The Fujitsu fi-5110EOX ScanSnap colour image scanner is not your everyday scanner.
Sure, it will scan your photos, which is why most businesses today have a scanner as part of workgroups. But the ScanSnap will make it into the workplace because it is a workhorse document scanner.
This is
the product’s specialty. The machine has a compact design that can be tucked away on a desk or next to the office copier. It can scan 15 double-sided pages per minute and is smart enough to avoid scanning blank pages.
The cables, software and manual is upfront when you open the box, making it easy to get started. People tend to be in awe of an IT product at first glance. By showing the manual first, it gets the user’s mind set on the task at hand, which is installing the scanner.
Installation, by the way, took less than seven minutes. The ScanSnap comes with Adobe Acrobat Standard Edition 6.0, which is handy since the scanner specializes in documents.
ScanSnap settings
The software installation had one glitch. It was unable to pass the Windows logo testing to verify its compatibility with Windows XP. But this proved only to be an annoyance as a simple click of the Continue button finished the installation.
Scanning a document or photo was easier than the installation. You simply click the scan button on the machine or point your mouse and click the scan icon on the Cardminder software, which is supplied.
One stumbling block is that you must adjust settings on the ScanSnap Manager software such as confirming paper size. To do this you must find the ‘S’ icon on the Windows task bar, right-click and then choose automatic detection.
Fujitsu could have made that step easier. The company could have included a software wizard so that users are not startled when the machine decides it does not want to scan your document.
Also, to remove your document you must open up the scanner because the machine will not spit it out. For me it was like pulling the paper from clenched teeth.
By closing the cover, the power shuts off. I am not sure if this causes the machine to firmly grip the documents, but the problem was too frequent to overlook.
By closing the cover, the machine does save energy, which would make it more efficient, but I’m not sure that the trade off will be beneficial to the end user who just wants to scan documents and go.
In terms of quality, the scans are very good to excellent, and the fact that they turn instantly into PDF is a fabulous feature. Turning scans into PDFs basically on the fly is a time saving feature that business owners will love.
