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Plustek Opticbook 3600 Plus A4 Book Edge Pdf Ocr Scanner | List Price: $346.99
Discount Price: $280.99
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Brand: Plustek
Binding: Electronics
Features: - Manufacturer Part Number: B64-BBM31-A
- Product Line: OpticBook
- Product Series: 3600
- Product Type: Flatbed Scanner
- Product Model: OpticBook 3600 Plus
Good Book Scanner for the Price, but UNSTABLE Software [Posted on 2007-08-29]
If you read other reviews saying the software is unstable, DO BELIEVE THEM. I took my chances and bought it anyway. I found out they were right. You can (and should) consider purchasing some other software and just leaving the CDs in the box (except the driver). I have a lot of thick books to scan (500-2000 pages each) and I'd say the software crashes at least 3 to 5 times per book (and that was AFTER installing the patch from the web site - it was much worse with the version in the box). About once every thousand pages, the software crashes and gets corrupted to the point where you have to completely uninstall it and the reinstall it. Sometimes, even that doesn't do the trick and you have to know how to clean it out of the registry (NOT for the novice Windows user). The company does offer a clean-up utility to get it out of the registry but I found I still had to do it manually a few times. This is NOT acceptable and very discouraging. Find some other software and factor its price into the cost of this scanner when making your decision to buy. Now, as for the scanner itself... decent considering the cost (not a lot of other book scanners in this price range). Don't expect every page to be perfectly straight the first time (I learned to live with it) but the clarity is good. The file sizes will add up, especially when you convert to a PDF. The PDF stores each page as a graphic (picture) and you cannot select and copy text as you might expect. I tried using the OCR feature that comes with it but found it did not do a perfect job of interpreting the graphic into text. What's more, if you try to use OCR your PDF won't look like the book. Overall, buy it if you intend to use 3rd party software.
Effectively specialized for book scanning [Posted on 2007-09-18]
Great scanner for books ONLY... Do not recommend for documents. No feeder or alignment guides. Big buttons, easy operation. Scanned about 200+ big textbook pages per hour.
Great for Windows XP - But... [Posted on 2008-01-23]
After reading the other reviews, I thought I would give my 2 cents.
I could not use the software on my Windows 2003 server, so use it on another computer a Windows XP Pro that I dedicated just for the scanner.
I scan large books about 500 pages on average, but I use the quick scan mode and save directly to tif, then edit, crop etc in another photo software and then make into pdf. I have never experienced an error while scanning but; I noticed that I need to reboot before starting each scan session after the software has been idle for a real long period of time.
This is a FAST scanner from comparing it to others. As long as the book is in the perfect condition for scanning (not falling apart or binding too tight with text close to the spine) I can scan it in about an hour. Smaller size books, about 6x8 I can scan in about 20 minutes for a couple hundred pages because you can remove it from the glass as it passes the book. I am MORE then happy with the speed.
I was going to buy one of these for a gift, but I know he uses Windows Vista and have decided to look elsewhere for him after reading these reviews.
Too bad though, because this is a GREAT fast scanner!
If it worked well with other operating systems, I can think of at least 3 or 4 people I would buy one for.
Great with XP though ---
Perfect in the beginning, Nightmare in the end. [Posted on 2008-02-13]
I was a big fan of this scanner until recently.
Opticbook scans books fast without damaging spines.
I used it very carefully.
I used another scanner of mine for non-book materials, because I didn't want to waste the lamp life.
The result? The lamp died after around 200 scans!
I used it intermittently, so I was out of warranty when the lamp died.
I've used scanners of several manufacturers, and this is the first time that a scanner lamp died on me.
In sum, $300 for 200 scans is not recommendable at all.
Added: I got another reason to hate this scanner. Service of the company is horrible. I sent several emails about my problem, but never got answers.
Great Scanner, Lousy Software [Posted on 2008-05-08]
For books, this scanner is awesome - faster than my Epson and my Canon all-in-one. On the other hand, the Epson works much better on photos, and the Canon is best for quick scan to email or to make copies. Mine came with Vista drivers, no problem there.
The software, however, is another story. "It sucks" is being kind. One of the programs wouldn't even install (I tried on both my XP and Vista machines)and another crashes every hundred pages or so - no help on the website for the software either. Figure on purchasing some OCR software (Abbyy Finereader $400 or Omnipage $450) to get full use of the scanner.
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