high resolution scanners

1. Posted: Jun 8 2008

   I would have given this 5 stars if it had had a page feeder. Although in my case not a necessity, still it would have been a nice feature given the price of this unit. It's EXPENSIVE! The scanner itself does exactly what I require of it. It takes great scans of large items and offers many filter and scanning options including software that permits multiple scans without requiring one to call up the Twain driver after every scan. I have over 300 LP covers that I'd like to scan and now I can do each in one pass. It will be invaluable for me to be able to keep up with the flow of my daughter's countless larger art pieces (yes I'm a doting digital dad). The Epson XL10000 is just what the doctor ordered. (FYI: My older Epson Perfection series scanner came with software to permit multiple scans when installed on an XP box, but on my new Vista box, this feature is no longer supported by Epson. I did manage to find software to enable multiple scans. Since I'm on the XP box at the moment and not on the Vista box, I don't recall the software product name, but think it might have been something like Smart Scan.) Epson makes great (if overpriced) scanners and printers. I've never had a problem with any Epson device in the 20 years I've been using them. If you need the size and can afford the cost of admission, this is your ticket to great large format scans.

2. Posted: May 9 2008

   THE BEST QUALITY SO FAR .... THE SCANS ARE SUPERB !! THE WAY TO GO , WITH EPSON

3. ( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Apr 18 2008

   Two and half months after my purchase of an Epson 10000XL scanner through Amazon, it stopped working. Through the followup and tech support process I learned that, because I purchased through Amazon, the manufacturer nor the seller would honor the 1 year warranty. Epson's position is that Amazon is not an authorized seller and that they merely act as broker for what can often be re-furbished or second hand merchandise. So, should your purchase break or malfunction, as mine did, you are out of luck with regard to warranty. This lesson cost me $2400.00 In other respects, this was a satisfactory scanner. However, when a product this expensive stops working after such a short period, in inevitably colors your opinion as to it's overall worth.

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1. Posted: Apr 18 2008

   PURCHASE YOUR EPSON PRODUCT THROUGH AN AUTHORIZED DEALER OR FROM EPSON DIRECTLY. This is not a review of this product, but rather a word to the wise... Two and half months after my purchase of an Epson 10000XL scanner through Amazon, it stopped working. Through the followup and tech support process I learned that, because I purchased through Amazon, the manufacturer nor the seller would honor the 1 year warranty. Epson's position is that Amazon is not an authorized seller and that they merely act as broker for what can often be re-furbished or second hand merchandise. So, should your purchase break or malfunction, as mine did, you are out of luck with regard to warranty. This lesson cost me $2400.00

2. Posted: Feb 26 2008

   After owning several other scanners which I use for a variety of office purposes including image storage, document control, etc I found I needed one with 11 x 17 capability. Not being able to find too many choices on an internet search this was available and in my price range. When it arrived several parts had come off either during shipping or perhaps were never installed during manufacture. Whichever, I found myself becoming a scanner assembly worker. I had to get my tool kit out for the construction which took quite a bit of time. I would have just returned the unit but was told that this is a common issue with this particular scanner and I needed to get to work as soon as possible. After several hours I managed to get the pieces figured out and installed. When I powered it up for the first time the light unit flickered and smoke poured out. Now I don't know if this was part of the damage I encountered upon opening the carton or a new set of problems. I really needed to use the thing so I took the chance and loaded some documents into the feed unit and watched the results. There were dark and light places over the captured image of the document which also came through when I printed from the captured image. I guess for storage of documents for reference purposes this thing would probably do the job. But for printable image storage this was not going to do the job. I finally decided I had wasted enough time and returned the scanner for a credit. I don't think I want to take the chance of repeating the experience so I am in the process of looking for an alternative brand. I don't recommend Epson. Recalling my experience with this company, I've had other issues with their products. From strange software gliches to poor hardware build quality, Epson has produced a lot of frustration for me with this model scanner being no exception. In short if you want a decent scanner that will work out of the box and do an adaquate job, avoid this particular product. Epson may make better products than those I've had the experience of owning. And it may just be a fluke. But for this kind of money someone should have done a better job inspecting and testing the unit before shipping.

