IRISPen Express Review

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(More customer reviews)after about 1.5 hours of practice and recalibrating over and over again, this is what the first few lines scanned from the irispen manual look like:
'he IRISPen may be the biggest sensation in computeriand since the mouse \ As efficient as computers are, you have to encode your data first. If you've ever If y-u'veever rekeyed text, you kn(ng and time-consuming it can be.... The IRISPen, a unique product for every computer user, offers instantaneous vaI at your fingertips. Text rec-!nit-o-- -her; you.q want it, w-en 1 The IR nsist- oftw2 coE1P8--nts: a unique g--y-c-eHI'ell-si-e- scan=. ner and the powerful PCR-Il ("Pen Character Recognition") text recognition technology. The basic principle could hardly be easier: slide the IRISPen over a line of text and it is e :o your application in.st-ntJ-.as if-eyed in -ut up to 30 times fas!er. (JP to a 100 characters can be entered per second. Cut from paper, paste to Windows-: can you imagine a simpler way of entering text?
Is it worth it? Spell check couldn't even fix this disaster. I am a very computer saavy person, I don't think I am using it wrong, I think they just really haven't perfected the text recognition software. The one review above must be an irispen employee. I find it hard to believe right out of the box, that it worked perfectly...and then to encourage you to upgrade??? Laughable. You will spend more time fixing the scanning errors than if you just typed it yourself. Going back to amazon tomorrow!

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Wizcom QuickLink SuperPen Review

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(More customer reviews)The product description glosses over the problems you may encounter trying to connect this thing to your PC. It only supports a male 9-pin serial port. If you do not have one, you need to buy an adapter. Even then, you may be unpleasantly surprised. I bought a 9- to 25-pin serial adapter at Radio Shack only to burn an hour trying to set it up, and finally found, deep on the company web site, an explanation that it would only support a male 25- adapter. Now I have ordered a $20 +$5 shipping USB adapter off the Wizcom website. (Don't be fooled by the "optional USB" nonsense in the product description. It is optional in the sense that you can buy the $20 adapter later, after wasting half a day wading through the poorly documented material.) I feel that this company has been deliberately vague about the issues a customer is likely to encounter in setting this thing up. Oh, and I forgot to mention the UI's on both the pen and the desktop are wack.

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The Super Pen is a pocket-size scanner with optical character recognition that lets users scan lines of text and store them for later use. The Super Pen can also translate single words from English to more than 15 other languages, including Chinese, German, Spanish, French, Korean, and Japanese. No longer will you need to scribble notes on random pieces of paper or tear pages out of phone books. The Super Pen helps organize your life by storing and uploading up to 1,000 pages of text into your PDA, cell phone, or computer via serial, infrared (IrDA and IrObex), or optional USB connections.
This lightweight scanner also allows users to scan directly into supported applications in real time and recognizes a wide range of text styles and sizes including bold, underlined, italic, and inverted. The Super Pen weighs 3 ounces and measures 6 inches by 1.5 inches by 1 inch. Compatible with Win 95, 98, NT, 2000, ME, and XP, this advanced device can easily be upgraded, with additional applications such as bar code recognition and eGems information-organizing software available. The Super Pen comes backed by a one-year limited warranty.

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IRISPen Executive Review

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(More customer reviews)I had read the reviews before purchasing this item - saw the warnings and thought they wouldn't apply to me. Sometimes it pays to listen to the little warning voice in your head. I tired very hard to learn to use this scanner and never got a complete sentence out of it correct. The product simply does not do what it claims to do. You will find yourself taking more time to get a decent scan than to type what you want on your keyboard. So be warned: This is not a time saving device to typing on your keyboard! One additional thing. Read the return policy. The company Amazon uses DOES NOT allow returns. Shortly after clicking "yes" to purchase this item - the request was sent. I had second thoughts about purchasing and tried to cancel the order before the product was even sent, but could not reverse the purchase. A painful and costly lesson.

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You scan, It TypesThe IRISPen™ Executive Scanner is an outstanding and professional text recognition pen scanner that instantaneously retypes any printed information into your word processor, e-mail software, on-line databases, or other compatible program.
The IRISPen Executive works just like a highlighter. Simply slide it over the desired printed information from books, newspapers, magazines, faxes, letters, spreadsheets, or other media and that information is instantly transferred to your favorite Windows or Mac application.
Fast scan and retyping speeds The IRISPen Executive Scanner recognizes up to 3.15 inches per second and can retype translated text at up to 1,000 characters per second into a Microsoft Word document, Microsoft Outlook e-mail, or other compatible applications. Since the IRISPen is USB powered, batteries are never needed and the quick USB connection lets you capture characters at incredible speed, from a wide variety of documents.
How does it work? Simply slide the IRISPen over printed information from books, newspapers, magazines, faxes, letters, spreadsheets, or other documents. The scanned text is instantly transferred, or retyped, it into your favorite compatible Windows or Mac application--the IRISPen Executive is virtually compatible with most Windows or Mac applications. The IRISPen Executive can also read the scanned text back to you for auditive feedback or to help with language pronunciation.
Where and when to use the IRISPen?The IRISPen Executive is great for those daily tasks like copying tables with figures into a spreadsheet, scanning bar codes, copying technical text or other content for professional or scholarly use. Just slide the pen over printed information and it is automatically retyped into a Word document or e-mail 30 times faster than retyping the same information manually.
The IRISPen Executive is also useful for road warriors or graduate students. With the IRISPen Executive you can capture phone numbers, e-mail address, passages from books or manuals, bar codes, and many other types of content.
Unique pen character recognition technology The IRISPen Executive Optimizes OCR accuracy and speed, can read wavy and distorted images, and contains a unique line tracking technology. Due to its high recognition performance it can easily read text and numbers, especially those when printed on colored backgrounds. The IRISPen also boasts foreign language support, recognizing up to 55 languages and has seven user interface languages that include English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, German and Dutch.
What's in the BoxGreyscale pen scanner, CD-Rom, quick installation guide, product registration card, electronic and paper manual, test sheet

