Fujitsu ScanSnap S300 Review
The ScanSnap S300 is, according to Fujitsu, the world’s smallest color duplex scanner with an automatic document feeder (ADF). It’s small enough for mobile professionals to carry in a briefcase if need be; yet with its relatively advanced scanning functionality it can be used in a home office environment as a primary scanner with ease.
I have used all kinds of scanners going back (not to age myself) to the days of the HP 4C Flatbed scanner and being amazed with its results. My one gripe back in those days of iron men and wooden ships…..ok maybe not that far back, was that after I placed my document PERFECTLY on the scanner bed and pushing the scan button I could almost watch an entire episode of Gilligan’s Island before my scan was done.
But scanning has come a long ways since then and the ScanSnap 300 is a shining example of a device that can help notebook users get more done wherever they are.
The ScanSnap S300 is a joy to use. Offering fast ‘one-touch’ conversion of paper documents, you simply load a stack of up to 10 documents into the document feeder and press the Scan button. The ScanSnap S300 will scan both sides of a page automatically in a single pass.The ScanSnap 300 goes to work at speeds of up to 8ppm (pages per minute) for single-sided documents and 16ppm for double-sided documents.
Notebooks.com first saw the ScanSnap S300 at CES 2008. Check out the video below.
The ScanSnap S300 automatically recognizes the size of each document, detects and corrects for skew, and shows images in their proper orientation with blank pages removed. There’s even modest automatic image correction features to ensure decent scanning results.The ScanSnap’s technical specifications are modest compared to a desktop scanner, but they’re good enough for mainstream business use. The ScanSnap S300 uses a CIS (Color Image Sensor) image sensor and 3-colour (RGB) LED light source. It offers an optical resolution of 600 by 600dpi, which is more than enough for text and general business materials. What the ScanSnap S300 is not, however, is a portable graphics studio.I printed some PDFs on a standard office laser printer and scanned them back into my notebook with the ScanSnap. You can check out the results here:ScanSnap S300 Fujitsu sample #1 ScanSnap S300 Fujitsu Sample #2ScanSnap S300 Fujitsu Sample #3Fujitsu has created an incredibly small automatic document feed scanner in the ScanSnap S300, which offers a 10-sheet paper tray capable of handling documents as small as a business card and all the way up to A4 sheets of paper.
Once everything’s set up you can simply place a wad of paper into the ADF tray and hit the scan button. At default quality settings it plows through an A4 page in just a few seconds. Documents can also be turned into searchable PDFs on the fly.The ScanSnap S300 is great for professionals in a variety of situations. I can see it being used by people at tradeshows making sure all their new contacts’ business cards are scanned in and synched with their CRM software. It would also be great if FEMA and other emergency response teams had something like this in disaster areas to expedite the process of getting people back on their feet. It would be a great tool for a small business owner who just needs a scanner but doesn’t have a lot of desk space to spare.
- Scanner Type: ADF (Automatic Document Feeder), Duplex color scanning
- Image Sensor: CIS (Color Image Sensor) x 2
- Optical Resolution: 600 dpi x 600 dpi
- Scanning Modes: Normal, Better, Best, Excellent
- Scanning Speed (Normal): Color 150 dpi or B&W 300dpi at 8ppm, 16 images per minute
- Scanning Speed (Excellent): Color 600 dpi or B&W 1200dpi at 0.5ppm, 1 images per minute
- Paper Weight (Thickness): 17 to 28 lbs
- Included Items: USB cable, USB bus power cable, AC adapter, AC cable, Getting Started Guide, Setup CD-ROM
- Power Consumption: 9W or less (operating), less than 5W (sleep mode)
- Device Weight: 3.08 lbs. without power adapter.
Fujitsu targets the majority of its products at the corporate and enterprise customer, so it goes without saying that the build quality on the ScanSnap S300 Portable PDF Scanner is absolutely top-notch. There was virtually no flex in the chassis at all. I’m not a huge fan of the boring matte silver and black finish, but with the addition of shinier black accents at either end you will be happy with its looks.When you open the lid, it automatically turns the scanner on and prepares it for your document to be scanned. If you happen to get a paper jam, it’s very easy to open the inner lid to access your crumpled piece of paper. A small detail that may have been useful is some sort of “click” or beep for when the top cover is closed. As it stands, you just sort of close it and that’s about it.
Another great feature the ScanSnap S300 has is that you can actually open it up and be able to clean its optics. Anyone who does a lot of scanning knows that after a while a healthy bit of crud builds up on the scanner optics. After speaking with Fujitsu’s tech department about this their recommendation was an alcohol water mix using a micro fiber cloth and spic and span good as new. I tried this and it was a very easy procedure.
Despite its small stature, the ScanSnap S300 is not a lightweight. The stat sheet says that it’s a hair over three pounds, but it feels heavier than that. You’ll definitely feel this weight when you place the ScanSnap in your laptop bag or briefcase. It’s not something you would carry around with you everyday but very nice to have around on those days when you need to do fast, accurate scanning.
Pros
*Excellent build quality
*Double-sided multi-sheet feeding
*10-sheet ADF
*Runs off AC adapter or USB connection
*Fast scanning
Cons
*Can’t run on batteries
*No internal memory
The Scan Snap S300 is available now for $299.