Umax Astra 2400S review

Ask people to name a scanner company and most will mention the big names: Epson, Agfa or Hewlett-Packard. Umax, despite the success of its Recommended award-winning 1220S (reviewed issue 47, p165), still isn't a household name. Its Astra 1220S has, however, held a place in the PC Pro A List for more than a year, thanks to an exemplary combination of high capture quality and reasonable price.

In fact, the only scanner we've reviewed that's beaten the Astra 1220S in terms of quality is the Epson GT-9600 (reviewed issue 54, p176), which boasted a high optical resolution of 800 x 3,200ppi and exceptional build quality. The only thing that prevented the Epson from sweeping all before it was its original price of £516, which was just too high to justify, given the price and quality of Umax's budget offering.

Umax's new Astra 2400S is one level up from the 1220S. Like the Epson GT-9600, it's solidly built, with the main case and the standard lid hinge made mostly of metal. This is a welcome sight considering the flimsy construction seen on too manyælower-end scanners. At 336 x 581 x 147mm (W x D x H), the 2400S takes up a fair bit of room, but it's a small price to pay for something that's so robust. Also, like the GT-9600, the 2400S supports a higher resolution than its cheaper cousin and captures in 36-bit colour. Although the horizontal resolution, which is derived from the CCD (charge coupled device), remains the same, the vertical resolution, which is determined by the accuracy of the motor, has been boosted to 2,400ppi. Of course, this resolution is impractical for anything but transparencies, using the optional £149 transparency hood, and for enlargement work.

It comes as no surprise that SCSI-2, with its fast data transfer rates, is used to transfer the huge files that this sort of resolution produces. For connection to your desktop PC you can use the basic Domex SCSI card that's included with the scanner, or connect the scanner directly to your existing SCSI chain. Next to the SCSI ports and SCSI ID selector on the rear of the scanner you'll find the scanner's option connector, which is used to hook up the transparency adaptor or the impressively sturdy ADF (automatic document feeder) unit.

The installation process went relatively smoothly, giving the option to install a host of extra applications - the most useful of which is NewSoft's Presto PageManager software - along with Umax's revamped VistaScan TWAIN scanner software. This is a soft and sculpted affair that looks surprisingly Mac-like and features both novice and advanced settings. The Advanced Settings tab doesn't offer anything out of the ordinary, but all the core adjustments are there. If you're averse to tweaking, check the Automatic option on the main dialog and everything will be set up for you. The package also includes a cut-down copy of Adobe Photoshop 4 LE that comes on a separate disc.

What does this all mean in terms of the performance of the scanner? Surprisingly, it's not as quick as the 1220S. Scanning aæ10 x 8in photograph at 600ppi took the 2400S one minute, 47 seconds. Although faster than the Epson GT-9600's one minute, 53 seconds, it's 34 seconds slower than the 1220S. To see how long it would take to scan at the higher resolution, we boosted the resolution up to 2,400ppi and scanned a smaller area. An area of photograph just 1.81in square took one minute, 23 seconds to appear in Photoshop. With the optional £299 ADF unit attached, a 12-page document scanned in black and white mode at 300ppi completed in two minutes, seven seconds for a speed of 5.7ppm.