PFU Limited IX100 - USB Wi-Fi

The ScanSnap iX100 is a completely wireless, compact, battery-powered scanner that takes scanning beyond your desktop and into the mobile world. The Quick Menu for PC and Mac automatically pops up after scanning to provide you a variety of ways to be immediately productive with your scans. It can be customized to display just your favorites, present a recommendation, and even display custom profiles. ScanSnap Cloud makes scanning easier than ever before, enabling the iX100 to scan directly to your favorite cloud service without the need for a computer or mobile device. Like all ScanSnap scanners the iX100 features a powerful set of automated image processing functions including auto color detection, crop & deskew, and blank page removal. A dual-core CPU-mounted "GI" processor performs the intelligent image enhancement responsible for great looking images with dramatically faster results and more sophisticated connectivity. The ScanSnap iX100 can automatically detect your Wi-Fi network at home, in the office or on the go. With Direct Connect mode you can scan wirelessly beyond your network. Dual Scan allows you to scan two small sized documents, such as business cards or receipts at the same time. Review: Damn near perfect for organizing receipts - Scanner This is a great little scanner - in over 300 receipts, not one misfire - narrow, slippery cash register receipts, 8-1/2X11 sheets, odd sized, adhesive backed labels, the feed mechanism worked nearly flawlessly - on the rare occasion of a skewed feed, the software straightened the scan nicely - One tip, keep a pair of scissors handy to clip any tear off tips - they will prevent the receipt from feeding squarely - the clip can be at an angle - as long as most of the leading edge is 'square', the receipt will feed accurately - __________________/| << Tear off tip xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx| |xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx| |xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx| xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx| I bought this particular scanner primarily because it included ScanSnap Receipt - managing my receipts as I travel around the country is a major PITA - it looks like all the Fujitsu scanners include ScanSnap Organizer, but only certain ones have this receipt processing application - if you're looking to manage receipts, check the included software carefully - Installing the software took a while (a couple hours including updating) - it appears to be a well featured suite, but so far I have only used the ScanSnap Receipt application - After scanning a batch of documents (make certain they are all of the same type, eg receipts, business cards, etc), the application to process the batch is selected - Another tip, if you scan a batch of receipts and checked the processed results, close that application - if not when you scan the next batch (say business cards), they will 'automatically' be processed into the open application - if no apps are open, the option to choose will again open - The supplied USB cable is short - it was awkward to hold the scanner in my hand to do a 'USB' linked scan, which was possible right out of the box (after the software installation) - Connecting a computer to the scanner WiFi as an Access Point was simple enough, but a PITA to change computer network connections around every time I wanted to do a scan - To connect the scanner to my home network took a bit more finagling, but well worth the effort - to do a scan, just open the scanner wait a few seconds for the connection and scan away - I don't know how long the scanner battery will last, but with the scanner's WiFi connection to a home network, you are free to do scans anywhere with no cables connected - The Scansnap Recipt software is decent - the software attempts to collect the Merchant, date, total amount, tax amount, cash/charge card and last 4 of charge card - of course, it makes a fair amount of errors which are relatively easy to correct - there is an option to assign a category and sub category (Auto:Fuel, Groceries, Utilities:Electric, etc) - and lastly, there is a free form notes field - any search/sorting is only on those fields - Issues: I haven't figured out what the software does when it 'combines' two entries - I think it just merges the formatted fields and retains one image - frankly, that doesn't seem useful, but I am not certain - A feature that that would allow multiple images for one receipt would be useful - my work around is to include a note with the some identifying number (order number) followed by Page X of Y pages - I leave the amounts $0.00 for the addtional pages, but do fill the Merchant, Category & date fields - Another feature that would be very useful is a formatted field for Cash Back amounts - the total amount usually does not include any cash back amount - that seems reasonable, but it would be nice to have a specific field designated to contain cash back amounts - again, I add a note "$X.XX Cash Back" - As best I can tell, any export does not include the image - Export to an Excel file is simple, but without the image is of little value - After doing a scan, a processing application MUST be specified, otherwise the scans will be lost - that is not really a problem - including a scan into an application is called 'registering' - trying to use the application while it is registering new scans is pretty 'stodgy' and it can take a while (maybe a minute or two per scan, a bit more?) to register scans - trying to edit a registered scan while the application is registering new scans can be frustrating - corrections get ignored or interrupted - Even after all new scans are registered, the ScanSnap application isn't smooth - it can take several seconds after clicking on a different entry for that entry to display - at this point I only have 300 entries in the data base - with no method to export images for archiving, the data base is going to continue to grow without bounds - there is a backup and restore function, it might be possible to backup data to a years worth of receipts and then delete those receipts from the active database - One last tip, scan receipts as soon as they are collected is simple and quick - I had a lot of 'catching up' to do - a lot of the recipts I scanned were older, faded, hard to read and so on - in spite of those obstacles, I scanned several hundred receipts in a relatively easy couple/three hours - - In summary, I am impressed with this small scanner - it works well, feeds all sorts of different items without hassle - the receipt software is decent, OCR grabs the most important information and provides an organizing system for receipts - So far, I have no experience with Cardminder, Folder, Mobile, Dropbox, ABBYY Scan to Word, Excel, etc - Review: top notch, versatile wireless mobile scanner - I have a Fujitsu ix500 scanner attached to my desktop computer at home which is the finest scanner I've ever used. I needed a portable scanner, though, for use with my laptop computer while working out-of-state. I did not hesitate to order this Fujitsu ScanSnap ix100 wireless mobile scanner for that purpose. The scanner arrives boxed securely and includes installation software and a USB cable. The scanner is surprisingly small and powered by a lithium ion battery that is recharged via USB. No AC adapter is provided, so you will either need to charge it on your computer or use a 3rd party AC adapter for USB charging (I simply use the one I use for my iPad and iPhone). The battery should be fully charged before using the scanner, so I just charged it up overnight and was ready to go. The installation software gives you the option to install off the included disc or download the latest version. I opted to download the latest version, which is a very large download and takes quite a while to download and install even with fast broadband wi-fi. Additional software for OCR scanning and interface with various services like Dropbox and Evernote is also available to download for free from Fujitsu during installation. I had no difficulty downloading and installing all of the software on my HP Pavillion laptop running Windows 10, and the scanner was quickly ready to go. To turn on the scanner you simply pull down the front cover and open the lid. A blue lighted button off to the right shows you the scanner is powered and ready to go. You simply put your document or receipt in the scanner slot and press the blue button. Scanning is very fast. A dialog box opens to give you the option to scan additional pages or to finish the scan. The software can be configured to automatically scan to a specified folder or to an application like Word or Excel. The scanner does not perform duplex scanning (you will have to flip and scan two-sided documents) but can scan two receipts side by side simultaneously. There is software provided to organize receipts, but I find it cumbersome and awkward to use and prefer to use the ScanSnap organizer instead. Unlike the Fujitsu ix500 scanner, there is no carrier sheet provided to scan photos or jagged documents (it can be purchased separately from Fujitsu if needed). The coolest feature of this scanner, for me anyway, is the ability to wirelessly scan a document directly into an iPad or iPhone. Just download and install the ScanSnap app from the App Store. When you run the app it will detect the scanner and allow you to control the scanner with the app. The app is somewhat awkward to use and really needs to be improved (you have to go through several steps before scanning to assign a name for your file and change it every time you want to scan another document), but it is still enormously handy to scan something into a mobile device. In summary, the Fujitsu ix100 is a great wireless mobile scanner that is very fast and versatile. Yes, it costs more than other similar wireless scanners, but it is worth the higher cost.