I did a lot of due diligence before buying the IRIS Pen II Executive Scanner, including all the other pen scanner products on the market.I was initially a little put off by the fact you had to attach it to a computer via a USB cable to work.FWIW, I am using it with MacOS X 10.2.6 and a iBook.
I have had it for over a month now, purchased in July 2003, and I LIKE it.I have primarily used it to scan text from photocopies of journal articles.These are clearly not the highest quality text material from which to scan, but nevertheless, the IRIS pen handles them acceptably.By that, I mean, I get around 85% accuracy.This clearly means, I have to go back and retype things, but still, I am able to capture large quanities of text to use *in a very rapid fashion*.Like one of the previous posters, I do tend to use it like a highlighter.
As a word of instructive advice...it may be difficult to figure out how to hold the pen.Just try different positions and your hand will develop 'memory' in holding it correctly, such that it captures text.
I guess my overall experience is neither the 100% success that others have had, nor the despair that a few have faced.I would certainly buy this product again.
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IRIS Pen II Executive ScannerProduct Description: This portable, handheld scanner provides a wide range of time-saving conveniences. With up to 1,000 characters recognized per second, the IRIS Pen II Executive Scanner is suited for rapid scanning of small samples of text or for taking notes and scanning tables. It can also scan directly into any Windows or Mac application starting at the position of the cursor. Plus, the text-to-speech option lets you hear what you scan, and in a relatively natural voice.
The IRIS Pen II recognizes data on many types of documents, reading 6 to 22 point size fonts with text, numbers, handwritten numbers, and bar codes, as well as reading dot-matrix letters. It supports foreign language uses (up to 56 languages) and is programmable, letting you define two functions that are triggered by single and double clicks (tab, enter, space).
The Pen II provides improved image stability at varying speeds and offers gray scale document recognition. Additional features include left-to-right and right-to-left scanning, central line tracking, multiline mode, recognition of wavy or distorted characters, a line skew tolerance of 10 percent with a word slope tolerance of 20 percent, clear scanning of inverse text (white letters on dark background), and automatic input of tables (like invoices and price lists) into your database or spreadsheet. The idle mode reduces power consumption.
When directly connected to the USB port of a PC or notebook, the scanner supports plug-and-play operation and is powered by the USB port, so there's no need for an external power supply. Support for serial/parallel port is available.
Buy cheap IRIS Pen II Executive Scanner now
This is a great cash register and does a lot of things for the money but I am lost without the manual.
