The Fujitsu ScanSnap iX100 is a highly portable wireless scanner that makes scanning and digitizing documents, receipts, bills, or plastic IDs on the road or at home a piece of cake. Until I used this scanner, I had no idea scanning could be so easy.
Upon unboxing I noticed how small the scanner actually was, it is about the size of your standard 1 foot ruler and about two inches thick. It is perfectly sized to fit into most laptop bags for on the go convenience. In addition a Micro USB cable, software disk, and quick start guide are included.
Setup took longer than I had originally anticipated, however I did not fully understand how much the device was capable of, it may be simple on the outside, but inside there is a lot going on. The scanner comes with a base software package, and has optional downloads that are included with the purchase of a scanner after filling out a short form on their website. This includes ABBYY OCR software, and CardMinder for capturing information off of those business cards that I have stacking up in my wallet, in addition other plugins allow you to scan directly to Evernote, Google Docs, Salesforce, SugarSync, and SharePoint. The software is capable of automatically detecting the scanned material to automatically launch the appropriate software.
Unlike previous generations of the ScanSnap that I have used this one includes Wi-Fi functionality. This means that in addition to being able to hard wire and scan with a USB cable, you can also share the scanner over a LAN or you can use the device with Wi-Fi direct and connect straight to a mobile device. There are multiple setup options and the device can even accept certificates and be attached to multiple networks, that means I could share the scanner at home, and bring it to work, where anyone across the network was free to use it.
Using the scanner could not have been more simple, first I had to pick how I wanted to connect to the device, normally at the GeekHouse I prefer to just hop on the Wi-Fi network which I configured during the initial setup, then turned on the scanner by opening the front cover and loaded documents one at a time. Unfortunately this scanner lacks a multi-document feeder, however considering the small form factor I think it is a reasonable trade off.
But wait! There is more. If you don’t want to waste time getting a PC you can connect directly to the scanner with your Andrioid or iOS device and capture your documents. Since you are in a serious time crunch you will be pleased to know that the ScanSnap iX100 is the fastest battery powered portable scanner on the market, only taking 5.2 seconds for a full color document, and you can scan multiple small documents like receipts at once, by inserting them into the scanner at the same time.
Overall I was impressed and satisfied with the performance and usability of the scanner and software. Unfortunately there are lots of optional software pieces that are not integrated into a single software unit and that was a little frustrating, but the incredible ease of use and high scan rates made it all worthwhile. If you are looking for a portable scanner to take with you or just something small that will easily fit into a drawer or laptop bag this is an excellent option to consider.
The scanner is available from our favorite online retailer, Amazon.com for $197
Features:
- One button searchable PDF creation
- Scan a color document in 5.2 seconds
- Battery powered
- Built-in GI microprocessor
- Scan wirelessly to a PC or Mac
- Scan wirelessly to iOS or Android mobile device
- Direct Connect mode for Wi-Fi scanning anywhere
- Dual Scan – scan two small documents at the same time
