Raven Pro Document Scanner - Huge Touchscreen, High Speed Color Duplex Feeder (ADF), Wireless Scan to Cloud, WiFi, Ethernet, USB, Home or Office Desktop

Looking to update my current scanner (ScanSnap iX500) which I have had for a number of years, but instead of staying with the same manufacturer, I went with an alternative which I have heard good things about. The Raven Pro Document Scanner is a very different scanner and so far has surpassed my expectations. Easy to set up. Wifi (2GHz and 5GHz) + Wired. large Control panel with an easy-to-follow interface. Not so bulky Software to install. Good quality Scans. Easy to configure the destination of scans (cloud + local) I could go on all day with the Pros the only downside is you can't fold it closed which is not a problem for me really for such a good scanner.

Best ever

I have a home office that has been fully digitized. I scan everything, and keep almost no paper documents. Over the years I have scanned more than 6000 documents, and they are stored as searchable PDF files on my MacBook Pro. I used to have 3 filing cabinets full of papers. Now I have just a handful of paper originals that fit into 1/3 of a cabinet. If you haven't started scanning your documents yet, then you should start now. It'll completely change the way you manage documents. In this review I'll be comparing all of the scanners that I have used: • Fujitsu iX500 • Epson DS-870 • Raven Scanner Pro Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 I started with the ScanSnap iX500 several years ago. It was a great scanner back when I first purchased it. It was fast, accurate, and quiet. Unfortunately the iX500 software has become less reliable over time. Each time there was a new Mac OS update, I had to download the latest iX500 drivers, reinstall them, and fix compatibility problems. Then last Spring (2019), the iX500 required completely new software called ScanSnap Home. I didn't like the new user interface, and it had some annoying bugs, but I managed to tolerate it for a few months. Finally, Mac OS Catalina came out, and the iX500 took a turn for the worse. Once again I had to install new iX500 software. Unfortunately there was a significant bug this time: The drivers caused one of the CPU cores on my Mac to run at 100% all the time. This would happen whether the ScanSnap application was running or not. My computer was slower because of this, and the fans would run full-time to keep things cool. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers a couple of times, but that didn't help. In short, if you are running Mac OS Catalina, then stay away from the iX500. Epson DS-870 Next I tried the Epson DS-870. It had some good reviews online, and it seemed quite promising. However, after using it for a couple of days, I can't recommend it for Mac users. The biggest problem is that you can't scan documents using the front control panel on the scanner. Each time that I used the front panel to scan documents, it would scan all of the pages, and then freeze. The only way to fix the problem was to reboot the scanner. I imagine this feature must have worked at some point, but it never worked for me. Perhaps it wasn't compatible with Mac OS Catalina? I'm not sure. I installed the latest Epson drivers that claimed to be Catalina compatible, but that didn't help. My workaround was to scan using the Epson Document Capture app on my Mac. That worked fairly reliably. However, there were a few times when the scanning software displayed communication errors. I was never able to debug what caused that, but it seemed to happen when I launched the software first, then turned on the scanner, and a tried to initiate a scan. Anyway, I found that I could get it working if I did everything in just the right order, and avoided using the front panel on the scanner. This all seemed too finicky, and I didn't have any confidence that the scanner would keep working with future Mac OS updates. I'll be returning this scanner soon. Raven Scanner Pro Finally, I decided to try the Raven Scanner Pro. If you haven't researched this scanner yet, then go take a look. It's a completely new concept, and I freakin love it! This scanner has totally changed the way I do scanning. Best of all, it's 100% compatible with Mac OS Catalina. Why? Because you don't have to install any software.This scanner sends documents directly to the cloud. You don't even need a computer to use it. Most old-school scanners like the ScanSnap iX500 or Epson DS-870 are controlled by your computer. Naturally this requires drivers and scanning software, and that's where all of the compatibility problems come from. Well, the Raven Scanner Pro avoids those issues by scanning directly to the cloud. You can scan to Raven Cloud, DropBox, Evernote, Box, e-mail, Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, or a USB stick. At first I thought this would be a problem for me, because I don't like storing too many documents in the cloud. It's too much of a security risk. After all, what will happen if somebody hacks into my DropBox account, and gains access to everything that I scanned during the last few years. That sounds frightening. Well, here is what I do instead. I scan directly from the Raven Scanner to DropBox, the files magically appear on my Mac a few moments later. Then I rename the files, and drag them into folders on my Mac. They only exist in the cloud temporarily. In other words, I'm just using the cloud as a conduit for getting files from the scanner to my Mac. This scanner completely changed my workflow too. Previously I would do this with my old-school scanners: 1) Turn on my Mac. 2) Launch the scanner app. 3) Turn on the scanner. 4) Drop a document into the scanner, and scan it. 5) Wait for image analysis and OCR to finish. 6) Save the document. 7) Turn off the scanner. 8) Turn off the Mac. My new workflow with the Raven is so much simpler: 1) Turn on the scanner. 2) Drop a document into the scanner, and scan it. Walk away, I'm done. Then later in the week, after scanning documents over multiple days, I finally turn on my Mac, rename and move the files around, and I'm done. I basically use DropBox as an in-box of scanned documents, and I wait until a few of them have accumulated before I organize them. All that being said, the Raven Scanner Pro isn't perfect. Here are a few issue: • It takes up a little more desk space than the ScanSnap iX500 and Epson DS-870. • The scanning quality is good, but not quite as good as the Epson. • It can't scan receipts that are longer than 15". • It has a bright flashing blue light when it's asleep. • DropBox uploads are pretty slow. • When uploading to Raven Cloud, your web browser doesn't refresh automatically to show the new file. • Scanning at 400 DPI or higher is quite slow. • It makes some fan noise. It's not crazy loud or anything, but it's not silent like my other scanners were. Fortunately I found some solutions: • If you have receipts longer than 15", just cut them in half before scanning. • There is a product on Amazon called "LightDims". Use it to dim the flashing blue light, and that problem will be solved. • You don't have to wait for DropBox uploads to finish. Just keep scanning other documents, and it'll upload in the background. • Scanning at 400 DPI or higher doesn't seem necessary. 300 DPI looks great, and it's very fast. • Set the scanner to sleep after a few minutes. That will shut off the fan. Or you can put the scanner to sleep by pressing the button. I also had good experience with their tech support. I sent them some questions online, and received helpful answers within 20 minutes. I also get the impression that their software is being actively improved. When I first purchased the scanner it only had options for 200, 400, or 600 DPI. That was a problem initially, because I wanted at least 300 DPI. The 200 DPI setting was too low-res, and 400 DPI was too slow. Well, now they offer 300 DPI and it's really fast. Based on my experience so far, I bet we'll see additional improvements at a decent rate. Anyway, in case you can't tell, I really love the Raven Scanner Pro. I'll never go back to old-school scanners that require drivers on my Mac. I would give the Raven scanner a star rating of 4.2, but I'll round that up to a 5. And if you're running a Mac with Catalina, stay away from the ScanSnap iX500 or Epson DS-870.

