Xerox DocuMate 252
REVIEW DATE: 10.04.04
BOTTOM LINE:
The Xerox DocuMate 252 is designed to scan long documents in a hurry; the 25-sheet-per-minute scan speed translates to a hefty 50 images per minute in duplex mode. It also comes with a selection of capable software and standard drivers to scan from still other programs.
PROS:
Scans 25 sheets per minute, or 50 images per minute when scanning both sides at once. Bundled software includes OmniPage Pro for OCR.
CONS:
The user guide ignores some bundled programs, so you have to figure out what they?re for.
COMPANY:
Xerox Corp.
SPEC DATA
Price: $1,000.00 List
Maximum Optical Resolution: 600 pixels
Mechanical Resolution: 1200 pixels
Maximum Scan Area: Legal
Scanning Options: Reflective
One-Touch Buttons: Yes
Flatbed: No
Automatic Document Feeder: Yes
Parallel or SCSI Interface: Neither
USB or FireWire Interface: USB
Ethernet Interface: No
EDITOR RATING:
By M. David Stone
The Xerox DocuMate 252 ($999 direct) isn't the fastest scanner around, but at a rated 25 sheets per minute, or 50 images per minute (ipm) in duplex mode, it's a lot faster than most people have ever seen. And it's the fastest we've seen that's targeted for individual desktop use.
The scanner measures 12.3 by 13.3 by 6.0 inches (HWD), not including paper trays. It feels rock solid at 8.6 pounds, hinting at the heavy-duty mechanics inside. Actual scan speed depends on the settings for pixels per inch (ppi) and the scan mode. A black-and-white scan, for example, will be faster than a color scan. The claimed 50 ipm assumes a 200-pixel-per-inch (ppi) scan in black-and-white mode. We got an even faster time with those settings going to PDF format, at 68 ipm. Going to searchable PDF format, which applies OCR to the file before saving it, raised the overall time to 11 minutes 38 seconds for the whole process. You can also save files in BMP, JPG, and TIF format.
The DocuMate's most obvious competition is the Fujitsu ScanSnap fi-5110EOX, but the two scanners are in different leagues. The ScanSnap is about half the price, but it's also much slower and nowhere near as flexible. The DocuMate comes with PaperPort (one of the best scan control and document management programs available) and OmniPage Pro (one of the best OCR programs), as well as Twain, WIA, and ISIS drivers. You can use it with essentially any program that can initiate a scan?a capability that you won't find in the ScanSnap.
In addition to the programs installed by default, you can install three more: ArcSoft PhotoImpression 4, a photo editor, and two scan programs, Kofax VRS and QuickScan. Our only serious quibble is that the documentation offers no hint of why you might want them. And in one case, if you install the program, the setup routine complains that it doesn't have a driver for the scanner; according to an addendum to the manual, this error is expected, but many users will miss this addendum and wind up perplexed. We won't complain too strenuously about issues with extra programs that you may never need and that we wouldn't have missed if they weren't there. But the effect of not explaining their purpose is to make the package feel like less than a fully integrated whole.
Sub-ratings:
Photos:
Slides: N/A
Business cards: N/A
Documents: 4½/5
OCR: 5/5
