develops a tablet sized pc that has a printer and a scanner built right into the system).Oh, one additional thing: people do give you a second glance or two when using one of these things.....they either think you are a: 1) Spy like James Bond, 2) Alien here observing humans, 3) Traveller from the future or 4) High tech geek (LOL).
I hope this product is as useful for you as it is for me.
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