IRIS Pen Executive Handheld Scanner

IRIS Pen Executive Handheld Scanner Review

This review is on the IrisPen Executive model.

INSTALLATION
------------------------------------
READ THE MANUAL. It's critical to note (whatever your installation situation) that you must install the software BEFORE plugging the unit into the USB. Installation was a bit tricky for me because I was installing the IrisPen on an instance of VMware.

Because I had so much trouble with this first step (I spent an hour), I attempted to call the company -- whose representatives are NOT easy to reach. I was rolled over into voice mail each time and several voice mail boxes were full. The way I found I could reach tech support was to continually transfer myself back and forth from the tech support extension to the operator extension -- or from the operator extension to the operator extension. Eventually, someone will pick up. I used about 10 minutes each time I called. Luckily, their support line is toll free.

Once I had a rep on the phone, they were VERY considerate and walked me through Control Panel screens to get my VMware system to recognize the pen. (This is a common hiccup with VMware and installing peripherals.) While tech support did not reach a solution, they were happy to ship me a new one in trade for mine, shipping both ways at their expense. In the end, he didn't need to do this because the information I learned from the tech was enough for me to fiddle around and to solve the problem on my own.


EASE OF USE
------------------------------------
I found the device moderately intuitive. The manual is VERY well written, and I highly recommend using it to guide your initial setup and usage. The first chapter got me running in about 10 minutes.



GREAT, GREAT, GREAT ACCURACY
------------------------------------
Only after trying another pen scanner did I begin to appreciate the IrisPen. Originally, I tried the InfoScan3Lite (IS3L) from WizCom, which required multiple scans to pick up a semi-reliable phrase. The IS3L did not pick up punctuation, italics or non-standard fonts at all well. On the other hand, the IrisPen, with a little practice (5-10 minutes), captures and recognizes on the first try. You can scan whole paragraphs without having to wait for the pen to recognize the text -- an unfortunate characteristic of the IS3L. Because the IrisPen is accurate, it is also efficient. I don't need to correct so many spelling mistakes.


NOT REALLY PORTABLE
------------------------------------
What drew me to the pen scanners was the portability of the unit. Imagined being able to scan text while sitting in waiting rooms or while a passenger in the car. Portability is a feature that the IrisPen claims to have, but doesn't really.

Only because laptops are portable, can you consider the IrisPen portable. You can't use this device away from an operating system of some sort, i.e. you need your desktop or laptop or other USB enabled device. I forgive the marketing folks for their slight-of-hand on positioning the product on this feature since all of the other features of this tool make up for this failing.

After all, what good is portability if it doesn't scan well? In the end, I valued efficiency and accuracy over portability, deciding that I could simply highlight my books -- which are still portable -- and scan the excerpts later at my desk.

Hope this helps!
[...]

IRIS Pen Executive Handheld Scanner Feature

• Text-to-speech technology in 10 different languages
• Scans up to 3.15 inches or 1,000 characters per second
• Supports up to 55 languages
• CardIris Limited Edition and ReadIris Pro trial software
• USB interface, PC and Mac compatible

IRIS Pen Executive Handheld Scanner Overview

IRISPen Executive - You scan, it types! Make scanning easy with this text recognition pen scanner! This outstanding professional pen scanner allows instant data entry. Using word processors, e-mail, spreadsheets and other software tools are now easier than ever to use - save yourself time by stepping away from the keyboard! Extremely fast and extremely accurate -- an effective way to stop the never-ending typing & retyping of documents Dot matrix mode accurately reads poor quality documents Compact and portable -- attaches & gets powered through a USB port

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 07, 2010 01:39:03