Product Reviews

The Fujitsu ScanSnap fi-5110EOXM is a duplex document scanner aimed at businesses that need to store a large number of documents in an electronic format.

The ScanSnap captures images at 150dpi in monochrome and 300dpi in colour and can handle a range of paper sizes from business-card dimensions to A4. You can set a custom size if needed, up to 216mm x 355.6mm. The sheet feeder is capable of holding 50 sheets of paper at a time.

A copy of Adobe Acrobat 7 Standard edition is included with the ScanSnap but you can view the output with Preview if you want.

Installing and using the ScanSnap is easy; once the software

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is loaded and you've chosen the scanning options, simply press the scan button on the front of the device and each document is scanned both front and back in one pass.

The ScanSnap is fairly speedy at capturing the data from your documents, taking less than five seconds to get both sides of a colour document into digital format. This speed causes problems when the paper isn't perfectly aligned or has creases, though, and while jams weren't a regular problem, you're going to have to babysit the scanner if all your documents aren't crisp and flat.

The bottom line with a scanner like this is legibility, and the ScanSnap scores highly in this area. Credit card statements, invoices and other sundry items with text and images are captured cleanly and reliably, which is a valuable asset as a business tool.

At £330 there will have to be a serious need for you to back-up your paper documentation. It's probably a case of measuring how much you need to create a digital copy of all your paperwork against the cost of the time it will take to scan both sides of a document with a cheaper flatbed. If you need speed and quality then the ScanSnap is the answer, but be prepared to shell out for the privilege.