Visioneer PhotoPort 7700 Flatbed Scanner

3 1/2 stars. Scanner installed without a glitch running Windows ME. It is very nice looking and has a compact footprint. My wife could use it to email a friend's obituary to some familly members without much help from me, so it is very easy to use.I purchased largely because of the Compactflash/Smart media card readers built in. I own a Canon G1 wich has a usb connection to download my pics to the computer and it seems to be just as fast as the compact flash reader on this scanner(the camera has excellent upload speed), therefore the reader is really no big deal for me as I thought it would improve on the upload speed. The Color reproduction seems fine, but not perfect as I would like (I am, as my wife would quickly tell you, VERY picky). I noticed that items with texture, such as a circuit board or any 3d object does not scan as well as the Epson 1240u that I tried out at an electronics store. The Color on that unit was also superior, as well as speed and it also has twice the resolution wich could help with enlarging small scans for printing. 600x1200 is fine for most anything else though. I have read so-so reviews on the Epson software. The Visioneer software is very good. These are in the same class price wise, so I am considering getting the Epson instead. The one thing holding me back is the ease of use of the Visioneer and the smaller footprint and design. I like the way the Visioneer is designed sideways so it sits on my desk the way I think a scanner should. Overall a nice scanner, but limited due to resolution, scan quality and speed for its price range. Excellent if you need a fast Campactflash/Smartmedia card reader and are also in the market for a usb scanner as I was.

After I recently purchased this product for use in Windows XP, I quickly downloaded the XP drivers that were needed first to run the hardware. Everything was working very smoothly, no problems at all during install or usage. Next, I popped in the CD to install and try PaperPort 7.0, and while I was installing the software, it decided to install an older version of OneTouch, thus it told me to plug in the scanner because it could not detect it, and so I had to reboot and go though the install process all over again. Whew! But at least I had PaperPort installed and working now.Next, I noticed some problems starting to surface. My scanner was producing weird lines and stretching effects while it made weird noises. So, I opened it up and watched it scan, and to my disbelief the scanner was tripping over its own ribbon cable because it was badly twisted and bent. So I took back the scanner and opened some boxes to find other cables bent very badly, and the best looking ribbon cable happen to be on display... *laugh*! But I found one worthy of taking home, and all I had to do was plug it in and go!Btw, this is my first scanner, and I'm very happy with it, the compact flash transfers much faster than using serial. It's small and lightweight, scanning speed and quality is good for my needs.

I got the scanner from Amazon on sale! It took me about an hour to get it to work with Win XP (Installed the so-called XP certified updated driver from Visioneer web site). Still every time I start the PC, the driver works on a randomly fashion!Apparently, this problem is very common and their customer support receives a lot of complaints about their drivers.If you have WIN XP and you dont mind re-installing the driver every once a while, it might be a good scanner for you. The scanning quality is just fine.

This scanner seems to be one that people love or hate. It has produced excellent scans for me--sharp and vibrant, every time. And the bundled Paperport software is useful. The problem I have had with it is that the bundled software is a bit flaky and does not uninstall cleanly. That is a bad combination as my solution to software problems is to get rid of the software, then re-install. Not so fast with Paperport--after uninstalling via "add/remove programs", you also have to manually search for and delete additional folders and files, and I also had to do some fairly hairy registry edits to make sure the software and drivers were really and truly gone before re-installing. This is inexcusable.Once it's working, however, it's wonderful. I recommend installing AFTER you've loaded up your PC with every bit of software you think you'll want this scanner to work with as the installer looks for those programs and builds links to them--handy for OCR or other work.

The 7700 was a replacement for my years old Microtek X6 that had been a good scanner but was beginning to show its age. The drivers installed without a hitch and I was up and running in less than 10 minutes.Unfortunately, the image quality of this scanner is terrible. I tried dozens of combinations of the manual settings, trying to get some scans that were acceptable. Even with the full "48 bits" skin tones and color graduatiions were completely unnatural. Add to this the occasional scan that had light verical lines. I returned the unit (thanks Amazon) and subsequently purchased a Canon LiDE 30 that works fine.

The software Visioneer provides with their scanners is what sets them apart from Epson, HP, Canon, and all the others. Forget multiple scanning operations and fiddling with setting to get the scan right. Kiss cheap drivers goodbye.There are multiple buttons on the scanner itself which are preprogrammed for the "one-touch scanning" feature, or you can program them yourself using the software. Press a button, and it just does what you want. You can send the output to wherever you choose, whether it be straight to the printer, to the scan software, or to your photo editing program. Have your document OCRed and sent to Word. Fax it to someone. The flexibility of this scanner is amazing. And it all comes preprogrammed for those who don't know or don't care how to customize it.I love Visioneer and have three of their scanners (office, home 1, and home 2). Check them out!