Doxie Flip - Cordless Flatbed Photo & Notebook Scanner w/Removable Lid (DX70)

Update:I have to say that I'm really impressed by the company's customer service! I would give their customer service 6 starts if I could. I was contacted very quickly by the manufacturer after my initial review about a defective product I received. They offered to send me a complementary brand new unit to have a chance to re-evaluate it, as well as a pack of Panasonic eneloop pro rechargeable batteries (2550mAh) with a charger to address the short battery life issue. And WOW, what a totally different experience! This time the unit turned on in one easy switch (vs the defective unit sluggish response and eventually refused to turn on), and the rechargeable battery lasted forever-I was too tired to wait until I could exhaust the power, but after 30 scans of 600dpi pictures, the indicator still showed a full charge. At least even after the batteries are gone, I won't have to worry about buying new ones, I could just recharge them. Also what's interesting is this new unit can fit all my different rechargeable batteries without any problem, while my own Duracell rechargeable could not fit into the previous defective unit.In terms of the small scan area in my original review, my feeling is that you have to have a proper expectation to this unit-it is a portable device. I would say it is not meant for replacement of a desktop unit in terms of scale and capacity, but it is superior in other situations like taking it to a library, scanning old album which is a pain to take out each individual pictures. This time I tried the flip mode on my mom's 40 year old album and it was really fun to scan the fragile old pictures without worrying about damaging them!Conclusion: Have the right exceptions and enjoy this versatile and portable little gadget. Also be prepared to spend a little more money on the eneloop pro rechargeable batteries, however, for you to enjoy this scanner, they are actually essential.************************************************************************************************Original review:Not sure if it was because I bought a factory re-conditioned item, it came in with 4 empty alkaline batteries. Not a super big deal, it was $40 cheaper than the brand new one, so I just used my own batteries. But it burnt the batteries like crazy, 4 brand new AA batteries only lasted 80 scan. So I changed it to new set of batteries, but the unit failed to turn back on. So I have to return it. Ordered an Epson V19, no power cord, just USB cable powered, scan much bigger area. I'm way happier with the Epson than the Doxie Flip. Don't waste your money on a hype (tiny little scan area), bigger scan area is much more useful!

Very happy with this scanner.Intended use: I bought this because one of my older relatives recently passed away and her daughter found a number of old photos that I wanted to scan for myself and my mom. Additionally, my son was born in 1997, but I didn't buy my first digital camera until 2004, which meant I had 7 years of baby pictures that needed to be digitized. This scanner is great for this purpose.First Impressions: I got an email from the manufacturer on the day the scanner arrived with a hyperlink if I had any issues. Although I am sure this was automatically generated, I still thought it was a nice touch of customer service that you don't see much of today. When the scanner arrived, I found it to be well packaged. Additionally, I really appreciated that it had everything needed--including batteries, an SD card and a USB SD card reader--to scan and import photos.Use experience: Setup was easy and intuitive. I went from unpacking the box to scanning photos in a matter of a few minutes. The scanner doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, but it scans photos very well. You definitely want to use the higher resolution (600 dpi) to scan photos. I found this resolution to be satisfactory. It takes about 20 seconds from scan to scan. Of course, that doesn't include the time required to take the pictures out of albums and put them back. One great thing about this scanner is its portability. I can set it own my lap or the arm of my couch and scan photos while watching television. Although I have a flatbed scanner on my all-in-one, this is a much better solution for scanning photographs. I also played with the "flip" capability of this scanner and found it to work well.Batteries: As other reviewers have noted, this thing eats batteries. I went through the 4 included AA batteries and a replacement set before I broke down and purchased two sets of rechargeable batteries, which I would consider to be essential if you plan on doing a lot of scanning. It would be nice if the scanner had an AC port and optional adapter, but I guess that would be contrary to the portability concept.Software I typically use Abobe Photoshop Elements 13 for importing and editing images. However, I used the Doxie software (a free download) so that I could comment on it. I found it to be intuitive and user friendly. It performs all basic image editing well. I also tried the "stitch" feature by scanning a wall portrait with two passes and stitching the images together. It worked. If I wasn't already a fan of Photoshop Elements, I would have no problem using this software.Overall: I think this is a great product and highly recommend it for photo scanning. You won't be disappointed if you purchase it.