Customer Reviews
The first scanner that actually works. 
2008-08-19
Great product -- it is the first scanner where someone clearly took the time to make sure that usability is great. No more fiddling with those stupid brightness/contrast controls, endless switching between grayscale and color, no more waiting for "preview". The S300M serves a single purpose -- get your documents into PDF files, quickly, with a single button press -- and it does that extremely well. Fujitsu clearly wanted to provide a solution of the "just works" kind.
Fujitsu competitors should take notice -- it isn't just the hardware that counts. Software is part of the experience.
Great flexibility in an amazingly small package 2008-08-15
All the positive comments that I read before getting this little beauty proved to be true. I would simply add that the ability to create different profiles is the most useful feature. I have one profile for "excellent" (but slower) scanning of photos and another "normal" (faster) for scanning PDF files. It's easy to switch profiles, and you can also create profiles for duplex or simplex settings. It's very easy to adjust for different widths although I've had it do a small newspaper clipping without adjusting the paper width. I am so glad to have this unit as I suffered far too much with my large, hard to configure, flat bed monster!
Very good, but a piecece of software is missing 
2008-08-10
If you can, go for the 510M, its big brother. This one is smaller, and can be USB powered (if you don't mind the speed divided by 2) if you want a clean desktop. But the footprint of both scanners is nearly the same, speed boost on the 510M makes a huge difference in every day use.
The text recognition software bundled in the 510M is a must have : it allow full text indexing with spotlight on MacOS, so you can recover an scanned invoice in a matter of seconds. On this 300M you need to name your files correctly.
Except that, 300M is a very good piece of hardware, silent, fast, reliable.
Great investment 2008-08-03
This has been a great investment for me. I've already been able to clear off half of the piles of paper that continually clutter my desk.
One drawback though.
I use the S300M in conjunction with YEP. Only problem is that YEP doesn't recognize this model even though it will recognize the larger model. I am still able to scan and import into YEP using the S300M setting (add application). The drawback then becomes that since the PDF isn't created through YEP as the primary application, YEP won't automatically file each document according to date -- all PDFs get stored in the single directory you specify in the S300M settings.
This is more of a file management issue, but at least assigning tags still lets you find info pretty quick.
Fantastic Scanner 2008-08-02
Took the advice from the many great reviewerson Amazon for this scanner and I am so pleased. Reviews make Amazon so wonderful and helpful.
The Snapscan scanner is so portable, scans very fast, I like that its white (not typical black) just for looks. It is so easy to set up. Plus I downloaded a program called Receipt Wallet http://www.receiptwallet.com/ which organizes all my receipts that are scanned in from SnapScan.
With the ScanSnap Pro Scanner they are a powerful duo. SnapScans works flawlessly with Mac and I could not be happier.
One thing I hope the company could add on their next upgrade is some thing that can help keep receipts straight when scanning in. Other wise its not to big of a deal to align them, but some kind of receipt guider would be an enhancement
Also would like to see a Future Blue Tooth upgrade feature which would make this until that much more outstanding
and buy the next one faster than I did this one!
However no other complaint . A+
Fujitsu Scansnap S300M - Excellent 2008-08-02
Take document scanning to a whole new level with the ScanSnap S300M mobile scanning solution. Whether its digitizing those receipts, bank statements or term papers at home or capturing mission critical documents on a business trip, ScanSnap takes scanning beyond the office and into your world.It's the world's smallest duplex ADF scanner designed to provide best-in-class performance inside or outside of the home or office.
It Works Fantastically 2008-07-26
Just like most things on the Mac itself, the S300M scanner just works. You have to follow the installation instructions exactly, though, before connecting the scanner.
But once you do, this is truly amazing. Put a stack of papers - all different sizes, double sided or single sided, and press the scan button. It scans quickly, accurately and then ... it's all there.
It will detect a blank page - e.g. if one page is single sided but others are double sided - and will not include a blank page in the output. It will auto rotate an image if it was scanned in crooked - this happens to me when I scan in small receipts.
