July 15, 2013 – Hackensack (NJ) – Buyers Laboratory LLC, the world’s leading independent tester of document imaging products, announced its coveted Summer 2013 “Pick” awards in the scanner category today, bestowing honors to scanners from Kodak and Fujitsu. The “Pick” awards acknowledge the products that gave the best performances in BLI’s extensive suite of laboratory tests in the past six months. The Summer 2013 scanner “Pick” winners are:
Innovative Integration Two recent additions to Kodak’s scanner line—the i2900 and i3400—maintain the company’s stellar reputation for outstanding product design and have earned BLI “Picks” in their respective product categories. While the i2900 put a new spin on “flatbed-equipped,” the i3400 provides a strong feature set for a lower than average price.
The 60-ppm (120 ipm) i2900 includes a variety of features not typical of competitive A4 flatbed devices tested, such as a larger than average document feeder able to handle a wider range of paper weights and lengths, and a flatbed integrated into the ADF, which helps to reduce the unit’s overall footprint. The unit also boasts faster than average speeds, virtually no slowdowns when changing settings and above average tested optical character recognition accuracy.
“The KODAK i2900 offers a comprehensive scanning solution complete with robust media-handling capabilities, a user-friendly design, better than average productivity and an easy to use scan utility that allows users to get up and running quickly,” said BLI Senior Test Technician Joe Ellerman.
Designed for A3 scanning environments with daily volumes of up to 20,000 pages, the KODAK i3400 also excelled in the majority of performance categories tested by BLI. The unit’s adjustable 250-sheet document feeder handles a wider range of paper types than competitive A3 scanners tested. With a rated speed of 80 ppm (160 ipm), the unit experienced virtually no slowdown when increasing the resolution or duplex scanning. And the i3400’s easy to navigate hardware and scan utility designs allow even novice users to master scan functionality with little training. Plus, its projected total cost of ownership is more than $4,000 lower than the average cost of competitive units on the market.
“Nearly any document-intensive scanning environment can benefit from the supreme functionality offered by the KODAK i3400,” said Lisa Reider, BLI’s senior product editor for scanners. “In addition to its versatile media-handling capabilities, the unit can be equipped with optional imprinter or flatbed accessories to further customize its functionality.”
“The combination of an integrated flatbed and rotary scanning capability in a breakthrough compact design makes the Kodak i2900 one of our most productive scanners ever,” said Tony Barbeau, Kodak's general manager for Document Imaging. "The i3400 scanner is loaded with impressive imaging functionality, delivers consistently high throughput and takes up less space on users' desks."
Winsome Workflows The Fujitsu fi-6130Z and Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 earned BLI “Pick” awards in their respective workgroup categories for their outstanding overall performances, excellent feature sets and above average ease of use. The 25-ppm (50 ipm) ScanSnap iX500 met fierce competition this season, but pulled out ahead thanks to its higher than average ratings in most categories tested, as well as its ability to scan to a variety of cloud destinations out of box and the bundled Fujitsu ScanSnap Connect Application, which allows users to initiate scanning via a mobile device, such as an iPhone, instead of a USB-connected computer. When compared with competitive A4 scanners in its speed range, the ScanSnap iX500 also offers faster scan speeds, accommodates a wider range of paper weights, has a higher rated feed roller life to reduce user intervention and exhibited higher than average OCR accuracy.
“The Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 is well suited to small offices looking for an entry-level scanner with a modern flair,” said Reider. “Its ability to operate through a mobile phone, its cloud connectivity upon setup, and even its dual Windows and Mac compatibility provide a glimpse at the future of personal scanning.”
When compared with competitive A4 scanners in its speed range, the 40-ppm (80 ipm) Fujitsu fi-6130Z outshone the competition thanks to its simple install process, ability to accept a wider range of paper weights and sizes, higher than average efficiency rate and lower than average amount of slowdown when duplex scanning. Users can also program up to 50 customizable profiles for frequently used scan operations. Additional features include the ability to scan to multiple destinations in one job and scan to encrypted PDF format—two features not typically found with competitive devices tested.
“Serious scanning requires a professional solution able to accommodate and adapt to everyday office needs, “said Ellerman. “The fi-6130Z’s batch processing, wide range of image enhancements, customizable profile functionality and above average media-handling capabilities help meet those needs.”
Stay tuned for upcoming Buyers Lab “Pick” and “Outstanding Achievement” award announcements in the following categories: July 16: Solutions July 17: A3 MFPs and Digital Duplicators July 18: Printers and Printer MFPs July 19: Outstanding Achievement Awards About Buyers Laboratory LLC Buyers Laboratory LLC (BLI) is the world’s leading independent provider of analytical information and services to the digital imaging and document management industry. For over 50 years, buyers have relied on BLI to help them differentiate products’ strengths and weaknesses and make the best purchasing decisions, while industry sales, marketing and product professionals have turned to BLI for insightful competitive intelligence and valued guidance on product development, competitive positioning and sales channel and marketing support. Using BLI’s web-based bliQ and Solutions Center services, 40,000 professionals worldwide create extensive side-by-side comparisons of hardware and software solutions for over 15,000 products globally, including comprehensive specifications and the performance results and ratings from BLI’s unparalleled Lab, Solutions and Environmental Test Reports, the result of months of hands-on evaluation in its US and UK labs. The services, also available via mobile devices, include a comprehensive library of BLI’s test reports, an image gallery, hard to find manufacturers’ literature and valuable tools for configuring products, calculating total cost of ownership (TCO) and annual power usage. BLI also offers consulting and private, for-hire testing services that help manufacturers develop and market better products and consumables.
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