We use the CanoScan Lide 25 (which I'll refer to as Lide 25 from now on) at work and a handy little scanning tool it is indeed. It's very slim and lightweight and sits nicely on my desk, ready to jump into action whenever I need to scan a document or photo. You can copy directly from the platen (glass screen) to your printer or print or even email and it's very easy to set up.
AN ABUNDANCE OF FEATURES
The Lide 25 uses a USB connection so you don't need a separate power supply which is very handy indeed - saving on energy is always a better option.
Unlike other home scanners I've used in the past the Lide 25 scans to a fairly high resolution of up to 1200 x 2400 dpi so when scanning photos you get very good quality images. The software that comes with the scanned allows you to scan documents to PDF too and you choose whether you want them in colour or monochrome or select the image quality you want from 75, 100, 200, 250, 300 or 400 dpi for PDFs files and a choice of up to 1200 dpi for single page images.
The Lide 25 also has an OCR feature which allows you to place a document on the platen and read the text so you can then edit it yourself. This feature has been around for years but so many people ignore it - I find it very handy myself and use it often with no problems.
When scanning images I find it really handy that I'm able to choose from a variety of image types but my preferred method is saving to JPEG format (i.e. files with a .jpg extension) as these do tend to be the most common format for images these days unless you're a graphics professional. Along with the option of saving BMP and TIFF images you can also set the software to save to your chosen directory. I find that being able to scan at 1200 dpi means it's very easy to make a 6 x 4 photo into an excellent A4 size poster - great results every time!
When scanning photos you also have this really exceptional feature (Multi-Photo Mode) which allows you to scan several photos at the same times on the platen and have them automatically and individually cropped so you don't have to do them one at a time. This is a great time saver and has been a particular Godsend for me when I've been scanning old photos in batches to keep them in digital format.
One thing I like about the PDF scan feature is that text is embedded in your documents you can actually search for specific text in the finished product.
The software supplied with the Lide 25 includes ArcSoft PhotoStudio image editing and OmniPage SE OCR both of which are very easy to pick up if you have an interest in graphics and OCR editing and enjoy manipulating photos or text to improve the end result. When you install the software you are given the option to have CanoScan Toolbox on your desktop which makes it easy to access the most needed features of the Lide 25. It certainly makes things much quicker for me having the icon ready on my desktop for every day use. The CanoScan Toolbox has a user friendly interface which makes it easy to remember which button you need to click for your requirements.
QARE Level 3 is another handy little tool included which allows you to do print corrections. It is clever enough to automatically detect dust and scratches on photos or documents which works wonders when scanning pages from books or even from old photos which might have been damaged with age. As well as dust and scratch detection you can repair faded colour and poor exposure.
By the way, having used this scanner for over 2 years I've still had no call to contact the manufacturer for anything so I can't justly comment on manufacturer support at this time.
WHAT'S THE DAMAGE?
The Lide 25 seems to be retailing at around the $50 mark from various retailers.
MARKS OUT OF 10?
All in all I would rate the Lide 25 a strong 9 out of 10 for being a near perfect scanner for my needs. Not quite sure why I can't give it a 10 out of 10 but I'm just not prone to giving out 100% on many products/services!
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