Epson WorkForce DS-30

If you need a small scanner for the road, or to save space, try this

Every now and then I feel the need for a scanner at home, especially now, as I am digitising my old recipes, photographs and papers collected over the years. But I find desk scanners too bulky, and I don’t see the sense in having such a big machine around when it is going to remain disconnected most of the time. I had been looking for a portable scanner for a long time, but the available options did not appeal to me.

And then, the DS-30 was launched. This small, light and handy unit plugs into a USB port and scans one sheet at a time. The bundled software lets you save files directly on Google Docs or Evernote, making them instantly available on the cloud.

The DS-30 has an impressive colour management system. It can remove any colour while the document is being scanned. This came in very handy because I often write on yellow-coloured sheets. It can also enhance any colour. Say, you have a document that is stamped ‘Confidential’ in red. You can enhance its red colour so that the stamp is clearly visible.

The bundled software not only lets you manage your scanned files, it also makes them searchable. It uses the bundled optical character recognition (OCR) software to convert the scanned image to text so that the content can be edited and searched.

Epson uses an LED lamp in this scanner, which reduces its power consumption. This is most useful when you are on the go and the scanner draws power from your laptop. The LED lamp also cuts down boot up time because it does not need to warm up. The scanner is ready to scan as soon as you plug it in.

It can scan documents that are up to 1.5 mm thick. This means you can scan your driving licence, credit cards, and, of course, all forms of business cards.

But mind you, it is a portable scanner, not a workhorse. The DS-30 takes about 15 seconds to scan a page, be it coloured or black-and-white.

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