Review of Fujitsu ScanSnap S300 Portable Scanner (reviews, costs, quality)
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The Fujitsu ScanSnap S300 costs $399.99 and offers on the move scanning with a portable scanner that weighs just over three pounds. It's a great size for slipping into a bag at 11 inches long and 3 inches wide and high, and capable of scanning anything up to A4 documents.
The Fujitsu has 600 by 600 dpi, which is enough for almost all documents and tends to be suitable for scanning images as well. It has an automatic document feeder (ADF), but I haven't been able to load more than 15 sheets without the Fujitsu becoming jammed or stuck. However, when the scanner does get jammed, it's surprisingly easy to simply open the casing and remove the sheet, especially compared to fixed scanners. Because portable scanners are guaranteed to be less stable than fixed scanners, the auto feed tray is unlikely to be as safe and therefore more likely to jam, which is why it was such good forethought to make it easy to remove stuck paper.
Another positive about the S300 is that it is solely powered by USB, which avoids the extra weight of taking power leads and AC adaptors with you wherever you want to use the scanner. The color quality is good for scanning documents, but lacking for photographs. I very rarely found that documents weren't scanning straight, which is very impressive for a portable scanner without the same document guider as fixed scanners.
Unfortunately, the Fujitsu falls down when it comes to software, as I had a lot of difficulty installing the S300 software and driver. It was only after changing to a computer with a different operating system and several hours on the phone to Fujitsu that it began to work. The S300 would be a great scanner if it weren't for the software, which really lets it down despite good capabilities as a fast scanner and a great size and shape to be a portable scanner.
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