Tech: LG Scanner Mouse. Anyone used one?

Subject: Tech: LG Scanner Mouse. Anyone used one?
From: Owen Woodson
Date: 26 Apr 12 - 07:54 AM

I was changing channels on tv last night and came across a programme in which a demonstrator was extolling the virtues of the "LG Scanner Mouse".

This is a computer mouse with a small scanner built in. The idea is that you drag the scanner over the area you want to scan, until you've built up a complete image on the computer screen. Then crop the bits you don't want to use and process it as normal.

It sounds extremely handy for a lot of the fiddly scanning which I have to. But has anyone any experience of using one?

Subject: RE: Tech: LG Scanner Mouse. Anyone used one?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 26 Apr 12 - 05:06 PM

The description sounds like they're talking about dragging the mouse over screen images, but your reference to "the fiddly scanning" suggests something more like scanning off of paper(?).

Assuming you mean scanning from books or prints:

There are a number of scanners apparently similar to what you've described, and they're apparently handy for some fairly specific kinds of of material. The most frequently claimed use is for books that you can't lay flat on a real flatbed scanner (or can't take home to do it right, as for reference books at the library). This sort of assumes that you're carrying a laptop or smaller semi-computer.

Some of the "passover" scanners include memory so that you can take just the scanner with you, and download the scans "back at home." With those, of course, you can't look at what you got until you hook up to a computer (or in some cases to a printer). These range from the size of a "pencil" to "bars" that will cover up to an 8+ inch wide sweep.

Most of these have the general difficulty that variations in the speed at which you move the scanner can warp the image, and with the smaller ones it may be difficult to maintain straight line scans or even "smooth arc" motions. The "modern" versions incorporate some ability to "correct" for some irregularities in motion during the scan strokes, and many include "stitching programs" to put the bits together prettty much authomatically; but from what I've heard (without direct experience) it still takes some "operator learning" to be able to use them really effectively. The "correcting and assembling" programs of course go on your computer.

Reports are that scanners in this general category can do a "good enough" job on text, if you're just taking notes for your great novel (probably just what you need), or keeping receipts for the IRS (maybe?) but if you're doing other than Facebook posts with images I'd be inclined to use a "real scanner" (or maybe even a phonecam).

You'll want to look very carefully at the specifications, ignore the "user ratings" mostly, and download and read the operator manual before spending many bucks for any devices like the one described (but of course you'd do that anyway). If the thing is "really cheap" of course hands-on is the best way to know how badly you got conned.

Some of us here are old enough to remember when we'd never heard of "LG," but they've established enough of a reputation to be fairly well recognized now, and probably will be around longer than the warranty you'd get on any of their stuff. I haven't seen a lot of comment on their "user support" but they've had web sources for enough information to check most of their stuff out - at least as well as for anyone else's.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: LG Scanner Mouse. Anyone used one?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 27 Apr 12 - 03:55 AM

You might also be interested in the fairly recent other thread:

Tech: Hand Held Scanners. Anyone Use Them?.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: LG Scanner Mouse. Anyone used one?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 27 Apr 12 - 04:02 AM

If a clone would change the </i> to the </a> that should be there, near the end of my last post, it might avoid the end of the world and the total destruction of the mudcat empire before we even get to finish taking over our quadrant of the galaxy.

It was a typo, and actually looked okay in preview and passed spell check (??????) - - Sorry.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: LG Scanner Mouse. Anyone used one?
From: Owen Woodson
Date: 28 Apr 12 - 11:21 AM

Thanks for the info. Fiddly scanning referred to the fact that I'm for ever trying to scan EG., LP booklets which are sewn into gatefold jackets. You need a grip like Goliath to keep them from sliding during the scan, or falling on the floor and becoming damaged.

The other hot chestnut is the old and rather battered book that I need to scan a couple of pages from. I get it flat on the flatbed, or as flat as I can, and try to ignore the fact that half the text has disappered into the gutter between the two pages. Guess what, the spine breaks.

This device, which I must confess I've never seen, is a mouse with a built in scanner. There's some information about it http://www.amazon.co.uk/LG-LSM-100-Scanner-Mouse/dp/B0053T0HNI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335440743&sr=8-1 , together with some very mixed reviews. Note in particular the reviewer who said you have to move it at zero mph. The guy who was demonstrating it on tv the other night was positively aerobatting with it, but then I never did trust sales demonstrators.

Subject: RE: Tech: LG Scanner Mouse. Anyone used one?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 28 Apr 12 - 04:25 PM

For a while, for the stuff that hangs out past the edges of the scanner platform, I moved a scanner to where I could stack up a pile of books level with the top of the scanner, to support the "hangover." For that scanner I eventually made a wooden box the right height, and used the space in the box to keep a ream or two of of paper handy for the printer.

My current solution for hangovers has been a new scanner with a "super B" (11 x 17") platform, so that only a few things are too big to fit.

The problem of scanning "up to the spine" in books is a common one. Some platform scanners have better "depth of field" than others, so they pick up what isn't flattened down completely, but none of them tell you anything about that in their specifications. An least some "scan manager" programs can provide some "edge compensation" that wipes out part of the distortion caused when the page is "off the surface," but the only ones I've seen with this feature require that you use a TWAIN interface between computer and scanner. Not all scanners have TWAIN drivers available since it's assumed that the users with the most money have the intelligence of a sea-slug and wouldn't be able to use anything but WIA.

