C Pen 600C Handheld Scanner

List Price: $189.99

Features:

• Translation tool, ideal for travel
• Includes address book with space for 1,000 contacts
• Memory holds up to 3,000 pages of text
• Downloadable dictionaries available in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Swedish
• Remarkably small and lightweight

Accessories:
Extended Systems DC051013 C Pen Infrared Serial Adapter	C Technologies Pen Leather Carrying Case for CPen 200 and 600	Canon 1029A004 Photo Paper Pro for BJC-8200 (8.5inx11in, 15 Sheets )	APC BE350U 350VA Back-ups Es

Customer Reviews:

Never got it to dependably synch [Posted on 2004-11-02]
Boy, what a great idea. I bought the pen because I do a lot of research and wanted to be able to take notes which could then be downloaded into my computer for editing. That way, I could quickly find and incorporate source material into my own work.

As one reviewer mentioned earlier, my scanned material was messy after transfering it. I didn't mind that too much. It's still one heck of a lot faster than retyping handwritten notes.

It's my inability to consistently synch that caused me to give up on the CPen. I was only able to get the pen to synch once using infrared. This was after spending way too much time holding the pen at various angles and distances from my infrared port.

I was able to synch using the cable but I only attempted to do this once.

When I bought a new notebook computer (a Dell Inspiron 300m) I first downloaded and installed CPen's XP update. I had zero luck getting an IRR connection. I was able to connect via the serial cable exactly once. After that I was never again able to successfully connect.

I communicated by email with CPen's support. Their replies were prompt and friendly but ultimately their advice was pretty basic...the tech equivalent to "take two aspirins and call me in the morning."

I suspect the problem is XP systems based (aren't they all) and because I have minimal knowledge of MS operating systems, this means hiring a rather expensive tech support person to help. There have to be some less expensive alternatives to transfering notes to the computer.

Bottom line: A terrific concept but CPen doesn't deliver. Some folks can tolerate quirky products, I'm not one of them. Reliable, affordable OCR just is not a reality yet. Or if it is, I haven't yet found that product.

Cool gadget [Posted on 2005-02-12]
I really like this pen. I am a college student and find it useful to alleviate highlighting and marking in text books. All key info is easily stored and reviewed for tests.
The software that comes with the pen is not Mac compat. and I find it to be really buggy in windows. Terrible software.
Battery life is pretty good. And pen works very well. I can really capture what I want with ease - it is pretty accurate too.
Not very cool looking design, but people do stare and wonder what in the world I am doing when I use it. I have found increased efficiency with the pen. I have owned it for two months.

A Great Value Growth Device! [Posted on 2005-04-26]
I bought it on Amazon 3 years ago for about $60. Later we found it's not that useful. Then I came back to Amazon and noticed that it's used unit selling for $150.
Wow! I ended up make almost $70(after Amazon fee) by keeping/using it for 2 years. I never seen such a value growing product. I should have invested my money in this. Amazon should be renamed Amazing!

Wonderful Little Gadget & 21st Century Dictionary [Posted on 2006-01-02]
I primarily use my C-Pen 600C for two tasks: (1) reliably scan short snippets of text, and (2) carry a full dictionary and instantly look up words. The best I can say about this gadget is that it just works. In this sense, it is just like an iPod, a piece of technology that solves a very concrete need using common-sense design principles and the right level of technology. C-Pen's interface is extremely intuitive thanks to its rolling button and pervasive use of contextual menus. The scanning of regular text with regular fonts is flawless. Finally, I cannot overstate the usefulness of the dictionary. I do a lot of reading in random places, like in bed before going to sleep, and using a regular dictionary takes too much effort. Using my 3-ounce C-Pen is a different story. I can carry it in my pocket and look up any word with 2 clicks and one pass of the scanning tip. It takes 3 seconds. I highly recommend this gadget.

My Favorite Thing [Posted on 2006-12-09]
I found out about hend held scanners shaped like markers from an airport catalogue. I showed it to my husband and said, "Could it have been true, it would have been the best thing since sliced bread, but there is no way it would work without a glitch!"

Well, the result of these words, hasty and untrue (as for the second part, I still can back up the first one!), was one of the best Christmas gifts I have ever received. My first scanned words were the ones from the manual. I read the manual over, changed the hand preferences (I am left-handed, and I definitely like using the C Pen better the left-handed way), and I was good to go. By the end of the holidays I was scanning passages from books I was reading (an overjoyed compulsive quoter!) -- in two languages.

Somewhere in the manual it said that you are not supposed to expose the tip to stress and banging -- made sense to me since that's where's the scanner is. The manual suggested carrying it in a pouch, and so I did.

It's been almost a year since I was using my C Pen, mainly for quoting from the books (helped IMMENSLY with preparing quotes for my classes and academic writing) and translating while reading. I would not like to use it to copy an entire page but it works great for a specific quote. I use the dictionary feature a lot as well. It is great to read in a second language, highlight a word and have a translation immediately.

The only problem I have ever encountered was with long quote files. Sometimes the C Pen just would not scan one more line into a file that is already rather long. Starting a new file solves this problem.

I would definitely recommend the product to anyone who needs to work with books and likes to quote. I would recommend Russian-English-Russian dictionary that comes with it -- it's a good dictionary. it's been my favorite thing. My husband certainly has a challenge to meet this Christmas.

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