Kodak ScanMate i940 review

Kodak’s ScanMate i940 portable scanner provides simple, one-touch scanning in a compact and affordable desktop unit.

It isn’t quite as compact as some of its competitors: it’s 38mm taller than Canon’s P-215 and around 300g heavier.

Even so, it’s well built, with the lid flipping to reveal a 20-page ADF with sliding paper guides. The box includes an external power supply and a USB power cable, although it’s worth bearing in mind that USB power will more than halve scan speeds.

Scan options are set up in Kodak’s Smart Touch software and include a choice of destination, colour or mono, plus simplex or duplex scans. Destinations can be a local file and include searchable PDFs, RTFs, TIFFs, JPEGs and bitmaps. You can also scan directly to email, a locally connected printer, or a cloud destination.

The software has predefined options for Microsoft’s SharePoint, Evernote, Box, webmail and remote folders. A custom cloud connector is provided, and you can add your own apps, too.

The i940 delivered its claimed speeds throughout our tests. With USB power, it achieved 8.5ppm when scanning a ten-page A4 document in both mono and colour and simplex and duplex at 200dpi. On mains power, it delivered a 200dpi scan at 20ppm and managed 8.8ppm at 300dpi.

Scan quality is adequate for business documents, and the searchable PDF option is useful. Colour photos don’t fare as well, though, with slight banding and washed-out colours.

If compact size and light weight is your main priority, then Canon’s P-215 delivers similar speeds for a few pounds more. If your briefcase has enough room, however, then the ScanMate is well worth considering – it’s just as good and offers useful scan-to-cloud functions.

Author: Dave Mitchell