I suspect that if you really want to get something to handle the odd jobs, a better choice would be one of the "stick form" hand held scanners. Scanning the widest possible path in each sweep should reduce the need for stitching and stretching what you get out of the scanner. Since I haven't tried one of these (since ca 1980) I don't have any ideas about performance, but I'd suggest you look at the ones similar to the IRIScan Book 2:

IRIScan Book 2 Here

There are several others that are similar, and I can't comment on which might be best. With this kind, you should be able to lay the book face up, so that the page is flat, and run the scanner right up to the spine. Most of these also have internal memory so that you don't have to be connected to a computer when you capture the scans, and come with "stitch" programs to put pieces together if you have to make multiple scans to capture a whole item (think newspapers, if you remember what those looked like).

Note that the same people who make the IRIScan 2 also make another one they call the IRIScan, but it requires passing single sheets through the scanner, so it wouldn't solve any of our scanning problems.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: LG Scanner Mouse. Anyone used one?
From: Owen Woodson
Date: 29 Apr 12 - 08:55 AM

Hi John. Thaks for that. I could have pointed out that the Scannermouse is cable driven. So you've more or less got to use it in the close proximity of your computer. And if your computer desk is anything like as cluttered as mine.........

Amazon UK have the Iriscan 2,but at prices ranging from £140 to £180. A tad expensive, but I'll have a look round the hand held scanner market and see if I can fnd anything cheaper.

Subject: RE: Tech: LG Scanner Mouse. Anyone used one?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 29 Apr 12 - 05:42 PM

The Amazon prices look rather extortionate. The price at the IRIS site is around $140-$160 (US) that the first converter I found says would be about £90. Of course there's that shipping and VAT ...

I'm aware of the scanner only because I use a pdf converter with links to the same tribes, and get (annoyingly) frequent advertisements. The scanner has been offered here for as low as about $90 (US) in the ads, but of course that's local delivery. A search for "handheld image scanners" or something similar should find other options. (If you just search "hand scanners" you'll get mostly barcode readers.) The most similar "bar/stick type" ones with the decent reputations tend to be significantly more expensive rather than less, from what I've seen without doing serious research; but you might find a deal if you poke around some.

There are cheaper devices of vaguely similar kind, but ones that don't do a good job often are less satisfying than a lazy hooker one might hope for.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: LG Scanner Mouse. Anyone used one?
From: Owen Woodson
Date: 02 May 12 - 10:05 AM

Hi John,

Thanks for all your help. I did a bit of googling and found that PC World (that's a torture chamber for computer users that we have to suffer over here) have one in at £75-00. I then checked Maplin, who are geekier and freakier and much more user friendly, and found they're selling one with an identical construction and specification, but under a different brand name. The only difference seems to be that theirs costs a mere £50-00.

I bought it, calibrated it and tested it, and I'm delighted with the results. The image doesn't appear on the screen until after you've completed the scan and downloaded it to the computer. So it's advisable to move the scanner very slowly. But for the amount of hand held scanning I'll actually need to do, it works fine.

Subject: RE: Tech: LG Scanner Mouse. Anyone used one?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 02 May 12 - 07:11 PM

Finding the one that's good for your own particular use is the real trick for any equipment, but it seems particularly important for scanners.

Most people get by with a fairly basic flatbed, and it's probably still the best for getting high quality scans from paper, especially for color photos. The best of those I've had was "obsoleted" by one of the many Windows OS version changes, when I couldn't get a driver that would work; but I've "worn out" at least two since.

The one I currently use most is a "business grade" that's a "pass through" only, but it scans boths sides in a single straight line pass (two heads), and in the rare cases when something jams the whole thing opens up and the bent pages fall out without any digging and tearing. (I haven't seen a document feed that passes the paper around any turn in the path that doesn't destroy the sheet that jams by the time you get it out.) And with a little tweaking on the settings the one I'm using isn't bad for the kinds of color/photo stuff I need now. It's about a year old, and has just begun giving me a notice that the "page counter" has reached the point where a feed roller replacement ($50 US, and a "drop-in" fix) is recommended - 100,000+ sheets through it so far, if I decide to believe the counter.

(Our "cheap printer" based on cost per page, an old B/W laser that we think we use a lot, says it's only printed 57,000 pages since it was new 14 years ago, for an idea of what's "normal use" at our house.)

We've been getting by with a couple of really cheap flatbeds, but both of those started getting wonky so I picked up a wide format (11x17") multipurpose (scan/print) unit. It theoretically has an ADF (automatic document feed) but I haven't even attempted to make much use of that feature yet. Lin has a new "photo quality" letter size multi that we haven't really wrung out yet. It makes really good prints, but doesn't use the easiest to find - or cheapest - inks, so we're still studying how much to love that one.

I'm in the process of "digitizing" old paperwork in order to get rid of the paper, so I can take my books apart and use the passthru ADF scanner a page at a time. I still could use a better way to handle "her stuff" that's so valuable it "can't be damaged" even though it's been so long since she's looked at most of it that we can't remember why she kept it in the first place; but anything useful would have to be quick on things with lots of pages. Maybe I need a camera setup for capturing "whatever she's got" ... (?).

John

Subject: RE: Tech: LG Scanner Mouse. Anyone used one?
From: GUEST,Pat
Date: 03 May 12 - 03:12 AM

Hi Guys

I own a Mouse Scanner and think it is a really great gadget. For me it is the easiest way to scan anything so far. If I need something out of a book or a journal, I just scan it with my mouse scanner without having to leave my workplace. It is convenient and fast. Furthermore, the integrated OCR is very helpful for plain text or as well for tables.

I can only recommend to try it once!

It is available on amazon.com!

Cheers
Pat