VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand Portable Scanner

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.......

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.

THE SCANNER I GOT WAS USED ONCE OR TWICE. IT WAS ALL I COULD AFFORD. I HAD LIKE THE PRICE. I RATHER HAD ONE I COULD GOT BETTER BUT YOU HAVE TO GET WHAT YOU HAVE TO GET. THE SELLER SAID CAME WITH THE CABLES, SD CARD, AND A COVER BUT NO CLOTH, NO NEW BATTERIES. THE BATTERIES WERE DEAD. THERE WAS NO DVD , NO INSTRUCTIONS, NO WAY TO TELL HOW TO USE IT. IT ARRIVE ON TIME BY THIS SELLER AND IT WAS IN GOOD SHAPE. ONLY THE BATTERY NEEDED TO BE REPLACE. THAT WAS NOT SUCH A BIG DEAL. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND SO MUCH BUYING THIS BUT IT WORKS AND IT DOES NOT WORK BECAUSE IF YOU HAVE OLD PICTURES FROM YOUR MOMS HOUSE YOU WANT TO SCAN YOU NEED TO FIND A GOOD FLAT SURFACE AND FIND A LITTLE PIECE OF TAPE THAT IS NOT SO STICKY THAT WILL DESTROY THE PICTURE. IT WILL WORK THAT WAY SOME. YOU ALSO NEED TO TRY NOT TO SHAKE YOUR HAND TOO MUCH. I ALMOST THROWED THIS MACHINE OUT THE WINDOW TRYING SO MANY TIMES. BEST THINGS SCAN SAME PICTURE A FEW TIMES AND GET THE BEST ONE OUT OF IT. THE CABLES CAME WITH IT DID NOT WORK, I HAD TO USE THE PLUGABLE HIGH SPEED USB 2.0 CARD READER THAT I ALSO GOT FROM AMAZON. I KNEW ABOUT THIS BECAUSE MY FRIEND HAD A CARD READER LIKE THIS. IT HAS THREE SLOTS FOR DIFFERENT CARD SIZES. THIS WAS THE ONLY WAY I COULD SEE MY PICTURES CABLES DID THAT CAME WITH IT DID NOT . I DONT KNOW WHY MAYBE ITS MY COMPUTER. IF I COULD I WOULD OF BOUGHT ONE BETTER BUT IT WILL DO FOR A START BETTER THAN A DIGITAL CAMERA THAT I HAD THAT DID NOT WORK SO WELL ON PICTURES. THESE SCANNER PRICES ARE VERY HIGH. YOU CAN TRY TO USE THIS FOR SOMETHING IMPORTANT BUT A OFFICE SCANNER WOULD BE MORE SUGGEST ON BUYING. THIS PORTABLE SCANNER WELL THE VUPOINT IS GOOD IF YOU HAVE NO CHOICE. I HAD TO FIND MY INFO ON THE INTERNET THROUGH WEBSITES AND YOUTUBE SINCE SELLER GAVE ME NO INSTRUCTIONS. I DID MY HOMEWORK BEFORE BUYING BUT THIS WAS THE CHEAPEST I COULD AFFORD TILL I CAN GET A BETTER ONE IN FUTURE. WHEN YOU CANT BRING YOUR BIG SCANNER THAT IS ON YOUR DESK THIS IS BETTER A PORATBLES SCANNER IF YOU NEED GO MOMS HOUSE WHEN YOU KNOW YOU CANT TAKE HOME THOSE OLD PICTURES BECAUSE SHE HAS NO EXTRA COPIES. I SAY ITS LONG ENOUGH FOR A NOTEBOOK SIZE TO SCAN. I WOULD GIVE MORE STARS BUT SELLER LEFT ME IN THE DARK BUT I GUESS I READ NO INSTRUCTIONS WITH IT SINCE IT WAS NOT NEW. LIKE I SAY IT WILL WORK BUT IT CAN BE FUSTRATED JUST PUT A LITTLE TAPE NOT SO STICK, A GOOD, AND A FLAT SURFACE AND IT SHOULD WORK SOME . THIS SCANNER PRICE SHOULD BE MORE LOWER.

I purchased the

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.

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 saw this in an ad and bought it almost as an impulse buy---at Staples---but it is cheaper at Amazon. If you have tons of paper to keep track of (I do) you will kiss this item every day. You need a micro sd card (unless you want to use it with the cord to connect to your computer---you can do it that way, but its a hassle to keep track of that cord). The card is $9. I slip it in and push the button to turn it on (you can choose with another button whether you want it to be high or low resolution). A green light will come on and you slide the wand over your paper. Thats it. Then push the button and turn it off. That creates a file so that when you pop the SD card into your computer, it will show up as a storage device. You click on it and it will have each thing that you scanned in a separate file. Then you can save that to MS word as a document and rename it. When you open it, you have a scan of the document (JPEG) and this is the best part---you trash your original. I went through a pile of bills and bank statements, which I would normally file---grrrr and never be able to find if I need them. Now I tear them up and have the file right on my computer. I just went to the bank to deposit some checks and I scanned each one before I handed it to her. Soooo awesome. And if you get those flimsy receipts that fade in a month, scan them immediately and trash them. Its just so awesome. It comes with a CD so I thought there would need to be some sort of software put into my computer---no. I do already have MS word, so you need that if you are going to save it there, but they give you a lot of other ways to save the document. You also have some sort of a white sheet of paper you have to run the thing across to white balance it. I did that at the get go and had this terrible feeling (what with the CD) that it was going to be a nightmare to get this thing figured out. But its cake. And the results are so amazing, you will want stock in this company. I LOVE MINE---best thing I have purchased this year!!! and I buy a lot)

