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In '60's spy movies, tuxedo-clad agents used small cameras to quickly snap images of important documents. These days, Tom Cruise (because it would be him) would likely whip out a small scanner and, line-by-line, record the information for posterity (or at least, until his government handler forced him to destroy it). There's a possibilty that Mr. Cruise might even use a portable, lightweight scanner like Planon's windshield wiper-like DocuPen R700... only to break it later out of extreme frustration when the data he so perilously procured appeared on his PowerBook's screen garbled.
If you sense a tone of bitterness, you're right; the R700 just sort of brings it out of users. To be fair, there is no mention on the box, or in the manual, that the device is compatible with Macs... yet it is (as intrepid website visitors will find in very small print). The included software is PC-only, so you'll need to have a TWAINcompatible app already installed (sorry, Image Capture didn't work), and users must download and install the Mac Pen Twain driver and the Cardinal Driver (www.planon.com/support. php#drivers) in order to access R700's data. Happily Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 (in OS 10.3) was able to access the R700 once the drivers were installed.
The quality of the scans is dubious. The monochrome scanner (with 2MB of flash memory) is meant for black & white text... but even that simple task could produce questionable scans. You see, using the R700 is like undertaking a Mr. Miyagi-devised test of patience. If Daniel-san scans too fast, the text will appear compressed; scan too slow, and the scanner will stop collecting data. If the text appears crooked, Daniel-san needs to work on scanning straight (so basically, Daniel-san needs to be a robot). The final kicker; the device would not stay on, leading us to have to push down on the power button to keep it going, a painful and uncomfortable proposition.
-JA'QUON SCOTT
DocuPen R-700: 
Planon System Solutions, Inc. | www.panasonic.com | $200
Pros: Completely portable, recharegable Lithium- Ion battery, lightweight at 2oz.
Cons: Below-average quality scans, poor Mac support, have to hold down pinching power button to use.
Requires: USB port
macHOME recommends: A different scanner
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