Over the years I’ve reviewed the Fujitsu S1100 ScanSnap and the S1300 ScanSnap scanners. I loved them when I reviewed them and I still use them and love them to this day. But for some reason, I’ve never taken the leap and went totally paperless. Even with all the benefits of the S1100, and S1300, I still found the scanning could be tedious and time consuming, and the file handling afterwards would take several more steps to get the finished PDF file searchable and filed correctly. Now after a week of hands on with the new Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500, I really have no more excuses for going paperless.
The ScanSnap iX500 brings corporate features to desktop scanners. Some of the new features you’ll notice are one button searchable PDF creation, advance paper feeding system, fast 25 ppm color scanning, a 50 page document feeder, Wi-Fi scanning to iOS or Android mobile devices, updated and feature rich software, and finally the one feature you’ll never see, but appreciate, is the built-in “GI” microprocessor. Let’s look at these in a little more detail.
First, let’s start by reminding you that the iX500 has all the great features that it’s predecessors have. One button scanning, duplex scanning, multi-page scanning, paper feed detection, multiple paper size scanning and more. The iX500 just does them all faster, smarter and easier. For example, the iX500 is equipped with a dual-core CPU-mounted “GI” processor, the next generation of desktop scanning. It performs intelligent image functions dramatically faster for blazing new scanning speed. The “GI” will make automatic corrections and handle your image output. It supports Wi-Fi:WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) wireless LAN (IEE802.11b/g/n), and supports USB 3.0.
Next is the unique and amazing ability to scan directly to your iOS or Android devices without a computer. Fujitsu has an iPad and iPhone app (free, of course) that when on the same Wi-Fi network, allows you to press the scan button in the app and the iX500 will scan what’s in the tray and send it directly to the mobile device in PDF or Jpeg format. At first I thought that this was a nice feature that I would never use, but I was wrong. When I started playing with it, I realized how fast and how handy it was to get that document, drawing, photo, or note into my iPhone or iPad. As we all spend more and more online time in our mobile devices, eliminating one huge step, (like your computer), in the scanning process can save you a ton of time.
Fujitsu also added something I know very little about, but appreciate immensely, an advanced paper feeding system. They use the same technology thats in their professional grade scanners to achieve exceptional reliability by using “separation rollers” to minimize jams and multi-feeds. As I said, I know little about the technology, only that it sure seems to work. A 50 page feed at 25 ppm duplex color is impressive.
Finally I wanted to talk about the software package that comes with the iX500 ScanSnap. I’m going to ignore the Windows only software (ScanSnap Organizer and ScanSnap folder) that comes with the iX500 for obvious reasons and talk about the Mac and Mac/PC software only. Like all current ScanSnap models, the iX500 can link to cloud services such as Evernote, Google Docs™, Salesforce CRM. Now it adds syncing functions: Scan to SugarSync, Scan to Salesforce Chatter and Scan to Dropbox.
With CardMinder™ 4.1 adding and managing contact information is simple. Just stack the business cards in the feed and push the button. CardMinder™ 4.1 captures both sides and places the information into editable fields. CardMinder™ 4.1 recognizes 8 different languages too. You also get ABBYY FineReader which is a popular OCR software that allows you to scan printed documents straight into Word, Excel or Powerpoint. Of course we can’t forget about my favorite software, the ScanSnap Manager. It provides Mac users one button searchable PDF creation, access to intelligent features and custom scan settings (profiles) for simple operation with sophisticated results. For additional convenience and flexibility, the ScanSnap Quick Menu is fully customizable and automatically appears after scanning providing a quick and easy way to send those scanned documents to several popular “Scan-To” applications.
As you can see, the iX500 ScanSnap from Fujitsu has taken away any excuses I had for not going paperless. It takes the scanning process and makes it faster, more reliable, easier, with better results. The iX500 has a retail price of $495.00. Check it out and order today along with all the other great ScanSnap scanners from Fujitsu.
