How would you like to have your own personal “Magic Wand” for copying text and pictures? The VuPoint Wand Scanner could be just the ticket for you.
With this ingenious portable scanner you’ll have the ability to capture images of practically anything you like, whether it be text from an antique book or your DVD home library. Unlike traditional scanners, the this wand scanner doesn’t require you to press or feed your documents into the scanner. Simply roll the “wand” down the page and you’re done! This works similar to the “digital pens” that help take notes, and is really handy for those situations where you only need to scan a small section of a page.
It is the perfect solution for students who spend a lot of time in the library for research and don’t want to waste the time, money, and paper making copy after copy for later reference. In fact, it would make an ideal gift for recent high school graduates going away to college for the first time and now comes with Bluetooth capability.
A Compact Handheld Document Scanner
You can literally take the VuPoint Wand scanner anywhere. At only 10 inches long and weighing in at less than half a pound, just throw it in your bag and go. Powered by 2 AA batteries, there are no bulky cords or adapters to lug around and you’ll never need access to a power outlet. The one downside here is that it does seem to go through batteries relatively quickly, so you’ll probably want to keep a spare set handy just in case.
The current model also comes with a base. This allow you to use it like a standard document scanner and feed loose documents through rather than move the wand across. This gives the Vupoint a bit more flexibility in scanning.
The VuPoint Wand scanner isn’t just for going out and about, however. College students living in dorms or small apartment dwellers simply don’t have that much space for a bunch of bulky computer electronics. The Wand Scanner is great for keeping at home for those times you need to scan documents or photographs into your computer but you don’t have space for a traditional flatbed scanner. You can keep it in a desk drawer, pull it out when you need it, and then store it back out of the way till next time.
A Wand Scanner Makes Research Easy
When delving a little more deeply into library research, a handheld scanner makes this task a breeze. Most students don’t have hours and hours to spend in the library carefully taking notes out of each book they find or making copies that can easily get lost. Some books can’t be removed from the library, and even if they could you don’t want to tote them around all over campus. The Wand scanner is the solution for all of this. Just wave your wand over the text you need and you can review it later on your computer.
This method for research can be highly effective. A half hour to an hour in the library scanning away and you should have all the references you need to complete your assignment, available any time you want it right on your computer. A good tip would be to scan the cover of the book first so you’ll know which information came from which book at a glance, making it super easy to cite your sources. Once your secret gets out, the entire campus will be rushing to the electronics store to get in on the action.
This scanner would also be a perfect gift for the family historian. Anyone trying to document their family’s genealogy inevitable needs an easy way to scan old photos at grandma’s house or to scan text from the local historical society. With the VuPoint Wand virtually anything anywhere can be scanned for short-term use or long term preservation.
Cons of the Vupoint Wand Scanner
Despite all the many things that can be done with this scanner, there are a few shortcomings to point out that may or may not be important depending on your intended use. First, the scan are created as jpeg files only although the included software allows for text conversion using OCR. Second, the maximum resolution is only 600 dpi which should be fine for most text but could be sub-optimal for photographs or detailed images.
This wand scanner saves its scans in external memory, through the use of a Micro SD card. Unfortunately, no Micro SD card comes included in the package. Amazon.com and other retailers often offer combination discounts when buying a Micro SD card and the VuPoint Magic Wand together, but simply raising the price and including a card might have been a more customer-friendly solution. It’s also worth noting that the Magic Wand Scanner is only compatible with Micro SD cards up to a maximum of 32GB, though some Micro SD cards are available in storage capacities of up to 64GB.
Finally, moving the scanner across a page or document for acquisition may be difficult for some people. You have to move at the right speed and in a straight manner to get a good scan. This may be frustrating for some people or just tiresome after a few pages.
Still, while their are a few portable choices in scanners, there aren’t too many handheld options. There have been a few competitors that have tried to replicate this scanner but so far, the Vupoint seems to be the best wand scanner.
If you need to scan books or other bound material outside of your home, a handheld scanner is the only way to go really. If you can get past the caveats, the VuPoint Wand scanner is a unique and versatile solution for both portable and book scanning.
Don’t Forget the Case!
If you are buying the Magic Wand from Vupoint Solutions, you would be wise to have a case for it. Especially if you plan to travel with the scanner.
Luckily, there is a case made just for the wand scanner. This hard case will protect your scanner from nicks and scratches and also contains a pocket for other accessories. If you are buying the Magic Wand scanner as a gift for someone else, including the carrying case is certainly a nice touch.
