I attempted to install the software on Windows XP Home Edition and was presented with a dialog box which read: “The software you are installing has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its compatibility with Windows XP. Continuing your installation of this software may impair or destabilize the right operation of your system either immediately or in the future. Microsoft strongly recommends that you stop this installation now and contact the software vendor for software that has passed Windows Logo testing.”

The response from IRIS was “The driver 100% safe and compatible. It will not cause any instabilities. Click continue anyways to install the software.”

I chose not to install the software on the PC.

I attempted to install the software on our Mac Powerbook G3 with OS 9.2 and I was presented with a dialog box which stated that the software required X 10.

In my opinion when the pen is connected to Your computer Via the USB port the Drivers should be aware that the System is a US English computer and do the conversion without changing Language settings within Windows.

In some cases it might be better if you have a second home computer to use just for Translation.

When Scanning:

Alot depends on the quality of Ink and Paper you are scanning.

Lighting will also have a sizeable factor on your success rate.

Translation software is above 80% accurate in my opinion.

More than enough for the Average Person.

If you want to use the Pen with a better Translator dictionary I don’t know how you would go about upgrading.

A trick i use to help speed things up is to forgo the actual scanning and type the paragraphs i need translated into the Dictionary but this just defeats the purpose of Buying the pen scanner in the first place.

usefull product but Tech support just killed it for me.

They are useless Human Beings

Buy this product if you have time to invest.

I cannot attest to some of the capabilities. I have not used the barcode scanning and neither have I used the translation facilities. I have used it to scan text directly from the source document into a Word file. For this, it works well.

It takes a bit of time to get used to. I still sometimes scan the incorrect line but going into the document and correcting the text is so much quicker than having to type it myself. The ability of this model to scan multiple lines for insertion in a paragraph makes the added price over the EXPRESS model worthwhile.

I have played a bit with the audible text feature that speaks the scanned text. It sounds like Stephen Hawking but is surprisingly intelligible. The translation facilities are rather basic but generally right. My German and Spanish is better that the translating algorithm but, again, it is still simpler to clean things up than to type it from scratch. This is especially right when foreign punctuation is considered.

All in all, I am well satisfied.

INSTALLATION

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READ THE MANUAL. It’s critical to note (whatever your installation situation) that you must install the software BEFORE plugging the unit into the USB. Installation was a bit tough for me because I was installing the IrisPen on an instance of VMware.

Because I had so much distress with this first step (I spent an hour), I attempted to call the company — whose representatives are NOT simple to reach. I was rolled over into voice mail each time and several voice mail boxes were full. The way I found I could reach tech support was to continually transfer myself back and forth from the tech support extension to the operator extension — or from the operator extension to the operator extension. Eventually, someone will pick up. I used about 10 minutes each time I called. Luckily, their support line is toll free.

Once I had a rep on the phone, they were VERY considerate and walked me through Control Panel screens to get my VMware system to recognize the pen. (This is a common hiccup with VMware and installing peripherals.) While tech support did not reach a solution, they were pleased to ship me a new one in trade for mine, shipping both ways at their expense. In the end, he didn’t need to do this because the information I learned from the tech was enough for me to fiddle around and to solve the problem on my own.

EASE OF USE

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I found the device moderately intuitive. The manual is VERY well written, and I highly recommend using it to guide your initial setup and usage. The first chapter got me running in about 10 minutes.

FANTASTIC, FANTASTIC, FANTASTIC ACCURACY

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Only after trying another pen scanner did I start to appreciate the IrisPen. Originally, I tried the InfoScan3Lite (IS3L) from WizCom, which required multiple scans to pick up a semi-reliable phrase. The IS3L did not pick up punctuation, italics or non-standard fonts at all well. On the other hand, the IrisPen, with a small practice (5-10 minutes), captures and recognizes on the first try. You can scan whole paragraphs without having to wait for the pen to recognize the text — an unfortunate characteristic of the IS3L. Because the IrisPen is accurate, it is also efficient. I don’t need to right so many spelling mistakes.

NOT REALLY PORTABLE

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What drew me to the pen scanners was the portability of the unit. Imagined being able to scan text while sitting in waiting rooms or while a passenger in the car. Portability is a feature that the IrisPen claims to have, but doesn’t really.

Only because laptops are portable, can you consider the IrisPen portable. You can’t use this device away from an operating system of some sort, i.e. you need your desktop or laptop or other USB enabled device. I forgive the marketing folks for their slight-of-hand on positioning the product on this feature since all of the other features of this tool make up for this failing.

After all, what excellent is portability if it doesn’t scan well? In the end, I valued efficiency and accuracy over portability, deciding that I could simply highlight my books — which are still portable — and scan the excerpts later at my desk.

Hope this helps!

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