Fujitsu PA03656-B005 Scansnap Ix500 Clr Dupl 600dpi Perp Usb3.0 Wl Ios/android Pc&mac

It's a true delight to find a product that is as carefully thought out, as well engineered, and as user friendly as Fujitsu's ScanSnap scanners.I've been using the S1500 at my office, and my wife and I have have been using one for our home office, since 2010. It's been a workhorse appliance that we've used every day for paperless home and business needs, with our only problem being some very occasional finickiness in document feeding. When I started seeing reviews for the iX500, I figured it was time to pass the S1500s on to some office staffers and upgrade the office and home. I did that today, and I'm very happy I did. The iX500 is much faster than the S1500, and from what I've read I don't expect even the minimal finickiness we had with the S1500s.Beyond the excellence of the product, I've rarely seen such simple installation. The software installs almost entirely on its own, preserving settings from the prior version that came with the S1500. You basically just run the installation program, plug in the scanner, follow some on-screen prompts for both wireless and hard-wired connections (with built-in trouble-shooting if things don't go quite right), and you're done. Very few products are this easy. Yes, I'm pretty tech-savvy, but it's hard to imagine anyone having trouble with the setup. Both at the office and at home, everything went flawlessly. Most important, the installation preserved all my preferences, including the location of the destination folder for scans (a Dropbox folder, not the program default). Once the installation was complete, I did a scan and everything worked just as it had with the S1500, Hard to beat that.Particularly simple is the wireless facility. This isn't a wireless connection to your computer, but rather a connection to iOS or Android devices through local Wi-Fi, so that you can send a scan to these devices. I have to say that I'm not sure why Fujitsu devoted so much attention to this -- it's not obvious to me why anyone using Dropbox or a similar service would have a regular need for it. In my case, my default folder for scanning lives in Dropbox, so when I scan something it's available on both my office and home desktop computers and on my wireless devices. So, I don't know how often this will be useful to me. That said, I can see the value of being able to do a quick scan to a handheld when the computer is turned off and I don't want to have to fire it up. Regardless, the wireless setup is as straightforward and quick as anyone could possibly want. Again, even the tech-challenged should find this easy.And that's the real virtue of this very virtuous product: Anyone can use it.The S1500 was absolutely solid and reliable. The ix500 continues the tradition of excellence.Thank you, Fujitsu!

*** Seller: I bought the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 Scanner for PC and Mac (PA03656-B005) from Amazon.com LLC.*** Shipping and handling: Amazon.com LLC did a wonderful job in packaging this product. It arrived in excellent condition.*** Usage time: I received this product on January 14, 2015, and from the date of this review, I have been using it for 67 days. I'll update my review periodically.*** Performance review:- Negatives.(1) Cleaning requires F1 solution or ScanSnap cleaning wipes. These are available in FUJITSU Consumable Kits that cost around $68.59 on Amazon.(2) Paper tray. I initially had to monitor the device while it scanned 50-100 pages. If I left the device unattended, the pages would fall out of the built-in tray (i.e., scattering them out of order). To fix this problem, I built my own paper tray and angled it 30 degrees to the device. (I placed the device approximately six inches off a table and rested the custom-built paper tray on a small 4.5 inch box.) Now I can safely leave the device unattended while it scans. Perhaps other customers who are experiencing a similar problem could try this solution.- Neutral.(1) Only pages up to 9 inches wide can fit into ScanSnap.(2) With regard to converting scanned images into searchable PDFs, ScanSnap has a notable advantage as well as a notable disadvantage over Adobe. Adobe's ClearScan does a better job of compressing files after converting them, making it ideal for simple keyword searches. However, I found that ScanSnap's OCR outperforms Adobe's when it comes to copying and pasting text (in terms of accuracy). Thus ScanSnap is a time saver for transferring data into programs such as Word or Open Office. Although ScanSnap doesn't provide the same disk-saving compression as Adobe's ClearScan, I still prefer (based on my needs) ScanSnap's OCR.- Positives.(1) Adjustable scan button settings for image quality, color mode, scanning side (e.g., Duplex Scan [double-sided]), image rotation, blank page removal, and “continue scanning after last page.”(2) Wireless connectivity with optional USB. Easy setup if you're willing to enable WPS on your router temporarily.(3) Still working after 67 days of daily use.(4) Ability to convert files to searchable PDF in ScanSnap Organizer.(5) Plenty of destination apps and options to save scanned images (e.g., folders, ScanSnap Receipt, ScanSnap Organizer).(6) Convenient option to perform uninterrupted scans of pages longer than 10 inches. (Hold the ScanSnap buttom for several seconds until the blue light starts to blink.)(7) Convenient compression rate options to save on disk space (i.e., five levels from Low/Large to High/Small). (Please note that compression rates for images are adjustable, not OCR compression rates.)*** Summary: I thoroughly enjoy this device and would recommend it to anyone seeking a quality product. If this device were to break down, I wouldn't hesitate to order it again from Amazon.com LLC.*** Additional information from the manual:(1) Do not use any aerosol sprays or alcohol based sprays to clean the ScanSnap. Dust blown up by strong air from the spray may enter the inside of the ScanSnap. This may cause the ScanSnap to fail or malfunction.(2) Monthly maintenance checks are strongly recommended (i.e., check for damaged power cables, presence of dust, and visible cracks/scratches). Such abnormalities may require that the owner contact a FUJITSU scanner dealer or an authorized provider for repairs.