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Ectaco C-Pen 3.5 BT Bluetooth Handheld Scanner Review

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(More customer reviews)After seeing all the positive and negative reviews for the Ectaco C-pen 20, I decided to take the dive and buy the Bluetooth version of Ectaco's handheld text scanner for my wife. I was apprehensive because there are no reviews for this product, but figured we could return the scanner if it didn't work.
My wife uses the scanner pen to scan text and notes from her law school classes. She stinks at typing, so being able to scan all the text she needs into her class outlines is a *huge* timesaver for her.
Caveats: we are on Vista as our operating system.
Pros:
Easy setup (make sure you follow the directions; DO NOT plug in the scanner prior to loading the software).
Scans accurately and quickly when plugged in via USB; see Cons for the story on Bluetooth mode.
Picks up the following kinds of text without problems: highlighted texts, text in books (make sure the pages are flat, though), or underlined text (provided your underline doesn't go through the text; see Cons)
Picks up kooky symbols, like the ones I found in some of my wife's textbooks (deltas, ampersands, etc.)
Cons:
Doesn't scan text well if you have underlined text and some of your underlining moves up through the printed text.
Doesn't scan very well in Bluetooth-only mode. Essentially, you have about 2-3 seconds to scan your line of text before the light on the scanner goes out and it transmits to your computer. I have no idea what the heck the deal is, but if the Bluetooth part of this scanner is really what you're looking for, I would recommend you *not* buy this product.
Scanner doesn't seem like the most well-constructed thing in the world, *but* it has held up well so far, so that might be a non-issue.
Overall: This text scanner does just fine when it's plugged in to the computer via USB cord. My wife really does save a lot of time in her studies. But, as I mentioned above, the Bluetooth really doesn't function very well at all. I originally gave this product 5 stars because it did exactly what it promised, but I'm changing my rating to (a very generous) 3 stars now that we've found out that the Bluetooth part of the show is so bad. Hopefully Ectaco will fix this in their next system update?

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IRIS Pen II Executive Scanner Review

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(More customer reviews)I did a lot of due diligence before buying the IRIS Pen II Executive Scanner, including all the other pen scanner products on the market. I was initially a little put off by the fact you had to attach it to a computer via a USB cable to work. FWIW, I am using it with MacOS X 10.2.6 and a iBook.
I have had it for over a month now, purchased in July 2003, and I LIKE it. I have primarily used it to scan text from photocopies of journal articles. These are clearly not the highest quality text material from which to scan, but nevertheless, the IRIS pen handles them acceptably. By that, I mean, I get around 85% accuracy. This clearly means, I have to go back and retype things, but still, I am able to capture large quanities of text to use *in a very rapid fashion*. Like one of the previous posters, I do tend to use it like a highlighter.
As a word of instructive advice...it may be difficult to figure out how to hold the pen. Just try different positions and your hand will develop 'memory' in holding it correctly, such that it captures text.
I guess my overall experience is neither the 100% success that others have had, nor the despair that a few have faced. I would certainly buy this product again.

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This portable, handheld scanner provides a wide range of time-saving conveniences. With up to 1,000 characters recognized per second, the IRIS Pen II Executive Scanner is suited for rapid scanning of small samples of text or for taking notes and scanning tables. It can also scan directly into any Windows or Mac application starting at the position of the cursor. Plus, the text-to-speech option lets you hear what you scan, and in a relatively natural voice.
The IRIS Pen II recognizes data on many types of documents, reading 6 to 22 point size fonts with text, numbers, handwritten numbers, and bar codes, as well as reading dot-matrix letters. It supports foreign language uses (up to 56 languages) and is programmable, letting you define two functions that are triggered by single and double clicks (tab, enter, space).
The Pen II provides improved image stability at varying speeds and offers gray scale document recognition. Additional features include left-to-right and right-to-left scanning, central line tracking, multiline mode, recognition of wavy or distorted characters, a line skew tolerance of 10 percent with a word slope tolerance of 20 percent, clear scanning of inverse text (white letters on dark background), and automatic input of tables (like invoices and price lists) into your database or spreadsheet. The idle mode reduces power consumption.
When directly connected to the USB port of a PC or notebook, the scanner supports plug-and-play operation and is powered by the USB port, so there's no need for an external power supply. Support for serial/parallel port is available.