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1. Posted: Jul 23 2008

   I had the exact same problem as many others. Used the thing for 1 year and the bulb died, this was after Very light use. Maybe a dozen or so scans.. very very dissapointing. We had to have a working scanner though (I work in a university Music Library and faculty need it) so we actually sent the thing in for repair. It cost $300 + shipping to CA and back, and when it came back, it died again in 6 mos. I'm buying an Epson this time. I won't let the lower price lure me..it's simply not worth the headache.

2. Posted: Jun 16 2008

   I cannot tell you how crumby Microtek is. You must avoid Microtek products like the plague. I bought this scanner 9800XL for about $1000. After one year, I started getting blurry scans. Microtek's solution? Buy another scanner from us, we don't repair anything. Now I have upgraded to Leopard. New drivers are only available on Microtek's website, which is perpetually down. I called tech support and a sleepy girl answered the phone and didn't know anything about computers in general, much less my driver problem. She kept referring to "my website". I said, "What does my website have to do with anything?" I asked to speak to her supervisor and I got patched into a message that said the supervisor was at home, and to please leave a message. I wish I could faithfully express how unprofessional this all is. After my dealings with the Microtek Corporation and manufacturer of mediocre products with zero tech support, I can only conclude and sincerely believe that the Microtek must be run out of a shipping container somewhere in Oakland. MICROTEK MUST BE GOING OUT OF BUSINESS. Why else would they treat people like this? Google them if you don't believe me. There are hundreds of threads about how lame Microtek is and how crumby their support is. I have to "rate" this product based on Amazon's review process, so I am giving them one star, but I would give them zero stars if I could...

3. Posted: Apr 27 2008

   We use this scanner in a professional environment and we have dubbed it "the Beast" because we groan whenever a job requires oversize scans and we actually have to use it. It has the most frustrating and nonsensical user interface I've ever seen. (Just one instance of many - the auto numbering feature cannot be reset except by hitting an up or down button - so if is up to 958 and you want to reset it to 0, you have to go down to 957, 956, etc.) It is extremely slow and also has a LOUD annoying whine while previewing and scanning - don't try to talk on the phone while scanning in the vicinity. The Mac driver has never worked properly - and calling Microtek only resulted in their instructing us to re-load the drivers, so we have to do this every time we use the scanner! The auto correction features seem to be weird, but we can't get the driver to calibrate the scanner, so we have to do all corrections in Photoshop after the fact. We have a $150 Canon scanner that is so far superior to the Microtek; I only wish Canon made an oversize scanner.

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1. Posted: May 16 2008

   The Microtek ScanMaker 9800XL Scanner fast, easy to use, and quiet. I use it with a MacPro and VueScan software ([...]). I also bought the Transparent Media Adapter. I've scanned 4X5 transparencies and large flat art posters (in sections) and everything matched up perfectly.Plug and play... it was done. I owned a SCSI Microtek ScanMaker III prior but the cost of a SCSI card for the new Macs and the lac resolution and speed I had to upgrade. I'm glad I did.

2. Posted: Apr 29 2008

   The scanner hardware has been excellent and functions as advertised. The acompaning software is another story, if not for Adobe Photoshop being included I may well still trying to figure out the software. Most of which I still have not used - everything is done with Photoshop.

3. ( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Mar 15 2008

   I have a Microtek scanner and just downloaded the latest drivers. It turns out Microtek wants a program called Scan Finder to load at every start-up, and there is no way to disable this. The product works satisfactorily, but for my money, I will purchase something else. Something that doesn't create such a nuisance, and isn't so invasive.

