Advantages: Good looks, nice price
Disadvantages: A bit slow

...The UMAX AstraSlim 1200 SE is quite a fashionable scanner, which can be brought on a budget for around £35. I decided to buy one when I found out or suddenly became aware of how useful owning a scanner is. But, as usual, I was on a budget, and gave myself the task of buying a scanner which, is not only inexpensive but also is of good quality . After looking through the catalogues, I stumbled across this scanner. The package looked good and it was relatively cheap for a scanner so I brought it. It was money well spent. The scanner has plenty of functions and it does exactly what I wanted it to do! Features: -No power supply needed, connects through USB cable -Photo-copy option -Direct Scan option -Direct e-mail option -OCR function -Photo express CD A little information on the UMAX then: Speed: 6 out of 10---The scanner’s... Read review

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Advantages: Good quality and a transparency adapter
Disadvantages: Poor handling of negatives

...The Umax Astra 3450 is a mid-range consumer flatbed scanner. Launched this year (2001) it is one of a range of products that includes both consumer and professional standard equipment. I have owned and used flatbed scanners for about 6 years. I only decided to replace my previous model because it had a SCSI interface and I don’t have a SCSI card in my new PC. Having used a scanner for some time I had a pretty clear idea of what features I wanted, in this case I decided to go for a USB interface (might as well use those empty ports on the PC) and 600 dpi optical resolution. I wasn’t too concerned about higher resolutions as experience had shown that past 150dpi there was little difference when it came to the final printed result. One additional feature I was interested in was a transparency adapter. This allows for the scanning... Read review

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Advantages: good price
Disadvantages: persistent failure

...Hi I used to have a Umax Astra 2000P parallel-port flatbed scanner, but after the third one went wrong, I asked Umax's UK support provider to give me something else, because the darn thing would always go wrong when I most needed to copy a document or scan something. I don't know if this is the experience of other users, but the parallel port model was nothing but trouble from the start. The problem was always scanner connection. VSaccess used to suddenly and without warning say the scanner was undetectable and that was it. The last problem occurred during a scan - my machine hung whilst it was scanning happily, but following reboot the scanner was permanently undetectable. I now have a 2200 instead, which has worked fine (so far), but did need me to go and buy a scsi card.... Read review

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Advantages: Very Good photo reproduction
Disadvantages: Transparencies very poor

...I wanted a scanner that should be cheap, and versatile so I chose the UMAX Astra 3450. Retails for around £80 - £90 but I brought it from EBAY auction site, new, and for £46. I will keep my review brief as the previous report (pauljm) says it all and I don’t want to be repetitive. The scanner is a 600 X 1200dpi scanner with a built in transparency cover, 42 bit colour depth with USB interface. A4 is really the maximum size that can be scanned. Setting up was very easy, comes with drivers etc, and also with picture scanning software by Adobe, which is good. Also with OCR software that worked very well. OCR is software that recognises typed documents that are scanned in and attempts to recognise each individual letter and place it into your word processor package so you can edit, add and the like. I didn’t have any... Read review

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Advantages: Size, Image quality.
Disadvantages: Needs a good USB port.

...*** Features *** The AstraSlim uses a CIS (Compact Image Sensor) to enable the scanner to be so slim. Uses a USB port and is powered via USB so no need for a separate PSU. This also means less messy cables. There is only one light on the scanner itself which acts as a one-touch scan button. The size of the scanner makes it very portable and light making it suitable for laptop use. Its size also means it will not take up half your desk space and fits easily on a shelf or even a desk drawer. *** Installation *** Installing the scanner was relatively painless. Load the drivers from the supplied CD and then plug in the scanner into an available USB port. You can choose to just install the drivers and/or the included software. I've mainly not had any problems except sometimes the scanner isn't fully recognised as I use... Read review

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Advantages: It scans
Disadvantages: Squeeks a bit

...The UMAX Astra 2000U, comes in a USB format for the easiest of setups. Software also came with the package with a nice bundle of Adobe applications for great picture editing. The scanner is of a good quality, desgined well. I wouldn't say it was fast at scanning, but since this is my first scanner, what do I have to compare??? It scans from simple text, to detailed photos. Also offers a preview text so you can see what your scanned image would look like. All round good scanner from UMAX, and great value for money. This thing helped me in my GCSEs a LOT!... Read review

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Advantages: Great quality, nice price, cool software
Disadvantages: Slow

...). After switching in the advanced mode the tool kit extends. Besides here there are icons of call of in-depth tunings (above) and batch scanning (below). On the right board from lists it is possible to select a type of a original, color mode (true color, 256 colors, Web-graphic pallet, black-and-white etc.), resolution, mode of suppression moire, filter and scale in percentage. If necessary it is possible to actuate an option of automatic choice of parameters of scanning. There are buttons of preliminary and final scanning, and also withdrawal from the program and return of tunings by default below. Common notes Because of absence of rubber overlays on feet of the scanner it very easily moves on a smooth surface of desktop. A moderate noise and minor vibration accompany the process of scanning. Umax Astra 2000 has a quite good quality... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap, decent build quality, good picture quality
Disadvantages: Slow, and old.

...I owned an Umax Astra 600p scanner for well over four or five years now. I've attached it to several computers, all of various speeds. Currently, it's connected to my P2 450Mhz computer, and is doing fine. It's been around for a while now, but at the end of the day, technology in this area hasn't improved significantly. This model, as the 'p' in the name indicates, is connected to the parrallel port. Everybodys first fear is then "Where does the printer plug in to?!?". Simple! It plugs into the back of the scanner. The printer performance doesn't seems to affected by this, just make sure that you have enough printer leads to join them all up. Alternatively, by a Parrallel to USB adaptor if you have any USB ports. It woun't speed up the connection much as it is still a 'parrallel' cable and device. So, the scanner itself... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap and cheerful
Disadvantages: Slow, noisy, bad driver, bulky...

...The Umax Astra 1220P is a low-budget flatbed scanner. I picked mine up on a special offer for £35. Using the product, I have many qualms about it: the driver application software which comes with it is sub-standard, in fact the driver is terrible, and you must install a commercial program to get any decent response from the thing. Also, althought the scanner is light, is is quite bulky in comparison to today's modern scanners. It also takes ages to warm up (it claims to take 30 seconds, but this is not actually true), and takes ages to scan anything at any kind of decent resolution (above 200). Coupled with this massive lack of speed is the fact that it is quite a noisy scanner. The colour matching is also not always very accurate. I am not particularly impressed with this purchase, but if all you are looking for is a cheap scanner... Read review

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Advantages: Fast, simple image scanning. Very stylish design. Excellent Price.
Disadvantages: None!

...enough to accomodate A4 sized sheets of paper. Its a flatbed scanner, measuring around 45cm in width and just over 6cm in height and with a depth of about 27cm, meaning it does require quick a bit of deskspace, for the aforementioned reason however, this isn't to the products detriment. The scanner is compatable with both Mac's and Pc's, and its software can be installed on Windows 98, 98 SE, 2000, Me and Xp. Aswell as any Mac OS later than 9.1 or 10.1. In other words, the scanner can be installed on pretty much any computer created during the past few years. Upon plugging in the scanners USB connection in to the back of my tower unit, I inserted the software installation CD. As with many input devices, the installation was a doddle, the software takes up just a few megabytes of space and installs in no time at all. It really is very... Read review

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