VuPoint Solutions Magic Wand Portable Scanner

I love this product! It's easy to use, so handy, seems well made. Of course, it is an electronic gadget, so I have been handling it with care and put it away in it's case as soon as I am finished with it. I have used it to scan a few hundred pictures so far, and the picture quality is excellent (for my needs, it's clear enough to see detail and read text) in both low and high resolution. Took me just a few scans to guage how quickly to move across a page. If the page is too large to do in one swipe, simply do it in two or three overlapping passes. You could stitch it together if you had to, but I have found it to be sufficient to have multiple images rather than spend time putting them together. I then hook it up to the pc (included usb cord), it is recognized as an external storage device, and the images are quickly transferred to my computer. I have used my Picassa photo software to crop the edges neatly, but you don't have to. Currently I am trying to figure out what I'd like to do with my kitchen, so I have been scanning pictures of ideas from books, magazines etc, and saving them to a file on my computer. I can use this anywhere for that! I'm using the files on my computer right now, but am getting an e-tablet soon, so will be able to have the files with me when i am out and about. I will also be using this to organize receipts, warranties, etc. And, since we homeschool, I can see this coming in handy to scan and organize co-op notes, schedules, all sorts of things. I love this so much I don't even mind I paid $20 more for it a few weeks ago, than it is now. My friend has gotten them for herself and siblings because of mine, and I think I am getting one for my sister for a gift, too.I highly recommend buying the extra storage case, I can't imagine throwing this wand into a backpack or purse without it. And you will want to get rechargeable batteries ( I recommend the hybrid kind, they hold a charge much longer), and keep spares with you if you're out of the house or at the library with it.I only cannot comment fully on the included software, it is supposed to allow you to convert text in the picture to 'useable' text, I haven't messed with it enough to be able to give an honest report.I've got an 8gb micro card for it, the most pictures I've had on it at one time was 139, of high resolution, and it wasn't full....I didn't think to check and see how much room was left.I do have a desktop scanner, and I found it to be quite a pain to sit at the desk and try to put a book in there the right way, it was so nice to sit at the table and scan that way! I'll still use it as a copy machine, or for quick flat scans, but my go-to scanner is my magic wand.Oh, another recommendation, if you have younger children you may not want to call it a magic wand, mine have been having Harry Potter fantasies about mom's new gadget!I think this would be an excellent gift for students, craftspeople.......

I am in the midst of tracing my family tree and was looking for something like this that I could pass over a delicate document without worries of having to try to feed it through a regular portable scanning device. Plus, there are so many things that you just can't feed through or lay flat on a scanner. This tool is perfect for the day when I can go to a historical archive and need to scan a document.That said, this scanner did not come with very good directions - in fact it came with hardly any directions at all. It came furnished with batteries (but not the microSD card - you'll need to supply your own). I thought the batteries were dead because when I clicked the power button nothing happened. It took a few minutes for me to figure out that you have to hold the power button down for 3-5 seconds to turn it on and to turn it off. You'll also need a paperclip to put in this teeny tiny hole near the microSD card slot so you can format the card the first time you use it.After I figured out how the scanner worked I scanned two items (I posted both in the pictures section - an image of Time magazine that came out really well on the first try, and a scan of the directions that came with this scanner - printed matter doesn't seem to scan as easily as pictures do). They were automatically saved in .jpeg format, which is great because you can edit what you scan later. For example, in the genealogy field, you may scan more of a page than you need - many archived documents have references to more than one family that you can edit off the document, saving only the portion you want to keep.On the whole, I am really pleased with this scanner. It has little rollers on it that roll smoothly over the surface you're scanning. It was easy to upload the images I scanned onto my computer using the USB cord provided. It came with a pouch to store it in and a fine cloth to clean it with. The lack of directions would be my only complaint. I was able to figure things out, but it might be a little harder for someone who is not as comfortable with this type of technology to set up on their own. So if you aren't very tech savvy, still buy this gadget, but have a tech savvy friend help you set it up.(see my two scans in the pictures section above)

Not worth the price. I have tried about a hundred times to get a good scan of a receipt. It always ends up unreadable. You have to hold the docs firmly and keep it straight, but since the edges are too close to the margin there is no place to hold it with a paperweight. The logistics of this product just does NOT work for me at all. Then you cannot see the result right away so you have to plug in the USB to a PC, but you cannot scan whilst the USB is plugged in.This is really is a waste of money. I got an iPhone app for 1.99, that can scan receipts, credit cards, docs etc... In a snap, a million times more useable and a much better scan quality and so much cheaper.If there is a ZERO star rating I would have chosen that.

I order this particular magic wand manufactured by Vupoint, for my sister for Christmas. I have owned and used this same product for sometime, with great satisfaction. So I shopped around to get the same manufacturer. To my surprise the name on the magic wand was different. I was not pleased. With little time to spare, I gave the one I received to my sister, anyways. After Christmas and helping her use the magic wand, we discovered ... there was not a 32g micro chip included? I will be in contact to get, what was promised. Other than that the scanner seems to work fine. So tired of not getting what you pay for :(