DocuPen Portable Scanner

This is a fun little scanner that gets the job done just fine (as long as the job isn't too complicated). Anyone who needs a portable scanner is likely to find this just what they need; handy, portable, easy to use, and fast. It can't compare with a flatbed scanner, but it doesn't have to. After all, you can't bring a flatbed scanner to the library or bookstore.

My first impression of the DocuPen RC800 Portable Scanner was that it simply couldn't be that small and still work (it's almost nine inches long and a half-inch wide, and weighs two ounces). But that impression was quickly set aside, once I installed the driver and application software from the included CD.

The only serious glitch in the process happened here, and it's likely to not happen to you. I've installed and uninstalled PaperPort, the optical character recognition software, several times before, and for some reason it's never been completely removed from my system. That seems to cause a problem when trying to install a new version of the software; long story short, I couldn't get PaperPort working. That wasn't a deal breaker, since enough other graphics applications can recognize the scanner and import scanned images.

The scanner works quite simply by dragging it down the page you're scanning. If you go too quickly a red LED blinks to slow you down. You have a choice of resolutions and colors, chosen by pressing one of the two buttons on the scanner. Plugging the scanner into the computer using the included USB cable starts the import process.

First experiments yielded poor results, the result of stumbling over the staple in a magazine or moving too fast. But after a few tries, the process became easier and results looked better.

Resolution is up to 400 dpi, and the scanner has 8 MB of memory built in. You can install a MicroSD memory card for up to 2 GB of memory.