Update—4th May 2020: this scanner still works great.. frequently getting software updates which bring new features.. customer service is out of this world.. they really listen to your feedback and add the features you request over time... I have given away my old Fujitsu scanner and never missed it... scan quality is impressive, speed is good and connectivity in terms of where you can send the scans is unique to this device. I always scan to Evernote but also started scanning to network shares and emails with this device. Everything is so intuitive with a clean and user friendly interface... —— Design, form factor, ease of use, functionality and execution quality are all important considerations when I buy a product. I have a very sophisticated smart home set up and like to try out new technology innovations. At first, when I heard that this product was from a startup, I was a bit hesitant as you can’t be sure how long they will be around. However, I was so impressed by the specs on paper and the amazon reviews that I decided to take the plunge.. and I must say, I am so glad that I did. This unit looks very next-gen and futuristic in a product category filled with 90’s style products. I would even call it the Apple of scanners. The moment you take it out of the box, you feel satisfied with your purchase, seeing how well packaged the item is. I was able to connect the unit in a matter of minutes. It started an update and then allowed me to open a Raven cloud account on the device itself. And that was it. As easy as that. Everything is so Apple-like intuitive that I didn’t even hesitate with any of the options. I’ve had a Fujitsu Scansnap ix500 for 4 years and I was thinking of upgrading to the ix1500; but all the negative reviews on the Internet had stopped me. So, when I ran into Raven, I couldn’t believe it as it seemed to have everything I was looking for! The scansnap ix500 is a work horse and works well if you are just scanning to a fixed cloud location like Evernote; in my case. If you want some flexibility, like scanning to emails, faxes, network folders and usb drives, then forget it! The ix-500 could not keep up with my needs and its successor ix-1500 clearly did not add any of the functionality I was looking for. I am very happy with my Raven Pro as it looks the part and also has most of the advanced functionality that I was looking for. Some areas for improvement could be to reduce the fan noise when it is on (although it is not too bad). Also, it would be great if we can scan to a shared network folder (I have a NAS drive), send to multiple emails and store email addresses in a phone book(to avoid retyping every time). I am hoping that these will be added in future updates. Thank you for this great product Raven, you really have a winner here. The test will be to see how reliable these scanners turn out to be. However, I am not concerned at all, as I have already been inundated with welcome and introduction emails, I am pretty sure they will look after me if anything goes wrong. Raven makes you feel like you’ve bought an expensive car, when at the end of the day, you’ve just bought a scanner. This level of customer commitment has been unheard of in this product category. I wouldn’t even know who to call if my Scansnap breaks...

I use this scanner at work. Most of my scans are of the end of day accounting which are emailed to our head office. This machine allows me to put in all different sizes. Eg A4 balance sheet along with all the card machine slips. It will scan them all at the same time, both sides if needed but it works that out for itself, it will them email them all as 1 file or separate files all with the press of a button. This scanner has saved me 30 minutes a day so will basically pay for itself in weeks and therefore it makes this scanner one of the cheapest on the market. A nice feature is the ability to edit the PDF documents so if you forget a PO number you can enter it on the PDF scan. It is a small but important feature for me.