Canon's ScanFront 220 / 220P begins shipping
By Darren Murph 
posted Oct 16th 2007 5:36AM
posted Oct 16th 2007 5:36AM
Canon has today announced that its ScanFront 220 and ScanFront 220P network scanners have started to ship out in the US, which means consumers anxious to get a household bizhub (of sorts) can throw patience to the wind. Both of these devices enable users to scan in documents and immediately email them, send them to an FTP server or transfer the files to a USB drive. The unit also features an 8.5-inch touchscreen to keep things in order, and it can reportedly scan up to 26 pages-per-minute or 35 images-per-minute. Furthermore, users can save the documents as compressed / searchable PDFs, TIFFs or JPEGs, and for those opting for the 220P, you can take advantage of "ultra-sonic double feed detection" and fingerprint authentication. Get 'em both now for $1,995 and $2,195, respectively.
This thing is cool, however, I have given away my otherwise excellent Canon flatbed scanner and now use our Pentax K10D DSLR to photograph documents and other materials. I place them on the ground in natural light (using the flash causes reflections or bright spots) and snap away. This process is literally 10 times as fast as using a regular flatbed scanner and of course, makes 'scanning' lumpy objects such as open magazines with folds a no brainer. The only flaw is that image alignment is often required, however, Apple's iPhoto has a nice real time 'straighten' tool. One more thing, with a 10MP resolution camera (such as most recent DSLRs) one can capture several documents at once at a decent DPI. Try it!
Wish more businesses would get these. I have little use for faxes these days, I'd much prefer a scan (preferably in PDF form) showing up in my email.
I love my Fujitsu ScanSnap. I could never go back to the the all in one MFC/printer/scanner that I used before.
This is me reading the post:
yes... Yes... YES.....YES!!...
(reads the price of $1,995)
[Sound of slide whistle going down as boner wilts]
If it were a third that price, maybe. But otherwise I heartily second the recommendation for the Fujitsu ScanSnap - it's reasonably priced at ~$450, relatively compact, and it scans duplex.
$1,995, sheesh.
Don't be an idiot all of you ScanSnap users. This is a network scanner, not a desktop device. There is way more functionality in this device than what a SOHO user would need. This is for Enterprise use, and believe me, it is stellar among it's competition.