Product Description

The IRISPen II is a pen-sized scanner that allows you to enter data (text, numbers, bar codes and handwritten numbers) into any Mac OS and Windows applications. What you get is real editable text, right at the cursor position. You save time and you even enjoy that tedious data-entry. Simply slide the IRISPen over the text you want in your application!With up to 1000 characters recognized per second the IRISPen beats all other forms of retyping, it is best suited for small pieces of text, tables etc where a traditional scanner and OCR software takes more time. Instead of retyping text with the IRISPen you just need to scan the information and that's it you need to do nothing else. The scanned information is instantly entered in the Windows/Mac OS application that you are using right at the position of the cursor, no copy paste needed once again you only need to run the IRISPen over the information you wish to have in your computer. All you need to do is scan the information you want to have in your application. Simply install the software, plug the IRISPen and off you go, straight forward to use, will be collecting information at lightning speed in no time.The IRISPen Executive software converts your IRISPen into a multifunctional productivity tool. This software-only upgrade extends the capabilities of the pen-sized OCR scanner dramatically; as a result, your IRISPen becomes unquestionably the most versatile reading device available! Up to now, you were able to recognize printed and typed material. The Executive software extends your system with four major add-on capabilities: speech synthesis, bar code reading, hand printing recognition and recognition of dot matrix documents. Furthermore, the IRISPen Executive is equipped with advanced image adjustment features that allow to read a wider range of documents and a multiline reading mode that increases the pen scanner's ease of use.

Product Details

• Brand: Iris
• Model: USOA36

Features

• Handheld pen-sized OCR scanner
• Scans up to 1,000 characters per second
• Supports up to 56 foreign languages
• Reads font sizes from 6 to 22 points
• Text-to-speech lets you hear what you've scanned

Amazon.com Product Description
This portable, handheld scanner provides a wide range of time-saving conveniences. With up to 1,000 characters recognized per second, the IRIS Pen II Executive Scanner is suited for rapid scanning of small samples of text or for taking notes and scanning tables. It can also scan directly into any Windows or Mac application starting at the position of the cursor. Plus, the text-to-speech option lets you hear what you scan, and in a relatively natural voice.

The IRIS Pen II recognizes data on many types of documents, reading 6 to 22 point size fonts with text, numbers, handwritten numbers, and bar codes, as well as reading dot-matrix letters. It supports foreign language uses (up to 56 languages) and is programmable, letting you define two functions that are triggered by single and double clicks (tab, enter, space).

The Pen II provides improved image stability at varying speeds and offers gray scale document recognition. Additional features include left-to-right and right-to-left scanning, central line tracking, multiline mode, recognition of wavy or distorted characters, a line skew tolerance of 10 percent with a word slope tolerance of 20 percent, clear scanning of inverse text (white letters on dark background), and automatic input of tables (like invoices and price lists) into your database or spreadsheet. The idle mode reduces power consumption.

When directly connected to the USB port of a PC or notebook, the scanner supports plug-and-play operation and is powered by the USB port, so there's no need for an external power supply. Support for serial/parallel port is available.

Customer Reviews

well done product, but still a few bugs
I did a lot of due diligence before buying the IRIS Pen II Executive Scanner, including all the other pen scanner products on the market. I was initially a little put off by the fact you had to attach it to a computer via a USB cable to work. FWIW, I am using it with MacOS X 10.2.6 and a iBook.

I have had it for over a month now, purchased in July 2003, and I LIKE it. I have primarily used it to scan text from photocopies of journal articles. These are clearly not the highest quality text material from which to scan, but nevertheless, the IRIS pen handles them acceptably. By that, I mean, I get around 85% accuracy. This clearly means, I have to go back and retype things, but still, I am able to capture large quanities of text to use *in a very rapid fashion*. Like one of the previous posters, I do tend to use it like a highlighter.

As a word of instructive advice...it may be difficult to figure out how to hold the pen. Just try different positions and your hand will develop 'memory' in holding it correctly, such that it captures text.

I guess my overall experience is neither the 100% success that others have had, nor the despair that a few have faced. I would certainly buy this product again.

Best Handheld Scanner
If you're looking for a fast and accurate handheld scanner, I strongly recommend the IRIS II Executive.

I first bought the Quick Link Pen from Wizcom and got incredibly frustrated by that product's slowness and ridiculously poor accurary. I ended up returning my Quick Link Pen and getting the IRIS II Exec instead.

The Iris II Exec is incredibly fast and more importantly incredibly accurate. I can scan faster than I would with a highlighter and I rarely get mistakes. I'm a Biochem Grad Student and I scan a lot of words that wouldn't seem easily recognized, but the IRIS II works like a champ.

Even though, the Iris II Exec is not portable, it's accuracy and speed make up for it in leaps and bounds. The company's claim of 99% accuracy is pretty on the money. I type 80 wpm and scanning with this pen is far faster than typing.

If you're looking for a Handheld Scanner, this is by far the best choice.

Better Than Expected for Macintosh User
This is an early report after owning the pen for a week. I'm an OS X Macintosh user and while we are frequently forgotten when it comes to cool hardware, Iris remembered us...thank you! Frankly the pen works better than I expected it to, especially after reading the occasional negative reviews, which seem to be greatly exaggerated. I was tempted to give the pen a 5-star rating, because what the scanner attempts to do is quite complicated, compared to a flat-bed scanner. The pen scanner must be both smaller and much more intelligent. What holds me back from a 5-star is that the pen is not entirely plug-and-play. If the pen is disconnected from the USB hub, it's my experience that you must reconnect the pen and then restart the computer, or the pen is not recognized. Several times I've needed to restart to get the pen working for me again. The tilting of the pen (which some complain about) is easy, because there's a wide flat surface on the pen that guides the angle. What is important to remember is that you must calibrate in the same light as you scan. My initial frustration at inaccurate scanning was because I had calibrated under a bright lamp light, then proceeded to scan in a way that my hand cast a shadow on the text. After the obligatory restart, and being careful to keep the light consistent on the paper, scanning progressed smoothly, and it seems the unit scans faster than the recommended 1 inch per second. I could hardly believe the reviews that the pen would scan directly into MS Word, but it does, quickly and accurately. One particular font in a book turned a lot of the "e"s into "c"s but a spellcheck corrected those in short order, and I suspect I was going much faster than was recommended at the time. So far, this pen scanner excels at the difficult task of taking notes--a few here, a few there--from textbooks and magazines. A worthy research aid for writers and students.