Mustek Be@rPaw 1200CU Plus

Author's product rating:   

Speed	Slow
Colour sensitivity	Satisfactory
Resolution	Satisfactory
Ease of Installation	Satisfactory
Value For Money	Good

Advantages:	No extra power cable, light weight
Disadvantages:	Slow, problems with Windows service pack 2

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

For some reason I have never had much luck with scanners, I have had about 4 in my life time and each of the first 3 have died some nasty death, the worst being that the last one decided to start smoking before the glass cover shattered. Anyway, I luckily stumbled across my latest scanner a couple of years ago, being the Mustek Be@rPaw 1200CU Plus scanner, and other than a couple of issues with it working on XP service pack 2; it has been a real star.

►►► The Look

This is what I would definitely call a slimline flatbed scanner and at just 3.7 cm in height I would hope you would agree. The rest of the scanner is pretty much a standard size with a width of approx 28cm and a depth of just over 40cm. It is no surprise that a machine as compact in size as it is does not weigh much and at 1.8 kg it is one of the lightest I have come across, making it ideal for transportation between locations.

Unlike many scanners, the lid lifts up length wise and although quite thin is still very firm. On the inside of the lid is the usual padding which fits neatly onto the glass panel where you place your media and on one corner is a set of 5 buttons which allow you to control scanning from the machine, saving you running the software on your PC. The usb cable is permanently connected to the machine and fits nicely into a space uderneath when the machine is not needed. So far I have had no issues with cable wear but could envisage that is the cable did become damaged it would render the machine as being broken.

The scanner is constructed out of the standard plastic which most PC hardware is but instead of being the usual pale cream colour it is quite funkily coloured with a metalic blue and grey finish. Although it is made of plastic and very thin, it is very durable and mine has done many journeys along side my laptop without showing any significant sign of wear or damage.

►►► Connectivity and Installation

The first thing you notice, and this is a huge plus point for me, is the lack of an external power source as this scanner is powered via the usb connection. I find this great as it means I do not need to worry about carrying round a heavy power adapter, or the need for a spare plug socket, but it also does have it down side. If you try and connect the scanner through an unpowered usb hub you will get a message saying that the scanner is not connected, this is due to the power distribution through one of these hubs. So you need to either connect the scanner directly to a usb socket on your machine or through a powered usb hub.

Although the machine does come with an installation disc, it is as simple as plug and play. That is unless you have got Service Pack 2 for Win XP installed on your machine, at which point you will need to download the latest drivers from the Mustek website. A bit of a hassle but very simple to do plus they have a very straight forward set of instructions on their website as to how to do this. Other than this slight annoyance the installation is very simple as it comes with a very comprehensive instruction manual and the onscreen guide when installing is plain and simple.

The scanner is designed to work wnith a PC under all Windows operating systems from 98 through to XP. I have not seen or heard of it being suitable to use under the Linux operating system or indeed on Apple Mac, so I would suggest checking this out if this is your desired platform.

►►► Software

Other than coming with a set of drivers for all Win platforms, my scanner came with 2 utilities. The first of these utilities is the control panel which allows you to set up the scanner to your desired requirements from colour balance, resolution and location to save scans, as well as actually controlling the scanner from your PC. The actual interface for the panel is quite quirky and unlike your standard windows interface this is more unique, in fact you change the layout and colour using the range of skins which come with it. Once you have got past the initial shock of having a non standard/ boring interface the software is incredibly easy to use and very self explanatory. This software allows you to do four fundamental operations. The first one being copy, basically using the scanner as a photocopier, second being scan withich saves the scanned image to your PC. The third and fourth are basically very similar and allows you to send the scan directly to an email or to a fax. All of these are very straight forward in their operation.

The other software which comes with the package is a rather strange game which from the instructions looks like you get to hit scans with an image. I will be totally honest, I have never bothered playing the game, as one it looks quite stupid and secondly I wanted a scanner to scan, not to play games with.

Of course, the scanner will work through a manner of other software packages and I have never had any problems with any of them connecting.

►►► Ease of Use

Once you have gone through the install process and this does require you to reboot your machine only the once, the scanner is incredibly easy to use. I mainly use the scanner to create photocopies and literally you press the button on the machine for copy and off it whirrs and about a minute later you have your printed copy. Yes I did say a minute, this is not the fastest of scanners and so is not really ideal in a very busy situation. The same can be said of all of the operations, all they require is to simply press the desired button on the scanner.

If you desire a bit more control over your scanning, you can do so by using the software on your PC and at this point you can control everything from scale, to colour and quantity. Again this is all really straight forward as the controls are easily laid out and logical follow, even for someone who has no real IT knowledge.

The only hassle I have had when using the scanner is that initially the colour white would come out a pale turquoise when photocopying. But this was easily rectified by altering the colour balance in the settings, via the panel, and then saving it.

►►► Pros & Cons

For me the biggest pro of this machine is that it gains its power from the usb rather than the need for more unsightly wires and spare plug sockets. The fact that the machine is very light is also great as it makes it very easy to transport about and will fit neatly into a laptop case.

On the downside, the machine is not the quickest on the market and it is definitely not suited in a busy enviroment, but it is more than capable of handling the day to day needs of home use. For some people the limited resolution may also be an issue but I have happily scanned many photos using it and the resolution has been fine for detailed editing.

The biggest downside is the issues with Service Pack 2 on Win XP, but this can be overcome with a little effort and downloading the new drivers off of the Mustek website.

►►► Technical Bit

Scanner Type: Flatbed
Dimensions: 281mm x 405mm x 37mm
Maximum Media size: 216mm x 297mm
Weight: 1.8 kg

Grayscale Depth: 16-bit (64K grey levels)
Colour Depth: 48-bit colour
Optical Resolution: 600 dpi x 1200 dpi
Scan Mode: Single-pass
Feeder Type: Manual
Connection: Standard USB

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP

►►► Price & Availability

Sadly this machine is no longer that easy to get hold of, although it is currently available through Amazon Marketplce for £36.99 and I have spotted them on eBay for around £25.00.

►►► Summary

For me this is probably the best scanner I have come across, purely because it has been 100% reliable and easy to operate. I find it perfect for my day to day usage as well as being more than capable of providing images of a high enough quality to use in close ups. The only real downside is the speed of the machine and therefore is not suitable in a busy environment.

© Christianfilmcritic November 2006