VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand Portable Scanner

I purchased the

Just arrived. I was showing it to somebody on my way home and dropped it down the stairs. Clunk, clunk, clunk! I think it hit every step on the way down. Got it home, tried it out and it works perfectly. Im using it to scan my sketchbooks and finally I dont have to take the pages out to get them scanned. Cant quite get to the bound edge, but I can live with that. One of the suggested tags for this product is Business card scanner. So far I cant imagine it being good for that. You need to hold the scanned item still while running the wand over it. Theres just not enough room on a business card for this device to be effective. Maybe Ill figure out a way to hold the card and the wand at the same time, but for now I wouldnt recommend it for cards. Things have to be around postcard size for you to be able to hold them still while operating the wand.

I am in the midst of tracing my family tree and was looking for something like this that I could pass over a delicate document without worries of having to try to feed it through a regular portable scanning device. Plus, there are so many things that you just cant feed through or lay flat on a scanner. This tool is perfect for the day when I can go to a historical archive and need to scan a document. That said, this scanner did not come with very good directions - in fact it came with hardly any directions at all. It came furnished with batteries (but not the microSD card - youll need to supply your own). I thought the batteries were dead because when I clicked the power button nothing happened. It took a few minutes for me to figure out that you have to hold the power button down for 3-5 seconds to turn it on and to turn it off. Youll also need a paperclip to put in this teeny tiny hole near the microSD card slot so you can format the card the first time you use it. After I figured out how the scanner worked I scanned two items (I posted both in the pictures section - an image of Time magazine that came out really well on the first try, and a scan of the directions that came with this scanner - printed matter doesnt seem to scan as easily as pictures do). They were automatically saved in .jpeg format, which is great because you can edit what you scan later. For example, in the genealogy field, you may scan more of a page than you need - many archived documents have references to more than one family that you can edit off the document, saving only the portion you want to keep. On the whole, I am really pleased with this scanner. It has little rollers on it that roll smoothly over the surface youre scanning. It was easy to upload the images I scanned onto my computer using the USB cord provided. It came with a pouch to store it in and a fine cloth to clean it with. The lack of directions would be my only complaint. I was able to figure things out, but it might be a little harder for someone who is not as comfortable with this type of technology to set up on their own. So if you arent very tech savvy, still buy this gadget, but have a tech savvy friend help you set it up. (see my two scans in the pictures section above)

I bought this because I was lugging a flatbed scanner to the law library which was bulky and was far too slow. The VuPoint scanner does the job faster than the flatbed, which was of primary importance. Positives: 1. Price is very affordable. 2. Saves a lot of space and keeps you from lugging around a larger scanner. 3. Faster than most common flatbed scanners, if you practice and learn how to efficiently and effectively use the unit. Negatives: 1. You have to really practice and have the right touch when attempting to scan from books which cant be completely flat. Ive found lifting the other side of the book to use as a guide helps somewhat. 2. You cant scan directly into your computer. It wont even let you scan with the USB cable attached to a computer. This means you have to scan the document, and then if you want to preview it to see how the scan turned out, you have to then connect the device to the computer and use a file preview program to see the exact document. That is really a big bummer. Ive been on the VuPoint site and Im assuming that some of the more expensive models will take care of the issues described in #2, but for me, its not worth the price increase.

