Ricoh ScanSnap iX1600

I still have my S1500M. Unlike the newer ScanSnaps, it has a CCD rather than CIS sensor, which makes for much more accurate scans (it’s remarkably good at scanning photo prints, even though it’s designed for document scanning).

https://blog.majid.info/scanner-group-test/

I still have my S1500M, it continues to work well after nearly 15 years. But when I needed another scanner for a second location a few years ago, I purchased an Epson FF-680M. It works just as well as the Fujitsu, and Epson has never dropped software support for it. It also is designed to rapidly feed photographs without damaging them.

I bought a S1500M in 2007 or 2008 and used it through 2023 (16 years). Fantastic machine, despite the fact that software support in the second half was always tenuous. My main problem in the later years was that it would often double feed pages, especially if they were previously stapled.

I bought the iX1600 in 2023 and have been very pleased with the hardware. My main trouble is the software (still). Often the device can't find my laptop on the network. I want to set it up to scan to Dropbox but it's not clear to me how to do that and whether I would lose the OCR capabilities of the local software.

I've loved using the duplex (dual-sided) Fujitsu fi-6130 for the past 10+ years, fast, fantastic paper feed mechanism that feeds straight and detects any rare instance of two pages feeding through at once. I've really liked that I can use 3rd party software like ExactScan (what I mostly use), FScanX, and now VueScan which recently reverse engineered the fi-6130 driver and maybe other Fujitsu ones as well. With this 3rd party software I can avoid using the shovelware crapware bloated vendor-provided driver and software garbage. It all costs more than the ScanSnap stuff though.

I'm a proud owner of the small but functional S1300. It's still working great even on macOS Ventura/Intel. You can't get native Apple Silicon binaries for Scan Snap Manager, unfortunately. It could work with Rosetta on my M2 Mac mini, but I haven't tested that.

My next scanner should definitely be able to scan to a network SMB share. Does the iX1600 support scanning to SMB in PDF format?

I know your machine has packed up, for those whose older Scansnap is still unbroken…

I still have the S510M and it works fine with a 2023 Mac Studio M2. The secret is to ignore the 'modern' Scansnap Home nonsense and keep using the older ScanSnap Manager program (ScanSnap Manager Version 7.2 L70 is the one I have). I don't know how much longer it will continue to work, but for now it's doing well…

You can download it from here: https://www.pfu.ricoh.com/global/scanners/scansnap/dl/mac-ssinst2-list.html.

HTH someone…

The new ScanSnap Home software is super annoying. I do not need most of the features. I also dislike the nagging notifications.

The DRM is also annoying: You can only use a ScanSnap scanner with one computer at a time. The need for a USB cable to set up the WiFi connection is another PIA.

I use the bundled ABBYY FineReader for OCR. (Is it still included?) I have never figured out what the scanner itself or just the ScanSnap software actually does for OCR. They do some OCR, but how does it work? Do they use the FineReader engine in the background?

Two years ago, I bought an Epson WorkForce DS-790WN as an alternative to ScanSnap. It works fine and can be used completely standalone (as far as I can tell). There is probably a successor model by now.

Older ScanSnap scanners with the ScanSnap Manager software remain my first choice as long as they continue to work.

@Martin I set it up for Wi-Fi without ever connecting a USB cable. I’m not sure whether it’s locked to one computer. It still has Abbyy software built-in and also includes Kofax Power PDF.

I too have a ScanSnap S500M, like yours bought a couple of decades ago for ~£250 IIRC - it's probably the best value for money tech item I've ever bought. I'm using it with a late 2010 11-inch MacBook Air, to run the old software. When I bought an M1 Air, I upgraded the Hamrick scanning software, which I bought many years ago but never used. The scanner works fine on the M1 with the Hamrick software, but I stopped using it as I'm so used to the ScanSnap software on the 11-inch Air that I prefer to keep using that. I had a couple of bookcases chock full of books. I guillotined the lot, shovelled them through the S500M and binned the paper. The ravages of age mean I find it almost impossible to read paper books, as the type is too small, whereas you can change the size on digital documents. From Marco Arment's comments on the ATP podcast, the ScanSnap iX1600 sounds a great machine - may yours last you as long as its predecessor. I hope mine keeps ploughing on, as I do little scanning nowadays, and just photograph short documents that are no more than a few pages.

Brilliant post and comments v helpful. The alternative software options seem compelling. I will take a look. I have an IX1600.

@Martin: Ricoh has removed the licensing from ScanSnap Home 2.10 and newer, so you can install it on as many computers as you want without issues. It used to be five devices, which was fine for most family usage, but having no limits is even better.

See: https://www.pfu.ricoh.com/imaging/downloads/manual/ss_webhelp/en/help/webhelp/topic/ope_setting_activate.html

@Michael What would you recommend for scans where the paper cannot be fed through an ADF so needs to be a flat scanner but a fast one but suitable for SOHO? Thank you.

@Mark That is a good move on Ricoh's side. But I am looking into the apps mentioned earlier by @Ed (thank you @Ed).

@Ai I haven’t found a great solution for that, though thankfully It’s not a frequent need for me. I either use my Brother printer (which has a flat tray on top) or my iPhone’s camera.

Does anyone knows if iX1600 can scan Business Cards both side at the same time?

@Ksec Yes, it does automatic duplex scanning.

I have the ScanSnap S1500m

Have to us it now with the ExactScan Pro software which does a great job. Have done the setup once and it is just in the background and I can avoid any clunky ScanSnap software. And at one point it was more or less the only option anyway.