Fujitsu SP-1425
A slick combination of ADF and flatbed – let down by software limitations and a comparatively high price
TSCORE ✪✪✪✪✪ PRICE £443 exc VAT from uk.insight.com
he SP-1425 isn’t the fastest scanner in the world: in fact, with a top speed of 25ppm using the integrated ADF, it’s this month’s slowest. But it could still be a big time-saver for your business, thanks to Fujitsu’s innovative PaperStream Capture software, which streamlines the workflow by automating batch scans and handling all the image clean-up and processing functions for you.
It’s easy to set up: as with most scanners, the software lets you create custom profiles, which here combine scanning and post-processing functions. Scan settings include things such as whether you want colour or greyscale output, scan resolution, paper sizes and single- or double-sided operation. You can also choose whether to scan to a local folder, a network location, an FTP server or a SharePoint server.
Then, you can select post-scan actions such as barcode recognition, zonal OCR and patch codes, which can be used for document separation or data extraction during scans. And if that isn’t enough, there’s also a whole heap of extra features available within the TWAIN driver itself. These include hole filling, page rotation, blank page removal and front/back merging, where images from duplex scans are merged into a single page.
So far so good, but there’s one frustrating limitation. When it comes to choosing the output format of your saved scans, the bundled Lite edition of the software only supports BMP, TIFF and JPEG output. The full version, which lets you create searchable PDFs, costs an extra £240 – on top of what is already a relatively pricey scanner.
Thankfully, you do have another alternative, in the shape of the bundled ABBY FineReader 12 Sprint software. This can be run manually on the host PC and will convert scanned documents for you. Or, you can create a PaperStream Capture profile with FineReader defined as the destination.
The Capture Connect app further extends your options, adding the ability to send scans directly to cloud providers such as Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive. It’s not included with the scanner, but can be downloaded for free from Fujitsu’s support site. Just note that to use Capture Connect, you must specify it as the destination in a profile – don’t try to run it separately as it will fail.
We had no problems connecting the software to our Dropbox account,
“Fujitsu’s software streamlines the workflow by handling all the image clean-up and processing functions for you”
and on subsequent runs the profile sent the scans directly to the cloud with no further interaction required. Other handy features include options to send copies of scans to a local folder and an email address.
Quick scans can be run by clicking on a profile in the Capture interface or assigning a function to the scanner’s single button using the Administrator Tool Usability tab. The interface took around six seconds to load, after which the SP-1425 more than delivered on Fujitsu’s speed promises: mono and colour scans of 25 bank statements were completed at 28ppm at both 200dpi and 300dpi, dropping to 8ppm at 600dpi. The ADF handled our document mix test well with no jams.
It’s also possible to lift up the lid and use the SP-1425 in flatbed mode, and speeds are good here too, with an A4 colour photo scanned in 10 seconds at 300dpi and 23 seconds for 600dpi.
We’ve no complaints about quality: greyscale scans at 200dpi produced perfectly fine searchable PDFs, while the flatbed delivered sharply scanned colour photos with plenty of detail and excellent colour balance.
Ultimately, though, while the SP-1425 is a good, versatile scanner, it’s let down by the PaperStream software. The concept is great, but the lack of PDF support is very hard to excuse, especially given the cost of the scanner itself.
SPECIFICATIONS 600dpi A4 colour ADF/flatbed scanner 25ppm @ 300dpi colour/mono simplex/ duplex 50-page ADF USB 2 max daily duty cycle, 3,000 pages external PSU PaperStream IP TWAIN/ISIS drivers PaperStream Capture Lite, Presto PageManager 9, ABBYY FineReader 12 Sprint 454 x 331 x 129mm (WDH) 4.3kg 1yr advanced exchange NBD warranty