I love this product! Its easy to use, so handy, seems well made. Of course, it is an electronic gadget, so I have been handling it with care and put it away in its case as soon as I am finished with it. I have used it to scan a few hundred pictures so far, and the picture quality is excellent (for my needs, its clear enough to see detail and read text) in both low and high resolution. Took me just a few scans to guage how quickly to move across a page. If the page is too large to do in one swipe, simply do it in two or three overlapping passes. You could stitch it together if you had to, but I have found it to be sufficient to have multiple images rather than spend time putting them together. I then hook it up to the pc (included usb cord), it is recognized as an external storage device, and the images are quickly transferred to my computer. I have used my Picassa photo software to crop the edges neatly, but you dont have to. Currently I am trying to figure out what Id like to do with my kitchen, so I have been scanning pictures of ideas from books, magazines etc, and saving them to a file on my computer. I can use this anywhere for that! Im using the files on my computer right now, but am getting an e-tablet soon, so will be able to have the files with me when i am out and about. I will also be using this to organize receipts, warranties, etc. And, since we homeschool, I can see this coming in handy to scan and organize co-op notes, schedules, all sorts of things. I love this so much I dont even mind I paid $20 more for it a few weeks ago, than it is now. My friend has gotten them for herself and siblings because of mine, and I think I am getting one for my sister for a gift, too. I highly recommend buying the extra storage case, I cant imagine throwing this wand into a backpack or purse without it. And you will want to get rechargeable batteries ( I recommend the hybrid kind, they hold a charge much longer), and keep spares with you if youre out of the house or at the library with it. I only cannot comment fully on the included software, it is supposed to allow you to convert text in the picture to useable text, I havent messed with it enough to be able to give an honest report. Ive got an 8gb micro card for it, the most pictures Ive had on it at one time was 139, of high resolution, and it wasnt full....I didnt think to check and see how much room was left. I do have a desktop scanner, and I found it to be quite a pain to sit at the desk and try to put a book in there the right way, it was so nice to sit at the table and scan that way! Ill still use it as a copy machine, or for quick flat scans, but my go-to scanner is my magic wand. Oh, another recommendation, if you have younger children you may not want to call it a magic wand, mine have been having Harry Potter fantasies about moms new gadget! I think this would be an excellent gift for students, craftspeople.......

There arent many companies making these devices so the choice was an easy one to make. The Magic Wand by VuPoint is a decently built very handy device to have in any laptop bag or even as a main scanner on your desktop. The open design is a real benefit when you need to scan documents from a bound volume. The scanners CCD does not go all the way to either edge of the wand so you cant scan the area right up against the center binding (of a book lets say) but you can scan in any direction and correctly orientate the resulting picture later on your computer. If your printer has a USB connection on it you can hook the scanner directly to the printer and print without having to open an image editor on your computer. The scans are pretty decent and easily readable. Colors come out great and no corrections are necessary so again, you can print directly from a printer if you want. One thing to remember: the Magic Wand does NOT come with a MicroSD card. This is plainly stated on the packaging and in the directions so be sure to order a MicroSD card when you buy the wand. Default scans in color come out at around 500k and the higher resolution (600 dpi) scans are double that (approx. 1MB) each so a 1GB Micro SD card will go a LONG way. We bought a 4GB card for 10 bucks. Very pleased so far. Would order another Magic Wand immediately if we lose or break this one. A nice soft sleeve protects and keeps the scanner glass clean between uses.

I got a refurbished one of these to scan documents out of old statute books for legal research. I have five minor issues that keep this from getting 5 stars. First, I was very disappointed that the software the scanner comes with does not work for Macs. After an hour searching online, I was unable to find a mac-specific driver for the scanner. But I just plugged it into my computer anyway, without installing any software, and it worked. I have a MacBook Pro running OS X 10.6.6. iPhoto (7.1.5) thinks the scanner is a camera and pulls up the scanned images to import. The scanner also mounts like a USB Flash drive--just a removable disc. You can download and delete the stored JPG images manually. You could probably download and delete through iPhoto too; though, I havent tried. Second, You *do need* a Micro SD card in order to use the scanner. It does not seem to have any built-in memory at all. This is a little annoying, but the cards are pretty cheap. I happened to have one lying around so this was less frustrating to me than it seemed to be for other reviewers. Third, the scanner comes with a leather carrying case. I bought the hard case that Amazon suggests, thinking I needed some kind of storage case to keep it from getting dusty. If youre not going to be abusing it, like by carrying it around in a backpack filled with heavy textbooks, then you shouldnt need the hard-sided case--save yourself the extra $20. For me, the hard case is probably worthwhile because the scanners plastic casing probably wouldnt appreciate being carted around in a bookbag. Fourth, the scanner has four rollers on the bottom that spin as you scan a page, so that the scanner knows how fast youre going and can piece the page together; however, they dont spin very smoothly. This could be due to my scanner being refurbished. So far I have been able to scan things successfully, even when the Error light pops up mid-scan, but the jerky action seems like it could be problematic in the future. Fifth, some of the things Ive scanned so far have pretty thin pages and the scanner actually picks up the print on the back side of the page. I might be able to manipulate the image to erase these ghost images, by correcting the contrast or something. I havent had that problem with traditional scanners before. Overall, this is a light, portable scanner that I can use to scan pages out of old books and keep from having to live at the library all the time. It does what I need it to do. And it works with my Mac, no thanks to VuPoint.

