Kodak’s ScanMate isn’t attractive by any
means, and it doesn’t offer the fastest performance, but it’s a reasonably
solid and cost-effective sheet-fed scanner, at just $330.
When closed, the Kodak’s slightly gawky
shape lacks the polish of competing models; open, it’s even less attractive,
all sprawling paper feed and inelegant internal design.
But we had few problems in use, and the
page holder feels reasonably secure and kept sheets in place.
Kodak
ScanMate i940
Kodak claims the ScanMate can handle up to
20 sheets at a time, and you’re advised not to feed it more than 500 pages per
day.
The front panel can be lifted with a firm
pull, should you need to get inside and fix a jam. It’s tricky to open,
particularly if you have a stack of sheets loaded.
The i940 is a doddle to use at its
automatic settings. Load in your documents, press Start, and you’re away. Once
we’d worked out how to access it through the Windows taskbar, it was easy to
get at the front-end and alter the settings.
The usual selection of file formats are
supported, but no advanced file types or archive formats are available.
You can use cloud facilities to access
SharePoint and EverNote. Should you want greater control over scans, the Page
Perfect sections lets you play with settings such as resolution, colour and
automatic straightening. It’s a little long-winded, and isn’t perhaps the most
comprehensive of editors.
Most
users will want to stick with a minimum resolution of 300dpi, and here the
Kodak ScanMate does a very satisfactory job of creating colour.
Newsoft Presto BizCard 6.0 is a capable
application for converting business cards, but there’s otherwise a marked lack
of software. A Mac version of this scanner, the i940M, comes with Presto
PageManager and BizCard Xpress.
The Kodak isn’t the fastest model when
creating searchable PDFs. Even on AC power – you can runs the i940 on most PCs
using just USB power – we struggled to get above 12 pages per minute (ppm) at
150dpi when creating a 20-page document.
The Kodak performs much faster when
required only to turn pages into simple JPEG images, and higher resolutions
don’t have too much of an impact on speed. We created 3000dpi images at 8.2ppm.
Most users will want to stick with a minimum
resolution of 300dpi, and here the Kodak ScanMate does a very satisfactory job
of creating colour. In fact, it was able to show us shades that we hadn’t even
noticed on the original document.
The scanner struggles at the extreme ends
of the spectrum, and it doesn’t make a great job of distinguishing between
slightly variety black shades. But for general magazine articles, not to
mention easier subject, such as letters and bills, the Kodak works perfectly
adequately at 300dpi.
Text reproduction is reasonably accurate,
and most of our search words were fine. At the i940’s lower resolutions, the
results are less reliable and consistent, and colour are patchier and more
inaccurate.
Verdict
The Kodak ScanMate i940 is inexpensive for
a business sheet-fed scanner. As such, you shouldn’t expect the fastest
performance, amazing quality or a raft of features and software titles. If you
just want a solid sheet-fed that can convert bills, letters or loose magazine
pages, the Kodak is a cost-effective solution.
Specifications
Sheet-fed desktop scanner; 600dpi; 24 bit
colour; colour duplex; 20-sheet feeder capacity; USB 2.0; 500-sheet daily duty
volume; Twain/Isis/WIA-complaint; NewSoft Preto Bizcard software; 3- year
warranty; 289x107x78mm (closed); 289x330x160mm (open); 1.3kg
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Details
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Price: $397.5
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Contact: kodak.com
Verdict: 4.5/5
·
Build: 3.5/5
·
Features: 3.5/5
·
Performance: 3/5
·
Value: 4/5
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