Quick how is the Agfa Snap Scan Model 1212U

[chiwawa626]

Quick how is the Agfa Snap Scan Model 1212U
dont recomend another scanner, how is this one, i can get a realy good deal on it and i need your help
how is the quality, and how long does it take to scan
how good is it

 

[medic]

Unfortunately ZDNet didn't like it too much and wasn't impressed with it's image quality or software:
ZDNet

CNET's: Review only gave it a 5 out of 10 and also didn't like the image quality or software.

 

[Lvis]

I have one, it's the only scanner I've used, so I have nothing to compare it to.
It's been fine, I found the software pretty easy to use. My printer isn't the best for photo work, so I really can't tell you how it does at that, but for scanning pics onto your computer, its been fine.

If you get one be sure to install all the software that comes with it. I didn't and spent 20min on hold with tech support to learn this.

 

[chiwawa626]

HOW IS IMAGE QUALITY, IF I SCAN IN A PHOTO, WILL IT BE PHOTO QUALITY ON MY SCREEN?

 

[Lvis]

YES, IT LOOKS FINE!!!

 

[Eug]

For the price, it's a good scanner, and the ScanWise driver actually is quite good. However, the rest of the software is absolutely terrible. OCR truly sucks on this machine and some of the software seems written for the Windows 95 era or just seems like it never made it past the beta stage. Utter crap.

However, the reviews are misleading. Most of them compare this scanner to much more expensive machines. If you have more cash to spend, by all means, get a higher end scanner or a scanner with better software. However, if you don't, this scanner will be fine (as long as you don't plan on doing OCR). (I use Photoshop already, so any bundled graphics software with any scanner would have paled in comparison anyway, and I haven't had the need for OCR really yet.)

 

[Antisocial Virge]

I got my 1212 around Xmas for $35 (thanks hotdeals ) and it seems to work great.

 

[WetWilly]

I have one and have been pretty happy with it. Like Eug said, I'd take the reviews with a grain of salt. I got mine back in March 1999 when they first came out and disagreed with the reviews. Also, most reviews compare scans at default settings and don't consider that a "weak" scan can look great with literally 10 seconds of work in PhotoImpact/PaintShop Pro with color balance and brightness/contast tools. Scanwise is decent for a entry level TWAIN app. I use Agfa's FotoLook which is bundled with their higher end scanners. Unfortunately Agfa changed the 1212U's firmware on newer units so that FotoLook doesn't work with them. Scan times are pretty decent, at least as fast as my old SCSI Microtek E3.

As for OCR, but I'm using TextBridge instead of the limited Caere stuff that comes with the scanner. I get OCR up in the 90-100% accuracy range all the time with relatively clean originals.

I have a scan of the Unreal CD back cover that I made for a Usenet discussion on this scanner. I'll e-mail it to you and you can see for yourself.