iCODIS X7 Book & Document Scanner, 15MP High Definition Portable Document Camera, Auto-Flatten & Deskew, Capture Size A3, Multi-Language OCR, USB, SDK & Twain for Office and Education Presentation

I do a LOT of document scanning for various purposes. From business docs, training material, books, and important, personal papers -- digitizing items AND make them searchable has been a great way to help me clear out the garage, book shelves, and more.Up until lately, I had been using two types of scanners: a portable one like the $260 Epson Workforce ES-65WR (which can scan one page at a time, although slowly) and a business-grade one that can read over 100 pages in just a few minutes at the touch of a button. The former is highly portable but VERY slow, and the latter is very fast but prohibitively expensive and stationary.At one of my video meetings with my counterpart in Japan, I saw a device behind him that caught my attention. He explained that it was an iCodis X3 scanner, and that he used it to scan some of the material he had previously sent me. I had never seen such a device in the USA before and started searching the web for any made by a recognizable brand name. There were shockingly none. I decided to give the latest iCodis X7 a try.PROS- Can scan entire books without having to take the pages apart- Auto-corrects page orientation, curvature, and defective parts (by filling the gaps accordingly)- Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in multiple languages, turning scanned text into searchable text. (Note: it does NOT translate scans. Choosing a language to scan in simply improves the OCR accuracy)- OCR was VERY accurate. Scanned HANDWRITTEN notes, English, and German documents well and exported them into searchable Word, Txt (Text), and PDF formats. Spreadsheets can be saved as Excel too- OCR can read barcodes and QR codes, extracting the hidden text into human readable text- Recognizes individual photos in an album, provided they are separated by a black background, saving each on an individual scan. Otherwise, it will scan all photos as a single page- Scans up to A3 pages (11.69" x 16.53" or 29.7cm x 42.0 cm)- Fast scan (page appears on the computer in less than 2 secs). I was able to scan an entire 600-page training guide in about 1 hour. I wish this scanner had an automatic page-flip feature! :)- Automatic scanning as you place a new page onto the scan surface. This REALLY saves a LOT of time without having to continuously push a scan button!- Manually start a scan with a wired puck- Folds away when not in use, though at 15" tall is not as ultra portable as my Epson- Single USB cable to scan and power the device with. This requires a computer with a USB port- Costs about the same price as my pricey Epson ES-65WR- LED lights illuminate the work area so you can work and scan in the darkCONS- Only works with Windows 8 and later. There is no support for Mac OS- No Wi-Fi capability- No mobile app. Scans only go to the computer, not directly to your smartphone- No travel bag to take the scanner on the road with- "Multi-Language OCR" could be a bit misleading: it does NOT translate scanned text. It merely allows you to choose the language for the scan so the OCR accuracy is more improvedX7 vs X3The new X7 model improves upon my coworker's X3 in the following ways:- "Flattening Curve Technology": automatically flattens a curved scan, making this ideal for scanning books. The X3 primarily is used to scan flat sheets- 15 Megapixel camera (up from X3's 8 MP), allowing for more detailed scans- More LED lights to help illuminate the work and scan area- External scan puck to manually start a jobThe X7 is slightly taller and wider, and about 1 lb heavier than its predecessor.TIPS- If you do not have a CD drive (as most, modern computers nowadays do not), you can download the scanner software by searching the web for "iCODIS MegaScan Pro X7"Overall, I am VERY happy with this scanner. It fills in a gap that was void: a fast way to scan books without taking them apart.If you found this review helpful, please click the "Helpful" button below to encourage me to write more. Thank you!

I had high hopes when I bought this scanner. I read many books, and thought I would save time by scanning my books so I don't have to keep them so long when I check them out of the library. Not only was this product a waste of money, I did not save time at all. When attempting to export files to PDF, the files were blurry and had scrambled letters, numbers on the file pages. I tried multiple times to export the files. So that was the first wasted day. I emailed the company, they sent me a message asking me to send them a copy of the files before I exported them. Mind you, I already sent them a copy of the damaged files so they can see what the problem was. Next, I attempt to use the scanner to scan the page as an image, after scanning about 50 pages, the software freezes and I lose all of the scanned pages. That was another wasted hour and half of my time. Next, I rescan the pages, after scanning several pages, I find the scanner took images of my fingers covering many of the words on the pages even though I made sure that my hand was not covering the words on the page. More of my time wasted. I finally downloaded an app on my tablet for free that scanned exactly the way I needed. $299 dollars on a product that doesn't even work! I'm getting my money back for sure.

I gave it 4 stars, the unit is solid and sturdy, but thank god I am a tech or I would have sent it back. The software that came with it hangs on every single pic i took. The hotfix did not make it any better. Finally, I found a review that said go back to the cam shop manufacturer directly (not the iCODIS site) and get the software. It is one version older, but it worked well. So now I can use the cam. Would be nice to know if there is any other software would work with this scanner. the software needs to be addressed for windows 10 home 64 bit.

Overall this is a wonderful working tool. Works very well on books & documents printed on uncoated paper. With the built in LED light directly overhead, there are problems with coated or glossy paper --- the overhead light reflects directly back into the camera and results in a glare. This is easily overcome by either using ambient light or another light source at a 45 degree angle which will not reflect into the camera. Perhaps their future models will have a light mounted on the upright post which will not reflect into the camera. The software is reasonably intuitive. Their manual is in understandable English. Their customer service is responsive - got reply within a day. I've been using at home with my desktop PC, but can appreciate that it is easily portable to be used in a library with a laptop. Yes, a carrying case would be an enhancement. While there are options to permit automatic camera operation when the next page is turned, I am old and slow and prefer to manually activate the camera --- to make that easier I put the manual switch on the floor and activate it with my foot, which leaves my hands free to hold the pages open. Putting a glob of hotmelt in the hollow of the switch raises it enough to use easily as a foot switch. The pros are good enough for me that the few cons don't detract from a 5 star rating.

The product arrived as promised, nicely packed. Software installation proceeded without incident. It was up and running very quickly. My only planned use for it is to scan sheet music, convert the scans into PDF files for use in an iPad Pro app for reading music while playing an instrument. The biggest issue is the exposure. Scans came out dark and not terribly legible. I was able to take them through photoshop and Acrobat Pro to fix them up. It’s time consuming. But, for folks who don’t have access to those high-end apps, they are stuck. The scanning app needs much better ex-source control. As it is, there is so much post scan work to do, I don’t think it deserves a high score....yet