VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand Portable Scanner (PDS ST415 WM)

I spent my day testing this out for a perfect copy, It copies the way you drag it across your document. To perfect each copy, I took a piece of cardboard, glued a stick to the side, a cheap ruller will work, to have a perfect straight line to copy by.. I then folded a thick paper to hold the document, it was glued with less than a 1/4 in fold overhang. to frame the document. About 1/2 inch from the stick, according to the scanner guide line. I made another folded paper guide on the other side to keep the paper from shifting. I laid the cardboard holder on a mouse pad to keep it from shifting. I can put a document on the cardboard holders & guide the scanners for 3 seconds with both hands & turn out perfect copies, all on the memory chip. Then I put the micro sd memory in the adapter to fit usb or sd adapter, & check or print out from computer. It works on rechargeable batteries, & 8 gigs memory will hold 4000 documents, I am guessing that the rechargeable battery will probably copy 50 pages per charge.The scanner is just a portable stick & the scanner guide that I made will be slightly larger than a page & will fit in any folder. I got tired of the big scanners that are delicate, clumbsy, & has to be programed. I used no cables, no programming, but I move the memory chip to where I want the scanned information, up to the 4000 copies that an 8 gig chip will hold. it takes at least 3 seconds to a copy, & at least 3 seconds to set up each page. It is free of frustration, convenient & portable. Just be careful when opening the package, it could slide out onto the floor when you open the package.

First, make sure you also get a case for it ( VuPoint PDSC-IW441-VP Solutions Carrying Case for Magic Wand Portable Scanner ); it only comes with a thin little cloth sleeve on its own and the quality of your scan hinges on how clean and safe you keep the glass lens on the bottom. The case linked above is really impressive for the cost. Next, it works just like the hand-held scanners I started with in the 286 era: scanning was more of an art than a science because how good a scan you get is 100% dependent on how steady your hand is. Until you get better, you'll often get all sorts of wavy distortion that even PS won't fix. It's best for small projects, like scanning a cartoon or a 3 x 5 photo. I got it specifically for scanning illustrations in books without having to wreck the book itself, and it's far better at that then the results I got with my flat-bed scanner or camera phone. It's also more convenient, since I don't have to be anywhere near a computer to use it; it's perfect for doing research runs to the library. When you get home, it hooks up to your PC like plugging in an external hard drive. Since cards go bad from time to time, you'll want to dump your scans often. It will scan to jpg (or PDF, but... why?) in either 300, 600, or 900 dpi and 8-bit color. Again, small projects work best. You can use up to a 32 MB microSDHC memory card, which will hold tons of scans even at the highest resolution (it has a counter on it, and I'm at 200+ now with the card around a quarter full). It works great right out of the box, and seems especially well built given the cost (much like the case). It's weird to be pleasantly surprised like this, but boy was I ever. It's one of those things you never know you need until you get it.

It came well presented and brand new in a sealed box with batteries, USB cord, instructions, calibration sheet and CD. Only complaintis the CD wouldn't download.

When I heard about this product and its scanning abilities I was very happy; as it was going to save me a lot of time and trouble. Unfortunately I was not able to make it work as promised. Just to make sure I understood how the Scanner worked, I watched U-Tube videos several times and made one scan before my trip. As it turned out I was not able to make more than one scan completely. The other attempts came as error messages, or if I waited for 30 min I could make another. What seemed to be happening is that it was tired, and only would make one scan than wait for 30 minutes for another. I changed the batteries several times, hoping this was the problem. It would have been a great help if it just worked as promised. The purchase of this scanner suggested memory (a necessity) , or an adapter, then I purchased a sturdy case. The memory card (definitely needed) the adapter (not so much, and the case (very helpful during the travel) are useless without working a scanner. I am going to return the scanner and try for a replacement.

Work not bad with the quality , but hard to keep the same speed when you swipe the document. Sometimes need to try it multiple time for a good scanning.

This scanner is very handy. You need a little time to get used to it but very quickly you will be able to make very good scans. Even if your hand fails a little the result will be readable. However, there are some certain inescapable difficulties because of its design. Specifically, when a book is not able to fold wide open in a flat manner and the printed text is very close to the middle of the open pages then, sometimes, the scanner is not able to scan the edge of the text. However, overall, I am very happy with it. You can easily carry it around with you and use it instantly. Perhaps it would be better with a replaceable lithium battery than the casual ones that it normally uses. There is a limit of about 180 pages per new batteries before you have to replace them, but, most of the time, it is enough.

I love this Magic Wand Portable Scanner as I am a Quilter I can scanner the blocks on the quilt and then go and put a design on it with the computer to see what looks good

I bought this to scan my university notes and save them in PDF format on my laptop. The size and weight is really suitable. Its easy to use. It scans a page within 4-5 seconds when set to medium quality The only problem is that the result (i.e. jpg or pdf) requires a lot of post-processing. The user can not set the contrast, BW/grey corrections. Consequently the scanned result is very bright, or some colors/fine lines are not visible due to this contrast/brightness problem. 4 stars for being helpful in saving my time (I can do scanning while traveling in bus/train).

Great scanner. Bought it a few weeks ago but didn't have a chance to use it for real until recently. It works superbly. Didn't even need to practice, got the speed right first time and resolution was spot on.

Very impressed with this scanner. Cover all my needs Would recommend this product to others.