Customer Rating:  
Summary: Excellent value
Comment: The feed is the key on these scanners-- that's what tends to break. I've owned HP's and Fujitsu scanners at much higher prices. HP held up a little longer--Fujitsu feed broke almost immediately. At half the price, this scanner is quite reliable- excllent value. I've scanned thousands of page and feed continues to work-- they even give you extra rubber rollers-- other scanners should copy that!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Microtek scanner and software AND Newcorp extended warranty are useless
Comment: Microtek scanner and software AND Newcorp extended warranty are useless
I've deleted my previous 4-star review; that was before the warranty was up and I had my fill of the software the beast uses. It's really just a 1-star machine. Maybe not even that. Some of my complaints below are because other scan software DOES offer these functions.
This will also discuss the extended warranty I got at Newcorp which I would also avoid like grim death as they never could repair it (actually, they never tried).
The software for this unit, ScanWizart Pro is:
1) The ONLY software on my Mac that can't be Force Quit in any way. So, when it decides to give me the spinning beachball of death (again, the only program that does this consistently in Tiger), then I have to shut down the computer manually.
2) I can't easily reset the scan numbers to 0. I MUST scroll through the numbers (from 999 and beyond back down to 0 if necessary).
3) I can't simply hit RETURN or ENTER to start a scan. The arrow must be exactly on the Scan button.
4) No matter how many scans I've done during the day, at some point, I'm asked if I'd like to let the scanner warm up. Was I asked this first thing in the morning? Nope. After letting the scanner sit idle for some time? Nope. I'm asked this immediately after just finishing the umpteenth scan and NOW, for some reason, ScanWizard thinks the scanner needs to warm up. And how long is this warm-up time? I'm not kidding: 538 minutes! I can't find anything about adjusting this or turning it off; there's nothing at all in the help file.
5) When installing or deleting the software, I'm asked if I want to UPGRADE! That's right, in neither case am I upgrading, but that's the button choice. Folks, this is downloadable software and this boo-boo can be corrected at any time (and it only takes a few minutes) by a software engineer, but NO. Microtek can't be bothered with even THIS much quality control.
6) Sometimes the scanner stops the scan midway and says that the user stopped the scan. Nope. Sometimes it stops a scan a few seconds in with no message at all. A ghost in the machine.
7) While it's a tabloid scanner, sometimes there are images that still need to be scanned in parts because they are so large. Unfortunately, the scan color/contrast varies between each scan!
8) ScanWizard still can't address names over a limit of 31 characters (how very 1988!), so, along with the auto-numbering, running out of file characters can happen and you're sometimes not warned about it. That's right, ScanWizard reaches its character limit and just saves each new scan over the old one. You look for all of those scans you thought you did, but only find ONE because all the rest were overwritten.
Speaking of quality control, the unit itself is built to last -- to last until the warranty runs out. I know, this has happened on two units. The warranty dies and so does the scanner. At this point, it puts random lines and bands in the scan. This can't be cleaned or adjusted by the user. Once the lines start, they don't stop.
So, I call up Microtek and am informed:
MICROTEK DOES NOT SERVICE ITS PRODUCTS. THERE ARE NO REPAIRS OFFERED.
But Microtek does offer to sell me a brand new scanner -- for MORE than I can get it on Amazon or anywhere else.
When the scanner is working, it works OK, but do you really want to spend good money on a machine that not only does not last 13 months, can't be repaired when something goes wrong and has software that's like a beta version (it's at 7.6). I don't have another piece of gear like this!
Buying an extended warranty would be a wise idea, but the company that sells it, Newcorp, is a shoe-string operation with no actual ability to repair anything themselves and no customer service (unless you like the "the customer is always wrong" type of customer service).
scanner,tabloid,junk,worthless,flatbed,extended warranty,11x17
Customer Rating:
Summary: Bad Customer Service
Comment: I spend $30 returning the scanner. The scanner won't scan image of document only to Word File. Then some of the images does not scan too well. Emailed Customer Service. Took them FIVE days just to ask me what my problem was. Got so FRUSTRATED returned the product. Never have to return an Electronic product , so my husband threw away box. End up having to spend $30 just repacking and reshipping. Save the boxes! Don't think I will buy from unknown maker. Stick to HP's or well known brand!
Customer Rating:
Summary: scanner ok, software not
Comment: I have a Microtek scanner and just downloaded the latest drivers. It turns out Microtek wants a program called Scan Finder to load at every start-up, and there is no way to disable this. The product works satisfactorily, but for my money, I will purchase something else. Something that doesn't create such a nuisance, and isn't so invasive.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Microtek ScanMaker 5950
Comment: Have purchased multiple ScanMaker 5950 units to use for work and will do so again as needed. Easy to use, pretty much plug and play and scanning is very fast when you have multiple documents to work with at once.
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