Review on 📸 SVP PS4100: Portable Handheld Scanner for Color and Mono Scanning – 600DPI by Matt Larsen

Let me first say that this scanner is probably a good fit for a student who wants to capture raw footage quickly. I would kill for it when I was at university. Unfortunately, it just doesn't fit my needs. Let me be clear: at first glance, Handy Scanner is a very well put together little tool. Build quality is much higher than I expected, with a solid frame and nicely tactile buttons that click when pressed. The screen is a bit small, but it does its job well (as an indicator for quick settings like scan quality and storage capacity). The device lacked a quick start guide, but any tech-savvy person could figure out the functionality in under a minute, as I did. It's very easy. Insert a micro SD card (not included), turn it on, lay it on one side, press the scan button and move down the side a little slowly. Image quality is pretty good on all levels, although you should scan at the highest settings for the highest detail (duh!). I found 900 DPI best for my needs, although (as expected) it tended to produce fairly large files. Overall, my review sounds pretty positive so far, doesn't it? So what downgraded me to 3 stars? A simple and annoying design flaw (which, according to the manufacturer, can be unavoidable with scanners of this type). They advertise that their design is closer to the edge of the page than most other scanners, and while that may be true, it falls short for my needs. I am trying to get archival quality scans of some of the old books in my collection and even if I press the book against the seam as much as possible it still cuts off about 1/2 inch of the text. The only way to get the last 1/2 inch on the scan is to place the scanner across the book's hem and rest it on the adjacent page. This results in fuzzy, hard-to-read text and a large black streak (from a gap in the book seam) on the far left or right of the scanned page (depending on which side of the book you are scanning). Unfortunately, this is not acceptable for my needs. I still have to give this scanner 3 stars as it works great in every other way. And, as I mentioned, if you only need it to take notes or scan individual paragraphs/images, this is a great option.