You could rate this device anywhere from 1 star to 5 star. If you expect perfect machine quality scans every time, forget it. If you want an EXTREMELY compact, EXTREMELY simple item that will produce readable scans with a bit of practice, for personal use, then it goes up to 5 stars. At best, you may get a few scans with almost no ripples. Maybe. More likely, you will get scans that have a certain amount of jitter or waviness, but are readable for yourself. (Id be dubious that you could expect a lot of great optical character conversions). Its extremely easy to take to a library or in a briefcase - light, a few ounces, and 1x1x12. If you want a more-or-less decent record of documents or pages without carrying a real photocopier or scanner, then this is the thing. In our family, my wife and I both have home offices but only one system with a flatbed scanner. Ill use this often to quick image a couple pages of one or another book that I need at the last minute before a business trip. If I was going to image 30 pages, or use images clipped into Powerpoint for a business presentation, Id (politely) kick my wife out of the other office to use a flatbed for fifteen minutes. This will be the budget, ten-second, one page back up scanner in the more remote home office. Net-net: Happy I bought it, worth the low price for certain key moments. Its a bit of a nuisance to buy a separate tiny memory card but theyre cheap enough nowadays.

For what it does, I dont think there is anything out there that does it better, but really that isnt saying too much. I bought this scanner as a substitute for a textbook since it the text book cost over $200, and this thing only cost about $100, after I got the case and Micro SD card. Unfortunately, not only was scanning the pages tedious, but a lot of the times the scanner didnt line up right and the scans were horrible, also there is only about a 1/2 inch on each side of the scanner where it wont scan, but that 1/2 inch bit me in the but to no end. And though it is marked where the scanner will stop, it is just a complete pain working around it when scanning a book or even notebook; especially if they are the more expensive notebooks, like five-star, and have a big ring holding the pages together. Honestly, after 2 chapters of scanning the textbook I bought the thing for, I pretty much gave up and just bought the thing. I didnt feel like returning the product so I kept it around for copying notes from classmates when I miss class or for sending in handwritten homework via e-mail, but honestly these are very rare occasions. On the plus side, you do get better at scanning, and if you are scanning a single document on a flat surface it should work flawless, but this is just rarely the case. So if you dont mind not having the last inch of a page when scanning a notebook or textbook, or if you are just going to use this to scan documents on a flat-surface, then I can recommend this product; otherwise it would be best to steer clear until something less fallible comes along.

This is a pretty good scanner for the price paid. The resolution is high enough for keeping copies of documents and pictures. Its very compact so its easy to carry around. I carry it with my laptop because it fits in perfectly. It comes with software but I dont use it. I just take the micro memory chip out and put it into its adapter and into the laptop. Images scanned are in jpg format, black and white or color, so its very easy to use. Works best on FLAT surfaces, okay on others. Downsides are you always have to have a white background when scanning any size documents, otherwise youd have the background scanned into it as well; and you have to be careful in your scanner rolling. Speed is not a problem, fast or slow, image still good, but direction is key because the image often times comes out distorted. The rollers on the bottom do not often roll straight so an aligner is recommended so scanned images come out straight. Nothing you cant fix with a little photoshop, but its a hassle. Also, the scanner will slide the paper with it if you dont hold on to the paper, especially towards the bottom of the paper. It uses batteries instead of usb charge (batteries included, usb cable also included, memory chip NOT included). If you only need the info and dont mind the quality, then this is PERFECT! I would recommend this for students especially when they need to copy notes, test questions, encyclopedias, etc.