Accessories Hand-held Scanner with OCR Software

Hi. I'd like to know if anyone is using a hand-held (portable) document scanner that is swiped or rolled over the page. Will you please post the following information:

1. Brand/Model
2. Price
3. Monochrome or Colour?
4. Maximum Scan area or document size
5. Power supply - battery, USB??
6. File storage - microsd,direct to PC?- and size
(For items 1 to 6, you may post the link to the product info instead)

AND, please don't forget
7. Your experience in using the scanner with books, school documents, photos, etc.
And how does the scanned document fare when viewed on the reader side of the eDGe (highlighting, reflow, resolution)?
If you can post samples of scanned document, it will be truly helpful.

Thanks. Looking forward to reading your posts.

See this thread

http://www.entourageedge.com/forums/...-case-for-eDGe

Thanks, Aidren. I checked it out. But I couldn't find a retailer here in UK (online or otherwise).

Would love to see what else other forum members have.

Originally Posted by aidren

See this thread

http://www.entourageedge.com/forums/...-case-for-eDGe

If anyone's wondering, the scanner (http://www.brookstone.com/portable-d...-handheld.html) is mentioned in Post #6, with subsequent posts discussing its features/performance.

Hi! While I am the poster of that other thread's material, I may not have covered all your questions in that thread.
1. Brookstone iConvert
2. $99 USD
3. Both grayscale and color
4. Max width is a tiny bit over 8.5 inches (21.6 cm) the standard width US Letter sized paper (roughly equivalent to A4). Length is near indefinite far as I can tell, possibly limited by memory. It can definitely do longer than "Legal."
5. Two AA batteries
6. Stores directly to MicroSD (sold separately). Operates completely independently without being connected to anything. You can connect to any comptuer via a mini-USB port, but I prefer to just pop the MicroSD chip out and put it in a reader or adapter. If you use an MicroSD to SD adapter (which often are sold together), you can put it right in the eDGe's SD card slot.

Also, Brookstone does ship to the UK if you buy online.

Personally, I love this thing! It is the only doc scanner I know of that operates by itself without a computer. Using a handheld always takes practice to get right, so I often make multiple passes over the same document to be sure. It's quick, but takes a steady hand and cleared, flat surface to get the most out of it.

Like I mentioned in the other thread, I often have to use it to scan medical records or journal articles in a secure area where there is no copier, and setting up a laptop for one page would a major waste, not to mention an extra 8-12 pounds of gear to carry for that one task. I take my eDGe along to check the quality of the scans, and use PhotoShop Express to do quick adjustments like contrast and cropping. Here's the thing though: All scans are stored in JPG. If you want PDF and/or OCR, you'd have to put the file on a computer that has that kind of software and handle that separately. If you go from scanner to edge, I don't think there is a way to display a JPG on the eInk side unless I'm forgetting something. There might be Android software that converts to PDF, but I don't know of any that does OCR.

Thanks OncTech for taking the time to post the details. I actually have found some models that are retailed here in UK and they come with OCR software but I cannot find any reviews for them (although I had time to make only a cursory search online). Hence, I want to hear from actual users. I'm contemplating to buy one to use when I go on field work for my research. I'll find the time to check out Brookstone thoroughly.

Many thanks again.

My 2 cents. I was highly impressed with the concept and purchased the said haldheld scanner (same one as OncTech, $99). I was interested in copying various library items such as photographs from rare old books (for non-commercial purposes from out-of-copyright books). Unfortunately I was not impressed with results. I had much better luck when I tried to scan single unbound pages though. However, that was not the reason I bought the scanner in the first place. I returned it after about 2 weeks.

I think it is a great piece of hardware and performs very well, as advertised. However, make sure you have a firm idea for its intended use since it is useful only in specific scenarios.

Hope this helps.

Thanks pat.indie. I initially was thinking of using it exactly as you described. However, I had second thoughts so I bought a flatbed scanner instead for copying library materials.

Thanks for your post. I'm happy to know that my hasty decision to grab a dirt-cheap second-hand scanner off Amazon was correct. Though I'm still thinking about purchasing one for field work.