After stuggling to use an HP all-in-one printer/fax/scanner, I never thought scanning could be easy on a Mac. But whatever Fujitsu did, they did it right.
If you want to scan on a Mac, get this scanner. It works incredibly well on documents (I have not scanned any photos with it yet).
I thought I'd tried all the good scanners out there! 2008-07-21
I had seen this scanner featured in ads in Mac Life and Mac World, but I wasn't sold. I had invested in the NeatReceipts scanner and software and was glad that they'd recently released a Mac port of the software, but it just didn't "do it all". I figured it was worth a shot and I ordered the S300M from Amazon.com.
Was I ever happily surprised! I got right down to business scanning documents and receipts, the scanner's automatic settings are to scan in color/duplex. With the versatility of the Preview application on the Mac I was able to add or delete pages from a PDF once it was created, with ease.
The only drawback on this scanner is if you want to scan a page from a book. That's why I have a little Canon flatbed scanner. Also, a small drawback is sometimes the scanner has trouble pulling in multiple pages that have been folded (for example an American Express bill). In that case I scan each page separately and use Preview to make one big PDF.
All in all, the S300M gives me the ability to get rid of lots of paper very quickly. I annihilated a shoebox full of small receipts that I wasn't sure what to do with (for tax purposes) in just about two hours. I am not always an early adopter, I like things that I can use and that are useful. The S300M gets two thumbs up from me!
scanner is wonderful 2008-07-18
The scan snap sc300m is great for scanning to file or email very quickly. The business card reader software is very accurate.
Bought another one for the office. Too bad they don't make one for PCs
Amazing Product! 2008-07-16
This scanner is, perhaps, the single most amazing peripheral I have ever used in my 25+ years of computing. Simply put, it does EXACTLY what it claims to do: Duplex scan darn near any document you can feed through its scanning mechanism (Only limitation is it cannot scan thick or bound items - so if that is your need, you will have to revert to a flatbed scanner).
However, for document scanning, this scanner coupled with DevonThink Pro Office is a 5 star paperless office solution. If it is a piece of flat paper (or similar substance - I have successfully scanned plastic & thin metal as well!) it scans into your mac and DevonThink takes care of the OCR and document filing inside DevonThink's outstanding (again 5 Star) document archive/management software.
If you are truly wishing to move to the *practical* era of a "paperless office" This scanner and DevonThink are your complete solution.
What is really amazing? you can kick this puppy into "Hi Rez" mode (600DPI) and scan in photos that you can manipulate in photoshop and print on a 6 color inkjet printer at 8x10" print size with photorealistic results. NO this is not a dedicated 4800DPI professional scanner! But GEEZE! You are scanning photos on the road and on the fly :-)
This dinky thing is not much bigger than a large paperback book and:
* comes with a free (by mail) carrying case,
* CAN power itself off your MacBook/Pro's USB port
* (scans using USB power are @ 20% slower in my experience but who cares! you are scanning ANYWHERE and ANYTIME!)
* has a completely bulletproof recovery from scan jams
* (yes they DO happen and one button fixes it and the darn Fujitsu scanning software is smart enough to self-correct and ask you to rescan the jammed sheet--even in the middle of a 30+ page scan!)
* It will scan stacks of different sized paper and auto-recognize the size! (For instance, for my non-profit work I will scan a 8x10" event report sheet and immediately follow that with a 3x6" business-size check - I have successfully scanned a stack of 10 reports & checks in one session)
* Is 100% Mac-Like in operation: It *JUST WORKS*
* Unpack it, plug it in, open the lid, insert sheet, scan, DONE!
(Disclaimer: I do not work for either Fujitsu or DevonThink, although I have beta tested DevonThink in the past, I am a PAID licensee of DevonThink Pro Office - YES it is THAT good! :-)
Just get this scanner - you will NOT regret it!
