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Plustek Opticbook 3600 Plus A4 Book Edge Pdf Ocr Scanner | 
 enlarge | Category: CE
List Price: $346.99
Buy New: $280.99
You Save: $66.00 (19%)
New (7) Used (1) from $280.99
Rating:  9 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Fragile: No
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 13
Dimensions (in): 212.6 x 167.3 x 78.7
Model: B64-BBM31-A
EAN: 4042485353048
ASIN: B000EIYUAE
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 2 to 3 days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Great Book Scanner September 28, 2008
Robert Plamondon (Blodgett, OR USA)
I have a small publishing operation (Norton Creek Press) that brings great-but-forgotten books back into print. Sometimes this involves scanning in rare or collectible books that would be damaged if I opened them all the way to make them lie flat on an ordinary scanner. The Plustek Opticbook 3600 lets me scan such books without damaging them.
I've used it hard for a couple of weeks, and I've been very happy with it. The Abbyy software that comes with the scanner is much better than the stuff I used to use (scanning in grayscale also seems to help), and upgrading to FineReader 9.0 makes it even better.
The Digibook software is sort of lame, sometimes hanging after scanning 100 pages or so, but I haven't had any trouble when scanning directly into the Abbyy software. Even when Digibook hangs, nothing is lost, because it saves every scan as a separate bitmap image anyway, even if you tell it not to. Select 'em all and suck 'em into the Abbyy OCR software. No problemo.
I find it useful to be able to scan by pushing a button on the scanner, rather than reaching across to the mouse. I can hold the book in position with both hands and hit the button with my thumb.
All in all, this scanner would be a bargain for my specialized needs at twice the price, and I'm very glad I bought it.
 Zero Support July 22, 2008
Eugene G. Hellickson (Sisters, OR)
I purchased a Opticbook 3600 plus. Works "ok" with XP, but the drivers will not initialize on my Vista laptop. I even took the scanner and laptop into a computer shop and they tried to get it to run on a newly installed Vista system with ZERO success. Calls to the service center go unreturned, and email is not answered. I find it hard to believe Plustek cannot get their scanner to work on Vista, or find a service center in the US that knows the meaning of SERVICE !!
Great book scanner July 7, 2008
D. Garvey
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I liked this scanner so much that I bought a second one. (Note: I did not buy the "Plus" version, which only adds the ability to save directly to PDF. I bought my scanners before the Plus version became available. The software that came with my scanners does create PDFs as well, but not "directly." I'm not sure if the direct-to-PDF feature is worth the extra $30 or $40; it may be if it generates higher quality PDFs with smaller file sizes.) I've had both for more than three years. I've installed them on both Windows XP and Windows 2000 (English and Japanese versions). I have never had a scanner install and work so flawlessly. Despite what some of the other reviews say, I have found the software to be stable and totally crash-free. Previously I have used Epson and HP scanners, and in my opinion the OpticBook 3600 offers comparable scan quality with software that is more innovative and less intrusive, if primitive looking in spots. The software does what it's supposed to. Most notably, it allows you to scan each page of a book with just a touch of a button on the scanner, automatically rotating every other scan if you so specify in the settings.
My scanners came with a light version of Abbyy's FineReader OCR software. I purchased an upgrade to the professional version for $100 or $150 (a free trial is available on Abbyy's web site), and I have found it to be excellent (well worth the price of the upgrade). I chose Abbyy over OmniPage because the latter doesn't provide a trial version (to my knowledge) and its activation policy struck me as too intrusive.
One issue that I've had is that occasionally the scanner lamp inexplicably fails to turn on after the warm-up. This usually happens when I haven't used the scanner in a while, and the lamp always comes on after a reboot (once it took a couple of reboots). Scary the first time it happened, just a minor annoyance thereafter.
Overall, a very well designed product. If you have any need to scan books, I think you will be impressed with the innovation that went into this scanner and its software. There's nothing comparable available that I've been able to find.
One word of warning. After I bought these scanners I bought an HP Photosmart all-in-one color printer/scanner/copier. When I installed the HP, I found that the OpticBook no longer worked. I eventually figured out that I could use the OpticBook again if I disabled the HP under Imaging Devices in Device Manager. However, even when enabled under Device Manager the HP will not work as a scanner with the OpticBook installed (it only works as a printer). I really only needed a printer anyway, and I've found the HP software to be so intrusive, bloated and annoying that I've vowed to avoid all-in-ones from now on. As soon as I get a chance, I'm going back to my trusty HP LaserJet, which has the added advantage of not prompting me to buy color ink cartridges every time I blink.
Great Scanner, Lousy Software May 8, 2008
P. Lewis (Loves Park, IL USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
For books, this scanner is awesome - faster than my Epson and my Canon all-in-one. On the other hand, the Epson works much better on photos, and the Canon is best for quick scan to email or to make copies. Mine came with Vista drivers, no problem there.
The software, however, is another story. "It sucks" is being kind. One of the programs wouldn't even install (I tried on both my XP and Vista machines)and another crashes every hundred pages or so - no help on the website for the software either. Figure on purchasing some OCR software (Abbyy Finereader $400 or Omnipage $450) to get full use of the scanner.
Perfect in the beginning, Nightmare in the end. February 13, 2008
H. Lee
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I was a big fan of this scanner until recently.
Opticbook scans books fast without damaging spines.
I used it very carefully.
I used another scanner of mine for non-book materials, because I didn't want to waste the lamp life.
The result? The lamp died after around 200 scans!
I used it intermittently, so I was out of warranty when the lamp died.
I've used scanners of several manufacturers, and this is the first time that a scanner lamp died on me.
In sum, $300 for 200 scans is not recommendable at all.
Added: I got another reason to hate this scanner. Service of the company is horrible. I sent several emails about my problem, but never got answers.
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