**Item: **IRIScan Book 2 Portable Wand Scanner
Price: $49.99
Shipping Options: $5 Standard
Condition: New
[Search Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/s/?field-keywords=IRIScan Book 2 Portable Wand Scanner)
[Search Google](IRIScan - Google Shopping Book 2 Portable Wand Scanner)
Wow, this would have been really useful back when I was in college. Even now, as a teacher, I see a lot of value in having something like this.
Can anyone vouch for how well this works?
Check out this video, courtesy of Irislink [youtube=C3b0jPJpIHo][/youtube]
Previous woots:
$60 techwootplus x 2
((update: My error–last fall was executive model, when I originally referred to it. Sorry. Entire comment revamped))
Manual
FAQ:
Product page:
http://www.irislink.com/c2-1988-189/IRIScan-Book-2---Scan-from-books---magazines-without-computer-.aspx
When you try to get the tutorial, it refers you to the executive version of book 2:
video review of the regular Book 2 version
[youtube=4NSn4-XmjrI][/youtube]
These videos are for the executive version of Book 2, I might find the regular version later:
Android video:
[youtube=UxX2NCoUpoo][/youtube]
Also for the executive version of Book 2, I might find the regular version later:
Blackberry:
[youtube=HVpvldCQ2xA][/youtube]
Also for the executive version of Book 2, I might find the regular version later:
mac:
[youtube=ASwbSGhkl04][/youtube]
Way too expensive for a wand scanner. Wand scanners have become a dime a dozen ever since portable feed scanners came out. The quality of a wand scanner is sub-par in comparison to a portable feed scanner, and you don’t find yourself repeating the scan 10 times, because the preceding trials came out like crap. Iriscan or VuPoint, no real difference in product and capabilities and you can pick up a brand new VuPoint on eBay between $34.99 and $39.99 delivered. I’d pay $34.99 delivered for this TechWoot Iriscan, but not $49.99 plus $5.00. Hopefully, this isn’t Woot’s purchased inventory. I hope they’re just unloading them for Iriscan. I don’t want to see my favorite website lose money, but this is just a bad deal. For the first time ever, I have to say, the first sucker to woot really is a sucker.
Add-on: Portable feed scanners allow you to remove the scan bar for scanning books like a wand scanner then snap back on for feed scanning.
The one last fall was an Executive model at $59.99. HUGE DIFFERENCE!!
Thanks for the reality check. I have thought on occasion how great it would be to have a portable scanner. Being a stage manager I get scripts at the last minute with all kinds of notes and formats cluttering up what I need. I thought maybe if I got this for that every once in a while situation it would be a great deal but after reading your comment I am now compelled to do some research on what is out there. Thanks, (and thank you Woot.)
That write-up is eerily similar to some of the e-mails I’ve received at work. It’s scary how technologically inept some of the world’s “professionals” are.
So, how does one run a book through a portable feed scanner? I’m not in the market for this right this minute, but it would have been damned helpful a year ago while I was still in grad school. While you might expect that PDF’s and online resources would be easy to come by, my professors expected (in part because of university policies on fair use) that we would spend hours photocopying or scanning books on reserve in the library in order to have our own copies for class. I would certainly rather have done this than stood for hours at a time over the scanner/copiers we had to use instead.
Sorry. Thanks. Revamped my entire comment to Book 2 when able, referred to Book 2 Executive otherwise in the meantime.
Scanner pops off and snaps back on. Multi-functional as a wand and feed. Good question. I should have clarified.
In other words, because we’re principled, we could not possibly make copies for you, because that would be breaking the law, however we do condone, encourage, and even supply you with the hardware to break the law yourself. “Fair use” entitles you to make copies of a passage. If you copy the whole book, you’re breaking the law. Now, what would be the heights of hypocrisy is if this was law school…
Any help on the ebay price? So far, I’ve only seen 2 of the SVP portable scanners that can double as a wand scanner. 1 is at 99 cents part way through the bidding, the other one is $31 part way through the bidding. Everything else when I type in “portable feed scanner” to search eBay is either the 2 SVP 4200’s that don’t detach as a hand scanner, or at least $59.99 (again, the SVP 4200).
Now, if this handy thing scanned the book and read it to me–I’d buy two.
How is this any better than an iPhone app that takes a pic, converts to scearchable text, then uploads to DropBox for 1/10th the cost?
In addition, it’s hard to tell the quality when using this portable scanner unless you immediately open the file, making it less portable.
I have a portable Doxi that “feeds” the paper through to ensure it’s scanned at the right speed (highly recommended), but it won’t work for copying books (is copying books even legal?), so I can see the value of something like this for copying books, otherwise for potable situations I recommend something like Doxi.
In addition to the Doxi, add an EyeFi card and have it auto drop files to a watch folder, auto convet to searchable, then auto sort based on text. Makes life a tiny bit easier.
I agree. These would be perfect for college students, and could have saved me countless hours standing by a copier – not to mention the money. Even today, I carry one to use in our medical library because I hate waiting for copiers. I also bring it to conferences to scan posters. It’s especially useful for scanning in mounted photos/micrographs. Some people claim that a camera phone can do but there’s no way you can capture the same details, especially in photos.
They work pretty well as long as you know their limitations. They’re not replacements for a good flatbed or sheetfed scanner, especially if you do a lot of scanning. Images will almost show some crookiness. But for portability, these can’t be beat. You may, however, consider a more advanced model that can do 900dpi, scan directly to PDF and give a scan preview.
In your case, if you have a smartphone, there are several apps that could serve your purpose. Look into Evernote, it has a “page scanner” feature where you take pictures of the pages and it will convert them to searchable PDFs. For android there is also Cam Scanner, or Google’s Keep app may do the same thing.
These would be a lot more convenient for you if you only need them for occasional use.
Thanks… I will look into Evernote.