Taking around four seconds to scan an A4-size document in B&W, this portable wand-type scanner from VuPoint Solutions is designed for copying images from books or documents with thick or fragile spines that don’t allow them to be folded back for placement on a flatbed scanner. It's also useful for scanning pages that are located a long way from your office.
Depending on the size of your microSD memory card (sold separately - up to 32GB) and your desired resolution, the device can store hundreds of images onboard and scans at resolutions up to 600x600dpi. The default setting is 300x300dpi.
Weighing 5oz more than the Planon DocuPen RC800 (but around US$200 cheaper), the VuPoint PDS-ST410-VP has an A4 color contact image sensor and can capture a full-color A4 page in around 28 seconds for high resolution, much quicker with a lower res setting. It just shows how much these type of devices have evolved in the past few months.
The scanner has an automatic white balance, utilizes USB 2.0 and is compatible with PC or Mac (drivers available free for PC, not needed with the Mac).
Scanning speeds: 28 seconds high-res color, 14 secs high-res B&W, 8 secs low res color, and 4 secs low res B&W.;
Accessories including a USB cable, 2 x AA alkaline batteries, OCR software CD, pouch and cleaning cloth.
The Magic Wand is available for around US$99.
For someone wanting to have search capabilities instead of having to go back to look at each image, this is a boon.
Personally, I\'d look at it for genealogy research. There are books that may be too delicate for contact with a scanner, but those may be able to have their images saved to a digital camera. Those less delicate should be able to use the scanner. With the micro SD cards of this size many pages or images can be saved before transferring to a computer.