BrotherDS700D Compact Duplex Scanner - Retail Packaging

If you sit on the couch and pay bills like I do, I needed a device that scans the bills and places them in a folder so I can toss the originals. The Brother DS700D is the deal. Everybody knows they should keep their bills after you have paid them so that you can prove you did pay them. But many times we get lazy and toss them in a pile in a drawer or just toss them in the trash. If you really want to save the bills for your own well being and you don't want to file everything in a file cabinet, then this scanner will help you do all of those things easily. The really neat thing about this device is that I can sit anywhere and do bills or scan pictures. I routinely sit on the couch and watch TV when I do bills. This device runs off my USB for power and communication with my Apple Air. The device has its own file programs or you can use the programs that Apple offers. Brother offers Presto Page Manager to file your products or you can use Apples Image Manager to operate the device and then use your folder system to file your products.The scanning capabilities are very good for the average piece of paper. For pictures the device is not that good for color photo's but for BW photos it is great. I am in the process of scanning all of my wife's family photo's which are primarily BW from the old days (pre WWII) this scanner works great for those. The quality of the original pictures from that era are not that great anyway, but this scanner does a great job in rendering the copy. If you want to archive good color pictures then I would suggest using a quality flatbed scanner.Brother, in my opinion, makes some of the best laser printers available at a competitive price. Since I use Apple products I have not had problems with their printers or scanners. I have two printers, one Multi Function Scanner/printer/fax color laser and one color laser stand alone that is networked off of my wireless router. The portable scanner I added is a quality product that provides portable scanning and does a great job at a good price.

OK, so I hate Amazon reviewers who write reviews that focus on something other than the item, but since the scanner hasn't worked yet, I think that deserves one star by itself. If it ever gets replaced, I'll adjust my stars accordingly.My one-star saga:I got this scanner last week. Took it out of the box at work, but didn't have time to start playing with it before going home for the day. The cleaning staff threw away my box... so the next day, when I found out the scanner didn't work (it won't pull through pages at all--not even the calibration page), sending it back to Amazon wasn't an option.The first person I spoke to at Brother was very nice, went through his checklist, couldn't figure out the problem, then said he would send me an email with a process that could help me fix the scanner, but if it didn't work Brother would send me a new scanner and I could send the broken one back in the box the new one came in. If only it had worked out like that...The email process didn't work, and the second person I spoke to at Brother was distinctly unhelpful, made me go through the entire ridiculous checklist I had gone through with Rep #1, and then said she couldn't authorize the return and I would have to get a call back from a supervisor. Silly me for thinking it would be the same day. More than 24 hours later I got a call back when I wasn't available and didn't even get the supervisor's phone number--just a voicemail. When I called the main customer service line again later they told me (again) that a supervisor would call me. I'm still waiting on that call.To summarize: I've had this scanner a week and it still won't scan, and I've vowed never to buy another Brother product, since I've never experienced customer service this bad before!

I don't like using this. It might be true of other compact scanners, since I've only used this one, but I dislike how hard it is to line it up so that it feeds straight. As a result, it's always crooked so you always end up with dark strips at the top and sides of each scan. The dark space at the top is typically a quarter of an inch thick unless you line it up perfectly, which is impossible. I guess I'm anal so this really bothers me and I don't understand why it can't recognize and automatically erase all of the dark space at the top of each scan. I don't have time to edit all of my scans to straighten them or remove all of the big black edges. I bought a scanner to save time, not to add more work.