Canon CanoScan LiDE 210 Flatbed Scanner

Functionality and convenience in a small footprint

The Canon CanoScan LiDE 210 flatbed scanner has been discontinued. This article exists for archival purposes only. Newer models similar to this scanner include the LiDE 300 and LiDE 400.

The Canon CanoScan LiDE 210 was a small, full-featured, and portable flatbed scanner. Though it had a small footprint, the 210 offered functionality and convenience at a low price. It was excellent for document scanning. You can still find used Canon CanoScan LiDE 210s on Amazon and other reseller websites.

Here's what could be found with the LiDE 210:

  • Three-color LEDs.
  • Auto scan, copy, email, and multiple PDF-conversion buttons.
  • Compatible with Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, XP/2000, and Mac OS X v10.4.11 to 10.63.
  • High-speed USB power source.
CanoScan LiDE 210
Cannon
What We Like
  • Small scanner, yet scans up to 11.7-inch documents.

  • Five one-touch button choices for scanning to PDF or sending to email.

  • Runs off USB 2.0.

  • Can be mounted on its side to save space.

  • It's inexpensive.

What We Don't Like
  • The lid can only be raised a small amount.

  • OCR works only with Notepad.

Guide Review

Flatbed scanners are rarely small, graceful items, but Canon turned things around with the CanoScan LiDE 210 flatbed scanner. Measuring 9.9 inches wide by 14.4 inches long and only 1.6 inches high, this scanner didn't take up too much space. You could also mount it on its side using the included plastic mount.

At less than $90, this scanner was reasonably priced, offering good value for the money. It offered five one-touch scan buttons for functions such as scan to email or PDF and a maximum 4800x 800 color resolution.

Scanning was quick, with color 8x10 documents taking about 11 seconds. PDFs looked good and could easily be made searchable. You could scan to other formats, such as TIF.

It featured scanning to OCR. However, the LiDE 210 didn't scan directly to Word, but rather to Notepad. This was a downside, as Notepad isn't the easiest word-processing program to use to correct mistakes.

The scanner was a bit big to be called portable. Still, it could run off USB rather than an electric plug. This was convenient unless you tried to run it off a laptop on battery power, which would quickly drain the battery.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.

Was this page helpful?