Pandigital Photo Scanner PANSCN06: Portable Scanning at Its Best

Pandigital Personal Photo Scanner PANSCN06 Review
  • Features
  • Performance
  • Photo Quality
4.3

Bottom Line

The Pandigital Personal Photo Scanner/Converter quickly turns a stack of photos into digital files with ease, without a computer. It’s a great option for those who are in a hurry, and who aren’t technically savvy.

Pros: The Pandigital Personal Photo Scanner is highly portable - since no computer is required, you can take it with you wherever you go, and use it whenever you need it. Though no PC is required, it can be used with one, too. The scanner comes with a 1 GB SD card, so you can start using it right away.
Cons: 

This scanner does not come with any application software. The unit runs on AC power only, so you cannot use it without a power outlet. Having a rechargeable battery would make the product better for a lot of people. For the price, you’re paying for convenience more so than photo quality.

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The Pandigital Personal Scanner is a portable manual feed scanner that can be used with or without a computer. The photos are automatically converted to .JPG versions of the original, and stored on the SD card housed in the unit. The sheet feeder can be used for documents as well as photos – though when using it with photos, it is important to be careful, as the rollers may damage the original photo. Those who are worried about damaging the original photo, you can use plastic protective sleeves.

When you’re finished scanning photos, simply remove the SD card and place it in your digital picture frame, or in a card reader on your computer to edit and view the photos. There are several portable scanners in the Pandigital family, including film and negative scanners. This product does not scan film and negatives.

Features

The scanner works with a variety of cards, including: SD, XD, MS, MS Pro, and MMC cards. You can scan photos at either 300 DPI or 600 pixels per inch. The scanner works with recent versions of Windows and Mac OS X, but it will recognize the scanner’s card as a USB drive, to allow you to copy the files to your computer. The scanner offers one-touch scanning for speed and usability.

Since there is no battery, you must carry the power cable with you at all times if you expect to be able to use the scanner. Once it is plugged in, it only takes a few seconds to load the photo or the document, and the rest is automatically handled for you. It can’t get much more simple. Due to the lack of software that comes with the scanner, you won’t find features such as color correction or dust/scratch removal.

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Scanning Speed Photo Quality

The scanning speed for this unit depends on a variety of factors. Ultimately, the longer you take to load the photo into the manually feeder, the longer the scan will take. Scanning at a higher resolution will take longer. Using a protective sleeve will also add to the scanning time. User reviews report times ranging anywhere from 7.2 seconds to 34 seconds, depending on resolution and whether or not a protective sleeve was used. While it is definitely not the fastest scanner on the market today, these times don’t necessarily make it a slow scanner.

For basic reprints for friends and family, the resulting image quality is okay – good enough to work. For anyone who serious about photography, whether amateur or professional, the quality won’t be good enough. Many users report a shift to red in photos, darkening that resulted in lost details, and overall grainy appearance compared to the original photos.

The lack of software and editing capabilities means you’ll have to go to a computer with separate editing software to work on the digitized versions of the photos. The scanner quality is not satisfactory for the majority of people, but for the people who just want something easy to use, it is satisfactory.

Comparison

When compared to the Canon CanoShot 9000F MKII and the CanoScan LiDE110, this scanner is more expensive, and does not offer anything close in terms of features and software. While it does have the portability factor, that’s the only thing it has going for it. While this scanner is priced more affordably than the Epson Perfection V800 Photo Scanner, it once again does not hold up against the features, included software, and scanning quality. Compared to the Doxie Flip, it offers portability, but is more expensive, and doesn’t produce the same high quality end result photos.

Warranty and Support

No information is available about product warranty and support, as the products are currently available through Amazon. There does not appear to be an official website for the company behind this product, suggesting the company has since gone out of business. If you choose to purchase this product, pay close attention to any warranty and support information included in the packaging, as these are still available brand new.

Conclusion

For the general consumer market, this is a great basic portable scanner. For the ameatur or professional photographer, this does not offer enough features and a good quality scan to make it worth the investment. There are many other portable scanners out there on the market today that surpass the quality seen in this product, such as the Doxie Flip.

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