Epson - Perfection V19 II Color Photo and Document Flatbed Scanner - Black

Scanners have been around for ages. They are a byproduct of Fax technology and have been refined over the decades. Today, it's hard to imagine a printer that would lack a scanner. Yet, Epson still makes flatbed scanners for a particular and specific group of users. You might or might not know this, but the scanners that come built into your printer are far from being great. As a matter of fact, the resolution they are able to capture the source at hovers around 600 to 1200 DPI at the max setting and at a sub-par quality. This makes them rather inadequate if you're looking to back up your fading photos or hand-drawn sketches, paintings or any other media. Dedicated flatbed scanners such as the Epson V19 are actually made for this very purpose in mind, with very high resolutions and a higher quality scanner module. Here's the good and the bad: Pros: + The maximum resolution is 4800 DPI which captures every detail + The source material is captured so well that there is barely a difference between the original and the scanned image (colors are true to source) + It is about the size of a 15.6" laptop and only about an inch thick + It comes with a "kickstand", which saves room on your desk when you don't need it + It's powered and connected to your computer using a single USB to Micro USB cable + Very light and easy to carry around + It's easy to set up and use Cons: - The plastic material used for the body feels a bit flimsy and cheap - The buttons recessed partially under the lid can be a bit hard to reach - It's rather slow, but this depends on the resolution you choose Overall, this is a very capable scanner which will allow you to save those family pictures that are fading away or any other media you might require at higher resolutions. Scanners such as this Epson flatbed are hard to find and really appeal to a specific user base. If you are such one user, get this scanner, you won't regret it. Recommended!

I got the Epson Perfection V19 Scanner because I have plenty of pictures I want to scan and I can do it while doing something else at the same time. The scanner comes with instructions as well as the cable to connect to my pc. The setup is easy, I just downloaded the software from Epson and then connect the scanner and done, it is ready to work. To use it is also easy, the scanner has easy to use buttons right in front, the first one is to easily send the scan to the computer as a PDF, the second attaches the scan to an email, and it can scan not only photos but also documents, the file types are from PDF Searchable PDF, JPEG, TIFF, Multi TIFF, PNG and BMP so the types of file to save are plenty. I like the photo editing mode; it can automatically fix the color, redeye or crop the picture as well. And the built in automatic photo correction works great, the pictures look much better right away after scanning. It also has a document editing mode and here you can rotate and crop the document. I also like that the scanner is powered by the USB Cable, it does not need anything else. The lid can be taken off so it is easier to scan an album or a book, simply something much bigger. I also like the kickstand so I can stand the scanner when not in use and it does not take much space. Overall the scanner works great because of its 4800 x 4800 resolution dpi. It scans in a nice large area and it is easy to take it with me to scan more documents or pictures anywhere I am.

The Epson V19 II is a highly portable, light, and convenient scanner. I had some time to use it and become acquainted, and after some minor nuances during installation of the driver's, I can say it is a handy machine, as well as portable and space saving in design. Personally, I enjoy that it has the kickstand on the back, to have it sit upright like a picture frame and able to scan that way. The build quality is nothing special, as it does feel very light, and with that feeling comes a slight feeling of cheapness. But generally, since it is portable and able to be powered from your laptop, lightness is a desirable feature. It makes scanning in expense reports for work from the couch a breeze, as well as making copies of family photos that we don't have in digital format from years ago! Overall, I'm very pleased with this device and it's functionality. Once you download the driver's and utilities from Epson's support site, the install process is pretty quick and seamless. I had minor hangups telling me the server wasn't available when installing, but I clicked ok and retry, and it worked. The software itself is fairly basic, you won't be doing any high end editing, but it does at least incorporate red eye removal, auto editing and enhancement, which is sometimes good and bad, as those enhancements tend to oversaturate certain colors. There are also 4 buttons on the front, one to scan as PDF, another to email, another to copy, and the main standard scan button. Pushing any one of these will launch the scan utility and begin scanning whatever you have inside, with then the option to document or photo edit, allowing to crop/rotate/stitch images and docs. If you have multiple pages to scan, simple hit the +Scan button and it will continue to scan. This isn't as efficient for PDF and document scanning as an actual doc scanner that can take and roll through many pages per minute, but it is a much higher DPI than you will find in any of those at 4,800. So this is mainly intended for pictures and drawings that you want the utmost clarity in. I worry it will stand the test of time and porting it around, but only time will tell from that perspective. I'm also slightly annoyed they decided to use an antiquated Micro USB connector. Should have went with USB C due to widespread adoption, but I'm sure it was a cost saving initiative that didn't have any real upside to do otherwise. Overall, a great device that should serve it's market well.