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1. ( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Apr 18 2008

   PURCHASE YOUR EPSON PRODUCT THROUGH AN AUTHORIZED DEALER OR FROM EPSON DIRECTLY. This is not a review of this product, but rather a word to the wise... Two and half months after my purchase of an Epson 10000XL scanner through Amazon, it stopped working. Through the followup and tech support process I learned that, because I purchased through Amazon, the manufacturer nor the seller would honor the 1 year warranty. Epson's position is that Amazon is not an authorized seller and that they merely act as broker for what can often be re-furbished or second hand merchandise. So, should your purchase break or malfunction, as mine did, you are out of luck with regard to warranty. This lesson cost me $2400.00

2. ( 1 of 8 found this review helpful ) Posted: Nov 4 2006

   Great machine. We needed the higher resolution and the larger format for scanning radiographs

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1. Posted: Aug 3 2008

   This is a good scanner for the home and for what I have intended for it. I tend to collect magazines a bit too much and only for one or two articles are really why I want to keep them. I use the scanner to take those articles and make PDF files of them to be placed on a CD. This is perfect for that and I can rid myself of excess paper magazines.

2. Posted: Jul 24 2008

   I needed a basic, multifunctional scanner. This is a great value and just what I needed. It is slow, but quality is good.

3. Posted: Jul 21 2008

   this scanner is extremely easy to use & gives great pictues even when the pictuce or slides are really old. I would highly recommend this scanner

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1. Posted: Jul 30 2008

   The software was easy to install, the scanner works very simply and produces extremely clear copies Just very good need I say more

2. Posted: Jul 28 2008

   I really spent some time weighing pros and cons of various scanners before taking the plunge. I needed something that would handle documents, scan and print docs (in liew of a copier and fax machine), and this has worked out beautifully. Easy to set up, and I'm sure at some point I'll explore all the bells and whistles, but I was able to immediately scan and e-mail some documentation that I needed to get to a third party....no sweat! Love that it is small and that I don't need an extra power cord. I can store the unit on a shelf and then plug in when and where I need to. Everything I expected to get and more. It works!

3. Posted: Jul 19 2008

   The CanoScan LIDE90 is exactly what I needed - a good quality color scanner, lightweight so I can move it off the desk when I don't need it and easy to use. The price is also terrific. This is the second CanoScan scanner I have used (one at work and now one at home) and I would buy the CanoScan again.

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1. Posted: Mar 30 2008

   A money pit is right! This printer just isn't worth it. There were at least 3 times where I bought ink and even though I only used the printer 3 or 4 times over the course of 4 or 5 months, the ink was gone and I'd have to buy refills again! It appears the ink must be allowed to evaporate somehow, and furthermore if you run out of one color the whole printer is useless until you refil it! Regardless of whether you're printing in B&W! Don't waste your money on this; there are much better printers out there.

2. Posted: Nov 24 2007

   I've had my printer for about 2 years now. It's a Multifunction printer. No need to buy a separate printer, fax, copier or scanner. This does it all!!!! My only complaints are that this printer is slow. This requires 4 catridges and if one ink cartridge is empty then it won't print unless it is replaced. I also notice printer will indicate that a catridge is empty even when the catridge still looks like it has some ink left. I Would recommend this to anyone who has a home office.

3. Posted: Nov 24 2007

   In case you don't believe the rest of the reviewers, this printer is HORRENDOUS!!!! Brother has done a great job at creating a scam with their ink cartridges. Hopefully, people have caught on and have decided to ditch this piece of JUNK! My ink cartridges were still semi full when the printer prompted me to change cartridges...like an idiot and because I needed to print, I went to the store and bought cartridges for $50! Way overpriced for the print quality you get from Brother. Shame on Brother for scamming consumers and making such a lousy printer. They may have scammed us once but Brother has shot themselves in the foot by losing many customers. I will never buy any other Brother brand product. Brother has no idea what relationship marketing is, it seems obvious they are just after making the one transaction and not about keeping their customers happy. I bought this because it had a pretty good rebate...a year ago I only paid about $80, still way too much money for this piece of CRAP! So to all looking to purchasing a printer, stick to HP, at least they don't scam you as much with their ink cartridges!

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