VuPoint PDS-ST470PU-VP Compact Portable Wand Scanner

It takes some practice to run smoothly but even slightly shaky ones are better than fax copies. Very useful but I have it on the lowest resolution because more than 300 dpi is overkill for my needs.

It is super light, and scans great photos. I consider this plug and play. I bought a separate 8gb microSD card, and didn't get anywhere near filling it halfway. I brought this abroad to scan family photos and documents from relatives. It's particularly useful as most people do not like to let you take such momentos. I was lucky to buy this from a seller as "used" because it was a returned product. It had all the documentation, cords and package and a smaller price. It took me a long time to figure out that I could zoom in on the photo (actually I found out by accident). It does PDFs or JPGs, in Hi, Med, Lo resolution. That's about all you need to choose. I travelled for 10 days with three days of heavy use. I thought to use my cell phone charger since it uses a microUSB port for charging, but I didn't charge it once. I just made sure to charge it before I left. I sewed by own cover from pre-quilted fabric that matches the blue, it cost about $3 with the zipper, unlike the case that is sold.

I got this because my wife and I tend to hoard magazines to save an artificial or recipe we want to have as a reference. We also seem to have a ton of paperwork for her business and our farm so I wanted to be able to clean it up without getting rid of anything we need for taxes.Pros: This works much better than a flat scanner for books and magazines. Not needing to have it connected to a computer. Doesn't take up much spaceCons: For papers it leaves a little to be desired since you have to try to pull it straight and snow enough that it can capture the document but not so slow it times out.I know there is an sheet feeder adapter that might solve some of the manual pulling issues and looking around you can get the feeder and scanner as a set.

Bought in February 2014. Light use from that date until now (April 2015). So, after fourteen months of light use the scanner will no longer connect to my computer via usb; making the scanner useless. Being that I'm well out of the return period I'm out the $90 I spent of this. Also, there's no way to contact the seller to request replacement or remediation.UPDATE: Just called the manufacturer - VUPOINT. They suggested I try connecting it to a different computer. I informed them I do not have another computer. The person then said there was a 1 year warranty on their products. I told her it was 3 months past the year warranty. She said that if it doesn't connect to another computer (which I don't have) then I have a "defective unit." I went on to clarify that, since the product is 3 months past the year warranty I was stuck with a non-working unit. She reiterated that I should try it on another computer and ended the call.

There's not a lot of competition for this style of product. It's great in theory but there's some drawbacks.I'm using this for large scale art that wont fit on scanners and I've been trying to find the easiest way to scan in pieces with minimal distortion. All flatbed scanners have raised plastic that wont allow for the piece to be completely flat.This takes care of that issue, but since you're moving across the surface texture becomes an issue. Keeping a straight line is a little tedious as well.I plan to double this with a sheet of glass and a t-square to reduce friction against the scanner and allow a straight even scan.