Visioneer Strobe XP 450

A desktop scanner thats a small wonder.

A couple of months ago (PC Magazine, August 2003), we reviewed Visioneer's 9450 PDF scanner and concluded that it was a little too bulky and slow for the task in hand. The new Strobe XP 450 desktop scanner addresses some of our concerns and although it's not billed as a PDF scanner, it would be a better match for the software bundle shipped with the 9450.

The Strobe is a 20ppm USB 2.0 top-feed simplex 600spi colour scanner, with a fairly compact footprint slightly large than an A4 sheet. It's quite a large unit, though, once you've extended the input and output paper guides. We had a couple of installation glitches - out of three different Windows XP systems, only one installed smoothly and the ScanDirect utility defaulted to the wrong TWAIN device. Visioneer installs the PaperPort 9.0 software and scanner driver sequentially with no pause, whereas it would be less confusing to separate these installations. TWAIN and Windows XP WIA drivers are included, allowing you to scan from within any compliant application or by using the Windows XP/ME Scanner wizard.

Once it's up and running, however, the Strobe is quite impressive. The document feeder takes up to 50 legal-sized pages into the straight-through paper path and the feed mechanism works well. On the Strobe itself are just two buttons - a release for the cover and Visioneer's standard OneTouch scan button. Loading a document and pressing the button scans the documents to whatever application and settings you've chosen in the OneTouch Configure utility. By default, scans go to PaperPort 9.0, but you can choose almost any installed application. PaperPort's default file format is now thankfully PDF, but you don't get a copy of Acrobat with the Strobe PX 450.

In use, the scanner is quick and quiet - we scanned mix of 20 standard office documents in black and white at 300spi in just under 80 seconds. A 24-bit, 300spi colour scan of a magazine front cover took 30 seconds. You'll definitely need a USB 2.0 interface to achieve these speeds, however - the scanner will work with USB 1.1, but it's a painfully slow process.

Visioneer's 22ppm claim is based on blackand-white scans at 200spi. We found it handled thicker documents and business cards reasonably well (certainly much better than the 9450 PDF), although it's best to sort business cards roughly by size first to avoid jams.

The software bundle, in addition to PaperPort, includes ScanSoft's TextBridge Pro 9 OCR software and ArcSoft PhotoImpression, a basic imageediting package. In the box, there's a power brick, USB cable and also a spare ADF spring pad, which you'll need to replace after about 150,000 scans.

If you need a compact, high-speed colour scanner that doesn't take up too much desk space, the Strobe XP 450 fits the bill admirably.

Contact: Visioneer Europe (01483) 445480
www.visioneer-europe.com

Specifications:

• System requirements: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
• Dimensions: (DxWxH) 43x34x32cm
• Weight: 3.9kg
• Optical scan resolution: 600x1,200spi, 48-bit internal
• Scan speed: 22ppm (maximum @ 200spi, black and white)
• Interface: USB 2.0
• ADF capacity: 50 pages (legal)
• Bundled software: PaperPort 9.0, TextBridge Pro 9, Photo Impression
• Accessories: AC power adapter, USB interface cable, spare ADF spring plate
• Warranty: One year, RTB Price £297 (ex. VAT)