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Baracoda BP0002 BaracodaPencil 2 Scanner Review

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(More customer reviews)The bluetooth works very well. I had no problem pairing the Pencil2 to my Nokia N800 and to my Sony Vaio laptop. The barcode scanning is rather sub-par. Many densely printed barcodes require multiple scans to register, some are never read. An inexpensive Metrologic scanner had no problem with those. The touted use as a stylus is somewhat marred by the very short point on a wide body - edges of the screen are not accessible, otherwise it is quite handy.
The (Windows only) software that comes with it is rather poor, the upgrade available on Baracoda site is effectively broken. The tech support is nonexistent, as in no answer to e-mails. The support and an upgrade of firmware are realy needed, because Pencil2 forgets the settings on wake-up. If you want a CR suffix, you get to scan the setup barcodes from the programming manual every time the device wakes up.
I use the Pencil2 to scan internally printed barcodes and to capture signatures. It performs those functions very well.

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IRISPen Executive 6 Review

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(More customer reviews)I am a doctoral student in the humanities and I got this scanner because as I research, I like to copy passages on various topics into my computer for quick searching ability. This pen scanner has increased the speed with which I copy notes. There is a learning curve with this product. It takes a little time to get used to the feel of a scan that will turn out perfectly copied text. Also, I've found that if you take a few seconds to calibrate your pen before a copying session, it greatly improves the accuracy. I am a fairly fast typer 40 wpm, and I have typed out a passage, and corrected my errors, and then scanned the same passage and corrected the errors. I found that the pen was almost twice as fast. The software is aesthetically lacking and not completely intuitive, but it gets the job done.
While this product is not perfect in every way, it improves upon the other alternatives to digitize passages of text from books and reports.
I've used this product with both Mac and PC (XP). It has scanned text easily into Pages, and Word for me.
Customer service was a little difficult to contact, but eventually I was able to contact them, and they sent me the Mac version of the software free of charge via an e mail attachment. I don't really use the scanner for foreign languages, handwritten notes, etc so I can't really comment on those features.

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Iris USOA400 IRISPen Express 6 Pen Scanner Review

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(More customer reviews)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 Iris USOA400 IRISPen Express 6 Pen Scanner is a portable, hand-held scanner that works just like a highlighter. You simply slide the scanner over virtually any printed text, and the text is automatically scanned directly into your computer. Ideal for remote research projects or any task in which a flatbed scanner would prove too cumbersome, this pen-sized scanner operates at a rate of over three inches per second and recognizes 128 languages. Fast Scanning and High Accuracy The IRISPen Express 6 includes Optical Character Recognition software, or OCR, that is up to 100% accurate with 128 languages. Whether you're scanning print from a newspaper in New York, Istanbul or Ljubljana, this scanner will provide you with highly accurate results. It can even read wavy and distorted images, as well as colored text and numbers, and text on colored backgrounds. If you have special text needs, don't worry. The IRISPen can recognize alphanumeric characters, numeric data, special characters, mathematical symbols, currency symbols, and much more. The IRISPen also reads virtually any font, in a wide variety of styles and point sizes (from 8 to 20 points), as well as formatting elements, such as vertical lines, separating table cells. The scanner can even scan logos, signatures, and other small graphics. While the speed will vary according to usage, the IRISPen can scan up to 3.15 inches per second. You simply slide the "pen" tip across your text, just as you would a highlighter, and the text is scanned directly into the application of your choice. Wide Software and Hardware Compatibility The IRISPen doesn't care if you're a Mac or PC user. It's compatible with practically any platform you use. The pen connects directly into the USB port of a PC, notebook, Tablet PC or Macintosh computer. Powered by the USB port of your computer, the IRISPen doesn't need an external power supply and features an "idle" mode to save energy when it's not in use.The scanner software is easily configured. You can assign key board shortcuts and follow the intuitive smart wizard for the quickest and easiest way of defining your settings. It proposes a series of templates with pre-defined settings means for the reading of certain types of data: text, text from columns, numeric tables, etc. These templates can be either used as such, or modified to fit more particular needs. Once connected, your options for the destination of your scanning is virtually unlimited. You can scan your text directly into Microsoft Excel or Word, into text files, emails--you name it. If you can type in it, the IRISPen will let you scan into it. Scanning Everything From Albanian to Zulu Amazingly, the IRISPen recognizes 128 different languages. All American and European languages are supported, including Central-European languages. Greek, Turkish, the Cyrillic ("Russian") and the Baltic languages and Hebrew are also supported. Optionally, the IRISPen reads Asian documents in Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Korean. You can activate a mixed alphabet of Greek or Cyrillic and Western characters. This is useful if Western words pop up in Greek of Cyrillic texts (this is often the case with proper name, brand names, etc.). The IRISPen will automatically switch languages whenever needed. What's in the Box IRISPen Express 6 pen scanner, CD-ROM, quick installation guide, register card, user's manual, test sheet, and calibration sheet.

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