The thing is really ingenious but you need to have realistic expectations for it. For example, it isnt meant to replace a flatbed scanner for high quality scans of photos. It is perfect for scanning things that dont fit on a flatbed scanner and where the scan is intended for reference rather than graphic design work (though once you get the knack of it, you *can* get some good legible scans of photos). Case in point: I bought it to scan the liner notes and timing cues from my 2000+ collection of classical LPs stowed away in my basement. An LP cover is 12 by 12 but a typical flatbed scanner only scans at 11 by 8.5. It also means hauling heavy stacks of LPs up two flights of stairs to where the scanner is (Its not practical to haul the scanner to where the LPs are). So the VuPoint solves the problem. While its maximum scan width is 8.5, the length of the scan is up to you. It works well scanning the LP label as well (thats where most track timing cues are noted). To sum up, well worth the money and a huge timesaver. My scans of liner notes are good enough to import into OmniPage Pro and convert to text with very few text read errors. One other observation: Dont be put off by how many of these show up for sale as refurbished. I have a theory on that: to use the VuPoint you need to insert a Micro SD card. However, it must be inserted face down, which is counter intuitive. The slim instructions for the VuPoint dont point this out. I put the card in right side up and of course the scanner would not work. Once I figured it out everything was fine but I suspect many people have presumed their VuPoint is defective and return them.

This scanner works great for scanning text from books. I am a graduate student, and I wanted an easy way to copy quotes (or whole sections) from books. I did a lot of research to find a scanner that could do this well. I have not been disappointed with this product. I have actually been amazed at how well it works. When I am scanning from a book, my biggest problem is keeping a steady pace. However, this scanner somehow overcomes even my slight jerks and hesitations when I scan. I have not used the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software that came with the scanner. It seemed un-impressive. Instead, I use the OCR software that came free with my Canon printer/scanner. It is OmniPage SE 4.2. This software, combined with this scanner, make a great combination. For scanning text from books, I would highly recommend this scanner, but I would suggest finding alternative software if possible. Update: After using the product a few more days, I unfortunately need to update this review. I initially gave the scanner five stars, but Ive reduced it to three. This is because it often cuts off the last portion of each scanned image. For instance, when I scan text from a page in a book, it will cut off the portion of text near the edge of the page. Ive tried to solve this by continuing the scan well past the page edge, even and inch or more onto the surface below the page. However, for some reason the scanner still cuts off the last portion of the image. Sometimes (as happened when I first used the product) this does not affect the portion of text Im trying to scan. But many times it does cut off actual text I am trying to scan. It is as if the scanner is trying to automatically discern where the text ends, but it over compensates. This is very unfortunate and frustrating. This product works so well in so many ways. I wish VuPoint could offer a solution for this. I would gladly give it a five star rating, if it werent for this issue. Update #2: I found out what causes the scanner to clip off the last portion of images. There is an excellent, very detailed review of this product at [...] I highly recommend this review. In the review the author explains that when the rollers on the Magic Wand stop rolling, it stops scanning. Thus, portions of a book near the edge of a page (e.g. the last few lines or page numbers) get cut off. That is disappointing but frustrating. Im now giving this product a four star rating. The problem of cutting off the ends of scans doesnt seem like something that is an easily fixed problem (e.g. through a firmware upgrade). It is just how the product works. The website listed above offers suggestions for working around this problem. I would still highly recommend this scanner.

Like so many families, we have many old photo albums stored in our closets. They languish there, never seen, fading over the years but treasures nevertheless. Its long been a dream of mine to scan our photos to my computer, possibly even make up CDs for our children, etc. The time finally came when I had to give the idea a try. I tried scanning photos on my All-in-One printer but it was tedious work with marginal results. Enter the Magic Wand. In two days, 300 photos have been scanned and transferred to CDs. Its not a dream, its a reality. Being technically challenged, I ran into difficulties: I couldnt open the battery compartment (using your fingernail, press down in-between the On/Off button and the silver part of the wand and the door will pop open). Then, I couldnt figure out how to install the microSD card (slide into the Wand with the metal side up). My first scans had light spots--my fault again because when I ran the white balance calibration, I scanned the white sheet in the portrait mode not the horizontal mode. After making the above adjustments, I was off to the races. I found working the wand fun and easy but some advance preparation will enhance your results. Make sure the surface you will use is smooth. Line up your photos if possible because it makes for a better presentation in the end. The Wand itself has two markings, one on the left and one on the right--stay within the guides. Love love love the plastic sheets in most albums because it helps the Wand glide smoothly.